2011 Honda Cr-z Crz Hatchback 2-door 1.5l on 2040-cars

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2016 April Fools' Day: Morgan digs at Tesla, Mini's scissor doors, more

Every year automakers go out of their way to come up with gags for April Fools' Day. Sometimes the jokes fall flat, but occasionally a company really nails it with an idea that we'd actually love to see. Rather than scouring the Web for all of these stunts, you can find some of our favorites right here. Morgan MOGrod The Morgan Motor Company's MOGrod is one of our favorite April Fools' jokes so far this year because it's a car we wish could be real. The company says on Twitter that the retro hot rod uses a 3.7-liter Ford V6, and there are already 250,000 preorders, which is a play on the huge number of reservations for the Tesla Model 3. Morgan took the joke even further by sketching a landspeed record version for the Bonneville Salt Flats. Mini Scissor Doors The people at Mini apparently have a lot of free time because the company has two gags this year. The first is the scissor door option. The idea cleverly plays on the myriad ways customers can customize their Mini, but this solution doesn't look like anyone could easily enter the car due to the way these doors open. Mini Hipster Hatch There's also the Hipster Mini, which is a much funnier idea. This fictional hatchback would be perfect for fashionable Millennials thanks to features like Instagram-filter windows and a fixed-gear drivetrain, which limits the top speed to 25 miles per hour. The interior uses stonewash denim upholstery and packs a twin-deck cassette player. Skoda Dog Umbrella People love dogs, and owners know that a wet canine can be a mess. Skoda is ready to tackle this problem with an umbrella for your mutt. Made from unobtainium, the gadget hides in the door when not in use, but when raindrops start falling, people can keep their pup dry. Skoda Snowman Skoda's Facebook page also teases us with a very cool vehicle. The Snowman is a 396-horsepower plug-in hybrid snow machine. With its tracks, the company's newest model would never have to worry about getting stuck in the winter. Opel Adam C Sure, electricity and hydrogen are cleaner forms of fuel than gasoline or diesel, but Opel has a way to make your car even more environmentally friendly – muscle power. Wind up the crank at the rear for 15 minutes, and the Opel Adam C is good for 125 miles. GM's European division also claims that owners get a great workout because a full winding session burns 400 calories. You wouldn't feel guilty about picking up that pizza after cranking up this hatchback.

Honda underreported 1,729 claims of injuries or deaths since 2003

Among these underreported cases were eight Takata airbag inflator ruptures not submitted. Following an independent audit of its safety reporting procedures, Honda has found massive holes in its methodology and practices that resulted in 1,729 claims of injuries or deaths going unreported to federal authorities dating back to July 2003. The cases should have been submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of its quarterly Early Warning Reports (EWRs) under the TREAD Act, but they fell through the cracks for a variety of reasons. Honda blames the underreporting on three factors: data entry errors, computer coding problems and "an overly narrow interpretation of what constituted a 'written notice' under the TREAD Act." The first two issues were related to the computer program that collected the claims. If employees didn't enter a date in the "written claim received" field, then they were omitted from the EWRs. Also, the company's internal component codes didn't always match those used by NHTSA, and only the ones that were the same were disclosed. Finally, third-party documents, including police reports, were not considered. Honda says the computer error is now corrected, and the company is updating its data entry training. In the future, written and oral claims will be included in EWRs, as well. Among these underreported cases were eight Takata airbag inflator ruptures not submitted in Honda's EWRs, including one death and seven injuries. However, the automaker claims NHTSA was already aware of all of these incidents either from the agency's own records or from the company's notification outside of the EWR process. Unfortunately, this problem could have been stopped much sooner. The issue was first brought to light in 2011 but didn't result in a followup. NHTSA advised the automaker of discrepancies in January 2012, and it still did nothing. This third-party audit wasn't commissioned until September 2014. "Honda acknowledges that it lacked the urgency needed to correct its problems on a timely basis," it says in the announcement. Separately, the Japanese government is starting an investigation, as well. According to Reuters, the Japanese Transport Minister has created a task force to look into the Takata recalls and find out whether Honda under-reported incidents there. Scroll down to read the company's entire statement on the third-party investigation.

Honda Civic losing ground to Toyota Corolla, sales crown threatened

Oh, what a difference a year has made. When the numbers were tallied for 2013, the Honda Civic was riding high by claiming its segment's sales crown in the US despite being challenged by the latest generation of the Toyota Corolla for part of the year. However, with just a month to go in the battle for C-segment supremacy in 2014, it looks like Toyota gets to hoist the trophy this time. Looking at November sales numbers, Honda moved 300,644 Civics through the first 11 months of the year, down 2.1 percent in volume. Furthermore, for the month alone, the company sold 23,060 Civics, a 12.3 percent drop. Meanwhile, on Toyota's side, business has been booming comparatively. Through the first 11 months it sold 309,373 Corollas, a 10.6 percent jump, and for November alone it moved 25,609 examples, a 14.2 percent improvement. With fewer than 10,000 cars between them, it would take quite a December slump for the Corolla to lose this fight. According to The Truth About Cars, the Civic actually started out the 2014 somewhat positively with 5 percent growth over the previous year, though still behind the Corolla's figures. However, the Honda has seen a slide since then with five consecutive months of sales drops. Meanwhile, the Toyota has generally kept showing growth. Being the newer model of the two, the Corolla comes to this fight with an advantage. Honda hasn't let the Civic languish; it gave the model a CVT in 2014 to boost fuel economy. That's nothing like the Toyota's thorough recent rethink, though. According to TTAC, Honda does have reason to crow about the Civic, just not necessarily in the US. The model is on track to be the bestselling vehicle in Canada for the 17th consecutive year and have its best sales since 2008 there.