2000 Honda Insight Base Hatchback 3-door 1.0l on 2040-cars

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Honda delays JDM Legend over quality concerns

Honda has been having some quality issues lately, to say the least. Most of those have revolved around the airbags supplied by Takata, but not exclusively. The new Fit Hybrid, for example, has been subject to five consecutive recalls in the year since it launched. And now the Japanese automaker is reportedly delaying the launch of its new Legend sedan. The Legend, for those unfamiliar, is what Honda calls the Acura RLX in the Japanese Domestic Market – a model that has been subject to a handful of recalls in the United States, affecting components ranging from headlights to seatbelts to suspension bolts. Such quality control issues have prompted Honda to delay the introduction of its flagship sedan in its home market, pushing its arrival in Japanese showrooms back from the fall (when the model was revealed) initially to January 22 and now to February 20, according to the report from Bloomberg. The extra time is earmarked the give Honda engineers the opportunity to look into potential problems with the vehicle's radar safety system and its advanced hybrid powertrain, before introducing it to the local market. Hopefully further recalls can be avoided once deliveries have commenced.

Weekly Recap: Car-pedestrian crashes remained elevated in 2014

The death of American Horror Story: Freak Show star Ben Woolf served as a reminder this week that car crashes involving pedestrians remain a problem, and a new study issued on Thursday reinforced that the situation isn't really getting better. The Governors Highway Safety Association found a slight decline, 2.8 percent, in the number of pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2014. Fatalities dropped from 2,141 to 2,125 compared with the same period in 2013, though the association says it's a statistical wash when factoring in undercounting. Deaths are still 15-percent higher than in 2009. "The number of deaths remains relatively high and is cause for concern," wrote Allan Williams, who compiled the report and is the former chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This is the first look at data from last year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will issue its full-year results later. The GHSA found some progress on the roadways, as 24 states and the District of Columbia reported drops in pedestrian deaths. In some states, the problem isn't even a problem at all: Nebraska and Wyoming reported one fatality apiece, though large population centers in urban areas are where most accidents occur. "This is a clearly a good news, bad news scenario," Jonathan Adkins, GHSA executive director, said in a statement. "While we're encouraged that pedestrian fatalities haven't increased over the past two years, progress has been slow." Other News & Notes Cadillac previews CT6 during Oscars Cadillac previewed its upcoming flagship sedan, the CT6, in commercials that aired Sunday during the Oscars. As expected, the creased sedan carries on Cadillac's recent design language, and the car in the commercial looks like a larger version of the CTS and ATS sedans. The CT6 will be revealed this spring at the New York Auto Show and launch late this year. It will be assembled at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck factory on a rear-wheel-drive chassis, and the CT6 is the first car to use Cadillac's revised alpha-numeric naming scheme. The commercials also kicked off Cadillac's "Dare Greatly" campaign, which is the first with its new advertising agency, Publicis Worldwide. Honda unexpectedly changes CEOs Honda unexpectedly announced this week that it will change CEOs. Current chief Takanobu Ito will step down in June and be replaced by company veteran Takahiro Hachigo.

Honda rolls out six-seat Jade Hybrid wagon in Japan

Honda has tried its hand at making hybrids of all shapes and sizes – whether dedicated or adapted to partial electric propulsion. There was the original two-seat Insight, the five-passenger Insight that followed, the 2+2 CR-Z hatchback and the hybrid version of the Vezel crossover – to say nothing of hybrid versions of the Civic and Accord. And now there's one more... in Japan, anyway. That would be the Jade, a wagon developed for the Chinese market but which Honda is now bringing home for the JDM, with a few key differences. For starters, while the Civic-based, low-slung wagon/minivan is produced under joint venture with Dongfeng principally in five-seat configuration, the Japanese version is being offered with three rows of two seats each for a total of (you guessed it) six chairs. The six-seat configuration, also offered on the conventional Chinese-market model, does away with the middle seat in the middle row in favor of more elbow room. The JDM Jade is also ditching the conventional 1.8-liter inline four in favor of the 1.5-liter hybrid and seven-speed DCT from the Vezel and Fit hybrids. Now if we could just get it Stateside with the Civic Type R engine, we could have a real sleek power wagon on our hands that would make us forget all about the Seat Leon ST Cupra unveiled just last week and let us play British touring car champion on our daily commute. Featured Gallery Honda Jade Hybrid (JDM) View 15 Photos News Source: Honda Green Honda Minivan/Van Wagon Hybrid JDM