Recall Alert: Honda Accord, Civic, Acura TL

Honda is expanding a recall from 2008 to include an additional 440,000 vehicles. The recall is for defective airbag inflation systems that could deploy with too much pressure, causing injury or even fatalities. According to Bloomberg News, the default has led to one death in the U.S.

Included in the recall are model year 2001-02 Honda Accords, 2001 Honda Civics and 2002-03 Acura TLs.

Honda will send out recall notices in the next few months, but concerned owners can visit their recall website at www.owners.honda.com/recalls or www.owners.acura.com/recalls for Acura owners.

Ford Focus, Volvo C30 Are Top Safety Picks

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has been expanding its crash tests to more and more segments. The very influential tests were recently applied to compact coupes, including the Honda Civic, Scion tC, Volco C30, Ford Focus and Chevy Cobalt. The group as a whole performed well considering the severity of the tests. None rated lower than Acceptable in front or side tests, while the Ford Focus and Volvo C30 scored top marks of Good in front, side and rear tests, earning the Top Safety Pick nod.

While the sedan version of the Civic is a Top Safety Pick, the coupe version earned an Acceptable side crash rating. This illustrates the point that safety ratings for one version of a model can’t be applied to others.

The Scion tC faired the worst, earning Acceptable front and side marks and only a Marginal in rear crash tests. You can see the full chart below, including previously tested sedan versions of the Civic, Focus and Cobalt.

Cars.com Podcasts Are Here

After 10 years of penning car reviews, the editors at Cars.com have finally decided to broadcast their unvarnished thoughts through the magic of podcasting. We know we’re not the first automotive publication to record a podcast, but we wanted to do something slightly different than the rest.

Each week, editors Joe Wiesenfelder, David Thomas, Kelsey Mays and Mike Hanley will hold an informal roundtable on cars we’ve recently tested. Ever wondered what all of us think of the cars that get reviewed? This is the podcast for you.

This week, we take on a number of compact cars, like the 2009 Honda Civic and outgoing Mazda3, as well as all-new midsize sedans the Mazda6 and Acura TL, all in under 20 minutes. That should eat up some of your commute and/or workday.

You can download the podcast via iTunes or listen on your browser, here. Non-iTunes folks can subscribe to the RSS feed here.

If you have any suggestions for us, please leave them in the comments or email to editor@cars.com.

Cars.com Videos: 2009 Honda Civic, 2009 Acura TL and More

2009 Honda Civic: Mike Hanley takes a look at the higher-end features — including a navigation system, heated leather seats and a USB port — in this premium compact car.

2009 Pontiac G5: The XFE G5 gets a whopping 37 mpg on the highway, but Kelsey Mays says there are better compact cars on the market.

2009 Acura TL: The radically redesigned TL now comes in a base version and a performance-minded TL SH-AWD one, and both come with the love-it-or-hate-it grille, David Thomas says.

2009 Audi A4 Avant: This completely restyled station wagon puts a premium on interior space, especially when there’s a child-safety seat in the backseat, David says.

2009 Mercedes-Benz M-Class: The ML320 Bluetec is equipped with a clean diesel engine and a new navigation and entertainment system that’s really impressive.

View and share all of Cars.com’s videos via YouTube.

Cars.com Reviews the 2009 Honda Civic

In a brutal car market, the Honda Civic remains one of the few bright spots: A small, affordable, fuel-efficient car that doesn't make you feel like you're riding around in a glorified tin can. Enjoying a banner year after having briefly become the best-selling car in the country in May, the 2009 Civic looks to keep up its momentum. Cars.com reviewer Mike Hanley explains why it is likely to do so, but how a few minor irritants might also trip up buyers.

2009 Honda Civic Review

Mileage Challenge 3.4: Fuel Economy Value

The fuel economy results of our mileage drive are in, and by now you’ve already read which cars we tested, the mileage they achieved and our impressions of each compact car. It’s using those real-world results that we’ve calculated which of these frugal commuters offers the best fuel economy value, based on each car’s as-tested price compared to the mileage it returned.

The calculation was simple: To pinpoint a value based on fuel economy, we merely divided the MSRP by how many miles per gallon the car returned during our testing. Now, let us mention that you can always get a bare-bones, stripped version of car, improving its fuel economy value, but the following results are a reflection of the specific trim levels we tested, which mostly included niceties that made the drive easier.

Mileage Challenge 3.3: Driving Impressions

This week, we reported the results of our latest mileage challenge, a 300-mile highway trip in four high-mileage commuter cars. Our convoy averaged a respectable 33.8 mpg. The Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic achieved the highest numbers, with the Pontiac G5 and Ford Focus coming in a few ticks worse. Three editors and an editor in chief logged considerable time in each, and we cobbled together some impressions and off-the-cuff rankings for the group.

Read on for our thoughts.

Cars.com Mileage Challenge 3.1

Gas prices are dropping — precious good news in otherwise dismal economic times — but automakers clearly think we’re still in for a long-haul increase. To wit: The MPG war remains afoot, and the higher the gas mileage numbers you can put up, the better. General Motors markets XFE trims, for Extra Fuel Economy, of certain cars and trucks that have been tweaked to get better mileage. Ford has the makings of a similar lineup in its SFE, or Superior Fuel Economy, badging. Even Hyundai and Kia tout drivetrain revisions that yield incremental upticks in several of their ’09 models.

The ratings are sometimes impressive, especially among commuter cars, so for this fall’s mileage challenge we put four of them to the test. GM’s Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G5 twins now get an estimated 25/37 mpg city/highway in high-efficiency XFE trim, which only comes with a manual transmission. The redesigned Toyota Corolla gets a close 27/35 mpg city/highway rating with an automatic; that’s a slight increase over the prior-gen automatic. A number of other contenders post impressive highway figures, too.

Balk all you want about how your kid brother’s ’87 Tercel got 35 mpg going uphill, but we’ll remind you that today’s commuters can reach 60 mph in less than 10 seconds – with side curtain airbags and habitable backseats to boot.

First Honda Civic Rolls Off Indiana Assembly Line

A few months back we produced an in-depth series about the future of auto manufacturing in Indiana, including a stop in Greensburg, where Honda was yet to open its new assembly plant. Today, the company announced that the first Honda Civic sedan has rolled off the new line.

The Civic has been in high demand since this summer’s gas-price roller coaster, and Honda simply couldn’t increase supply enough with just imports. The new flexible plant in Greensburg will boost Honda’s North American production by more than 200,000 vehicles a year, the company says.

Honda’s assembly plant in East Liberty, Ohio, also produces Civics, but the hybrid version of the car is still manufactured in Japan.

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Indiana: The Pain and Promise of U.S. Automaking

2009 Honda Civic Gets Styling Update, New Trims

Brace yourself: There’s a new Honda Civic going on sale today. OK, it’s not all-new. In fact most of the changes are so subtle the average buyer won’t even notice. However, there are some substantial changes to the Civic lineup as a whole that add some new value choices and tech features. The 2009 Civic sedan and 2009 Civic Hybrid went on sale nationwide today, with the coupe hitting dealer lots later this month and the high-performance 2009 Civic Si going on sale next month. 

On the design front, all Civics get a new front bumper and grille that look slightly different from the current ones. That’s about all that’s different cosmetically. The engine choices all stay the same, too, with only the top-of-the-line EX, EX-L and Hybrid getting stability control standard along with the Si. That’s a feature we’d like to see make its way to the more affordable members of the lineup.

Speaking of more affordable, there are two new trim levels for the sedan. The DX-VP — standing for value package — will cost the same as the DX — $15,405 for the manual and $16,205 for the automatic — but come with A/C and an audio system. Prices exclude a $670 destination charge. Those prices are higher than the 2008 models’ by $395. More information on the 2009 Civic is below.