Car Insurance: 07/27/11

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

NHTSA gives Nissan Leaf the five-star safety rating

Author: $ | Posted at: 3:05 PM |

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I really don’t if the customers pay too much attention on safety when talking about an electric vehicle but today we get once again the proof that the eco-friendly vehicles are one of the safest cars you can get. The Japanese model from Nissan is one of the best-selling in its segment in a big rivalry with the American Chevrolet Volt.

Nissan Leaf crash test

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) decided to test the 2011 Nissan Leaf and analyze the results in order to see if the meets all the safety requirements. Even the American institute has tightened the tests, Nissan Leaf managed to obtain the maximum five-star safety rating after few months ago, the Japanese model obtained the Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

"The Nissan LEAF is the first all-electric vehicle to achieve 5-star overall for safety," said Brian Carolin, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Nissan North America, Inc. "Not only is the LEAF the most innovative car on the planet, it is also one of the safest."

If you are wondering how the fully electric car managed to obtain such a good score, you might want to know that if features a bunch of innovative technologies able to return improved results over the standard equipment. From the list we can mention the Nissan Advanced Air Bag System (AABS) with front air bags, side air bags, a roof-mounted curtain and of course rear protection air bags.

Nissan Leaf crash test

Other noteworthy features include the 3-point Automatic Locking Retractor and Emergency Locking Retractor seat belts, Vehicle Dynamic Control and Traction Control systems offered as standard, Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children system and a lot more.

The 2012 model year Nissan Leaf comes with few equipment upgrades such as a quick charging system able to provide a faster charge while the base price remains around the same at $35,200.

Rikk 28 Jul, 2011

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Source: http://www.automotorblog.com/nhtsa-gives-nissan-leaf-the-five-star-safety-rating/
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NHTSA launches investigation on Lotus Elise

Author: $ | Posted at: 4:56 AM |

This feels almost romantic, after quite a few years of unfaithful and boring reliability records, the British car maker once again falls under investigation for quite a serious problem.

I’m talking about Lotus and their beloved Elise. Pending a few complaints from customers about specific oil leaks, the chaps at NHTSA decided to investigate the famous roadster.

Lotus Elise

As a car that pretty much kept Lotus going, the Elise is a crucial model, and one of very few models to be sold in America up until new ownership and launches came about.

Joking and heritage aside, the problem owners of the Lotus Elise have been complaining about seems to be quite the serious one. Oil cooler assemblies of these cars fail and begin spewing oil at high temperature over crucial areas of the car.

Of the 33 complaints registered, some owners will have had sprays on the engine or exhaust causing small fires and others found the brown liquid on the wheels. You can imagine the sort of handling improvement one gets from having a wheel covered in oil right?

Lotus Elise

The result of all these letters and phone calls is that now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating approximately 4.400 Lotus Elise with model years spanning from 2005 to 2006.

While none of the problems lead to injuries or victims, these Lotus Elise cars could be very easily tagged as dangerous so you would expect the NHTSA to react somewhat harshly or immediately.

Unfortunately, none of the above situations is going on. In actuality, apart from letting us know that the authority will look into it.

Lotus Elise

My guess is that other owners of the affected Lotus Elise models are now hoping that the new investigation won’t take long or that at least the results will reflect some sort of owner misconduct instead of a manufacturing fault.

If you’re not the hoping and praying kind but do own one of these 2005-2006 Lotus Elise in U.S. spec you may want to check it out on your own time and money, eventually making necessary replacements where deemed required.

The recommendation doesn’t come from the authority but in case there is a problem you will want it sorted before you catch fire in your Elise or run up a tree backwards.

Lotus Elise

If this problem turns out to be manufacturing related you will most likely be reimbursed for the costs of doing it yourself during the NHTSA investigation period.

Lupica G. 27 Jul, 2011

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Source: http://www.automotorblog.com/nhtsa-launches-investigation-on-lotus-elise/
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Mazda UK announces Black Editions of MX-5 and 2

Author: $ | Posted at: 3:49 AM |

The British arm of Mazda has a bit of a surprise for their customer base in the form of two new limited editions of their most popular of products, the Mazda 2 and the iconic MX-5 Roadster.

These two new limited editions will each be called the Black Edition and, interestingly enough, neither of them can be ordered in a black paint finish.

Mazda MX-5 Black Edition

Most likely grabbing a bit of inspiration from Mercedes’ AMG division naming the new UK prone limited edition Mazdas can be ordered with a few extra gimmicks and such but only in Spirited Green metallic, Crystal White Pearlescent or Velocity Red Mica.

Hunkering to the idea of British racing green and the somewhat better looking feel of this setup, my bet would be that the Spirited Green metallic would be the best seller of all the lineup.

Originally, Mazda claims the Black Editions of the MX-5 and 2 were inspired by the Japanese company’s Mazda MX-5 GT racecar, a 275 horsepower racer that is fighting in the 2011 Britcar Production GTN Championship.

Mazda MX-5 Black Edition

That’s simply marketing at work since the Mazda MX-5 Black Edition doesn’t get any performance upgrades and nor does the Mazda 2 Black Edition.

As it happens, the MX-5 Black Edition is based on the Sport Tech model, the one with the 2.0 liter engine and a six-speed manual transmission and on top of that you get a black vinyl roof and matte black 16 inch alloy wheels.

The interior of the MX-5 Black edition is where you’ll find black leather seats, alloy pedals, unique floor mats and a plaque to showcase how you got one of only 500 units made.

Mazda 2 Black Edition

A very similar story is going on at the exciting end of the Mazda 2 Black Edition. Again, no power or handling upgrades are available but you do get the same 16 alloy wheels as the MX-5 roadster and, weirdly, the same color scheme you may appoint on the roadster.

Inside it you’ll find something called black sports interior, air conditioning, Bluetooth connectivity, new floor mats and a button for the new and trendy special fog lights.

On the road pricing for the Black EDition Mazda 2 starts at £12.815 and only 618 units will be produced whereas the MX-5 Black will be going for £22.995.

Mazda 2 Black Edition

The official market debut for both these cars is scheduled to be very soon, with an appointed period being “later this month”, so with just a few days left, I’d get my wallet ready for a beating.

Lupica G. 27 Jul, 2011

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Source: http://www.automotorblog.com/mazda-uk-announces-black-editions-of-mx-5-and-2/
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