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Auto blog

Honda and Mario Andretti cite pedestrians for excessive slowness

Honda and the Andretti family have a lot to celebrate at the moment. Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay won the 2014 Indianapolis 500 in his Honda-powered car, and Marco Andretti, Mario's grandson, also managed to take the third step on the podium. Apparently, the victory is making them feel magnanimous because Honda and Mario Andretti are giving the chance to ride with him in a two-seat, open wheel car.
To promote the contest, they created the Honda Speed Patrol to ticket anyone going too slow. It's an interesting idea, and the chance to ride with Andretti would be the opportunity of a lifetime. Perhaps the biggest shock of the video, though, might be when you realize how short Mario is when you see him milling about in public. Scroll down to watch one of America's most respected racers cite people in Chicago for being too slow.

Brand new cars are being sold with defective Takata airbags

If you just bought a 2016 Audi TT, 2017 Audi R8, 2016–17 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, or 2016 Volkswagen CC, we have some unsettling news for you. A report provided to a US Senate committee that oversees the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and reported on by Automotive News claims these vehicles were sold with defective Takata airbags. And it gets worse. Toyota and FCA are called out in the report for continuing to build vehicles that will need to be recalled down the line for the same issue. That's not all. The report also states that of the airbags that have been replaced already in the Takata recall campaign, 2.1 million will need to eventually be replaced again. They don't have the drying agent that prevents the degradation of the ammonium nitrate, which can lead to explosions that can destroy the airbag housing and propel metal fragments at occupants. So these airbags are out there already. We're not done yet. There's also a stockpile of about 580,000 airbags waiting to be installed in cars coming in to have their defective airbags replaced. These 580k airbags also don't have the drying agent. They'll need to be replaced down the road, too. A new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time. If all this has you spinning around in a frustrated, agitated mess, there's a silver lining that is better than it sounds. So take a breath, run your fingers through your hair, and read on. Our best evidence right now demonstrates that defective Takata airbags – those without the drying agent that prevents humidity from degrading the ammonium nitrate propellant – aren't dangerous yet. It takes a long period of time combined with high humidity for them to reach the point where they can rupture their housing and cause serious injury. It's a matter of years, not days. So a new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time – and six years seems to be about as early as the degradation happens in the worst possible scenario. All this is small comfort for the millions of people who just realized their brand-new car has a time bomb installed in the wheel or dashboard, or the owners who waited patiently to have their airbags replaced only to discover that the new airbag is probably defective in the same way (although newer and safer!) as the old one.

Petrolicious profiles an 'original fanboy' and his 1987 Honda CRX Si

Christopher Hoffman is a guy I'd like to meet. He's profiled in the latest installment of Petrolicious, titled Original Fanboy, because of his love and dedication to his 1987 Honda CRX Si. And that's something I can relate to.
My personal car is a black 1988 Honda CRX Si. Road & Track executive editor Sam Smith sold it to me in December 2010 with some 93,000 miles on the odometer (and one bum tire!), and though I don't drive it nearly as much as I should, I'm madly in love with my little Honda. I take immense pride in owning this car, despite my recent neglect. As soon as we're done with this Polar Vortex crap here in the midwestern United States, I'm going to pull the CRX out of its wintertime storage and show it the love it deserves.
Like me, Hoffman fully understands the beauty of the CRX. It's not super powerful, or even quick (when it was new, its 0-60 time was just over 9 seconds), but it's extremely light, and comes from an era when Honda was churning out brilliantly simple cars. The steering is incredibly precise, the transmission perfect, and the chassis superb. Nearly 26 years after its birth, I adore every moment behind the wheel of my CRX. And thanks to this Petrolicious special, I know I'm not alone. Scroll down to watch the full episode.