2012 Nissan Maxima S on 2040-cars

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Nissan teases Tokyo concept

Nissan is keeping the details very light about a concept that it is premiering at the Tokyo Motor Show in just a few days, but we're definitely curious about what's in store. The model is so mysterious that we don't even know a name yet, and the company's announcement simply describes the vehicle as a "future vision of car intelligence and electrification." Thankfully, there's a teaser image to provide a decent idea of what this concept looks like. Without anything to lend scale, we can only guess the vehicle appears to be fairly compact overall. The styling is intriguing. Nissan's ubiquitous V-shaped grille is prominent in front and even seems partially illuminated here. The LED running lights also help sharpen the design, and the pronounced front fenders lend a little aggressiveness, too. The lighting unfortunately prevents seeing the rear, but the beltline shows signs of kicking up towards the rear – kind of like the Teatro for Dayz that's appearing in Tokyo, too. At least we know from Nissan's description that this is unnamed vehicle is an EV, and there's a hint that it might use some autonomous tech, as well. We should get a much better idea when the company drops all the secrecy in Tokyo. TOGETHER WE RIDE TO TOKYO Nissan's future vision of car intelligence and electrification is coming to Tokyo Motor Show 2015.

Nissan owners complain to feds about rusting floors

"You can feel it's soft right here," Jeff Talman told KSHB. "Right under his driver and passenger seats, the floorboards were rusting from the inside out," a KSHB reporter said. "This is a seven-inch area where it's actually rotted up here," Talman said. That was Jeff Talman, just one of many who have had issues with rusting floorboards in Nissan Altimas. KSHB reported the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received more than 400 complains about rust issues in 2002-2006 models. NBC highlighted a Chicago woman's 2005 car, which had rusted so much the floorboards were actually crumbling. "The hole was big enough to fit her foot through," NBC reporter Tom Costello said. "I'm not Fred Flintstone. This is not a good thing," Marie DeMaria said. While NBC reports snow and road salt could account for rust damage in some vehicles, that's probably not the cause in places that don't get snow and ice. And complaints are coming in from all over the country. Both Toyota and Ford have recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles in the past few years because rusting underbody parts made the vehicles fall apart. Despite the number of complaints, Nissan isn't recalling the Altima vehicle models in question. "It's not a safety recall problem that's going to cause immediate death and injury if you have a hole in the floor. As a result of that, what we've seen is that Nissan has been able to get away with this problem," auto safety expert Sean Kane told WBZ-TV. KSHB reports the age of the cars is another way Nissan is able to avoid covering cost to fix them. "Once it's out of the warranty period, obviously they don't have any legal obligation. It becomes more of a customer service issue of whether they want to deal with it or not," body shop owner Bill Eveland said. NBC did reach out to Nissan for comment, but the carmaker reiterated that both it and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration do not consider the rust problem to be a safety defect. This video includes an image from Getty Images.

Watch Formula Drift Championship leader Chris Forsberg drift a 1975 Datsun 280Z

Chris Forsberg won the Formula Drift Championship in 2009, was in the catbird seat to win it last year until the final race of the season and started this year's season with a win at Long Beach. That is how he can be provide the example for Clarion USA's tagline, "Dream like a champion."
In this three-minute video for the audio components manufacturer, Forsberg gives up the race suit for a corporate suit, then takes time out of his commute to think about what he'd rather be doing. In a 1975 Nissan 280Z with a turbocharged 2.0-liter Skyline RBDET20 engine. We're sure this has never happened to any of you before.
You can watch how dream begins - and suddenly ends - in the video below.