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Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers

Street racing is obviously illegal and incredibly dangerous, but that has never stopped people from doing it. While we don't hear nearly as much about the scourge of Japanese tuner cars as when The Fast and the Furious first hit theaters over a decade ago, illegal street racing is still bubbling under the surface all over the island nation. An excellent new documentary short from Bowls Films takes a look at the Kanjozoku from Osaka, Japan; a group that claims to be partially responsible for the tuning style known as JDM.
The group gets their name from their preferred route known as the Kanjo. It's a 4.77-mile long loop of connected highways running right through the city of Osaka. You might expect a hardcore group of illegal Japanese racers to show up with highly tuned Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra coupes, but the Kanjozoku evidently eschew all of the others in favor of one particular car that they love: the Honda Civic.
According to the video, that vehicle of choice came in part from the city's location. Osaka was relatively near the one-make Civic races held at Japan's legendary Suzuka racetrack. The hatchbacks thus became the default weapons for the Kanjozoku's street battles.

Honda issues second Fit window recall, this time for 143k units

Honda has announced it is recalling certain 2007-2008 Fit models in the US to fix what could have been faulty repairs made in a previous round of recalls. The vehicles may have been manufactured with a master driver's window switch that could allow rain water or spilled liquids into the switch. If that happens, the liquids could cause the switch to overheat, melt and potentially damage the vehicle's wiring or cause a fire. Honda says no accidents or injuries have been reported due to the problem, but warns owners to park their Fit hatchbacks outside until a dealer can inspect the switch.
All told, the recall covers 143,083 Fit units. Back in 2010, Honda recalled the 2002-2008 model-year Fit for the same issue. That recall covered some 646,000 units worldwide after a two-year-old child in Cape Town, South Africa burnt to death while sleeping in a Fit. Honda says the repair made during that round of recalls may not have been sufficient, and the latest fix should take care of the problem for good.
You can read the full press release on the latest round of recalls below for more information.

Honda Accord Hybrid falls well short of 47 mpg, says Consumer Reports [w/video]

Do not poke Consumer Reports with the hybrid fuel economy stick. That seems to be the lesson illustrated here yet again. The Honda Accord Hybrid is the latest to arouse the ratings bear, returning "just" 40 combined mpg in CR testing. Even so, that makes it "a class leader for fuel economy among midsized sedans," besting even the Civic Hybrid in CR testing, but that's still a lucky roll of the dice short of its EPA rating of 47 mpg. Remember, it was back in December 2012 that CR knocked the Ford Fusion and C-Max hybrid models for the exact same failing: certified with an EPA-rated 47 mpg but delivering "just" 40 mpg.
Beyond that, while the Accord Hybrid earned a lower overall score than the traditional gasoline Accord because of its ride, handling and refinement issues, it gets unqualified applause from the institute for its "very impressive hybrid system."
It will be interesting to see if CR's findings will negatively impact the model's sales, which to this point have been impressive enough that demand is outstripping supply. In the meantime, you can check out CR's brief video review of the Accord Hybrid below, and check out the magazine's press release chiding its mpg rating.