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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.

Weekly Recap: Tesla loses money, still dominates the news

Some people get an inordinate amount of attention. In politics, it's Donald Trump. In football, it's Jim Harbaugh. And in the auto world, it's Elon Musk and his always-fascinating electric car company, Tesla Motors. General Motors is spending $877 million to upgrade a factory. So what! US auto sales are up. Who cares? Tesla has a metal snake that will recharge your car! So was the week in Tesla – er, the industry. Snarkiness aside, Tesla did dominate the news cycle, led by the announcement the company lost $184 million in the second quarter. Tesla also said it expects to deliver between 50,000 and 55,000 vehicles this year, and is preparing for a full launch of the Model X crossover in September. Musk also made news during the earnings call by simply not answering a question about ride sharing, leading to speculation Tesla could be considering its own operation. While the financials were the arguably the most important company news, reports of a Model S cyber hacking were more compelling fodder for Tesla followers. Researchers were able to attack the sedan and bring it to a stop, though they required access to the car first. Tesla says it already has deployed a remedy for the situation. On a lighter note, Tesla published a video of its metal charger prototype that autonomously uncoils like a snake to power up the company's vehicles, provoking plenty of humorous comments and comparisons. Watch it and decide for yourself. While some of this might seem trivial, much of Tesla's recent attention has been warranted. It's the first startup US automaker in decades to launch from nothing and actually gain traction in the market. Sure, Musk is a lightning rod and Tesla always seems to be in the spotlight. But amid all of the publicity, it easy to lose sight of the new reality: Tesla is a force. OTHER NEWS & NOTES 2016 Chevy Volt lights up 106 MPGe The Chevy Volt's vitals are looking healthier for 2016. The second-generation plug-in hybrid racks up a gaudy 106 miles per gallon equivalent, which is an increase of eight MPGe from the 2015 model. The new Volt can travel 53 miles on electricity, a significant jump from the 2015 Volt's 38-mile range. The new car also has a 420-mile total range when factoring in the capability of the gasoline engine, which is 40 miles greater than the current car offers.

The U-2 spy plane needs high-performance cars to help land

Typically, aircraft deploy their landing gear from three main points. Most military aircraft, for example, deploy two gears at the back and one forward, like a tricycle. Some civilian aircraft flip the layout, with two in front and one in back - tail-draggers. The U-2 Dragon Lady is wildly different than any of these. With a 103-foot wingspan but a body that's just 63-feet long, the layout of the U-2 makes a traditional landing setup infeasible. Instead, the U-2 utilizes a pair of wheels, one up front and one in back. With such a bizarre layout, landings are so tough that since the U-2's earliest flights at Area 51, the US Air Force has used high-performance chase cars to guide the pilot down safely. The landing process isn't over there, though. As this video from Sploid shows, balancing out the aircraft to fit the detachable "pogos" – think training wheels for spy planes – is a comical procedure requiring a number of airman using their full body weight to even out the U-2. This video also recaps some of the great vehicles that have served as chase vehicles for this legendary spy plane. They include Chevrolet El Caminos, and the Fox-body Ford Mustangs so favored by the California Highway Patrol. For the last several years, the USAF has utilized products from General Motors, using fourth-generation Chevy Camaros, before switching over to the Pontiac GTO and most recently, the awesome Pontiac G8. It's fair to say that if you're a gearhead in the Air Force, this is the job you want. Check out the video, embedded up top. News Source: Sploid via YouTubeImage Credit: Sploid Chevrolet Ford GM Pontiac Military Performance Videos