Here at Driving, we’re always bringing you “all the news that’s fit to print,” or at the very least, fit into your screen. Hey, it’s just what we do.
As we do every year, we’ve rounded up the 10 most-read stories and this year it’s a really diverse mix, with everything from solid-state batteries, to cars that shouldn’t be driven, and to a certain stainless-steel truck that managed to be both a hit and a miss with our team of expert reviewers.
Some Ford and Mazda owners still haven’t fixed their airbags
It’s been more than a decade since we were first alerted to the Takata airbag issue. The problem was that the airbags used a propellant that didn’t get along with heat and humidity, with the result that a deploying airbag could potentially send dangerous or even deadly metal fragments flying into the occupants.
An even bigger problem was that so many automakers bought their airbags from Takata, and that meant almost 100 million were out there globally. Transport Canada identified problematic vehicles right back to 2000, but while recalls were issued for all affected models, not all owners were racing to get replacement airbags installed for free. Ford and Mazda were begging people – approximately 217,650 of them – to get the recalls done and not drive their vehicles until they did. If you own a vehicle from any brand that has a Takata recall airbag on it, and you haven’t had it fixed, please do it now.
Ontario: Yours to discover that you don’t need to renew your plates
In 2022, Ontario premier Doug Ford cozied up to drivers in that province by ditching the annual licence plate renewal of $120 ($60 in Northern Ontario). That also meant you no longer got a renewal sticker to stick onto the plate.
With no fee and no sticker, who figured out that you still had to renew the plate? Turns out it wasn’t a million or so people who were driving on expired plates, which could earn a sizable ticket. So rather than remind them to go online and do it, Ford just changed the system so the plates renew automatically. Most, that is; some still have to be manually renewed even though there’s no fee, including motor homes, trailers, snowmobiles, off-road vehicles, and pre-1983 vehicles.
A Quebec design could “reinvent” the engine
As good as engines get, there’s always room for improvement, and last summer we reported on an American company, Avadi Engines Inc., that’s using a Quebec-based inventor’s design to create a new type of internal combustion engine (ICE). So far, it’s only made a prototype, but it certainly is interesting.
In a regular ICE, pistons move up and down in their cylinders; but in this one, dubbed the MA-250, the pistons also rotate. Each has two connecting rods attached to a pinion gear that moves on a ring gear. This gear reduction increases torque, while intake and exhaust valves are replaced with a rotary disc. The whole thing is also super-compact. It’s more suited to single-cylinder use on lawnmowers or motorcycles, but Avadi thinks it also has potential as a range extender on electric vehicles, or as part of a hybrid vehicle powertrain.
A teaser for the next Subaru Outback
We often cover “teasers,” when automakers show us bits-and-pieces of new models coming down the pipeline, without unveiling the whole thing. Usually we get the most response when it’s some go-fast sports car, but readers really wanted to know more about the 2026 Subaru Outback that’s on its way.
The Outback is basically a higher-riding version of the long-gone Legacy station wagon, but these teasers from Subaru suggest the new one will be taller, the sides will be flatter, and as far as we’re concerned, it looks like it’s morphing into an SUV. Like you, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Man or machine: Who’s at fault?
Vehicle warranty doesn’t cover abuse, but the big question in this story was whether the owner of a stick-shift-equipped 2022 Hyundai Elantra N that experienced engine failure was actually at fault. He’d purchased an extended warranty and had fewer than 50,000 kilometres on the car when it broke down. He figured it was covered, until the dealership handed him a repair estimate of around $10,000.
Hyundai said the Elantra N was subjected to “excessive engine revving, which falls outside the coverage of the vehicle’s warranty due to improper use.” Beyond our Driving report, plenty of enthusiasts on various forums got involved in the discussion, debating whether the blame lay with the car or the driver. As for us, we’ll let our readers pick their sides.
Volkswagen looks solidly at solid state
Electric vehicles (EVs) have made considerable progress, but their battery technology hasn’t always kept up. We got a lot of eyeballs on a report from Volkswagen Group – which includes Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, and others – that its battery division is working on a solid-state battery that could potentially go for more than 500,000 kilometres without a noticeable loss of range. It would also likely be smaller, lighter, and less likely to catch fire if it’s damaged. Everything’s still in development, but it could be a solid start.
Mazda’s shifters could be shiftless
Antique-car owners are used to the difficulty of finding replacement parts, but who expects that with a 2012/2013 Mazda3? Not the owners of models equipped with a Skyactiv engine and manual transmission. It seems that when a cable in the shift mechanism gets old, it starts to fray – and the cable was unique to just that model and just for those two years, and Mazda quit making a replacement part in 2019. If you own one of these…well, you’ve been warned.
You can’t depend on dependability anymore
J.D. Power released a dependability study in February, with Lexus and Toyota tops among automakers, and the Porsche 718 (Boxster/Cayman) named the top vehicle. But the survey company also discovered that vehicle dependability is getting worse, with owners complaining of an increasing number of problems.
Infotainment systems garnered the greatest number of complaints, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity being the most problematic. Drivers also found that the longer they owned a vehicle, the more fed up they were with the driver-assist technologies. As for what powers the vehicles, those who bought gasoline or hybrid vehicles reported fewer problems than those who bought battery-electric or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).
Some were hits, some were misses, one was both
Last February, our Driving experts spent a day prowling the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto during the media presentations. Our task was to find the vehicles we thought hit the mark, and those that didn’t. Some of the hits were a Vinfast concept electric pickup and the new Lexus GX 550; misses included a 1957 Corvette painted pink and presented as representing the Barbie movie, although it wasn’t even close to what the come-to-life dolls drove in the flick. But the biggest surprise? The Tesla Cybertruck, in its first Toronto Auto Show appearance, was named both a hit and a miss by our reviewers.
These would be halcyon days indeed
Would you buy an EV if you could drive it across the country without plugging it in? Yeah, we would too, if the Chrysler Halcyon Concept actually did have “unlimited” range, as the automaker suggested might be possible if its proposed lithium-sulfur battery chemistry actually works out.
We’re still a bit skeptical, but we can’t deny that the Halcyon is gorgeous, as concept cars can be when they’re not subject to the limitations of regulations and production reality. It’s also envisioned as self-driving, and since you don’t need to see where you’re going, at night the augmented-reality windshield would give you information about all the constellations above, so count us in. And that’s a wrap: Thanks for reading, and here’s to more great news stories in 2025.
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