Autoblog

It's a pretty serious charge to level at what is, admittedly, a trend. But John Manoogian, Cadillac's lead exterior designer, believes that fake side vents will wipe out the current trend of stylized-yet-functional side vents. Manoogian says "I've seen Chrysler 300s where guys are buying these stick-on portholes, and I'm thinking, 'What are these people thinking?' They are literally stick-on parts." Yet imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if every other carmaker (including Saturn) and aftermarket shop has hopped on your coat tails... we'd think you'd pat yourself on the back. Sure, it might be aesthetically disappointing to see your lovingly crafted design turned into a chrome flake applique, but that's what happens to trends. Besides, there are far more egregious styling fakeries, as in companies copying significant chunks of another maker's entire design language, that haven't managed to kill original automotive expression. We doubt the lowly side vent spells the end. It's intriguing, though, when Manoogian says, "When it gets to be that ubiquitous, then we are going to have to say, 'We need to do something different here.' " Exactly. Isn't that what car designers are for?

[Source: Auto News - sub. req'd]

We didn't think that promoting the benefits of a car feature by ogling women could get any funnier than Nissan's (not safe for work) independent front suspension ad, but Volkswagen just might have managed to do just that – and in a more "gentlemanly" fashion, too.

I'm sure the chivalry won't be lost on our more feminist-leaning readers, either. (Wait a second, how many feminists are reading our car blog, anyway?) Just remember: we don't make the news, we just report it (and laugh).

[Source: German Car Blog]

In the world of large sedans* equipped with side airbags, some do a better job than others at protecting occupants according to the latest results from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Achieving the top score of "good" are the Chevrolet Impala and Toyota Camry (this serious group of testers does not issue any scores of "excellent" or "exceptional" or even "super marvelous"). The Buick Lucerne and Hyundai Azera both earned an "acceptable" rating, while the Chrysler 300 and Buick LaCrosse came in with a "marginal" score.

The IIHS points out the importance of side-impact test scores by noting that in collisions involving modern vehicles, more drivers die in side impacts than in collisions of the frontal nature. Indeed, with the dramatic improvement in frontal protection, most vehicles now receive a rating of "good" from the institute in this measure of performance, with the most significant distinctions in safety now being in the realm of side impact protection.

*Concerning the comments that came up during our last post on "large cars" - we're not the ones who call these "large sedans", as that assessment is made by the EPA. We know that a Lucerne is not as large as your grandpa's Electra 225. We're also aware that it is no longer 1965.

[Source: IIHS; more info from the institute is posted after the jump]