Tesla beats Ford for Loyalty Award, IIHS slashes safety picks, GM wants smudge-free screens

Tesla tops Ford in U.S. brand loyalty

Intake: General Motors and Tesla came out on top in the 2022 Automotive Loyalty Awards, with Tesla topping Ford for U.S. brand loyalty for the first time, the S&P Global Mobility survey company said, according to Automotive News. GM won the “Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer” award, while Tesla won the “Overall Loyalty to Make,” beating out Ford for the first time in the last 12 years, a result long spurred by customer loyalty to the top-selling F-Series pickups. S&P Global Mobility says loyalty “is determined when a household that owns a new vehicle returns to market and acquired another new vehicle of the same make, model or manufacturer. The newly acquired vehicle may be either a replacement or an addition to the household fleet.” Subaru won the “Overall Loyalty to Dealer” for the first time—38 percent of Subaru owners buy their next vehicle from the same dealer.

Exhaust: These awards are a big deal in the automotive industry. “As customers are returning to market post-pandemic and inventory levels have slowly improved from last year’s lows, retaining loyal customers has been more challenging than ever before,” Joe LaFeir, S&P Global Mobility president, said in a statement. The loyalty awards are the result of an analysis of 11.7 million new U.S. retail vehicle registrations in 2022. —Steven Cole Smith

IIHS makes it way tougher to get Top Safety Pick awards for 2023

Intake: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is strengthening the requirements for its Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards in 2023, demanding better side-crash protection along with improved pedestrian crash-prevention systems and eliminating subpar headlights from the field of qualifying vehicles. As a result of the tougher criteria, only 48 models qualify for 2023 awards. Of those, 28 earn Top Safety Pick+ and 20 earn Top Safety Pick. Last year, before changes to the award requirements, there were 101 winners, including 65 earning the higher-tier Top Safety Pick+.

Exhaust: “The number of winners is smaller this year because we’re challenging automakers to build on the safety gains they’ve already achieved,” said IIHS President David Harkey. The biggest change to the criteria for both awards is the replacement of the original IIHS side-crash test with the updated evaluation launched in 2021. The updated test involves 82 percent more energy than the original test. Vehicles must earn an acceptable or good rating to qualify for Top Safety Pick, while a good rating is required for the “plus.” The plus criteria include another new evaluation, the nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash-prevention test. Advanced or superior performance is required in both the nighttime and daytime pedestrian tests for the higher award. For Top Safety Pick, only a daytime rating of advanced or superior is required. —SCS

Tesla applies for “ultra-hard” steel patent

Intake: Tesla has applied for a patent on a new “ultra-hard” steel alloy that it apparently plans to use with the Cybertruck electric pickup truck, says Electrek. The Cybertruck will use a bare-metal steel exoskeleton, and while the patent doesn’t spell out in so many words that the steel would be for the Cybertruck, there are multiple clues in the patent filing, such as the statement that: “In some embodiments, an exterior surface of the exterior panel does not comprise paint.” 

Exhaust: According to Electrek, it’s still not clear who is going to manufacture this alloy for Tesla, but cites rumors that Steel Dynamics, which is operating a new, giant plant in Texas not too far from where Tesla plans to manufacture the Cybertruck, could be the source. Tesla still plans to start production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas in Austin this summer and ramp up volume next year. That seems ambitious, but we know better than to tell Elon Musk something isn’t possible. —SCS 

New GM patent aims to cure smudgy screens

Intake: General Motors has filed a patent that could help remedy the smudges that befall massive touchscreens when you—no, the passenger, certainly not you—jab at the screen to swap from radio to navigation and then back again. According to a report from Automotive News, the patent is for a process that uses “light from violet micro-LEDS that is invisible to the eye but can react with a photocatalyst built into the coating of the display.” The reaction between the light and the photocatalyst would supposedly erase any smudges by drawing on water found in the air. According to the patent document, what makes GM’s process different from existing smudge-reduction tech is that its version works in scenarios with low light—think at night or when the vehicle glass is tinted, which it is on almost all vehicles nowadays. GM hasn’t said when such an innovation will reach production cars—or whether it even will, for that matter.

Exhaust: With screens like the 38-inch OLED behemoth found in the Cadillac Escalade, a smudge-eliminating feature seems like a worthy pursuit. Having to pause your luxuriating to grab a microfiber and scrub away oily prints is the antithesis of a posh experience. —Nathan Petroelje

NASCAR TV ratings down early in the season

Intake: NASCAR ratings sagged for the second running of the Busch Light Clash in the L.A. Coliseum, down 15 percent from the inaugural race last year. Similarly, the Daytona 500 ratings were down 7 percent in ratings and 8 percent in viewership from last year, making the audience the third-smallest ever for the race. Still, the Daytona race handily scored the highest ratings for the weekend for a sporting event, outpacing the NBA All-Star game.

Exhaust: Ratings aren’t in yet for the Palo Casino 400, the second race of the full season, which ran Sunday night, but the event—the last on the two-mile oval at the speedway in Fontana, California, before NASCAR shortens the track—was a sellout, as was the Daytona 500. Kyle Busch won Sunday’s race, in only his second outing with Richard Childress Racing. —SCS 

Florida state senator wary of electric cars on the road in an evacuation

Intake: According to CBS News Miami, a state senator has suggested that state transportation officials are considering limiting the use of electric vehicles during hurricane (and other natural disaster) evacuations. Senator Jonathan Martin (R-Fort Myers) raised a concern that electric vehicles could become “roadblocks” if they run out of power on highways crowded with fleeing residents. “With a couple of guys behind you, you can’t get out of the car and push it to the side of the road. Traffic backs up. And what might look like a two-hour trip might turn into an eight-hour trip once you’re on the road,” Martin said during a discussion on charging stations at the Senate Select Committee on Resiliency.

Exhaust: Trey Tillander, executive director of transportation technologies at the Florida Department of Transportation, said he’d bring the topic up with agencies including the Florida Highway Patrol. But the department’s preference, he said, is to find ways to help electric-vehicle owners during evacuations. “Some of the things we’re looking into [are] portable EV chargers,” Tillander said. “So, if an electrical vehicle runs out of charge, there are technologies. We have our Road Rangers. We have our emergency-assistance vehicles that we deploy during a hurricane evacuation that have gas. We need to provide that same level of service to electric vehicles.” —SCS 

After garage fire, MotoAmerica bans lithium-polymer batteries 

Intake: After watching Matty Scholtz’s Westby Racing Yamaha R1 spontaneously combust in background of an interview two weeks ago, MotoAmerica moved swiftly to ban the battery chemistry that caused that fire, citing rider safety concerns. “This rule has been implemented due to the safety risks associated with LIPO [lithium-polymer] batteries, including overheating, swelling, and explosion. We take the safety of our participants and spectators seriously and will not tolerate any behavior that puts them at risk.” Per the announcement, lead-acid, absorbed glass mat (AGM), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are approved and can be used. 

Exhaust: Battery fires are something racetracks and race organizations are relatively unfamiliar with, and the sudden and documented nature of the Westby Racing fire made the situation pretty scary. This new rule came fast and for good reason. Batteries can be damaged during a crash and appear fine until a corner worker goes out to clear the track surface. This ruling helps protect more than the riders; it also preserves the safety of anyone who gets near one of the bikes in the paddock, around the hot pits, on the racing surface, or during transport. —Kyle Smith

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.