1998 Honda Civic Lx on 2040-cars

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Honda Fit loses Recommended rating from Consumer Reports

Thanks to its poor performance in the most recent round of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash testing, where it received the lowest overall score in the small-overlap test, Consumer Reports has bumped the Honda Fit from its "Recommended" list. When a car gets bumped from the magazine's coveted ranks, it's usually cause for concern. This is not one of those times.
As there is a new Fit barreling towards dealerships for an on-sale date this spring, we wouldn't pay too much credence to the current car's demotion. It's expected that the next-generation Fit should pass the test with flying colors, as CR is quick to point out that newer Hondas have traditionally done very well in the tricky small-overlap crash testing.
Of the subcompact cars tested by the IIHS, only the Kia Rio, which netted a "Marginal" score overall, is a Consumer Reports "Recommended" vehicle.

Honda Civic Tourer caught testing ahead of 2014 launch

Honda showed off its Civic Tourer concept at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and at that time, we were told that a production version would be coming to market in the very near future. Obviously, the sleek lines of the concept car will be dumbed down slightly for consumers, but that doesn't mean the Civic wagon will be a bland machine. The Euro-spec Civic's angular front end looks like it will blend nicely with the rakish rump that we saw on the concept.
Our sources suggest that not only will the Civic Tourer be a class-leader in terms of cargo capacity, but it will likely be a pretty engaging car from behind the wheel, as well. Honda is hoping that the Tourer will account for roughly 20 percent of all European Civic sales after it goes on sale.
Expect to see the production car debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September, with the first customers taking delivery in early 2014. In the meantime, have a look at the camouflaged swoopy wagon from all angles in our gallery above.

10 automakers shack up in Detroit hotel to talk Takata airbags

Since Takata has decided not to take the lead concerning potential issues with its airbag inflators, the automakers have. Perhaps that's unsurprising, since it's the automakers, not Takata, that will take a beating on the dealership floor if consumers decide its models are a health hazards. The Detroit News reports that Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru met in a hotel conference room near the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last week to sort out a way to understand the technical issues involved. So far, faulty airbag inflators have been ruled the cause of five deaths and 50 injuries around the world, but neither Takata nor investigators understands exactly why the inflators are malfunctioning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently asked Takata to issue a national recall, Takata declined, citing a minuscule failure rate and the fact that it's still investigating the issue. Toyota and Honda then made an industry-wide appeal for "a coordinated, comprehensive testing program" that would pinpoint the problem inflators and get them replaced, and that's what the Detroit meeting was about. Numerous issues, however, will make this a long row to hoe: simply getting the parts to replace the nearly 20 million inflators in cars recalled around the world so far - even working with other suppliers - will take a years, but more importantly, no one knows if the replacement inflators currently being installed will suffer the same issue. Answers will hopefully come quickly with Takata, the ten automakers and NHTSA all independently investigating the problem.