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A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Acura recalling 19.5K cars over automatic braking problem

Acura is recalling 19,502 vehicles to fix a software issue with their Collision Mitigation Braking System on the 2014-2015 MDX and RLX, plus the 2014 RLX Sport Hybrid. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the technology can falsely interpret things like metal fences and guardrails along the side of the road as obstacles and unexpectedly apply "emergency braking force." Obviously, that would be rather disconcerting while driving. Number of Auto Recalls by Model Year | AxleGeeks According to the detailed documents from NHTSA, the first account of this happening came from Japan in November 2013, and that vehicle was rear-ended when the system suddenly braked. Another incident was identified there in June 2014. However, there have been no reports of this happening in the US. The fix is quite simple, though and just requires a software update for the system. Affected owners will be notified by mail, and the repair will be done at no charge. Related Video: RECALL Subject : Activation of Collision Mitigation Braking System Report Receipt Date: MAY 20, 2015 NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V301000 Component(s): FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Potential Number of Units Affected: 19,502 All Products Associated with this Recall Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) ACURA MDX 2014-2015 ACURA RLX 2014-2015 ACURA RLX HYBRID 2014 Details Manufacturer: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) SUMMARY: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2014-2015 Acura MDX 2WD and AWD, RLX and 2014 Acura RLX Hybrid vehicles. In certain driving conditions, the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) may incorrectly interpret certain roadside objects such as metal fences or metal guardrails as obstacles and unexpectedly apply the brakes. CONSEQUENCE: If the CMBS unexpectedly applies emergency braking force while driving, there is an increased risk of a crash. REMEDY: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will update the CMBS software, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule. Owners may contact Acura customer service at 1-800-382-2238. Honda's numbers for this recall is JQ4, JQ5 and JQ6. NOTES: Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Autoblog Podcast #407

Episode #407 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, and Sebastian Blanco talk about the Michelin Challenge Bibendum, the Toyota Mirai, and the BMW 3 Series falling off the Car and Driver 10Best list. We start with what's in the Autoblog Garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #407: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics: Challenge Bibendum Toyota Mirai fuel cell 3 Series falls off Car and Driver 10Best list In The Autoblog Garage: 2015 Acura TLX 2015 Dodge Charger 392 Audi Prologue Concept Hosts: Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, Sebastian Blanco Runtime: 01:07:55 Rundown: Intro and Garage - 00:00 Challenge Bibendum - 18:32 Toyota Mirai - 28:20 C/D 10Best - 44:52 Q&A - 53:52 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Podcasts Acura Audi BMW Dodge Toyota toyota mirai challenge bibendum