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Nissan expands, shrinks Leaf recall for missing weld points

Chalk this one up to the quirks of the English language. The other day, we had a post on the recall of a small number of 2014 Nissan Leaf EVs that were missing weld spots. The official bulletin from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that "any vehicle missing welds will be replaced, free of charge." We read that as saying that the welds would be replaced, but in fact it's the cars themselves that will be swapped out. NHTSA said that 211 Leafs were potentially involved in this recall, but we heard from Brian Brockman, Nissan's senior manager of corporate communications, that Nissan is actually looking at, "approximately 276" vehicles. More importantly, Brockman clarified that, "If a vehicle is found to be missing the welds, the entire vehicle will be replaced." NHTSA documents on Inside EVs show that Nissan expects just 0.65 percent of those Leafs will need to be replaced. Brockman wouldn't say exactly how many cars Nissan thinks are affected, but 0.65 percent of 276 is just 1.8 vehicles. Brockman did say that, "you'd be correct to say that we expect the number to be very low." Read Nissan's full statement below. Nissan is conducting a Voluntary Recall Campaign on approximately 276 MY2014 LEAF vehicles to inspect the front member assembly welds. Due to an isolated supplier process error that has been corrected, a small number of vehicles within a subset of MY2014 LEAF vehicles manufactured during a two-week period may have front frame member assembly components that were not welded to proper specification. This can affect crash performance. Within the next few weeks, affected LEAF owners will be asked to bring their vehicle to a certified Nissan LEAF dealer for an inspection. If the vehicle is determined to be affected, Nissan will provide owners with a brand new replacement vehicle at no additional cost. A loaner vehicle will be provided during the vehicle exchange process. It is anticipated that only a handful of retailed vehicles are affected by the weld issue and require vehicle replacement. Nissan is committed to a high level of customer service and satisfaction and is working with its dealers to provide an outstanding ownership experience to Nissan LEAF owners.

We drive the cars of Furious 7... in Forza Horizon 2 [w/video]

On March 27, Turn 10 Studios, the folks behind the Forza Motorsport series, and Universal Pictures, the studio responsible for the Fast and Furious franchise, gave us a match made in heaven, announcing a "standalone expansion" featuring the two franchises. Called Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast and Furious, it features the cars from the latest film installment, unique missions and the voice-acting of Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, who plays tech guru Tej Parker on camera. A Fast and Furious video game? Seems like a no brainer. It gets better. Rather than limiting the Fast and Furious Edition cars to the expansion game, Turn 10 made them available through one of their (some may say notorious) downloadable content packages. Eight of the expansion's 11 cars were made available for just $4.99 (the only cars that weren't included were the Fast and Furious Edition Nissan GT-R, while the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and McLaren P1 are already available in-game). What's cool ais that the cars featured in both games are visually identical to the vehicles driven by the stars of Furious 7. Each in-game car has an on-screen parallel that plays a role in advancing the film's story. Considering that we're unlikely to score seat time in Dominic Toretto's real Dodge Charger, then, we figured we'd take to the game and test the car in the digital realm. We've got nine little cluster reviews, covering the cars both in the game and how they appear in the movies. And don't worry, there are no major spoilers here. Click on for the cars of Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast and Furious. 1970 Dodge Charger R/T Fast and Furious Edition Supercharged 7.2L V8 / 900 HP / 663 LB-FT The one vehicle that is mandatory in a Fast and Furious video game, Dom's hot-rodded 1970 Dodge Charger, is as much a character in the films as its driver. Furious 7 marks the fourth appearance of this Mopar beast in the series. Not surprisingly it's a handful to drive, wildly quick and with a four-speed transmission packed full of very tall gears. But beyond that, it's arguably the coolest of the FF Edition cars. This black beauty is exactly as it appears in the latest installment of the film, with the video game version featuring intricate little details, like the moving parts on the BDS supercharger. It's an iconic car, and it's treated as such in the game.

Next-gen Nissan Leaf will look more mainstream, have more range

The next-generation Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle will look better and go farther on a single charge, company executives tell Automotive News. How much better and how much farther remains to be seen, as does the timing on when the new version will be available to the public. Nissan executive Andy Palmer, speaking recently at the Beijing Motor Show, implied that an electric vehicle would need to have a 185-mile single-charge range to be competitive with hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, once those arrive in larger numbers. While Nissan boosted its single-charge range by about 15 percent for the 2014 model-year Leaf, the automaker would need to double it to reach that competitive threshold. This seems unlikely for the next-gen model, but we can start making our guesses as to how many more miles Nissan will put into the pack. Regardless, the next-generation Leaf, which may come out around 2017, will at least look a bit more mainstream while it reaches for more range, Automotive News says, citing Nissan global design chief Mamoru Aoki. Indeed, the car, which will keep its hatchback layout, will likely look less angular, said Aoki, who complimented Tesla for the way it styled its Model S luxury electric sedan. Nissan's Infiniti arm could also debut its delayed luxury electric vehicle in 2017, complete with the improved battery pack. Angular looks and all, Nissan continues to increase sales in the US. Leaf sales through April were up 33 percent from 2013, to 7,272 units after more than doubling sales last year to 22,610 vehicles.