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2022 Buick Enclave revealed with refreshed styling, more standard features

Buick gave us a sneak peak at the 2022 Enclave back in January, but it officially pulled the sheet back Wednesday to reveal the extent of its updated styling and detail a few updates to its feature content, including a new suite of standard safety tech.  We can now better see the various exterior styling touch-ups, including a larger, more pronounced grille, new head- and taillights, and more angularly sculpted front and rear bumpers. The Avenir's exterior treatment was also updated to incorporate the new elements. The changes aren't too dramatic, but Buick did enough to make the 2022 visually distinguishable from previous years.  The new standard safety suite is Buick's Driver Confidence Plus package. It includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane keeping assist with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, forward collision warning, rear park assist, rear cross-traffic alert and automatic high-beams. Buick's midsize crossover is still powered by a standard 310-horsepower V6 with optional all-wheel drive. The range-topping Avenir model includes an adaptive suspension and unique styling elements.  Despite our previous expectations, the Enclave's cabin didn't really get an upgrade apart from the standard safety items listed above. Buick did not include pricing information in Wednesday's announcement, so you can look forward to yet another update before the 2022 Enclave goes on sale later this year.  Related video: 2021 Buick Envision Running Footage

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Buick really wants us to know the new Cascada convertible won't leak

Quality testing on the factory floor is nothing to joke about. Automakers need to make sure the work being done is up to snuff, and that means some extensive checks. For Buick, that means using a lot of water for each of its Cascada convertibles. Each vehicle that rolls off the floor is subject to a high-pressure, ten-minute soaking that sprays nearly 20 gallons of water from each nozzle during every bath, just to guarantee the fabric roof hasn't sprung any leaks. For some reason, Buick has chosen to show off this testing with the help of what we imagine is the Gorton's Fisherman's baby cousin. Check out the strange testing video, available up top.