2010 Black Jeep Patriot Sport Sport Utility 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

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.

Autoblog Podcast #372

Episode #372 of the Autoblog podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth and Chris Paukert are joined by Peter Leung of RichlandF1 to talk Formula One, the impending demise of Bertone, and Honda spinning Acura off into its own division. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the new rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #372: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics: Bertone goes bust Mercedes F1 Power Unit Honda spinning off Acura In the Autoblog Garage: 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited 2015 Subaru WRX STI 2014 Land Rover Range Rover Autobiography Hosts: Dan Roth, Chris Paukert Guest: Peter Leung Runtime: 01:37:41 Rundown: Intro and Garage - 00:00 Formula 1 - 26:39 Bertone - 50:42 Acura - 01:02:19 Q&A - 01:14:38 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Design/Style Marketing/Advertising Motorsports Podcasts Acura Honda Jeep Land Rover Subaru

Stellantis and LG launch joint venture for North American battery plant

Stellantis has struck a preliminary deal with battery maker LG Energy Solution (LGES) to produce battery cells and modules for North America, as the world's No. 4 automaker rolls out its 30 billion euro ($35 billion) electrification plan. Global automakers are investing billions of euros to accelerate a transition to low-emission mobility and prepare for a progressive phase-out of internal combustion engines. Stellantis and LGES's joint venture will produce battery cells and modules at a new facility with an annual capacity of 40 gigawatt hours (GWh), the two firms said on Monday. No financial details of the deal were provided. The plant is scheduled to start production by the first quarter of 2024, with groundbreaking expected in the second quarter of 2022, the companies said in their statement. Its location is under review and will be announced later. Stellantis, formed in January from the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA, has said it wants to secure more than 130 GWh of global battery capacity by 2025 and more than 260 GWh by 2030. The batteries produced under the deal will supply Stellantis' U.S., Canadian and Mexican assembly plants for installation in hybrid and fully electric vehicles, supporting its goal of e-vehicles making up more than 40% of its U.S. sales by 2030. The company, whose brands include Peugeot, Fiat, Opel and U.S. best-sellers Jeep and Ram, earlier this year announced it would invest more than 30 billion euros through 2025 on electrifying its vehicle lineup. Stellantis has said it would build three battery plants in Europe and two in North America, including at least one in the United States. Intesa Sanpaolo analyst Monica Bosio said the deal was positive, and a further step ahead in Stellantis' electrification process. It comes weeks after Stellantis and its partner TotalEnergies agreed to open up their battery cell joint venture ACC to Daimler, to expand their European sourcing of battery cells. Stellantis is also targeting more than 70% of sales in Europe to be of low-emission vehicles by 2030, and aims to make the total cost of owning an EV equal to that of a gasoline-powered model by 2026. Related video: Green Plants/Manufacturing Alfa Romeo Chrysler Dodge Ferrari Fiat Jeep Maserati RAM Citroen Lancia Opel Peugeot Vauxhall Electric Hybrid EV batteries LG