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Saturn Ion steering probe closed by NHTSA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has closed its investigation into faulty electric power steering motors affecting 334,728 Saturn Ions from 2004-2007, because General Motors has issued a recall for them. The group's research found that the part failed at a high rate in the vehicles.
GM recalled over 1.3 million vehicles a few weeks ago, including the Ion, because the power steering could suddenly fail. If broken, the cars could still turn, but it took greater effort. The automaker is also covering 96,324 2003 Ions with a lifetime warranty for their motors, but it's not immediately replacing them.
NHTSA opened its investigation into the motors in September 2011, and it found 4,787 complaints and 30,560 warranty claims that showed failure for the Ion alone. It estimated a complaint rate of 14.3 incidents per 1,000 vehicles and warranty claim rate of 9.1 percent. The investigation also found evidence of 12 crashes caused by loss of steering, two of which resulted in injuries.

A chopped-up General Motors EV1 shell sold for $23,662

Despite not having a VIN, a powertrain, a frame, or any doors, a decrepit General Motors EV1 shell recently sold for $23,662.10 on govdeals.com. Sold by the University of Cincinnati, the car — or what remains of it — is headed to an electric vehicle collection called The Beata Electric Motor Carriage Collection. Technically, the GM EV1 was the first mass-produced and purposed-built electric car in America. When it was released in 1996 for the 1997 model year, however, GM strictly leased the car as part of a "real-world engineering evaluation." The limited production run was meant to test real life with an EV and judge the interest from the public. GM only built 1,117 units, all of which were recalled, and most of them ultimately were sent to the crusher. But a select few were stripped of their powertrains and donated to universities and museums for educational purposes. One of those non-functioning cars made it to the University of Cincinnati in 2008. The post says it "has been in storage since," but it's not clear if the car sat in storage untouched or was stored and used by the university. According to EpiclyEpicEthan1, who posted the sales listing to r/cars, the car was purchased by The Beata Electric Motor Carriage Collection in Colorado. The Beata (derived from the Latin word for blessed) collection is a gathering of '90s OEM electric vehicles and a general EV hub. The website says the vehicles are used for testing, diagnostics, education, events, and overall preservation and documentation. The rare and niche collection also includes a 1993 Dodge/Chrysler TEVan, a 1997 Honda EV Plus, a 1999 Dodge/Chrysler EPIC EV, a 1998 Ford Ranger EV, a 2002 Toyota RAV4 EV LongRanger III, a Tesla Roadster, a 1998 Nissan Altra EV, a 1998 Chevrolet S-10 EV, a 2011 Nissan Leaf, and a 2012 Tesla Model S. Beata also has several other projects under construction such as the 2000 Toyota RXT-G Prototype, a 1997 RAV4 coupe EV prototype, the 1995 AC Propulsion eCivic EV, a 1995 ACP RXT-G Prototype LongRanger II, a 1995 ACP RXT-G Prototype LongRanger I, and a GM EV1. Beata acts as a resource for EV1 owners and helps place parts it finds and doesn't need. The parts it does need are put into building a working EV1. Beata's current EV1, which is 80 percent complete, is made up from more than 50 different parts sources, including from all three versions of the EV1, the 1994 LPF4 PreView "Impact" series, the 1997 EV1, and the 1999 EV1.

Honda wins Commercial of the Decade, but not for the ad you think [w/VIDEO]

Honda's Commercial of the Decade: "Grrr" - Click above to watch video
The mad men at Adweek recently voted for the Commercial of the Decade (Super Bowl commercials not included) and Honda took top honors over memorable ads from the last ten years by companies like Nike, Budweiser and Sony. That's not a big surprise considering Honda often puts a huge amount of effort into its on-air spots. However, the Japanese automaker didn't win for the commercial you might have expected: "Cog." Though Honda's famous commercial that breaks down a European Accord Tourer into a Rube Goldberg-esque machine was also a finalist, it was beaten by another Honda commercial called "Grrr" that's narrated by Garrison Keillor of all people. You've probably never seen it, but you can after the jump.
Volkswagen also made the list of finalists, but the particular ad chosen out of all the comical VW ads we've seen was unexpected as well. Most surprising carmaker with a commercial in the finals: Saturn. Who knew...