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Five vehicles named Top Safety Pick+ including new Civic, MKZ

In an attempt to help push vehicle safety to a higher level, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety created a stricter Top Safety Pick+ rating last year, which incorporates a brutal small overlap test and requires cars to get Good ratings in four out of the five categories (and no less than Acceptable in the fifth). Joining the list of the safest cars of 2013, the 2013 Volvo XC60, Lincoln MKZ, Honda Civic (sedan and coupe) and the 2014 Mazda6 have all received the coveted TSP+ rating.
The Mazda6 and Lincoln MKZ have both been completely redesigned, and both received Acceptable ratings in the small overlap test. The Honda Civic, coming off its emergency refresh for 2013, is the first small car to be subjected to the small overlap test, and IIHS says that one of the car's many upgrades includes a stiffer front structure allowing it to receive Good ratings in all categories. Similarly, the XC60 gets all Good ratings thanks to, according to IIHS, Volvo updating the airbag software allowing the side airbags to inflate during the small overlap test.
The 2014 Subaru Forester has not yet been subjected to the small overlap test, so it must make do with just a Top Safety Pick rating until the IIHS tests small utility vehicles, which is expected to happen later in the spring.

Honda reveals Concept D crossover in China

Honda has, as promised, rolled in to the Shanghai Motor Show with the Concept D. Looking like a cross between an HR-V and a Decepticon, the Concept D previews a future crossover to be offered exclusively as the Japanese automaker's flagship model in China. The styling is certainly not for the faint of heart, with more angles than a geometry set, more vents than an air conditioner, a proliferation of LED lighting, gold spokes to match the bodywork and a sharply raked rear window with a giant wing at its peak. Details released with the trio of images remain scarce, but the production version of the concept you see here is slated to be offered in China through two of the company's local joint ventures, Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda – albeit sure to be toned down some on the road from show stand to showroom. Honda Exhibits World Premiere of Concept D at Auto Shanghai 2015 BEIJING, China, April 20, 2015 – Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (HMCI), a wholly-owned Honda subsidiary in China, today exhibited at Auto Shanghai 2015* the world premiere of the Concept D, a concept model for a new SUV model under development. *The 16th International Automobile & Manufacturing Technology Exhibition, Venue: National (Shanghai) Center for Exhibition and Convention Press days: April 20-21, 2015, public days: April 22-29, 2015 The Concept D shows the direction of a mass-production SUV model which is currently being developed exclusively for the China domestic market as a top-end SUV model that offers high-quality driving and a spacious cabin. Equipped with advanced safety technologies and other advanced features, a Concept D-based SUV model will go on sale from both Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda, positioned as a new flagship model of Honda in China. ?Comment by Seiji Kuraishi, President of HMCI "Including this Concept D, which is a proposal for a new value that only Honda can provide as the pioneer of the SUV market in China. We would like to continue providing attractive products equipped with our advanced technologies to our customers in China. Toward this end, we will accelerate the localization of our business in China."

Brand new cars are being sold with defective Takata airbags

If you just bought a 2016 Audi TT, 2017 Audi R8, 2016–17 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, or 2016 Volkswagen CC, we have some unsettling news for you. A report provided to a US Senate committee that oversees the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and reported on by Automotive News claims these vehicles were sold with defective Takata airbags. And it gets worse. Toyota and FCA are called out in the report for continuing to build vehicles that will need to be recalled down the line for the same issue. That's not all. The report also states that of the airbags that have been replaced already in the Takata recall campaign, 2.1 million will need to eventually be replaced again. They don't have the drying agent that prevents the degradation of the ammonium nitrate, which can lead to explosions that can destroy the airbag housing and propel metal fragments at occupants. So these airbags are out there already. We're not done yet. There's also a stockpile of about 580,000 airbags waiting to be installed in cars coming in to have their defective airbags replaced. These 580k airbags also don't have the drying agent. They'll need to be replaced down the road, too. A new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time. If all this has you spinning around in a frustrated, agitated mess, there's a silver lining that is better than it sounds. So take a breath, run your fingers through your hair, and read on. Our best evidence right now demonstrates that defective Takata airbags – those without the drying agent that prevents humidity from degrading the ammonium nitrate propellant – aren't dangerous yet. It takes a long period of time combined with high humidity for them to reach the point where they can rupture their housing and cause serious injury. It's a matter of years, not days. So a new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time – and six years seems to be about as early as the degradation happens in the worst possible scenario. All this is small comfort for the millions of people who just realized their brand-new car has a time bomb installed in the wheel or dashboard, or the owners who waited patiently to have their airbags replaced only to discover that the new airbag is probably defective in the same way (although newer and safer!) as the old one.