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Infiniti SUV recall marks latest chapter in Takata airbag saga

Automotive parts maker Takata is having a rough year with millions of vehicles equipped with its airbag inflators being recalled. However, it looks like there might still be problems with the company's quality control, if a new recall by Infiniti is any indication.
The Japanese luxury brand is recalling 1,912 total units of the 2013 Infiniti QX56 and 2014 QX80 in North America because of a manufacturing flaw with their Takata-supplied inflators for the driver's side front airbag. Of those, 1,848 are in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Specifically, the outer baffle could be the wrong component and cause too much pressure to build up inside. According to documents submitted to NHTSA, it's possible in a crash for the part to rupture spraying metal shrapnel at occupants. At this time, Infiniti has not had any reports of this actually happening to drivers.
While this problem sounds nearly identical to the issue affecting millions of earlier vehicles, it must be noted that this is a different fault. According to the notice being sent to dealers on NHTSA's website: "This particular Voluntary Safety Recall Campaign is unrelated to two earlier campaigns that involved Takata passenger front air bag inflators on some older model Infiniti vehicles. This issue involves a much newer inflator and is a different, more isolated, Takata quality control issue."

Infiniti QX55 crossover coupe teased again, hints at FX looks and a surprise out back

Infiniti plans to launch five new vehicles in the next three years. We got an abstract squiggle of the first one in August, when Infitini teased the coming QX55 crossover coupe during Monterey Car Week. Said to act as a medium that would communicate design language from the dearly departed FX crossover, the QX55 is meant to infuse a lot more design mojo to the conventional QX50 crossover that it's based on. The Japanese luxury brand just dropped the second teaser, this one revealing a swath of greenhouse and shoulder, and indeed, an arc of chrome trim that could have been traced from FX production drawings. The attention-getter here is what comes behind the greenhouse: A tailgate extension with the makings of a stubby trunk.  Positive reviews have come from a group of media to whom Infiniti showed a matte gray pre-production version of the QX55. The front diverges from the QX50 only in a few details, while the roofline isn't as coupe-ish as it might be because designers wanted to ensure adequate headroom for rear seat passengers. The steep rake has been saved for the area aft of the C-pillar, convincing one scribe to write that "the QX55 reminds us most of the Audi Q8, which also lacks swooping silhouette and looks more like a lifted hatchback." The rear fascia is said to look "cleaner and more modern than Infiniti’s current midsize crossovers," even though the jutting rear presents a vertically flat lower hatch that looks "a bit boxy." Having moved the license plate holder to the bumper, the wide expanse is home to a larger Infiniti badge and logo script with an "I" that serves an as-yet-undisclosed function. At the edges come taillights with a "sharp new piano key design." One site summed up with, "this is a gorgeous crossover coupe that will turn heads." The QX50 is expected to debut in the first three months of 2020, with an on-sale date sometime next summer.

2019 Infiniti QX50 First Drive Review | A high-tech engine flies under the radar

Update: An Infiniti representative reached out after this review was published and noted that the "Park with Easy Steering" function of the Direct Adaptive Steering system was erroneously left engaged. Infiniti says this feature "reduces feel considerably at low speeds to aid in parking", and that the Easy Steering function will be disabled by default in customer cars unless the customer chooses to engage it. This seems to explain the issues our reviewer had with low-speed steering feel, although we've had other problematic experiences with Direct Adaptive Steering in a broader sense – not to mention the fact that the drive-by-wire system has been recalled several times to fix various issues, and also recalibrated in response to criticism. We hope to get another QX50 soon, and if so we'll compare the low-speed steering response with Easy Steering on and off. Even as manufacturers rush headlong into electrification and autonomous driving, revolutionary internal-combustion engine technologies are still being developed. Consider the Mazda Skyactiv-X Spark Controlled Combustion Ignition process, for example. But Infiniti's VC-Turbo four-cylinder engine, which makes its debut in the 2019 QX50, is truly a work of engineering fortitude. The engine realizes the long-held ambition among engine manufacturers to create a way to alter the compression ratio on the fly, a boon to both power and fuel efficiency. It's a brilliant bit of science that's, unfortunately, still in search of the right car. Don't get us wrong, the QX50 is perfectly competent — it's an exceedingly quiet and comfortable cruiser. However, it's no longer the driver-pleasing machine its predecessor was. That car, originally known as the EX35, was built atop Nissan's sporty FM platform, a front-midship, rear-wheel-drive layout putting the engine aft of the front axle line and giving the vehicle the athletic driving dynamics of a sport sedan. In fact, it was basically a G37 hatchback, and it was sold as the Skyline Crossover in Japan. A shortened FM chassis underpinned the 370Z, to put a finer point on it. For those more concerned with comfort than corners, the 2019 QX50 might actually be a more useful. It rides atop an all-new front-wheel-drive chassis, which means it's able to add more space for both passengers and cargo. It trades a heap of the old QX50's sportiness for comfort and packaging efficiency. If that sounds good to you, perhaps the new QX50 is the right crossover.