Archive for the ‘Civic’ Category

It's obvious from the comments on this site and others in the High Gear Media family that Cash-for-Clunkers remains a hot-button issue, and new data about the program is likely to fuel the fire: according to stats from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, most car buyers used Cash-for-Clunkers to swap out their domestic ride (frequently a Ford Explorer or F-150) for a foreign model. The notable exception: Michigan, where over 81% of Cash-for-Clunkers trade-ins went toward the purchase of a domestic automobile. Other states along the Rust Belt leaned slightly in Detroit's direction, but on the whole, 57% of Americans ditched...

Honda's reputation as a manufacturer of green automobiles is about to get a little greener: the company is retooling much of its product line, including the popular Honda Civic, to boost fuel economy and keep auto prices low. Given the lingering financial crisis plaguing most of the world and oil prices that have shot from $30 to $80 a barrel in a handful of weeks, Honda's strategy of efficiency-meets-economy seems a smart one.

Honda's guiding principle seems to be refining production in the areas it knows best and limiting expansion of its lineup. Accordingly, Honda has nixed plans for some larger, sportier models with eight-cylinder...

If you own a Honda Accord—and there are plenty of you out there, it being a longtime mid-size sedan favorite—there’s a small chance that your airbag might detonate with an unpleasant bonus: some shrapnel.

In some isolated incidents in specific Hondas and Acuras made earlier this decade, inflators can over-pressurize the airbag, causing the inflator itself to rupture and projecting metal fragments that could puncture the airbag material.

“Metal fragments could pass through the cloth airbag cushion material, possibly causing an injury or fatality,” Honda states in a release.

A Honda spokesman told CNNMoney.com last week that the defect has...