2004 Lincoln Town Car Executive Limousine 4-door 4.6l on 2040-cars

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Lincoln may add suicide doors to future Continental

There's been plenty of uncertainty surrounding the future of the Lincoln Continental, a nameplate revived only 18 months ago but struggling to move units as sedans submit subduction-style to the techtonic boom in crossovers. We recently shared a report that the Continental won't live to see another generation after selling just 18,846 units in its year-and-a-half back on the market. Now comes a report from Automotive News saying that Lincoln at the 2018 NADA convention in Las Vegas showed a photo of the Continental with rear-hinged doors and said it plans to manufacture it. The publication cited several dealers who were in the room but didn't want to be identified. Lincoln, of course, isn't saying anything about rear-hinged suicide doors except to say that "Continental is an important part of the Lincoln family." The announcement at NADA was reportedly meant to convey a commitment to cars by Lincoln, which has been buoyed by crossovers like the MKC and its red-hot Navigator large SUV. There was no word on timing or other details about the suicide door-equipped Continental. Lincoln sold just 1,573 units of the sedan through February, down about 25 percent on the annualized monthly rate. Still, if Lincoln wants to plant its flag in the car segment, then its flagship is probably a good place to start. The Continental nameplate, which was revived in New York in 2015 as a concept, enjoys a long design lineage, of course, and boasted production suicide doors on the 1961 Continental Mk V. The luxury sedan also inspired one artist to reimagine the Continental as a two-door coupe, true to its original 1939 styling and demonstrating the car's versatility. And the car already has some concept-style futuristic touches, including hidden electric door handles and 30-way adjustable front seats. But suicide doors have mostly been relegated these days to concept vehicles, one-offs like this Rolls-Royca Sweptail and the Tesla Semi truck. So should we see this as a way for Lincoln to draw some attention to a struggling nameplate? Related Video:

Ford to add Android Auto and CarPlay to 2016 SYNC 3 cars via update

Ford is updating a large number of 2016 model year cars equipped with SYNC 3 infotainment software, adding Android Auto and CarPlay to the vehicles with a free, over-the-air update via Wi-Fi, or using either USB or going through their dealer. The upgrade will be available for around 800,000 vehicles in total, giving a huge number of Ford car owners the chance to get big infotainment improvements without having to buy a newer model car. The OTA update option is also a big step for Ford – it's the company's first for software ever, and it's one of the major reasons that Ford recently hired around 400 new mobile smartphone engineers, the company tells me. For CarPlay, users will still also need to upgrade their vehicle's USB hub to make this work (which will also incur a dealer visit and a cost), but for those on Android, all that's required is a simple software installation. The USB install method is also faster, but the Wi-Fi update option is the start of the company's efforts to really increase its OTA update program, which will be used for security improvements as well as infotainment bumps. Even with a dealer visit and hardware upgrade for CarPlay, this sounds like a worthwhile thing for 2016 vehicle owners to do. CarPlay and Android Auto are huge upgrades vs. most in-car software, offering navigation and entertainment options that follow you from your phone to your car. Retroactively offering this kind of thing to car owners is a definite change in tone for carmakers, since they typically use these kinds of things as incentives to get people interested in vehicle model updates. But as data becomes increasingly important to automakers as a business, it makes sense to encourage greater in-car use of devices.Written by Darrell Etherington for TechCrunchRelated Video: Auto News Ford Lincoln Technology Infotainment android

2020 Ford Explorer safer than old model; crash test ratings short of Top Safety Pick

The 2020 Ford Explorer three-row crossover has improved on the outgoing model in many ways. According to the IIHS, it has also improved in a number of safety categories, but not enough to earn a Top Safety Pick award. The culprit is not the headlight performance for once. The Explorer's headlights were given an "Acceptable" rating, which would be sufficient for Top Safety Pick, if not Top Safety Pick +. Where the Ford falls short is in the front small overlap driver-side crash test, in which it got the second highest "Acceptable" rating. The IIHS requires a "Good" rating in this category, whereas an "Acceptable" rating on the passenger side would be, well, acceptable for Top Safety Pick. According to IIHS, Ford will be reviewing the results to figure out what the issue is, and it will likely make revisions to future Explorers to improve the result. Other than the one test, the Explorer performed admirably. It received a "Good" rating in all other crash categories except the passenger-side small overlap that was not tested. Both its standard and optional forward collision prevention systems had the highest "Superior" ratings, with the standard one preventing a collision with a car at speeds of up to 25 mph, and the optional one avoiding a collision at 12 mph, and "nearly" preventing one at 25 mph. Headlights are rated as "Acceptable" and so is access to child seat LATCH anchors. Also worth noting is that the Explorer's crash test ratings apply to its luxurious twin the 2020 Lincoln Aviator, meaning it also doesn't get a Top Safety Pick rating. The forward collision system performed the same as in the Ford, and the only difference between the two was in headlight performance. The Lincoln's standard headlights, included on the base, Reserve and Grand Touring trims, have the second-lowest "Marginal" rating, but the optional headlights for those trims, and the standard ones on the Black Label trim, received the "Good" rating. Among three-row Explorer competitors, the Honda Pilot, Hyundai Santa Fe XL, Kia Telluride, Nissan Pathfinder and Toyota Highlander all have a Top Safety Pick. The Hyundai Palisade, Mazda CX-9, Subaru Ascent, and the slightly smaller Kia Sorento and Volkswagen Tiguan all have a Top Safety Pick +. As for Lincoln Aviator competitors, the Cadillac XT6, Infiniti QX60, Lexus RX and Volvo XC90 get a Top Safety Pick. The Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class and two-row-only BMW X5 get the Top Safety Pick + rating. Related Video: