2021 Kia Sportage Lx on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2021 L.A. Auto Show roundup | All the reveals, reviews, pictures

The L.A. Auto Show took place this week for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. It was a show packed with news and reveals, which hasn't really been the case with other shows we've seen this year, and Autoblog was on the floor covering every minute of it. Well, Riswick and Stocksdale were, anyway. The rest of us were sitting at home in our sweatpants, but hey, we'll take credit anyway. Let's get to it. Hyundai Seven Concept This is the Hyundai Seven Concept, and it’s meant to act as a preview for an incoming electric SUV for the Ioniq brand. It leans more toward the concept side of the spectrum than a production car, but expect the final SUV to take design cues from the Seven Concept. Kia Concept EV9 The Hyundai Seven counterpart isn't the only big, bold electric SUV at L.A. this year. Kia has its own take, and it's a modernized version of the traditional boxy utility vehicle called the Concept EV9. It also previews one of the next production electric cars for the brand, which should look right at home next to things like the Telluride. 2023 Kia Sportage HEV As promised, the 2023 Kia Sportage HEV has been revealed. The hybrid powertrain makes the compact SUV the most powerful version available, and it goes on sale next year. The engine is a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder paired with a 44-kW electric motor. Total output is 226 horsepower. The company didn't give a torque number, but it should basically be the same as the Sorento HEV that has the same basic powertrain: 258 pound-feet. Those numbers are a healthy step up from the 187 horsepower of the base 2.5-liter engine. 2022 Range Rover If you noticed how extra smooth and suave the new Range Rover looked during its recent reveal, Autoblog's James Riswick got a design tour that revealed some of the technological secrets to its success. "Less is more" is harder to achieve than it looks. Fisker Ocean Fisker has brought the new Ocean EV to the L.A. Auto Show, with a public preview at Manhattan Beach and a presence at the show itself. You can watch the public show reveal above, and see more shots from the show floor below. Fisker says the Ocean will start at $37,499 before incentives. That entry model would be the Sport trim with a single, 275-horsepower motor driving the front wheels and 250 miles of estimated range. It also has a 0-60 time of 6.9 seconds. 2023 Toyota bZ4X This is the 2023 Toyota bZ4X, due to hit U.S.

Nissan, Kia under investigation over occupant detection systems

Kia and Nissan are facing separate investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because of alleged problems with the occupant detection systems in their vehicles' airbags. The larger investigation is NHTSA's new engineering analysis into 986,826 Nissan and Infiniti vehicles. They include the 2013 Nissan NV200 and 2013-2014 Altima, Leaf, Pathfinder, and Sentra. Among the Infinitis, there are the 2013 JX35 and 2014 Q50 and QX60. Owners allege the occupant classification system can misidentify passengers and turn off the airbag if they don't weigh enough. Nissan recalled over a million vehicles worldwide last year to fix the same problem with a software update, but NHTSA kept getting complaints about the issue after the repair. The agency opened a preliminary evaluation in March, and after 1,271 complaints it has now been updated to an engineering analysis. The Feds intend to evaluate the effectiveness of Nissan's solution. NHTSA is also opening a preliminary evaluation into the 2007-2009 Kia Spectra for the occupant classification not working properly, and it could affect an estimated 186,000 of these vehicles. The government agency has 43 complaints from people allegedly reporting the failures. According to NHTSA, the issue could result in the airbag not deploying with enough force or not activating at all in an accident. This investigation is meant to assess the scope of the potential flaw, and there's no recall yet. INVESTIGATION Subject : Occupant Classification System Fault Date Investigation Opened: SEP 01, 2015 Date Investigation Closed: Open NHTSA Action Number: PE15031 Component(s): AIR BAGS All Products Associated with this Investigation Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) KIA SPECTRA 2007-2009 Details Manufacturer: Kia Motors America SUMMARY: The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received 43 complaints alleging a malfunction of the front passenger seat occupant classification system (OCS) in 2007-2009 Kia Spectra vehicles. The complaints report illumination of the SRS (air bag) warning light. All of the complaints allege the cause of the light illumination to be a malfunction of the OCS sensor mat imbedded in the passenger seat cushion, and/or report the presence of diagnostic trouble code B1448 which relates to the OCS sensor mat also. Many of the complaints note the malfunction occurred after the warranty period expired and mention high repair costs as a major deterrent to repairing the vehicle.

Is your new-car warranty good at the race track?

We've all heard the horror stories. Your buddy knows a girl that was dating a guy whose best friend's brother once broke his brand-new, recently purchased performance car while making runs at a drag strip or laps at a track day, and the manufacturer wouldn't cover the repair under warranty. True story? Urban legend? Complete crap? Yes, no, maybe. One thing's for sure: Automotive warranties have always come with caveats. In 1908, an ad in the Trenton Evening Times clearly stated: "All Ford Cars Guaranteed for One Year." Although it changed over time, by 1925 the Ford New Car Guarantee only covered 90 days on material and 30 days on labor, and it clearly stated that that there was "No guarantee whatever on Fan Belts, Glass, Bulbs, Wiring, Transmission, Bands, Hose Connections, Commutator Shells, Rollers, Spark Plugs or Gaskets." Whether or not Ol' Henry would pay to fix your Model T if you broke it shaving a tenth off your lap time at the local board track seems to be lost to history. We're guessing no. But what about today? Do new-car warranties in 2017 cover cars when they are driven on race tracks? We researched the warranties of 14 auto brands to find out, and the answer is yes, no, maybe, depending on the brand, in some cases the model, and whether or not your car is modified from stock. Acura has been out of the high-performance car game for a number of years, but jumps back into the party in 2017 with its hybrid-powered $173,000 NSX supercar. And Acura's warranty, as well as Honda's, clearly states that it does not cover "the use of the vehicle in competition or racing events." View 33 Photos So we asked Sage Marie, Senior Manager of Public Relations for Honda and Acura. "If the car is stock, the warranty covers it on a track just as it does on the street. No question," he told us. "However, if the car is modified, say with slick tires or other components that would put higher stresses on the vehicle's parts and systems, then we would have to investigate the circumstances further." Marie went on to say the same would be true for any Acura model or Honda vehicle, including the new 2017 Honda Civic Si. This became a common theme. Chevrolet actually started this practice with the fifth-generation Camaro on the high-performance ZL1 and Z/28 models.