The 2013 Ward’s 10 Best Interiors list was just released and it looks as if the Asian automakers get to do the Happy, Happy Joy dance for building what it takes to make the Top Ten. General Motors also seems to know what will keep drivers and passengers comfy and cozy for their drives as well in order to make the list. For drivers, it gives us something to keep in mind when we are wondering what the next best commuter vehicle will be to plant our butts in.

WardsAuto World Editor-in-Chief, Drew Winter, comments, “This year’s batch of winners really drives home the point that auto interiors are vital in the battle for consumers’ hearts and minds. It wasn’t uncommon all that long ago for auto makers to view interiors as the best place to take cost out of a vehicle program. They eventually figured out that’s a big mistake because people spend a lot more time looking at the inside of their car than the outside.”

The winners are determined by being time tested and driven during routine commutes and scored for “materials, ergonomics, comfort safety, value, fit-and-finish and overall design.” According to Ward’s Auto, they are also scored for how driver friendly they are to use in regard to using the technology and accessing vehicle information.

This year’s 2013 Ward’s 10 Best Interiors winners:

• Acura RDX – Honda Motor Co. Ltd.
• Cadillac XTS – General Motors Co.
• Chevrolet Spark – General Motors Co.
• Hyundai Santa Fe Sport – Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.
• Kia Forte – Kia Motors Corp.
• Lexus GS 450h – Toyota Motor Corp.
• Mazda6 – Mazda Motor Corp.
• Nissan Pathfinder – Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
• Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn – Chrysler Group LLC
• Toyota Avalon – Toyota Motor Corp.

We watched this video half a dozen times trying to figure out what went wrong. The person that uploaded the video claims that the driver was his wife and was pulling into the neighbor’s driveway to pick someone up and became a victim of unintended acceleration, which has been a bane for Toyota for the past few years now. The driver is claiming the accelerator got stuck in the Toyota Highlander Crossover she was driver and that is what took her and her passenger on their unfortunate trip to bashing into the neighbor’s garage, their two cars parked inside it, and the side of the house. Not once, but twice.

The explanation at YouTube for this adrenaline raising adventures states: “My wife was only able to control the car with the PRNDL – 3 teenage girls in the car with her and just pulling into a neighbor’s driveway to pick-up during carpool! This could happen to you! The car was totalled, the home has severe damage, and a car inside the home was totaled out and another damaged. Toyota’s response: “…no evidence of any sort of manufacturing or design defect…” You look at this video and decide for yourself!”

Apparently no one was harmed during this twice-collision. There were three teenage girls in the vehicle along with the mom driver. There is no news about why this fiasco was even being filmed in the first place, of course from the sounds of it with three young ladies and a mom on their way to pick up another young lady; it must’ve been for some type of exciting day.

Take a gander at the video yourself a couple of times and see if you can make heads or tails out of whether or not this was in fact unintended acceleration caused by the Toyota Highlander Crossover, or if it was a case of driver error.

Source YouTube

Japanese automakers have one unfortunate commonality. They all have to issue recalls for faulty airbags. Apparently they all used an outside supplier, Takata Corp., for airbags that went into their vehicles built in the years 2000 through 2004. The airbags in question are the passenger front bags that do not inflate properly. As you can imagine, that could have significant implications in the event of a crash, especially for the front seat passenger. Toyota and Honda have both published information about their recalls from this fiasco at their respective websites. Nissan and Mazda have not commented yet but all will need to make sure to contact owners and get this issue taken care of.

Recall List:

Toyota – The following built between November 2000 and March 2004 – Lexus SC, the Toyota Corolla, Sequoia and Tundra and the Pontiac Vibe. The Camry sedan is also affected, but not in the U.S. market. This totals around 1.73 million Toyota models, 580,000 vehicles sold in North America and 490,000 vehicles sold in Europe.

Honda  - Civic, CR-V and Odyssey built within the same time period as Toyota and totals about 1.14 million vehicles. 561,400 vehicles were sold here in American and 107,800 in Canada.

Nissan – Specific models haven’t been announced, however there are around 480,000 Nissan models that will be recalled. 265,000 are here in the United States.

Mazda – Reports are stating that 45,500 vehicles worldwide will be recalled. The specific models haven’t been released as yet however Mazda 6 sedans and RX-8 sportscars here in America will be effected along with whichever other models are involved.

There is a risk of fires being started or of passengers being injured by metal fragments shooting up toward the windshield or down into the passenger foot well in the event of a crash. Because of these risks, drivers of the affected vehicles should contact their dealerships. While Honda has initiated sending recall letters to their drivers, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda have not announced when they will notify their drivers of this issue.

Ford recently claimed that the Ford Focus is the bestselling vehicle in the worldwide market for 2012. 1.02 million models were sold just last year according to R.L. Polk & Co. data. While this is excellent news for the American automaker and certainly something with bragging rights, Toyota isn’t quite as satisfied. They are claiming that while R.L. Polk & Co. have records of 872,774 Toyota Corolla units going out the door, the numbers were actually closer to 1.6 million models sold for 2012, which obviously, would give Toyota the right to claim the bestselling global vehicle for last year.

“Toyota sold 1.16 million Corolla nameplate vehicles globally in 2012,” Mike Michels, the carmaker’s U.S. vice president of communications, said late yesterday in an e-mailed statement. “Corolla registrations attributed to Polk come up short by nearly 300,000 units. This discrepancy is glaring and we have requested clarification.”

Ford isn’t budging though. Erich Merkle, a US sales analyst with Ford, verifies that the figures in question are coming in as, “a pure number that is verified by a third party.”

Alan Baum, principal of Baum & Associates, an auto consulting firm in West Bloomfield, Michigan, said, “There’s no simple answer here — it’s basically for bragging rights, so you define it however you like to suit your purposes. Suffice it to say these are both global models that are extremely popular and whose sales are likely to grow as the volumes in developing countries increase.”

In the meantime, both Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla are claiming to be the bestselling global nameplate. Whether that brings in even more popularity for them remains to be seen. Of course the other automakers have some clear numbers to shoot for in order to jump in line for the “best-selling” crown for this coming sales year.

The midsize sedan segment is the most highly competitive out of all other vehicles. For the past few years, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord were the main contenders, but that changed with the new Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion throwing their weight around. Nipping at their heels has been the Chevy Malibu and Hyundai Sonata, and its game on. The Altima and Fusion are in a death match for the crown and to stay on top as “King of the Mountain” in the midsize category.

Bob Carter, Toyota Motor Sales’ senior vice president of automotive operations, said, “We feel really good about our position following a late build-out of the ’12 model. We are absolutely confident we will be the No. 1 [car] in the market in 2013.”

Well, apparently that’s smack talk because all the other automakers have their own perspective.

Victor Benitez, general manager of Gus Machado Ford, comments about the new Ford Fusion, “We now have a vehicle that can compete head-to-head with Camry and Accord. It’s a good-looking car.”

Don Johnson, Chevrolet’s vice president of sales and service, said, “Clearly it’s a very competitive segment, but it’s really that month-over-month trend that we like right now.” This is in light of the fact that Chevy Malibu sales rose more than 25% from February and March was the sedan’s best month since last August.

How is your favorite playing out in the battle to win the crown as top selling midsize sedan? Here is the rundown for sales so far for the year:

Sales to Date for 2013 Midsize Sedans

1. Toyota Camry 100,830
2. Honda Accord  88,427
3. Nissan Altima 86,952
4. Ford Fusion 80,558
5. Chevy Malibu 49,179
6. Hyundai Sonata 47,285
7. Kia Optima 38,813
8. Chrysler 200 36,885
9. Dodge Avenger 32,047
10. Volkswagen Passat  25,909

Source Auto News

Toyota is getting ready to roll out their latest edition to one of their most popular sedans of all time. The 2014 Toyota Corolla. The Furia concept model debuted at the Detroit Auto Show and no one has heard anything since, but apparently the long awaited production model is getting to show up at dealerships as early as this coming fall. While there is no official release date, “Sometime before the Los Angeles Auto Show in November” is what has been promised. It will be revealed somewhere in America before the grand kick off, but that news hasn’t been released yet either.

Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman commented about this time frame by sharing, “Between New York and L.A. is a big span. Sometime a production introduction doesn’t fall into the auto show timeframe.”

In the meantime, Toyota is staying mum about the specifics of this long awaited release. The speculations are that it isn’t going to be quite as exciting or innovative as the concept model, but that is really par for course as concepts are always a bit more futuristic than their final versions turn out to be. Even a dulled down version of what you see in the image though is an exciting proposition, especially for Corolla fans that have been waiting for a new model to sink their budget into.

What we are clear on about the 2014 Toyota Corolla model for now is that it is going to be longer, lower and more assertive than its previous renditions. It is going head to head with some stiff competition, namely the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra. The Chevy Cruze and Ford Focus in particular are going to be the models to beat in this ever growing sedan category. With this in mind Toyota should be planning on pulling out all the stops to creating the best Corolla ever.

Source YouTube