Recall Alert: 3,235 2009-13 Toyotas

Southeast Toyota Distributors is recalling 3,235 vehicles spanning model-years 2009-13 due to problems with the occupant sensing system, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The affected vehicles were modified by Southeast Toyota Distributors to include accessories such as leather seat covers, seat heaters or head-restraint DVD system. During the installation process, the passenger seat occupant sensing system may not have been tested. This could cause the airbags to not deploy or to deploy inappropriately for the passenger's size, increasing the risk of injury. 

Toyota Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Toyota has settled the first wrongful death lawsuit  over unintended acceleration, involving two people killed in a Toyota Camry, the Associated Press has reported. It was the first of hundreds of lawsuits over fatalities and injuries arising from claims of unintended acceleration. In December 2012, the automaker settled a $1.1 billion class-action lawsuit brought by Toyota owners who claimed their car's value was hurt by the acceleration issue dating back to 2010. 
 
"We sympathize with anyone in an accident involving one of our vehicles" and "we continue to stand fully behind the safety and integrity of Toyota's Electronic Throttle Control System, which multiple independent evaluations have confirmed as safe," Toyota said in a statement.

Why Family Cars Dominated 2012

Jimmy Drew's car shopping list would make you think he was looking for a small SUV. Drew has owned cars from brands as distant as Infiniti and Ford. He trades his ride every couple years, and when the time came to swap out in 2012, he shopped the likes of a Honda CR-V and Acura RDX. But his final choice strayed from SUVs altogether: a 2012 Toyota Camry SE V-6, optioned high with leather seats and a moonroof.

Drew is an unlikely candidate for the Camry, the poster car for burgeoning families. The 66-year-old utilities planner in Del Rey Beach, Fla., wanted the sedan because he has grandkids, and the Camry's 268-horsepower V-6 made easy work of the hourlong drive on Florida's Interstate 95 to see them.

"For the price of the vehicle, and for what you get with it, plus a great interest rate at that time ... I thought it was a hell of a price," Drew says.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars of 2012

When the dust settles, 2012 will mark the third consecutive year of automotive sales gains, and the best sales year since 2007. (Remember back then? Here's a refresher.) Sales for the top seven automakers increased 12.9%, suggesting new-car sales will end in the mid-14 million range. That would be the third year in a row of sales gains, with totals up some 40% over a recession-ravaged 2008. It's the best sales year since 2007, but it still falls below sales totals through much of the 2000s.

Which cars fared best? The top sellers for 2012 include a lot of regulars, with six of the 10 cars redesigned for 2012 or 2013. The Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Cruze, both on this list a year ago, are gone; both had a relatively flat sales year.

Check out the list below.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: December 2012

Cliff, shmiff. Holiday shoppers brushed aside concerns about impending fiscal doom (which Congress averted, sort of) to drive new-car sales to their best December since 2007. Pickups trucks remained atop December's sales pyramid, with Chrysler's Ram trucks moving up a notch. That's typical for the month, especially amid a sustained recovery for the truck-reliant construction industry.

On the car side, Santa left Honda a nice present under the tree. A substantially restyled 2013 Honda Civic sedan hit dealerships in November and sales for the nameplate shot up 61.2% in December; it secured Honda's workhorse compact the title of America's best-selling car for the second month in a row. The Toyota Camry held the spot for the first 10 months of the year.

In fact, Honda sales overall shot up 26.2% over an inventory-strapped December 2011, thanks to strong demand for the Civic and redesigned Accord — two models that regularly account for nearly half of the automaker's sales. Toyota gained 9% while Nissan fell 1.6% as its redesigned Altima dropped 7.7%. The Altima boasts impressive EPA mileage, but drivability and cabin issues left the car in last place in Cars.com's $26,000 Midsize Sedan Showdown.

The Cars.com $26,000 Midsize Sedan Showdown

It's been two and a half years since we conducted our very first multi-car comparison with USA Today and "Motorweek." That showdown featured eight midsize family sedans competing against each other, with the Hyundai Sonata taking first and the Ford Fusion coming in last.

A lot has changed in that amount of time, with four of the six contenders in this year's contest sporting completely new designs.

How did they do?

Read the full showdown to find out.

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Cars.com $26,000 Midsize Sedan Showdown
Cars.com $26,000 Midize Sedan Showdown: Mileage Results
Research Sedans

Cars.com $26,000 Midsize Sedan Showdown: Mileage Results

We took six of the top-selling, most fuel-efficient cars in the U.S. and pitted them against each other. How’d they do in our mileage drive?

While Nissan's redesigned 2013 Altima may have the highest EPA-estimated mileage rating among family sedans, its trip computer had the largest discrepancy with our calculations at the pump. After a 185-mile loop, the Altima's trip computer read 4.38 mpg above our calculations — far higher than the variances we observed for the 2013 Ford Fusion, 2013 Honda Accord, 2013 Hyundai Sonata, 2013 Kia Optima and 2012 Toyota Camry. The Altima won the day's trip-computer mileage with an observed 35.9 mpg, but its calculated pump mileage — 31.52 mpg — landed it a third-place finish behind the Camry and Accord.

Cars.com/USA Today/MotorWeek $26,000 Midsize Sedan Showdown

We took six contenders on a daylong mileage loop in mixed city/highway conditions. Per our usual mileage-challenge procedures, we began and ended at the same gas pump, swapped drivers over roughly equal chunks of seat time, kept windows and sunroofs closed and avoided cruise control. With cool temperatures and low humidity, we kept air conditioning off this time.

At day's end, our calculated pump mileage amounted to less than 1 mpg difference from what the trip computers read for five of the six cars, but the Altima's was off by 4.38 mpg. Why the discrepancy?

Honda Shines, Toyota Falls in Latest IIHS Crash Tests

The 2013 Toyota Camry sedan and Prius v hybrid (above, right) failed a new crash test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that simulates a frontal impact overlapping a small portion of the car — say, piling into a tree from your left headlight. IIHS announced today its test of 18 model-year 2013 family cars. It's the largest yet for the so-called "small overlap" frontal test that many luxury brands failed in August 2012.

At the other end, the Honda Accord sedan and nearly-defunct Suzuki Kizashi (above, left) earned IIHS' top score, Good; 11 other cars — including the Accord coupe — earned Acceptable ratings. The IIHS rates cars Good, Acceptable, Marginal or Poor. Of the 18 cars tested, the Toyotas scored Poor, but the Hyundai Sonata, Chevrolet Malibu and Volkswagen Jetta sedan scored Marginal.

One-Stop Shopping: Car Seat Checks for 2012's Best-Selling Family Cars

If you're shopping for a family car, chances are high that at least one of the vehicles on our list below is on yours, too. These are the best-selling family cars for January-November 2012, and we've installed child-safety seats in all of them.

Will one of these cars work for your family? Our Car Seat Checks are designed to tell shoppers how easy or difficult it is to install safety seats into a car and what works well and what frustrates us about each car's Latch system.

Scion xB Lives Another Year

Despite rumors of the Scion xB's looming demise, it looks like the funky box will live another year. Toyota announced that the xB will return for model-year 2013 with lightly updated exterior styling and a slightly higher price.

The 2013 xB gets a revised front bumper and a tweaked interior, including new light-bronze metallic accents and new seat fabric. A BeSpoke Premium Audio system is a new option; Absolutely Red and Nautical Blue Metallic are new exterior colors. They replace Stingray Metallic and Elusive Blue Metallic.