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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.

Nissan itself will be indicted alongside Ghosn, report says

Prosecutors in Tokyo are expected to file charges against Nissan itself alongside an expected indictment against former Chairman Carlos Ghosn as part of the ongoing financial misconduct case. That's according to a report from Japan's Nikkei business daily, which does not identify its sources. Charges are also likely against Greg Kelly, a member of Nissan's board of directors who was taken into custody with Ghosn Nov. 19 after Japanese authorities questioned the former chairman aboard a corporate jet at the Tokyo Haneda airport. Monday is the deadline when prosecutors must either indict the two executives, release them or arrest them on new allegations. Both men are accused of under-reporting salaries in five annual reports that stretch through the fiscal year that ended in March 2015. The Nikkei says they'll also be arrested on new allegations of misstating financial information for the subsequent three business years. Nissan would be charged for not preventing the alleged crime. Both men have reportedly denied the allegations. In response to the Nikkei report, a spokesman for Nissan told Automotive News the company had "identified serious misconduct related to the reporting of Mr. Ghosn's compensation" and was cooperating with investors. The turmoil over Ghosn prompted the automaker to scrap plans to unveil a long-awaited longer-range Leaf electric car at the L.A. Auto Show last week. Ghosn is accused of conspiring to understate his income by about half the 10 billion yen (about $88 million) over the period. Reports say the issue relates to deferred compensation that Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa reportedly signed off on but may not have understood. The company didn't report the deferred compensation in Japanese securities filings as it is required, since the money is considered a future liability against the company. Automotive News cites an unnamed source who says Nissan has identified some $80 million in unreported deferred compensation promised to Ghosn. Nissan's board voted Nov. 22 to oust him as chairman, and Mitsubishi followed suit days later. Ghosn remains the CEO and chairman of Renault, however. Under Ghosn's guidance, Nissan and Renault joined forces in 1999 when Nissan was teetering toward bankruptcy. Mitsubishi joined on in 2016, with all three members able to jointly develop products and control costs. He had reportedly been pushing for deeper ties, including a possible merger between Nissan and Renault at the urging of the French government.

Nissan Qashqai caught looking sleek

The next-generation of the not-for-US-consumption Nissan Qashqai has been out doing some testing in southern Europe this week. And, if the dressed-in-trash-bags look is any indication, it's been doing a lot of roadwork so it can make weight for the big meet the weekend.
Nissan designers haven't been scared to take big design chances with recent new models, so expectations are that the Qashqai crossover will get a bold new visage for its generational changeover. What we see in these photos indicates a sleeker, slightly trimmer CUV however, with no trace of the bug-eyed look we captured recently on a testing Titan.
In the rest of the world, it's a good bet that the Qashqai will be powered by engines ranging from a 1.2-liter turbo up to a 1.6-liter forced-induction unit; that larger one good for something like 215 horsepower. Diesel powerplants will be in the mix, too, for the compact CUV, and word is that Nismo might get its hands on this Rogue cousin for the first time ever.