2004 Lexus Rx 330 on 2040-cars

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Takata air bag recall list

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed yesterday that 33.8 million vehicles with Takata airbags are going to be recalled. It's the largest recall in automotive history. The already record-breaking rate of automotive recalls this year shows no signs of slowing down, especially since millions of cars with defective airbags made by global supplier Takata are under ongoing scrutiny. The federal government is warning owners that inflator mechanisms in the air bags can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed. The faulty air bags have already been blamed for multiple deaths. How do you know if your vehicle is safe? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released an updated list of vehicles under recall. Sometimes however, the government's website will crash and the list may not be complete. Check your VIN at the NHTSA website to make sure. The list of cars affected by the recall has not been released, but seem to span multiple models over the years for many of the automakers.

Kia leads J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study for 2022

For the first year ever, Kia leads J.D. Power's annual Vehicle Dependability Study with a score of 145 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick (147) and Hyundai (148) round out the top three. The highest premium brand on the list is Genesis, with a score of 148. It's common for so-called "mass market" brands to lead this particular study, according to J.D. Power, as "premium" brands "typically incorporate more technology in their vehicles, which increases the likelihood for problems to occur" and aren't necessarily built to a higher standard that less-expensive brands. The highest-rated single nameplate is the Porsche 911. It's the third time out of the past four years and the second year in a row that Porsche's quintessential sports car has taken top honors. Porsche as a brand sits in seventh place (162) just behind Lexus (159) and ahead of Dodge (166). At the very bottom of the list is Land Rover with a dismal score of 284; the SUV specialist held the same unfortunate distinction on last year's list. Ram (266), Volvo (256), Alfa Romeo (245) and Acura (244) also performed poorly. The overall industry average score sits at 192 — mass market brands average a score of 190 while premium brands sit 14 points lower at 204. While Tesla is unofficially included in some of J.D. Power's results, the agency says the sample size it has access to for this study is too small to include. As has been the case for the past several years, infotainment systems dominate the list of problems reported by owners. Popular (or unpopular, depending on your point of view) complaints include built-in voice recognition (8.3 PP100), Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity (5.4 PP100), built-in Bluetooth system (4.5 PP100), not enough power plugs/USB ports (4.2 PP100), navigation systems difficult to understand/use (3.7 PP100), touchscreen/display screen (3.6 PP100), and navigation system inaccurate/outdated map (3.6 PP100). While problems with the car's infotainment and technology packages are indeed bothersome, it's important to remember that such issues aren't usually leaving owners stranded with an immovable vehicle like a broken transmission or blown engine would. Culling infotainment complaints from the results would reduce the average problem-per-100-vehicle score by a staggering 51.9 points. The vehicles included in this study are from the 2019 model year. That means owners have had three years to get to know their cars and trucks. It's the 33rd year that J.D.

Lexus J201 Concept | Overlanding into uncharted brand terrain

Taking a left turn off of I-10 outside of Palm Springs, California, we drove down a rutted, sand-blown track for a couple miles before ending up at a tall, rocky pile, an outcrop scaled somewhere between a hillock and a massif. After shifting the transmission into neutral, engaging the four-wheel-drive low range, and closing the ARB Air Locking differentials, we got even and steady on the throttle and pointed our truck—a seven-figure, one-off, overlanding concept known as the Lexus J201—up the steep, rocky face until all that showed through the windshield was dust and searing sky. The truck handled the challenge with marked aplomb, cresting the ridge without a huff, and eventually leveling off and displaying the glories of what was on the other side: a meth lab. So capable was this vehicle that it was easy to forget that the platform that underpinned all of this ruggedness was LexusÂ’ posh, flagship SUV, the $88,000 LX 570. This jacked and tracked truck begs the question: Has Lexus gone rogue? “Going rogue is actually part of who we are,” says Vinay Shahani, the brandÂ’s vice president of marketing for America. “And we love to experiment. J201 is a rolling example of our belief in Always On, the idea of continual improvement no matter the time in a vehicleÂ’s lifecycle.” The reference to time-in-lifecycle is kind of an understatement for a vehicle that has existed in its current form, with only minor cosmetic updates, since 2008 — two lifetimes in the product span of most automobiles. But the J201 Concept does add significant upgrades to the production vehicle, which, based as it is on the venerable and caprine Toyota Land Cruiser, is hardly a slouch in the off-road-capability department. In addition to the performance differentials mentioned above, the J201 benefits from a myriad of additional add-ons. These include rugged accessories such as an Icon Vehicle Dynamics suspension good for a few extra inches of ride height, and even more when the suspension is put in extreme high mode; smaller 17-inch Evo Corse Dakar Zero wheels mounted with 33-inch General Grabber X3 tires; a TJM Airtec snorkel for breathing underwater (something we did not get to experience in the parched Coachella Valley); and StopTech drilled brake rotors. It also includes bolt-ons such as CBI skid plates, rock sliders, and front and rear bumpers; a Warn winch; a Prinsu Design roof rack system; an onboard ARB twin compressor; and luminescence of Rigid Industries light bars.