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Insurance group lists its Top Safety Picks

After increasing its standards for 2011 models, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 66 vehicles--more than double the 2010 total--rate as best in the industry at protecting passengers from front, side, rollover and rear crashes. Only 27 vehicles qualified last year after the group, funded by the insurance industry, required that vehicles pass a roof-strength test to earn a good rating, claiming that stronger roofs would reduce the risk of serious or fatal injury by 50 percent in a rollover accident. The most mentioned carmakers on the 2011 list are Hyundai/Kia and Volkswagen/Audi, both with nine vehicles to get the Top Safety Pick designation.

Rethinking Scion: Quirky goes mainstream so brand adapts with a sporty coupe, hip music

If Toyota's Scion youth brand had stuck to its original premise, the third generation of the boxy xB would be rolling into showrooms today. As envisioned by Toyota, Scion products would be quirky, uber-cool and not around long enough to get stale. Its first-edition products were replaced after just four years.

Chrysler issues recall for steering-column fix

Buyers of 11,351 Chrysler products will be getting a recall notice to fix a problem in the steering column. The recall covers 2011 models of the Chrysler 200 sedan and convertible and the Town & Country minivan; the Dodge Avenger sedan, the Caliber, Nitro and Journey SUVs, and the Grand Caravan minivan; and the Jeep Compass, Liberty, Patriot and Wrangler SUVs. The steering column in some of those vehicles might be missing a pivot rivet, or the rivet may have been installed incorrectly.