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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.

Honda Accord, Civic are America's most stolen cars

The National Insurance Crime Bureau has released its latest Hot Wheels study on the most popular stolen cars and trucks for 2012. The study has changed a bit from past years, with the new findings listing only the make and model of each vehicle, while taking into account all model years in its totals. Previous iterations only focused on the most stolen vehicles of a particular model year, with that make and model not appearing anywhere else on the list so as not to appear to call out a particular car. Confusing, eh? Said another way, in previous studies, if the three most stolen vehicles were the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Belchfire Turbo from Fictitious Motors, only the model year with the highest number of thefts would make the list.
The new study takes all model years into consideration while breaking down the number of vehicles stolen per model year in a full, in-depth report. Separately, the NICB is also listing the top 25 new vehicles stolen in 2012. That list is limited exclusively to model year 2012 entries.
Honda took the top two spots in the most stolen vehicles list, with 58,596 Accord models stolen and 47,037 Civic models stolen. The study is interesting, though, in that the most recent model year for the Accord is 1997, while the most recent the Civic is 2000. In fact, Hondas from 1990 to 2000 make up 16 of the top 20 cars stolen in 2012, according to the NICB. Compare that with the MY2012 list, where Honda's vehicles are eleventh and fifteenth, and it looks like the Japanese brand has been beefing up its theft control.

Minnesota tinkerer selling off 500-plus motorcycles, dirt bikes and scooters

For 25 years, Tony Joslyn's entire life has orbited around motorcycles. After getting into bikes at an early age, Joslyn turned his passion into Road Rash, a salvage house where Joslyn would buy and sell two-wheelers and their parts. He wasn't picky with his workings, either, as he has accrued motorcycles across a huge range of decades and brands. And now it's all up for sale.  Suzukis, Yamahas, Harley-Davidsons, Hondas, Kawasakis, and more from the '60s, '70s, '60s, '90s, and '00s are all currently listed on K-Bid.com. There is a variety of size, styles, colors and setups, and a press release says most of the bikes are 'complete and ready for restoration or a tuneup." For Joslyn, the collection just became too much to deal with after all these years.  "It's time to clear the herd and slow down," Joslyn said in a release. "Once it starts to feel like a job, you lose some of the joy. I'm looking forward to getting back to working a few motorcycles now and then. ... It's hard to pick a favorite out of the collection, as I am partial to all of them, but I've always enjoyed the Kawasaki 3-cylinders." The bikes are located in Clarks Grove, Minnesota, directly south of Minneapolis roughly near the Iowa border. Interested parties can visit and inspect the bikes before purchasing, and there's plenty of time to do so. Open now, the auction will close October 2, 2019.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Auto News Honda Suzuki Auctions Motorcycle honda scooter Harley-Davidson Yamaha Kawasaki