1995 Toyota Tercel Std Sedan 2-door 1.5l on 2040-cars

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Ford barely edges surging Chrysler for Canadian sales crown in best year ever

The auto industry in the US showed strong results through much of 2014 with sales regularly growing year-over-year for many brands. That same trend carried over in the Great White North, as well. Canada posted its best numbers ever with 1.85 million units sold, up about 100,000 vehicles over 2013. The country nearly had a new market leader, too. The big winner among our neighbors to the north in 2014 was Ford with 291,951 vehicles sold, up 3 percent from 2013, according to Reuters. That success also handed the company the sales crown for the fifth consecutive year. In large part, the strong result came from the company's popular trucks, which represented about 80 percent of overall sales. "Ford moved into the number one position in September and didn't look back," said a note to clients by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants quoted by Reuters. However, the Blue Oval didn't exactly take an overwhelming lead for the year. The company nearly had to hand over the sales trophy to FCA after the company rallied in the latter part of the year. The Italian-American conglomerate had its best results ever to nip at the Ford's heels and move 290,004 units for 2014, a 12-percent improvement from last year. Jeep especially helped the bottom line with over 50-percent growth, according to Reuters. Only two other brands were able to break the 200,000-vehicle barrier in Canada for 2014. General Motors came in third place overall with 249,800 sales, up 6.3 percent. The combined Toyota and Lexus also barely jumped the hurdle with 200,851 units moved, a 2.8 percent improvement.

Recharge Wrap-up: Mirai earns Toyota "Most Innovative" honor, Tesla cold-weather range

A Tesla driver has graphed the effect of cold weather on the driving range of his Model S. Rob at Teslarati kept track of the amount of miles driven and energy used and mapped that against temperature readings to find how the colder temperatures affect efficiency. The results were an average of 10 miles of range lost for every 10-degree drop in temperature. Also, he calculated that drivers will lose about 25 percent more range when the roads are slippery. Read more at Teslarati. Albany Engineered Composites (AEC) is teaming with automotive engineering and consulting company Ricardo to provide lightweight components to the automotive industry. AEC produces composites for the aerospace industry, and having proven themselves in that field, they show promise for helping automakers make their cars lighter and more efficient without sacrificing structural integrity. "The agreement announced today is excellent news for our global automotive customers as we work to find further weight reductions in vehicles to meet future CO2 reductions," says Ricardo CEO Mark Garrett. With carbon composite prices expected to drop, Garrett believes this is an "attractive solution" for structural components. Read more at Ricardo's website. Toyota Motor Europe (TME) wants to recover all of its hybrid batteries for remanufacturing. TME currently recovers 91 percent of Toyota and Lexus batteries at the end of the vehicles' lives through dealerships, and is now working with independent end-of-life vehicle treatment operators to recover the rest. Beyond just being recycled, Toyota is looking into remanufacturing batteries for other vehicles or for stationary energy storage systems. Read more in the press release below. Fast Company Magazine has recognized Toyota as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2015 for its Mirai fuel cell sedan. "Toyota plans to do for fuel cells what its Prius did for hybrids: make them ubiquitous and top of mind for environmentally conscious consumers," says Fast Company. The article also notes that Toyota has also made its fuel cell patent public and invested in hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Toyota is ranked number 18 in the Most Innovative list, just below Tesla. Read more at Fast Company.

Cars most likely to be involved in accidents

Data from Insurify shows which models have the most accident-prone drivers behind the wheel. It also shows the proportion of the drivers of said vehicles with an at-fault accident on record in the past seven years, based on Insurify’s analysis of over 4 million car insurance applications. For reference, the national average is 10.78%, and each of these vehiclesÂ’ drivers represent a statistically significant increase over that. Now, it would be easy to infer that these cars are dangerous, but such is not necessarily the case. Remember, drivers cause accidents, not cars. These just happen to be the cars that accident-prone drivers drive. YouÂ’ll notice that many are mainstream, affordable cars, often with decent crash ratings. Also keep in mind that vehicle accidents are up since the beginning of the pandemic, so no matter what you drive, please drive safely. 10. Hyundai Ioniq This affordable, electrified vehicle platform sneaks into this list with 14.45% of drivers with a recent at-fault accident on record. 9. Lexus CT Another hybrid, this Prius-powered Lexus beats the national average at 14.57%. 8. Toyota Prius V Yet another hybrid, the larger but discontinued member of the Prius family sees 14.72% of its drivers with recent accidents. 7. Mazda CX-3 The Mazda CX-3, which is discontinued for the 2022 model year, sees the accident-prone making up 14.9% of its drivers. 6. Infiniti Q60 The second and final luxury car on this list has more accident-prone drivers than average, at 14.93%. 5. Subaru Impreza The first of two Subarus on this list has 15.1% of drivers with recent accidents on record. 4. Hyundai Genesis Coupe The Genesis Coupe was only on the market for a brief span before it was discontinued and Genesis spun off into its own luxury brand. That said, it too beats the national average for accidents, at 15.29%. 3. Subaru WRX Despite its standard all-wheel drive, the boy-racer WRX has 15.44% of drivers with a prior accident in the last seven years. 2. Kia Stinger We love the Kia Stinger, and had great luck with our long-termer that graced the Autoblog garage for a year. That said, 15.75% of its drivers represent have a recent accident on record. 1. Scion FR-S This fun two-seater attracts the most accident prone drivers, with 15.87% with recent at-fault crashes. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.