2013 Hyundai Elantra GT: Family Checklist

After my weeklong test drive of Hyundai's brand-new 2013 Elantra GT hatchback, my school-age kids were complaining about the backseat legroom and wishing I had a "different kind of job."

Whenever my family of four was in the compact Elantra GT for long stretches of time or lots of errand running, it felt smaller and smaller as time passed. While I liked the passenger room, my 8- and 10-year-old kids weren't sold on it. I had to keep moving the front passenger seat forward whenever my husband wasn't in it to make sure my son had enough legroom in the rear seat.

Hyundai Plans Tucson Fuel-Cell for 2015

Automakers have been making and breaking fuel-cell vehicle promises for years, and now Hyundai is jumping into the fray with the Tucson Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicle. The automaker is joining the Energy Department, gas suppliers, hydrogen and fuel-cell businesses and other automakers with the goal of solving infrastructure and resource challenges in order to bring an FCEV to market.

Hyundai has a 2015 target for the Tucson fuel cell and a goal of 1,000 units. It's not the first automaker to launch a fuel-cell vehicle — in fact, we've even tested Chevrolet's Equinox FCV — but it claims to be the first to mass produce one. "One of our biggest FCEV differentiators for us is that Hyundai is the first automaker to launch assembly line production of a fuel-cell vehicle," Derek Joyce, Hyundai's manager of product public relations, told Cars.com.

Safety Services Standard on All New Hyundai Vehicles

Hyundai announced today that all its new vehicles equipped with the automaker's Blue Link communication system will come with three years of free protective services.

The Assurance Connected Care service package, announced in March at the 2013 New York International Auto Show, is similar to GM's OnStar safety system. Hyundai's offers a full lineup of safety and car-care features, including automatic collision notification, emergency and roadside assistance, monthly vehicle diagnostics reports and maintenance alerts.

The service is fully transferable to subsequent owners within three years of the vehicle's first date of use, Hyundai said. Owners with the Assurance Connected Care package will have the option to upgrade at a reduced price, adding features such as remote start, stolen vehicle recovery and turn-by-turn navigation. The automaker said it would release pricing info later.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: April 2013

Nissan and Ford led a strong month for the auto industry, with sales up 23.2% at Nissan and 17.9% at Ford thanks to big gains among both carmakers' strongest sellers. Nissan Altima sales gained 35.4% while Ford Escape sales spiked 52% — despite similar year-over-year incentives on both and lower dealership supply for the Escape.

It may seem bizarre that the Altima, then, isn't among the top 10 best-sellers. It's been there for ninth months straight, and in March it was the best-selling car (not truck) in America. But a year ago, sales were dismal — less than 17,000 in April 2012 — so even a healthy spike kept Nissan off April 2013's top 10.

The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord had higher-profile struggles. The Camry's sales drop could signal plateauing demand for Toyota's seventh-generation family sedan, whose year-over-year sales have declined for three straight months. The new Accord, meanwhile, is just 7 months old, and shoppers found significantly lower discounts versus the 2012 Accord a year ago. It's a factor that could affect Accord sales through autumn. Still, Ford didn't seem to have a problem with that. Anyone considering the new Fusion found a similar situation — lower discounts versus year-ago levels — but it didn't stop shoppers from flocking toward the popular sedan, whose sales boomed 23.7%.

2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid: First Drive

When it appeared in 2011 to counter rivals like the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Toyota Camry Hybrid, the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid generally didn't fare too well in head-to-head matchups. Complaints of a lack of refinement in the hybrid powertrain and braking feel were cited, and the Sonata routinely under-delivered on the fuel economy front. Hyundai seems to have been listening, as these are exactly the areas the company focused on for the 2013 Sonata Hybrid, and the result is a top-notch, fully competitive hybrid sedan ready to take on the competitors.

Changes start with the powertrain: The same 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine remains, but it now makes slightly less power, 159 horsepower compared to the 2012 model's 166. This is made up for by a more powerful electric motor, rated at 35 kilowatts instead of the last model's 30. Net power thus drops from 206 in the 2012 model to 199 in the 2013, but this is the only trade-off for superior performance, fuel economy and cargo room. The 2013 Sonata Hybrid's lithium polymer battery has a higher capacity, but it's also lighter and better packaged, allowing the trunk's cargo room to grow from 10.7 to 12.1 cubic feet.

2013 Hyundai Santa Fe: First Drive

Behold the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe — wait a minute, you say, didn't we already see a review on a Hyundai Santa Fe? Yes, you did, but that was the Santa Fe Sport, this one is just plain old Santa Fe. Despite the shorter name, this is actually the larger version of the same vehicle. While the Santa Fe Sport is a short wheelbase, five-passenger model that matches up well against vehicles like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, the larger six- and seven-passenger Santa Fe takes the fight to the bigger Ford Explorer, Toyota Highlander and Nissan Pathfinder while undercutting most of them in price.

Confused yet? It helps to think of the Santa Fe lineup like Hyundai does: one model with three trim levels. The Sport trim level is meant for pre-family couples; it's short, seats five, has fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines and is less expensive. The midlevel Santa Fe GLS is a seven-passenger family model; it's longer, only comes with V-6 engine and can tow 5,000 pounds. Top of the line is the Santa Fe Limited, which sounds like a 1950s passenger train but is actually a luxurious six-passenger version of the crossover with captain's chairs instead of a second-row bench, a leather interior, 19-inch wheels and other niceties.

How Korean Tensions Could Affect American Car Shoppers

Following a nuclear test and subsequent global sanctions, escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula have North Korea issuing near-daily threats against its southern neighbor and the U.S. — and the latest developments have left nearby nations girding for conflict. Keep holding your breath; one top U.S. admiral told Congress he couldn't recall a more tension-fraught period since the Korean War ended in 1953. Should aggressions against South Korea occur, it would doubtless affect the country's huge auto industry, and the shock waves would hit U.S. dealerships in a matter of weeks.

Just how big is the South Korean auto industry? Here's a snapshot. Hyundai claims its massive Ulsan facility, which employs more than 34,000 people on the country's southeast coast, is the world's largest auto plant. And GM Korea, which runs five assembly plants in South Korea and a sixth in Vietnam, builds a quarter of all Chevrolets sold across the globe.

March Sales: SUVs Gained, Cars Fell

March was a decent month for the auto industry. New-car sales improved 3.4%, riding a trend that began in late 2012. Since last November, auto sales have reached annualized rates not seen since early 2008, according to Automotive News data. Still, car sales fell 1.2% as popular nameplates — the Nissan Altima, Ford Focus, Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata — saw double-digit drops. In fact, sales for seven of the top 15 best-selling cars fell.

What propped up the industry in March? SUVs.

Light-duty trucks — a group that includes SUVs, pickups and minivans — gained 9%. If you drill it down to just SUVs, including car-based crossovers, sales grew a significant 11.2%. March opened with gas prices nearing a five-month high but colder temperatures than 2012's unseasonably warm March — dueling factors for SUV sales, it would seem. But a renewed consumer advance toward SUVs, especially small crossovers, drove overall gains.

Recall Alert: 2011-13 Hyundai Elantra

Hyundai is recalling 186,254 model-year 2011-13 Elantra sedans due to a problem with the air bags that could cause an injury, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The affected sedans were manufactured from Nov. 12, 2010, through March 5, 2013. A support bracket attached to the headliner could become displaced during a side curtain airbag deployment. If the headliner support bracket makes contact with an occupant during a crash, it could cut them.

In a statement to Cars.com, the automaker said it was aware of one minor injury resulting from the problem. A motorist suffered a cut to his ear during a significant collision in a 2011 Elantra that caused the side curtain airbag to deploy.

Recall Alert: 1.7 Million Hyundai and Kia Vehicles

Hyundai and Kia are recalling approximately 1.7 million vehicles because of a brake light problem, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports. According to the agency, 1,059,824 Hyundai vehicles are affected, including:

• 2007-2009 Accent and Tucson
• 2007-2010 Elantra
• 2007-2011 Santa Fe
• 2008-2009 Veracruz
• 2010-2011 Genesis Coupe
• 2011 Sonata

Its sister company Kia is recalling 623,658 vehicles, including: