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Toyota, Mazda drop Takata as Mitsubishi, Subaru weigh options

It's not a very good time to be Takata right now. Fresh on the heels of longtime partner Honda ditching them, Toyota and Mazda have both come out and said they will not use the company's airbag inflators if they continue to rely on ammonium nitrate. Bloomberg reports that Subaru and Mitsubishi are also contemplating a divorce. "The inflator using ammonium nitrate produced by Takata will not be adopted by Toyota," President Akio Toyoda said during a briefing today. "What's most important above anything else is the safety and peace of mind of customers." Mazda echoed that position, simply saying it "will not use Takata airbag inflators which contain ammonium nitrate in our new cars." When you lose three huge OEM accounts in as many days, it's certainly going to have a deleterious effect on your fortunes. In Takata's case, that's meant a staggering 39-percent drop in their share price over the last three days. Yesterday alone, the company saw a 6.2-percent fall, Bloomberg reports. As the business publication reports, though, Takata isn't going down without a fight. The company is "considering some plans to survive," including a fundraising plan that will see it potentially offer up additional shares for sale. Still, at least one analyst doesn't see whatever company survives staying involved in the airbag inflator business. "I really don't see how they're going to be able to survive as an inflator manufacturer," Valient Market Research founder Scott Upham told Bloomberg. "When your major clients publicly come out and say that they're not going to use your products anymore, it makes this very difficult to sustain your business." News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Carlos Osorio / AP Honda Mazda Mitsubishi Subaru Toyota Safety supplier

Just add power | 2017 Subaru Impreza First Drive

The phrase "all new" gets bandied about way more than it should in the automotive world. Depending on how lenient an automaker's marketing department is feeling at the time, refreshed fascias and a reshuffling of trim levels might earn a tired vehicle the all-new appellation. That's not what Subaru has done with its reborn Impreza compact. Everything from its wheels to its windows has been completely redesigned for 2017. With one glaring exception, the 2017 Subaru Impreza has benefited immensely from its rebirth. The chassis is stiffer, the steering is better, and the interior is larger than before. Like on most Subarus, standard all-wheel drive remains a key selling point. The only thing that's missing is more power. Subaru has gotten guff over the years for its exterior design, with vehicles being called everything from ugly (Baja) to odd (B9 Tribeca). The 2017 Impreza doesn't fit those descriptions. There's just enough surfacing pressed into its bodysides to attract the eye, and the burly flared-shoulder fenders add a muscular stance. Dead-on, the Impreza's face is a bit too nondescript – if it didn't wear a Subaru badge, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a Honda or Toyota – but it's not unattractive. The bug eyes of Imprezas past are now nothing more than a historical footnote. The Impreza is again available as either a sedan or, for $500 more, a hatchback. The trunk of the sedan measures 12.3 cubic feet. Obviously, the hatch offers more utility than the sedan, with 20.8 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats and a maximum of 55.3 cubes with the seats folded. That's more than the VW Golf's 52.7 and way more than the new Honda Civic hatchback's maximum of 46.2. The first thing we noticed from the driver's seat is how easy it is to see out of the 2017 Impreza. Visibility is excellent in every direction, and all that glass means the cabin feels light and airy. Large, easy-to-read speedometer and tachometer gauges sit front and center, but the rest of the information needed for the task of driving is spread across three different LCD screens. The first sits between the two gauges, and the second is atop the center stack. The third screen is the largest, measuring 6.5 inches on base 2.0i models and 8.0 inches in Sport and Limited trims.

2019 Subaru Forester: Refined by evolution

Here it is, the all-new 2019 Subaru Forester, a lot like it was before, and a lot different. Spy shots clued us in to evolutionary exterior on this fifth generation, which Subaru dubs "a more rugged style." Taking cues from the Ascent, instead of bodysides decorated with a couple of character lines, Subaru designers stressed the sculpture of the entire span. In front, A larger, black gloss-finish grille cuts deeper into the bumper from the top. The headlight housings carry over in shape, but now hold LED lamps standard on all trims. Along the sides, punched-out wheel arches frame an angled shoulder that cuts into the C-pillar and wraps around the side glass. Design tweaks and the move to Subaru's Global Platform bring a 1.2-inch longer wheelbase and 1.4 more inches of rear legroom. Occupants up front sit in new, more comfortable seats and enjoy more space in the center tunnel thanks to an electronic parking brake. In back, wider rear door openings and a steeper C-pillar allow easier ingress. The tailgate opening increases by 5.3 inches in width, onto a squarer cargo area with a flatter floor and a standard cargo tray. An interior LED illuminates the load bay when the tailgate's open, an exterior floodlight shines outside the rear of the crossover. Lower the rear seats and access 76.1 cubic feet of loading room, 1.9 cu. ft. more than before. The carmaker says you can put golf bags in the car sideways without needing to tilt them, an arcane, yet commendable, achievement. A trim shakeup adds a new variant, the lineup being Base, Premium, Limited, Touring, and a new Sport model. Base and Premium ride on 17-inch wheels, the others get 18-inchers. All Foresters are powered by an "enhanced" version of the present 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder with direct injection, higher compression, and active exhaust valve control. The engine now makes 182 horsepower, a 12-hp improvement, and 176 pound-feet of torque, a 2-lb-ft improvement. For you Forester experts, that means yes, the 250-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged engine vacates the premises. Every trim gets a Lineartronic CVT and stop/start. Touring and Sport models get a manual mode and paddle shifters, mimicking a seven-speed gearbox. The Subaru Intelligent Drive (SI-DRIVE) offers Intelligent and Sport drive modes (Sport Sharp on the Sport trim); Intelligent prioritizes fuel economy, Sport maximizes thrills. Fuel economy reaches as high as 33 miles per gallon on the highway, depending on trim.