2002 Black Honda Accord Coupe 2door on 2040-cars

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Honda, Mercedes top KBB brand image awards [w/video]

Kelley Blue Book has announced the winners of its 2014 Brand Image Awards, which look at brands with "attributes that capture the attention and enthusiasm" of customers in the market for a new car.
The award is divided up into luxury brands and everyone else non-luxury brands, with a number of sub-awards in each group. There's also a single award for truck brands. Taking the crown for the best everyman brand (for the second year in a row) is Honda, while Mercedes-Benz was the king of the luxury brackets. Ford, meanwhile, had the best image among pickup buyers.
Honda was also named the most trusted brand among shoppers, while Kia, GMC, Mini and Chevrolet also snagged awards for value, refinement, performance and styling, respectively. Secondary winners in the luxury ranks include Lexus, Buick, Porsche and Jaguar. Mercedes was also named the most refined luxury brand.

Honda recalls 2.7 million vehicles for new air bag inflator defect

WASHINGTON — Honda said on Tuesday it will recall 2.7 million older U.S. vehicles in North America for potentially defective air bag inflators. The defect involves a different type of Takata inflator than those that have prompted the largest-ever auto safety recalls worldwide covering more than 42 million U.S. vehicles by 19 automakers with Takata air bag inflators. The new recall covers Honda and Acura automobiles from the 1996 through 2003 model years. Honda said it is aware of one field rupture of an inflator in the new recall campaign — a 2012 crash in Texas that resulted in an injury — and two in junkyards in Japan. The campaign covers 2.4 million U.S. vehicles and 300,000 in Canada, Honda said, adding that it has not determined recall numbers for other countries. Takata issued a new defect notice in November for inflators from four automakers, including Honda. Honda said all three vehicles "potentially were exposed to unusually high amounts of moisture prior to the rupture events." Honda said the recalls cover driver front airbag inflators manufactured with non-azide propellant and said "all inspections and repairs will begin in approximately one year, as replacement parts from alternative suppliers are not yet available." Honda said it "regrets any inconvenience or distress that this situation may cause to our customers as we seek to resolve this situation. Honda believes that the risk of improper airbag deployment in its vehicles remains very low at this time, but we cannot absolutely guarantee the performance of any recalled part." Related Video:

A pair of different but awesome Hondas star in the latest Forza Horizon 3 car pack

Forza Horizon 3's ever-expanding car list grows again with its latest downloadable car pack. This time it packs a pair of Hondas from opposite ends of history. In fact they use opposite drive wheels, too. The first, representing the modern day and front-wheel drive, is the previous generation, 300-horsepower, 2016 Honda Civic Type R. From the early days of Honda automobiles, and with rear-wheel-drive, is the 1970 Honda S800. It has substantially less than 300 horsepower. The Civic Type R isn't the only hot hatch in the pack either. The Vauxhall Corsa VXR provides a European counterpoint to the Honda, albeit a bit smaller. It features less power – about 200 hp in all – but should be an excellent match to the Fiesta ST. The pack also features a couple of high-dollar, high-horsepower machines in the form of the 2017 Aston Marin DB11 and the 2016 Cadillac ATS-V. Plus, for fans of older cars, there's the rear-engined Renault Alpine GTA Le Mans, and a Holden with a really long name: the 1985 HDT VK Commodore Group A. View 7 Photos As usual, the pack is included with the Forza Horizon 3 Car Pass. Or, if you don't have the pass, the pack can be purchased on its own. Related Video: Image Credit: Turn10 Studios / Playground Games Toys/Games Aston Martin Cadillac Honda Videos aston martin db11 cadillac ats-v forza horizon 3 vauxhall corsa