2000 Honda Civic Lx on 2040-cars

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Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha to make swappable motorcycle batteries

Just as electric cars are becoming ever more common, the alternative propulsion system is starting to make headway in the motorcycle sphere. Companies such as Harley-Davidson and Zero already have electric models on sale, but other established brands are preparing for the electric future. Among them are the four big Japanese bike builders (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha) who have a plan to improve electric bike adoption, and make their bikes very appealing. The four companies created an organization back in April 2019 for this sort of purpose called the Swappable Battery Consortium for Electric Motorcycles. And the group has now announced that the manufacturers have agreed on the specifications for motorcycle batteries that can be interchanged among each company's motorcycles. So if you have a Suzuki, you can use a Honda battery, or vice versa. This idea presents quite a few interesting possibilities. The manufacturers could sell bikes with or without batteries, since you might already have a battery from your previous bike, or just another one you own, so you wouldn't have to shell out to buy an entirely new battery. If, for whatever reason, you needed a replacement battery, it should be easy to get one, since the same type would support bikes from a variety of manufacturers. The pipe dream of battery swapping stations might even be feasible because of the standardization and support. And having the batteries relatively easy to remove could be good for apartment dwellers, since they might be able to bring a battery inside to charge. The manufacturers haven't said exactly what the specifications are for these interchangeable batteries, nor when they'll be implemented. But we'll be eagerly awaiting more information in the future. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Honda recalling nearly 900,000 Odyssey minivans over fire fear

Honda is recalling nearly 900,000 2005 to 2010 model year Odyssey minivans due to a fault with the fuel pump that could cause them to catch fire.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filling, if exposed to "acidic chemicals and a high temperature environment," the cover of the fuel pump strainer could crack and cause a gasoline smell in the minivan or possibly allow the fuel to leak out. Denso supplied the fuel pumps on the vehicles, and the report says that Honda first began studying the problem in October 2012 but didn't finally confirm the cause until March 6, 2014. The recall affects 886,815 Odysseys, and Honda has received 187 warranty claims related to the issue. However, there have been no fires or injures reported.
Unfortunately, Honda says that it currently doesn't have enough replacement fuel pumps to fix all of the vehicles and doesn't expect to have the parts ready until this summer. It's sending a letter to owners telling them about the recall and is sending a second notification when the pieces are at dealers. The entire notification including affected VINs can be viewed as a PDF here, and the shortened version from the NHTSA can be viewed below.

Petition to bring Honda Civic Type R to US picking up steam

Never mind what the executives say - we've had a sneaking suspicion all along that the upcoming Honda Civic Type R won't be coming to North America. And with good reason: both the prototype we drove in Japan and the concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last week were based on the European-spec Civic hatchback - not to mention that some of the best hot hatches remain out of our reach.
Well it turns out we're not the only ones with that concern. There are legions of Honda hot hatch enthusiasts right here in the good old U S of A who want to see the new Civic Type R ripping up the Great American Road. And many of them are taking to the cyberclouds demanding that Honda bring it Stateside, post haste.
As of the time of writing, this online petition has gotten over 6,000 digital signatures, needing less than 1,500 more to get to the author's target of 7,500 votes. Of course, if and when the petition reaches its target, that still won't mean that Honda will bring it over, but it could mean that extra bit of encouragement the Japanese automaker's executives would need to tip the scales in our favor.