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Acura NSX production car headed for Detroit debut?

Auto Express is reporting that Honda is set to unveil the production version of its upcoming Acura NSX at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. The news comes courtesy of an unnamed "top exec" for Honda Brazil speaking at the Sao Paulo Motor Show. The concept version of the Japanese supercar is currently on display there. Interestingly enough, the same unnamed source claims the production iteration will remain aesthetically identical to the show car. You won't hear any qualms from us on that front.
Of course, the timing of the production debut is a little confusing. For starters, when Acura unveiled the concept last year, the company told the world it would be at least three years before production began. That would give the street-worthy model a 2014 or 2015 designation, the latter being cited more often in media accounts. Thus, we'll keep an eye out for the hybrid supercar in Motown, but we're going to stop short of holding our breath... it might be a while.

WSJ investigation reveals Takata may have hidden testing failures

We're not sure how much more Takata can get wrong concerning its airbag fiasco. The Wall Street Journal says it reviewed internal documents submitted during litigation that reveal US engineers had concerns about altered test data for at least a decade, from 2000 to 2010. This comes after Taktata's largest customer, Honda, stopped doing business with the company, publicly calling Takata out for "misrepresented and manipulated test data." On top of that, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hit the Japanese company with an open-ended fine of $70 million. Ford took away its business, as have Toyota and Mazda. The latest recall tall has surpassed 19 million vehicles in the US alone. The in-house memos show US employees complaining among themselves that their Japanese equivalents were burying validation test failures and changing the results of validation tests. Such tests are conducted to show automakers that Takata products met specification, and employees specifically cite Honda as the recipient of those edited or redacted reports. One US engineer wrote that the "prettying up" of data "confounded my engineers," and "has gone beyond all reasonable bounds and now most likely constitutes fraud." The engineer apparently said his team made sure that the products were up to spec by using alternative data. Takata said the issues the Journal article covers don't have anything to do with the exploding airbags, and that in one case the problem with the airbag inflator was resolved, and in another case the problem airbag inflators didn't reach production. Takata admitted to the Journal that there have been past instances of "selective, incomplete or inaccurate data" in customer validation reports and apologized, laying the situation at the feet of employees trying to meet production deadlines. News Source: Wall Street JournalImage Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images Government/Legal Recalls Honda Safety

Here are your 2016 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year finalists [w/polls]

The 2016 Detroit Auto Show will kick off with the announcement of the annual North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year awards, and the three finalists in each category have just been revealed. Following this announcement, the jury – which includes Autoblog editor-in-chief Mike Austin – will re-evaluate each candidate before casting a final vote for the winner. This year's finalists are: Car of the Year Chevrolet Malibu Honda Civic Mazda MX-5 Miata Truck/Utility of the Year Honda Pilot Nissan Titan XD Volvo XC90 The 23rd annual awards will be announced on the morning of Monday, January 11. For now, we want to know where you stand. Let us know which vehicles you think should win, by voting in the polls below. Chevrolet Honda Mazda Nissan Volvo north american car of the year NACTOY