A Step In The Right Direction

Lexus vehicles have long been perceived as luxurious and reliable, but possessing high degrees of solemnity in driving behavior and design. In recent years, the Lexus folks have been working to rid the public of this perception, first with the rather ghastly 鈥渟pindle grille鈥? and now the infusion of sportiness in driving dynamics and overall design. You see it showing up in their RC-F coupe or GS-F sedan, not to mention the upcoming LC uber-coupe. Now it鈥檚 time for a total redux of the stately LS sedan, and fortunately the designers and engineers at Lexus managed to go in the (mostly) right direction. Debuting at this year鈥檚 NAIAS in Detroit, the LS now presents itself with a lower, sportier and almost aggressive stance, which should imbue the car with substantially more road presence, lacking in previous generations. Even the interior has been well thought-out, as the design queues now show some cohesiveness and direction compared with recent Lexus cockpits. Judges at the Detroit show were impressed as well, bestowing the EyesOn Design Award for Interior Design Excellence鈥? A quick scan of the tech bits reveal a 200 lb. 415 horsepower turbo V6 and a 10-speed transmission. The interior sports 28-way power front thrones with the requisite massage capability, all the better to relax while scanning the 12.3鈥?infotainment screen. Tech and safety features will be comparable to other entrants in the luxury yacht class. Due in showrooms this fall, pricing has not been officially announced. A step in the right direction, the new LS should add some needed excitement to the lineup. That Lexus automotive solemnity may yet ebb into the past.

Just 12 percent of all cars recalled for faulty Takata airbags in the U.S. In Japan, conversely, a full 70 percent of the 3 million cars under recall have been repaired. UPDATE 4/21/2015, 10:15 a.m.: Nissan has added another 45,000 Sentras from the 2006 model year to its large-scale recall for defective Takata airbags. Owners will be notified via FedEx. Affected cars, according to Nissan, are those 鈥渢hat currently are or previously were registered in Florida and adjacent counties in southern Georgia; Hawaii; Guam; Puerto Rico; Saipan; American Samoa; U.S. Virgin Islands; and coastal areas of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.鈥?This action was partially prompted by the investigation of a March crash in Louisiana in which a woman was injured by airbag shrapnel from her 2006 Sentra. UPDATE 5/13/2015, 3:15 p.m.: Toyota and Nissan announced new and expanded recall activity to replace potentially deadly Takata airbags in nearly 6.5 million vehicles worldwide.

The recall affects nearly 1 million vehicles in North America. The Toyota RAV4 (model years 2004 and 2005), previously unaffected by these recalls, is now on the list; Toyota is recalling some 160,000 of the models to replace their driver鈥檚-side airbags. The RAV4 has been added to our comprehensive list below. In a news conference today, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx called the expanded recall 鈥渢he most complex consumer-safety recall in U.S. 鈥?He added: 鈥淯p until now Takata has refused to acknowledge that their airbags are defective. That changes today.鈥?Also, the company has agreed to pay the U.S. UPDATE 5/20/2015, 1:00 p.m.: Unnamed sources have told Bloomberg that Takata changed its airbag propellant in 2008 to reduce the risk of overly forceful deployment and to address the moisture-related degradation of the propellant. UPDATE 5/27/2015, 10:00 a.m.: Next Tuesday, June 2, a panel from the U.S. House of Representatives will hold a hearing to follow up on the status of this ongoing situation.

鈥淲e have endured a year of Takata ruptures and recalls, and families are still at risk. No excuses. Michiganders, and all Americans, have a right to answers,鈥?committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said in a statement. The most recent Congressional hearing took place in December. UPDATE 5/28/2015, 10:00 a.m.: Honda has added 259,479 vehicles to its Japanese-market recall tally, according to Automotive News. Affected model years are from 2002 through 2008, which marks the first time that 2008 Hondas have been included in this huge airbag recall. Honda soon will announce additional airbag recalls for the United States, which will be part of the massive recall expansion announced last week. UPDATE 5/28/2015, 1:25 p.m.: Chrysler and Honda have added hundreds of thousands of vehicles to their U.S.-market recall lists; this follows Takata鈥檚 announcement last week that 34 million total vehicles were subject to action. The Chrysler expansion details approximately 1.2 million of its vehicles that were part of last week鈥檚 announcement, many of which are from model years that previously hadn鈥檛 been flagged.

UPDATE 5/28/2015, 5:00 p.m.: Ford has added more than 900,000 vehicles to its list of recalls for potentially defective airbags from Takata. The 2009-2014 Mustang and the 2006 Ranger are new additions to the list. The later-model Mustangs鈥攔ecalled for driver鈥檚-side airbags鈥攁re by far the newest cars to be included in this incredibly broad recall action. UPDATE 5/29/2015, 6:25 p.m.: General Motors now has vehicles on the ever-growing list below (besides the Toyota-built Pontiac Vibe): it is recalling heavy-duty examples of 2007 and 2008 Chevy Silverados and GMC Sierras. Also, Subaru has quadrupled the number of its vehicles subject to this airbag recall; that company鈥檚 additions are all 2004-2005 Imprezas. UPDATE 6/2/2015, 10:30 a.m.: A Congressional hearing on this matter is scheduled for today at 2 p.m. We鈥檒l cover the event throughout the afternoon. Meanwhile, yesterday a Takata executive announced that the company proposes 鈥渢o replace all鈥?of the troublesome 鈥?鈥榖atwing-shaped鈥?propellant wafers鈥?installed in North America. We should know a lot more later today.