Starting with Toyota, the Japanese carmaker has issued a recall on a total of 427 RAV4 vehicles manufactured from November 24, 2011, through December 19, 2011, because the curtain shield airbags may not deploy. Toyota said it would check the RAV4s and if necessary, replace the assemblies. The safety recall is expected to begin in early March.
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It's latest accomplishment is the JAC 4R3 pickup truck that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's a styling copy of the Ford F-150. Of course, as with other Chinese doppelgangers, the similarities begin and end with the appearance as it's too costly for automakers to extend the cloning to the mechanical hardware.
The 4R3 will reportedly make its debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April and will then go on sale in China where it will be offered with a 2.8-liter four-cylinder diesel engine pushing out 108-horsepower and 240Nm (177 lb-ft) of peak torque.
However, these past few years, automakers like GM, Ford and Chrysler are slowly trying to modernize their trucks mostly in the name of fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions, especially now that the U.S. Corporate Average Fuel-Economy standards are getting stricter.
We've already seen some advances on the engine front including the availability of Ford's EcoBoost V6 on the F-150 and GM’s hybrid lineup, but there's more to come in different areas than you'd normally expect.
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What makes the feat, which won her a brand new 2011 F-150 truck from Frenchie's Ford in New York, even more spectacular is that the 59-year-old woman is said to have never held a hockey stick in her life. Truly unbelievable. Watch the clip after the break.
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A common saying is that the modern cars are cleaner than lawn equipment and that the carbon dioxide emissions they release are actually lower than that present in the air that comes into the combustion chamber.
Edmund's Insideline decided to put the theories to the test. Since cars come in all shapes and sizes, they chose two examples from the opposite side of the spectrum: a Fiat 500 mini and a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Crew Cab pickup.
The diminutive Fiat is powered by a 1.4-liter four with 100HP, while the big and menacing-looking Raptor sports a 411HP 6.2-liter V8.
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Being big, brawny and surprisingly powerful thanks to the ferocious 6.2-liter V8 with 411-ponies that's lurking under the hood, definitely helps.
Now there's a question of what to do once you get yourself in a F-150 Raptor SVT and while we can think of many things, for this particular owner, the answer was to climb over a Toyota (Corolla we believe). Whatever pops your cork...Watch the clip after the jump.
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A recent study conducted by Max Warburton of Bernstein Research, a market trends and analysis firm, reveals which models sold in the U.S. are the most profitable for automakers.
Despite being blamed for almost anything, from the greenhouse effect to the costly bailout a couple of years ago, the study shows that Detroit’s Big Three light-truck models lead the list of the most profitable vehicles in the U.S.
The poster of the clip is an unnamed manager from the Kelleher Ford dealership located in the small Canadian town of Dauphin in the Province of Manitoba. According to the description, the incident took place after the dealership caught fire on September 10, 2011.
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Under the sheetmetal, Ford replaced last year’s electronic shift-on-the-fly with a an enhanced two-speed automatic 4x4 system that gains a 4x4 auto mode for Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum trim levels. Across the range, there's a new standard Hill Start Assist feature that prevents the truck from rolling backward at a stop.
