Category: General

Ford is recalling 11,922 F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks due to an issue that could cause suspension components to detach, potentially leading to loss of control.

The recall includes 2023 and 2024 models. These vehicles may have front upper control arm ball-joint nuts that weren’t properly tightened at the factory, which could allow the control arm to detach, according to the NHTSA. Control arms extend out horizontally from the vehicle’s frame or body structure and attach to the wheel hub, keeping the hub and its attached suspension components aligned on their vertical axis.

2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Flash

The ball-joint nut represents one of those attachment points, and if it’s loose the control arm can separate, causing loss of directional control and increasing the risk of a crash, the NHTSA noted. If the ball-joint nut is loose or missing, drivers may also notice vibration and hear a clunk or rattling sound during suspension jounce and rebound, the NHTSA said.

Ford told the safety agency that it is aware of one accident attributed to this issue, as well as two field reports and a warranty claim, the latter representing two incidents related to the problem. As for the cause, Ford believes changes in the alignment or orientation of a tool used to attach suspension components may have prevented it from being properly seated during assembly.

2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Flash

Dealers will inspect the affected ball-joint nut and, if necessary, replace it and/or the related knuckle assembly. Ford expects to mail owner notification letters Feb. 3, 2025. Owners can also call the automaker’s customer service department at 1-866-436-7332 for more information. Ford’s reference number for this recall is 24S76.

The Lightning arrived for the 2022 model year and received a handful of updates for 2024, including a range-boosting heat pump and a new Flash grade positioned between the XLT and Lariat models.

• Recent data suggests infrastructure has built out to handle peak EV charging demand
• There are about 50% more public charging connectors in 2024 vs. 2023
• Public EV charging is making progress in reliability

U.S. public electric vehicle charging infrastructure kept up with EV sales growth in 2024, and even improved in reliability, according to a study released in early December by Paren, which provides data services for EV charging.

The study looked at end-user experience for fast charging sessions during the Thanksgiving travel week—described as the “Super Bowl of fast charging.”

The study found that the number of charging sessions increased nearly 50% during Thanksgiving week of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. But the number of charging connectors also increased by about the same amount.

The Thanksgiving week served as 2024’s “pressure test” for the charging sector, as it’s when motorists are out on the highways at once in a way that’s not rivaled by any other holiday time—even the Christmas and New Year’s week, when travel tends to be spread among many days.

Comparison of Thanksgiving week EV charging sessions and utilization rates (via Paren)

As a result, the average rate of utilization—defined here as a measure of total charging session minutes per connector as a percentage of open hours (typically over a 24-hour period)—declined slightly from 24% to 22%, year-over-year. It shows that infrastructure is keeping up with the increased number of EVs on U.S. roads.

And the number of EVs in the U.S. did indeed increase steadily throughout 2024, with sales up by more than 10% year-over-year in the latter months of the year, and EV market share inching closer to 10% of the overall U.S. light-vehicle market. But 2024 has definitely been a year in which infrastructure gets out ahead of sales growth for EVs—surely a good thing to set the stage for the market. Lack of public chargers was a dealbreaker for nearly half of shoppers in a 2023 J.D. Power survey.

The progress is due in part to lots of filling-in of road-trip fast-charging stations across the nation, allowing far more than the couple of cross-country routes that existed just a few years ago. Electrify America has also tested the idea of limiting fast-charges to 85% at busy stations, and networks seem to be getting smarter about when they need more chargers. For instance, Tesla is adding temporary Superchargers to ease one of the busiest times.

Love’s Travel Stop EV charging

Paren also saw increased reliability, based on the company’s own index that emphasizes the frequency with which drivers are able to successfully initiate and complete charging sessions. This saw an increase of 3.4 percentage points compared to last year, reaching 85.5%. But it’s unclear how much further progress will be made in building out reliable public charging infrastructure over the next few years.

A 2023 Energy Department study suggested that we may need as many as 182,000 publicly-accessible DC fast-charging ports by 2030, to support anywhere from 30-42 million EVs on the roads by then. But given the outcome of the election, it may give infrastructure another chance to work ahead.

• The Toyota Previa was the automaker’s minivan in the ’90s
• Toyota might bring back the Previa nameplate
• The resurrected Previa might feature electrified powertrains

With its aerodynamic shape and mid-mounted engine, the Toyota Previa minivan remains one of the Japanese automaker’s most daring designs. And it might return with plug-in powertrains.

According to a report in Japan’s Best Car magazine spotted by Forbes, a new Previa is slated for a 2026 launch using the TNGA-K platform that underpins the Toyota Camry, Crown, and RAV4, among others, with the intention of accommodating both plug-in hybrid and all-electric powertrains. A hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain was also reportedly considered but the discarded.

This report, which is based on conversations with an anonymous Toyota source, doesn’t mention the U.S. market. But the fact that the TNGA-K platform is already homologated for use here in so many other models could perhaps give Toyota a head start on making the new Previa U.S.-ready.

1991 Toyota Previa

Granted, the original Previa wasn’t very successful in the U.S. While it gave Toyota an up-to-date entry in the then-booming minivan segment, sales gradually tapered off from its introduction in 1990 to its discontinuation in 1997. Just 3,780 were sold in that final year, Forbes notes, before the Previa was replaced by the more conventional Toyota Sienna.

The Previa stood out thanks to its rounded exterior, often described as egg-like in period. The new Previa will reportedly feature similar styling, while offering seating for up to seven. If it reaches the U.S., it will be a counterpoint to the Sienna, which is now hybrid-only, but still more conservative in design.

1991 Toyota Previa

Among U.S.-market minivans, all but the Honda Odyssey have switched to hybrid powertrains. The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid has been a plug-in hybrid for years and as we’ve seen, can go more than 30 miles without the engine.

For the U.S., the Volkswagen ID.Buzz is the first time the minivan—or passenger van—has gone all-electric. But it might not be alone soon. Kia has teased another quirky possibility in the PV5, one of a series of electric vans based on an extremely modular architecture. And an all-electric Chrysler minivan is in the works—potentially as soon as 2027.

Kia is recalling 22,883 EV9 electric SUVs because they may be missing mounting bolts for their second- and third row-seats.

The EV9 arrived in the U.S. as a 2024 model and is currently being sold here as a 2025 model. The recall includes a mix of vehicles from both model years that may have left the factory with missing seat bolts due to an error by an assembly-line worker, Kia told the NHTSA. All of the affected vehicles were assembled in South Korea; Kia began building EV9s at its U.S. plant in June, but has only produced small numbers of the SUVs there.

2025 Kia EV9

Without these mounting bolts, seats may not be able to properly restrain occupants in the event of crash, increasing the risk of injury, the safety agency said. Owners may also notice ratting or looseness of the seats if bolts are missing.

Kia estimates that just 1% of the recalled vehicles are missing the bolts in question, and told the NHTSA that it is not aware of any crashes, injuries, or fatalities related to this issue, which was discovered during a quality-control inspection.

2025 Kia EV9

Dealers will inspect the seats and replace any missing bolts free of charge. Kia plans to mail owner notification letters Jan. 24, 2025. In the meantime, owners can contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542 for more information. Kia’s reference number for this recall is SC329.

This recall follows two in October. One addressed a remote parking system issue in 12,400 vehicles from the 2024 model year equipped with that feature. The other addresses a software issue in both 2024 and 2025 models that could cause digital instrument clusters to fail.

General Motors is investigating a new way of configuring prismatic battery cells to improve cooling characteristics.

A patent filing from the automaker published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), dated Dec. 26, 2024 but originally filed by GM Jun. 23, 2023, details stacking of layers in an inverted “U” shape, as opposed to the rolled or stacked layers used in current prismatic cells.

This format creates higher thermal conductivity in the horizontal direction in the upper part of the cell for better heat dissipation, as well as in the vertical direction near the bottom of the cell, potentially increasing the effectiveness of cooling systems when they’re installed in a pack, GM claims.

General Motors inverted

The inverted “U” stack also increases thermal delay time within the cell, causing heat to spread more slowly, according to the filing. Even if the cell overheats, the peak temperature should thus stay lower and potentially be more contained, GM claims, adding that this allows for a thermal response barrier that’s 50% thinner.

That could in future cell designs help reduce cell size, or boost energy density by cramming more active material into that space. And to tease out a greater advantage, pack size might also be smaller due to those reduced cooling needs. 

But the cell format proposed here is also a more complex shape that could present manufacturing challenges, which might explain why the big battery manufacturers haven’t tried it yet.

General Motors inverted

GM already appears to be on a path to use pouch, cylindrical, and prismatic cell formats, all at once, in its production EVs, and it’s emphasized that flexibility. It’s also considered some odd cell shapes in previously filed patents, also with an eye toward improved cooling.

Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian have all chosen to emphasize cylindrical cells—with apparent advantages in range and efficiency. BMW is also set to use cylindrical cells in its next-generation Neue Klasse EVs, the first of which recently entered pre-production ahead of a planned 2025 debut, with promises of substantially increased energy density.

General Motors is following a handful of other automakers and battery firms in developing mixed-chemistry battery packs for electric vehicles.

GM laid out its version of this concept in a patent filing published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Nov. 28, 2024. In that document, which was first filed by GM Aug. 2, 2023, the automaker discusses combining nickel manganese cobalt (NCM) with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) or other similar chemistries.

General Motors Ultium batteries

The two chemistries would be split into discreet modules, potentially with different usable capacities, according to the filing. A controller would monitor factors such as temperature and state of charge, and potentially bypass one chemistry or another in a given situation.

A mixed-chemistry pack could balance performance and cost by combining cheaper LFP battery cells with NCM cells, which offer higher power and energy density, GM notes in the filing. Two different chemistries can lead to a charge imbalance that reduce the usable capacity of a battery pack, GM adds, but the automaker hopes ability to bypass one set of cells while charging another will address that.

BMW iX prototype to use Our Next Energy mixed-chemistry battery pack

Certain chemistries can also be charged faster, which could enable smaller battery packs and counteract current pack inflation, which adds cost and weight, consumes more raw materials, and in the real world still often leads to longer charging times once that added charge is exhausted. Combining some of these specialized cells with slower-charging commodity cells could help make EVs more practical.

Other companies are working on mixed-chemistry battery packs. CATL recently announced one aimed at bringing faster charging to plug-in hybrids, and U.S. startup Our Next Energy (ONE) showed in 2022 how it could use mixed-chemistry tech to extract 600 miles of range from a BMW iX—nearly doubling its EPA range. Mercedes-Benz has also developed hardware that could lay the groundwork for mixed cell types.

Hyundai is continuing work on in-wheel hub motors for electric vehicles, two recent patent filings indicate.

One filing, published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Nov. 14, 2024, after being submitted by Hyundai’s affiliated technology supplier, Hyundai Mobis, earlier in the year, covers a drive mechanism that would allow a hub-mounted electric motor to spin a wheel. This would consist of a wheel bearing, outer race, and a speed reducer incorporating a ring gear couple to the bearing.

Hyundai in-wheel drive unit patent image

The second document, published by the USPTO Oct. 29, 2024, and originally filed by Hyundai Mobis Feb. 13, 2022, is for an “in-wheel working device.” This is essentially a setup for incorporating a gearshift mechanism into the rotor of a hub-mounted motor.

While not all patented ideas make it to production, these two patents indicate Hyundai is at least still developing in-wheel motors, having teased some similar concepts in the past, including the e-Corner modular steering and propulsion system. It packaged in-wheel motors along with steering and braking hardware into modules that could be installed at all corners of a vehicle, allowing more packaging freedom and the ability to rotate wheels up to 90 degrees.

Hyundai in-wheel working device patent image

Hyundai and Kia in 2023 also unveiled an alternative design that split the difference between conventional motors and in-wheel motors. Called the Universal Drive System—or Uni Wheel—it moved motors closer to the wheels, but not into them.

Other automakers, such as Ferrari and Toyota, have patented in-wheel motor designs. China’s Dongfeng claims to be the first to use in-wheel motors in a production passenger car, although the Lordstown Endurance pickup truck also used them before its production stalled. Aptera also plans to use in-wheel motors for its three-wheeler, but that vehicle will be an autocycle, not a car.

• The 2025 Subaru Solterra costs $39,915
• Subaru cut the EV’s base price by $6,500 compared to the 2024 model
• Subaru works the $7,500 tax credit toward lower lease numbers
  

Like its Toyota cousin, the bZ4X, the 2025 Subaru Solterra receives significant price cuts for the new model year, plus a new dark-themed appearance package.

Subaru confirmed 2025-model-year pricing Friday, including a new base price of $39,915 for the entry-level Premium grade, with destination. That price is $6,500 less than the 2024 model, although some of that is countered by an increase of the destination charge from $1,345 to $1,420.

The Solterra Limited grade also receives a $6,500 price cut, bringing its MSRP to $43,415 with destination. This grade adds features like 20-inch wheels, power-adjustable front seats, a power tailgate, an 11-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen, compared to the Premium’s 8.0-inch screen.

2025 Subaru Solterra

2025 Subaru Solterra

2025 Subaru Solterra

Touring models now start at $46,415—$7,000 less than the 2024 model year. They get additional convince features, including a moonroof, a digital rearview mirror and ventilated front seats (heating is standard on all models).

As with the 2024 model, Subaru claims that the 2025 Solterra “will qualify for applicable tax credits of up to $7,500 for some consumers.” Despite not being assembled in the U.S., and not qualifying for the purchase credit, Solterra leases are indeed subsidized by the so-called “leasing loophole” that allows captive credit companies to claim imported EVs to be leased as commercial fleet vehicles. Automakers and their credit firms offering the lease are under no obligation to pass the full credit along to consumers. Meanwhile, the EV tax credit in its various forms is reportedly being targeted by the incoming Trump Administration.

For an additional $500, the new-for-2025 Onyx Edition gives the Touring grade black wheels and exterior trim and two-tone color options. This makes it similar to the Nightshade Edition that joins the Toyota bZ4X lineup for 2025. The Toyota has also gotten less expensive, with price cuts of up to $6,000.

2025 Subaru Solterra

While the bZ4X is available with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, in keeping with the Subaru ethos, the Solterra is available with dual-motor all-wheel drive only. Subaru lists output as 215 hp and 249 lb-ft of torque, with power supplied by a 72.8-kwh battery pack as in the bZ4X. EPA range is unchanged, at 227 miles for Premium models and 222 miles for other grades, which have larger 20-inch wheels.

Subaru launched the Solterra as a 2023 model and made a number of changes for 2024, including an improved battery conditioning system that allows for faster charging. DC fast charging from 10% to 80% takes about 35 minutes, Subaru estimates. That still makes the Solterra one of the slower-charging electric crossovers. In a test drive of the 2024 Subaru Solterra, we found that while charging remains at a crawl, it’s now in the same efficiency ballpark as the rival Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Volkswagen ID.4.

• VW bypassed conventional dealerships for selling upcoming Scout electric trucks
• Dealer interests in California say this is in violation of franchise laws
• Existing automakers sell vehicles via franchise or direct model, but not both

California has the most EV-friendly policies of any state, but that warm-and-welcoming attitude isn’t shared by the state’s franchised dealerships.

A group of those dealerships has threatened legal actions against the Volkswagen Group’s new Scout Motors EV brand, if it doesn’t stop taking reservations for its electric Terra pickup truck and Traveler SUV due in 2027.

Scout has said that it will rely on a direct-sales model—similar to that of other all-electric brands like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid.

In a December 20 letter to Scout Motors general counsel Neil Sitron and VW Group of America general counsel Antony Klapper, first spotted by Automotive News, the California New Car Dealers Association said the direct-sales plan “wrongfully cuts new and existing VW dealers out of an opportunity” and allegedly violates California’s franchise laws.

Scout Traveler concept

“California law states that manufacturers may not compete with their own franchisees by using affiliates to directly sell or service vehicles, which is precisely what VW and Scout intend to do,” the letter said.

Dealers have been grumbling about direct sales since Tesla rolled out its sales infrastructure over a decade ago. At the time Tesla indicated that it didn’t feel its electric vehicles would get a fair chance being sold at franchised dealerships alongside gasoline vehicles. Dealers responded with lobbying campaigns at the state level to protect franchise laws, something Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe has called “as close as you can get to corruption.”

But while automakers like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid all rely partly on company-owned showrooms, they’ve also never used franchised dealerships. Scout, on the other hand, is still part of the VW Group, so the argument seems to be that VW can have dealerships or it can have direct sales, but it can’t have both—even if the different sales models were siloed by brand.

Scout Terra concept

Volvo found the right balance with Polestar, which has been allowed by the states as a direct-sales model, but with some level of customer service—and the service-and-repair operation itself, in many cases—connected to Volvo dealerships.

An approach like that might have helped to cool tempers here. U.S. dealerships had been asking VW for pickups for years, and VW didn’t keep dealerships in the loop at all about the Scout brand. It came as a complete surprise.

Meanwhile, VW recently took a $5.8 billion stake in Rivian, which happens to already make trucks that are very close to the same format as Scout previewed in concept form earlier this fall, still more than two years away from production. And, in Rivian’s case, its network of company-owned showrooms are already in place.

• The 2025 Nissan Ariya costs $40,980
• The longest-range model will go up to 289 miles on a charge
• The Ariya now has Tesla Supercharger access

The Nissan Ariya lineup is condensed for 2025, with the longest-range variant lost in the shuffle.

The number of trim levels shrinks from eight to six. Prices hold steady after substantial cuts for the 2024 model year, with the base Engage model costing $40,980 after the mandatory $1,390 destination charge. That buys a single-motor front-wheel-drive powertrain and 66-kwh (gross, 63 kwh usable) battery pack.  A dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain, dubbed e-4ORCE, is a $4,000 option on this grade, with the same size pack.

2025 Nissan Ariya

Nissan continues to offer a 91-kwh (87 kwh usable) pack, which delivers 289 miles of range in the front-wheel-drive Evolve+ grade. That model, which is priced at $45,760 with destination, now offers the most range of any Ariya grade, as the 304-mile Venture+ model has disappeared from the lineup. So has the Empower+ front-wheel-drive grade.

All-wheel-drive models with the larger pack round out the lineup. The least expensive way to get this combination is the Engage+ e-4ORCE, which costs $46,760 after destination. Evolve+ e-4ORCE ($49,760) and Platinum+ e-4ORCE ($55,760) grades are positioned above it.

2025 Nissan Ariya

Wireless device charging is now standard on all grades, and Nissan has begun rolling out Tesla Supercharger access. For now, Ariya owners need a $235 adapter for this, but Nissan plans to begin fitting new EVs sold in the U.S. with Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (NACS) ports starting in 2025.

The Ariya was a Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2024 finalist, and will reportedly be joined by a smaller electric crossover replacing the long-serving Nissan Leaf, but it’s unclear if apparent merger talks with Honda will affect that plan.