1953 Chevrolet Bel Air Base Sedan 4-door 3.9l on 2040-cars

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Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Camaro spy shots show subtly different grille, front fascia

It looks like there some changes in store for the Chevrolet Camaro - the only thing is that we just don't know what Chevy has up its sleeve. Looking at these spy shots, we'd initially be inclined to think that there is just a minor facelift or a new special edition, but upon closer inspection, there are a few oddities about this car that definitely have us intrigued.
The most obvious difference on this prototype is the slightly restyled front fascia with a smaller lower air inlet and the two-bar grille. Then we get to some of the car's mysterious details. For starters, this fascia has the SS vent above the grille, but it looks to be blocked off. Granted this could just be a one-off piece used for testing. What really piqued our interest was at the rear of the car where it has quad exhaust outlets that are used on the ZL1. Could this be the LS7-powered Camaro that we reported on back in December?
At this point, your guess is as good as ours as to what we're looking at here, so let us know in the comments what you think this could be.

North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year finalists revealed

The finalists for the 2023 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year Awards were announced Thursday at the L.A. Auto Show. — The Acura Integra, Genesis Electrified G80 and Nissan Z made the cut in the car category. — The Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevy Silverado ZR2 and Lordstown Endurance advanced in trucks. — And the Cadillac Lyriq, Genesis GV60 and Kia EV6 advanced among utilities.  The winners will be announced Jan. 11 in Detroit.  The finalists underscored the industryÂ’s shift to electric vehicles, as all three utilities and two of the three trucks are EVs. The finalists were culled from a list of 26 semifinalists made up of three trucks, 10 cars and 16 utility vehicles that are new this year.  Notables that missed the cut include the Mercedes EQE, Subaru WRX and Toyota GR Corolla in cars; while the Honda CR-V, Kia Sportage and Rivian R1S were among the utes that did not advance. The three trucks are the only ones eligible this year and have advanced through the voting.  50 jurors who work for media outlets across North America vote three times over the course of the year to whittle down the field, which was originally 47 vehicles. Jurors also test the semifinalists at an October group event in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Honda Civic (car), Ford Maverick (truck) and Ford Bronco (utility vehicle) were the 2022 winners. Autoblog Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is a NACTOY juror.   Featured Gallery Ford F-150 Lightning View 48 Photos Green LA Auto Show Acura Cadillac Chevrolet Ford Genesis Kia Nissan Truck SUV NACTOY Lordstown Endurance