From airbags to shift cables, batteries to battered engines, here’s what you clicked on the most
Here at Driving, we’re always bringing you “all the news that’s fit to print,” or at the very least, fit into your screen. Hey, it’s just what we do.
As we do every year, we’ve rounded up the 10 most-read stories and this year it’s a really diverse mix, with everything from solid-state batteries, to cars that shouldn’t be driven, and to a certain stainless-steel truck that managed to be both a hit and a miss with our team of expert reviewers.
Some Ford and Mazda owners still haven’t fixed their airbags
It’s been more than a decade since we were first alerted to the Takata airbag issue. The problem was that the airbags used a propellant that didn’t get along with heat and humidity, with the result that a deploying airbag could potentially send dangerous or even deadly metal fragments flying into the occupants.
Ontario: Yours to discover that you don’t need to renew your plates
In 2022, Ontario premier Doug Ford cozied up to drivers in that province by ditching the annual licence plate renewal of $120 ($60 in Northern Ontario). That also meant you no longer got a renewal sticker to stick onto the plate.
A Quebec design could “reinvent” the engine
A teaser for the next Subaru Outback
Man or machine: Who’s at fault?
Volkswagen looks solidly at solid state
Mazda’s shifters could be shiftless
You can’t depend on dependability anymore
Infotainment systems garnered the greatest number of complaints, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity being the most problematic. Drivers also found that the longer they owned a vehicle, the more fed up they were with the driver-assist technologies. As for what powers the vehicles, those who bought gasoline or hybrid vehicles reported fewer problems than those who bought battery-electric or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).
Some were hits, some were misses, one was both
These would be halcyon days indeed
We’re still a bit skeptical, but we can’t deny that the Halcyon is gorgeous, as concept cars can be when they’re not subject to the limitations of regulations and production reality. It’s also envisioned as self-driving, and since you don’t need to see where you’re going, at night the augmented-reality windshield would give you information about all the constellations above, so count us in. And that’s a wrap: Thanks for reading, and here’s to more great news stories in 2025.
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