1999 Honda Accord Lx Coupe 2-door 2.3l Modified on 2040-cars

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Honda Walking Assist Device begins US testing at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

For years, we've been wondering what implications Honda's Asimo robot could have in the real world, and now we're starting to get a sense of that. Honda announced that it will begin its first US clinical studies of the Walking Assist Device at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in an effort to provided improved mobility for people who have suffered a stroke. While the automotive tie-in here is pretty weak, this is the first time we've heard about this device since it was unveiled back in 2008.
Weighing in at six pounds, Honda's device is fitted to the waist and legs of patients to make it easier to walk, and the 22.2-volt lithium-ion battery provides enough electricity for more than an hour of operation. According to Honda's press release, which is posted below, up to 80 percent of the almost 800,000 stroke victims each year (in the US alone) are afflicted with limited mobility, so a medical aid like this could have a big impact in the real world.

Honda tweaks ad after catching ire from Detroit protesters [w/video]

Honda has released a revised version of its youth-focused Today is Pretty Great commercial because the original used footage of Detroit bankruptcy protesters in front of the Theodore Levin US Courthouse. The protesters felt that Honda was making fun of their plight. The new version cuts out the protestors and replaces them with a close-up of a bankruptcy court sign. Honda says that it never intended to tie the ad to Detroit and made the change to avoid that appearance.
"The slight change we made to the commercial simply reflects our desire to remove anything that would get in the way our uplifting message," said Honda spokesman Steve Kinkade in a statement to The Detroit News.
Honda's footage of the protestors lasted about one second in the original ad. It blurred the protestors' faces, and the name of the courthouse was not visible. The company said that the footage was meant to represent any courthouse in the US. Both versions have about five seconds of negative imagery at the beginning before transitioning to young people saying that there are some great things about today too.

Lawsuit reveals gruesome details of Takata airbag victim's death

The accident was minor. The aftermath was horrific. Carlos Solis was waiting to turn left into a Houston-area apartment complex on January 28 when oncoming traffic struck the front-left corner of his 2002 Honda Accord, pictured above. He was stopped, according to a police report of the accident. The other car traveled at under 30 miles per hour. He should have walked away from the fender-bender. Instead, the 35-year-old married man was killed when a defective airbag exploded and sent a large piece of metal shrapnel into his neck, his estate's lawyers allege in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Harris County, Texas. He bled to death while his younger brother and an 11-year-old cousin tried to save him. Solis is one of at least six motorists killed by defective airbags made by Takata, a global automotive supplier. He may also be a posthumous poster child for federal legislation introduced earlier this week that would ensure car owners receive more timely information about safety recalls. Currently, federal law does not require car dealers to tell prospective buyers about open recalls on used cars or whether defects have been repaired. Legislation introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wouldn't require that directly of dealerships, but it would mandate that car owners be notified of recalls when they apply for registration and at the time of registration renewal. "Important recall notices can get bogged down with legalese, and busy consumers can miss a life-saving update," Blumenthal said. "This legislation provides a common-sense avenue to ensure every driver is reminded and encouraged to make the necessary repairs." Such a law may have prevented Solis' death. Although his '02 Accord had been recalled in late 2011, his wife and lawyers say he had no knowledge of the recall when he bought the car used from All Star Auto Sales in 2014, nor did he know of the dangerous flaw when he set out to visit his parents on Jan. 18. Only one month earlier, Congress held hearings on Takata and Honda's long-standing inaction related to the defective airbags. Documents showed both companies were aware of problems with the airbags as early as 2004, and a report in The New York Times detailed secret airbag tests, the results of which alarmed Takata engineers. Yet the company withheld the information from federal safety administrators.