Monroe 58619 Rear Sensa Trac Load Adjusting on 2040-parts.com

Subaru Forester tops small SUVs in new crash test

The Subaru Forester and Mitsubishi Outlander Sport have won top honors from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, becoming the only small SUVs to ace the group's new "small overlap" crash test. The Forester, which Subaru redesigned for the 2014 model year, earned Top Safety Pick+ accolades by scoring a "good" rating on the small overlap test, in which the front corner of the vehicle on the driver's side strikes a five-foot-tall barrier at 40 mph. "With the redesigned Forester, Subaru's engineers set out to do well in our new test, and they succeeded," Joe Nolan, vice president for vehicle research at IIHS, said in a statement.

Elio three-wheel prototype revealed

Elio Motors unveiled a prototype of its two-passenger, three-wheeled vehicle Wednesday, confirming the all-new vehicle will have a $6,800 base price when it goes on sale in June 2014. Paul Elio, company founder and CEO, said the vehicle is targeted at first-time or cash-strapped buyers, as well as for families who already have a family car and are seeking something inexpensive for daily commuting. Its sub $7,000-base price makes it almost half the price of the cheapest car in the U.S.

Holden will sell cars in Australia beyond 2017

When we heard about Holden's plans to shutter its Australian plants after 2017, we didn't know quite what to think. The General Motors subsidiary was cagey when it came to details, claiming that the brand would remain a presence in Australia -- even maintaining its design office there. Oddly, we couldn't get anyone to say, in black-and-white terms, what vehicles would be sold there under the Holden name after its plants close.