"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthere's been a lot of recalls in the news recently and we talked about the Takata airbag recall as well as a new one from Fiat Chrysler automobiles we just got a brand-new Lexus 3 row SUV into our fleet and we answer the question what's the best American car for a teenager next on talking cars hi everyone and welcome back I'm John linka I'm Jennifer stock burger and I'm Ryan - Luke askew and this week we have a little special thing going on it's Valentine's Day I just wanted to give a little gift to you because I do enjoy working with you know we do like working with each other and you know I saw some comments last week that I wasn't looking too happy and I apologize for that but we're gonna jump right in now with some serious stuff because part of our news this week is about recalls and there's some big big recalls that have been in the news recently the first one is Takata and generally call it never ever recall it keeps on giving nothing light of it but can you explain what Takata is because the most people that may just be a name they don't understand right so Takata is one of if not the major manufacturer of airbag units it's a kind of recall which is now from the first time it was it's it's stretching on like ten years of Investigation and recall is about the inflator portion which is a chemical composition that in some cases has exploded not exploded like it's supposed to but exploded beyond the contents of the can that's holding it so it's literally sent metal shrapnel killing about 50 killing 15 people in the United States alone more around the world they think like 22 around the world so but it's millions of inflators it's affected all manufacturing right right right sighs I said you talk about millions 40 million in flavors have been recalled and 20 million inflaters have been repaired that's domestically according to Nitsa right you talked about the scope and scale it's incredible it's the biggest recall ever ever ever and the problem is the parts weren't available and still are not available to replace them all so it's this really difficult recall to manage and track in that one it's read some regional issues in that and that's what they've tried do is implement the repairs and areas that seem to need the most either vehicles that are showing a higher propensity areas with high humidity that have shown a higher propensity and they kind of staged it out because the parts to start there the other issue is they keep adding cars to it yes yes that's some of the more recent well that's what part of it is well it's like you said it's been going ten years now almost and you know it's it was it was big in the news and now it kind of went away a little while you know for a little bit and now it came it came back I kind of forgot about this sure and I think people you know they they assume that this is over like they have all the vehicles covered which ones have these issues but there's still discuss so you have to pay attention you could potentially have one of the cars still to this day don't find it even if you checked on it once ago right like recall fatigue like I hear another recall here another recall specifically Takata oh I own a Honda Civic Honda's have a number of vehicles that I could it didn't affect mine so I'm good right but now they're adding more vehicles to it yeah you know and in the case we have here Ford in January earlier Jen in January 2018 added three thousand 2006 Ford Rangers to the list then all of a sudden a couple days ago around February 12th they added an additional thirty three thousand models of vehicles to it and also Mazda has the same thing because Mazda made the B series was the same as a version so again well what what could people do what should they do to make sure that they stand hopital right so I would add those B Series pickups and Ranger pickups - there must be a high propensity for this to happen because board actually said don't drive which is not what other manufacturers have said so it's this balance between this life-saving component and and I would still say airbags save many more lives than have been hurt or or lost because of this but it's this really difficult balance of what you do so advice would be you got to keep on it if you're any of these manufacturers go back to that to that VIN lookup right right you can hook up your VIN of National Highway Traffic Safety minutes right right look it up the VIN is is for those of you who don't know it's usually inside the the windshield right the - you kind of have to look downwards readily right metal plate number put it in it's typically also on some of the documentation your registration or your insurance you can look there too but put that number and if you think your vehicle is affected and get it fixed as soon as you can because it is very dangerous right so you can go also go to see our org slash car recalls right and you'll have a listing of there we also have CR dart org slash Takata so we have a whole timeline of what's going on so you can find information there and like you said with the VIN you know you can use the VIN lookup on it we have a recall list by it by manufacturer there's also some other some other recalls and then we're gonna get to some more advice because Fiat Chrysler has a smaller recall thirty-nine thousand four hundred and change 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan minivans and Jeep Wrangler SUVs so Ryan not the current the new one right new but the one that they just replaced you know yeah that's outgoing yeah you can tell us a little bit about that one well it's a it's a brake switch that actually is failing and allowing you to put the vehicle into gear without stepping on the brake yep and that's a big big no-no right I mean you have a kid in the car leans on the shifter and off they go and you just stepped out for a second I mean that that could be bad exactly make sure the Dodge you know where you can pull it down yeah yes yes yeah it's not a good thing I think it'll be brake lights even on in some cases brake lights on when there's no brake being applied imagine trying to follow that person yeah the brake lights can't go to your driving down the highway that person just use the brake as a footrest you know one of the interesting things is again with the recalls and is that people sometimes will buy a used car they'll get a car from a from a family member and then they're not getting the recall notices now some manufacturers we I talked with are with one of our analysts Mel you he told me that some manufacturers will go and actually pull registrations right and then they'll contact people be it that way some manufacturers if you bring a car into the dealership for service for the first time they'll update their information and some don't do any of that or if you only take it to a mechanic you're not going to have right now a dealer shop yep right yeah so what should people do Ryan how should they you know make sure that they can get recall information what's the best way well you can you can use our website to look it up or you can contact your madam manufacturer of your vehicle and you know tell them hey I have this car I bought it used so they may not know that and you know get you on a mailing list exactly I assume that's but you can't assume that they know when you buy these cars I mean if you buy it new they should but even still I mean maybe there's something could fall through them it's like being proactive yeah being exact that's why some of the stuff is serious like your shifter you know the shifter one that's could be serious exactly and on a note of safety we really want to thank everyone for sending in their information and their comments about our discussion from a couple weeks ago about the safety system you know it's great to know what people think about the different nomenclature and then that note let us know if you've been affected by the Takata airbag recall we'd love to hear your stories if you've had a problem you know getting up getting an airbag they had to park your car if you had to have it brought in or even though maybe the dealership gave you a loan or while I was being serviced hey no we're gonna pivot now to talk about a new car at the test truck we just got in the new 2018 lexus rx350 l so they make two versions of the L for a long wheelbase right exactly they make the 350 which is the normal conventional v6 and then the H is the hybrid Brian tell us about what the changes are for this and what you thought about driving it well both both of the previous the regular 350 we've liked a lot here this is the same thing just longer because they put a third row seat in the vehicle that probably shouldn't have a service yeah it's it's a seat in a pinch we'll call it that I mean I tried to crawl in there yesterday and it was and you made it I mean granted I'm a six foot to a adult that probably isn't gonna get back there but if you need to even put kids back there I mean this is a cramped area the middle row does slide forward but now the now that seat is up against the driver's seat or the you know passenger front seat and it's like it's it's a tight tight spot Jen with kids you think it's it's a little different than Ryan's experience I used exactly the same words that Ryan used it's a it's a seat for in a pitch there is no way that you would really want to be even put a kid back there for every day and there's so many cars you think of Highlanders you know just don't same same factor Highlander or Traverse or MD that have so much better third rows Atlas comes to mind right if you're going now with that said as a parent you sometimes need that in a pinch seat you've got one extra kid that needs a ride home from soccer or you know this girl's can you give her a ride home it's fine for that and I would say when looking even for that pitch seat the ability of to move that second row I mean if you had the second row permanent there's no way but the ability to move that second row and cheat them a little bit to give that third upper and those are the type of things you want to look for and can you get in it well that's the other thing is I even getting in it it's clear I couldn't even a small child I don't think could get up over that is like a little V they give you right when you slide the slide it's tight I mean it's really tight I found I drove at home you know the RX is a great vehicle has a very low - I forgot how low the - great visibility as opposed to drive forward forward visibility right well even the back the window is pretty big compared to the Alpha most ovo that I just drove another night which is about this big the thing I found really interesting is that in the advertisement they have a little girl and her parents and they're talking about you know the moms pregnant like oh are you excited to have your you know your new sister or brother come home and the girls in the back seats are you excited about your baby sister coming okay that thing is let's just remember kids legs aren't hinged at the ankle they're exami like everyone else and the little kids gonna sit there and their feet are not going to they have to image straight out so it could be banging exactly a decent length to that small of an area like I've been their feet over and get them tough right yeah it's it's a pinch seat but like you said Volkswagen Atlas out eq7 even Toyota Highlander which I'm surprising us entry bedroom right right why not have a Lexus Highlander right exactly I would add - for anybody who's thinking of a thir so you've got a bigger family and there are gonna be kids back there is my kids had a really difficult time because of what you're saying there in that third row you got a front seat back in front of you you got this angled you got barely any visibility you got a high head restraint behind you and they would get motion sick barely they're in a cave here so it was really hard so if people are talking about there not just look at these options to move and create room but can your kids ride there yeah well like like it yeah we're we're gonna be putting it to our tests obviously we're gonna you know look at look at how it fits and we'll give you dimensions on it and also some more some more anecdotal experiences and we'll have it on consumerreports.org finally we're gonna get to a question we've asked each week for video questions we got this really great right in one but really remember people send us your video questions to consumerreports.org slash talking cars you could upload a question there be great to get and we really like having you guys participate in the show this question is what is the most reliable American car for a teenager and what is how long we're gonna both but Jen compiles a list of this regularly so natural resource just to go to you and you know like Ryan said exactly what does it mean we weren't sure so you have some good suggestions so let me just go through kind of our criteria for what goes on that teen driver list both new or used and it's kind of a Goldilocks thing in that we look at obviously recommended vehicles so that means good performance good reliability good safety so that's inclusive but then we kind of call out ones that are too fast and are too slow right you don't want to put your kids in the sports car rocket you want but you do want them to be able to merge if they need to merge so there's a balance there not too many passengers we actually exclude stuff with third rows because you know graduated licensing helps some yeah they can't you don't want them to load it right some cases they can't take people with them at first anyway after that yeah it's almost like night driving don't drive at night at all right okay now go everywhere and then you're looking for ones that have particularly good handling capabilities and that kind of rules out stuff like some of the pickup trucks look at our own issue right yeah because you know rollovers and such so with that said for used vehicles to this question we do kind of say we want electronic stability control so that's where our years start where we say okay from this year forward and then we're looking specifically at reliable years so with that said of the 47 vehicles that are on our news driver our newest cars 14 drives there's six of them that are american-made yeah we have Chevrolet Equinox four-cylinder from 2012 to 17 the Chevrolet Malibu non-turbo 2009 to 16 we're gonna have the rest these in the show notes right and become a listicle um you know and they range from what 4,000 up to you know depending is 6 for some some of the cars up to 30 for others depending on how right edge is fairly new to the list right so that's $19,000 car still you know so but Ryan you know you raise a point of like what is American well it's yeah where is it are you looking at manufacturer where that you know where they're where they're from or where's it where's a car actually made right um do you have a favorite like you look at that do you have one that you think is underused list yeah I would I like the fusion Ford regional it's a really good looking car even the older ones good looking car it's fun to drive that there was two years of the focus the focus is fun to drive that's I'm partial to smaller more nimble cars it would be one of those yeah yeah the Fusion has more years because right focus that into some transmission issue and that's reliability as part of its not just you know what five thousand our car can I get well we're not gonna give you a five thousand our car it's gonna break down and cost another five in maintenance and repair you know and you can get the fusion nine ten around the five thousand dollar range with stability control now we're just getting to the point where some of those used cars have the stability control yeah you know and as you know with each year the list drops where you have electronics like and again you don't have to say it's optional you could say it's standard right gnarl is the only includes years where it was standard to make it so people are not to search too much for what the car it's hard sometimes on the used car to know if it had it or not you know Ryan's point is you could also get a Honda Accord you could get a Toyota Camry you could get a lot of other vehicles that are made in America percent American parts right built by American workers but you know if that final dollar goes back to well to Japan it goes to Korea it goes to driven wherever it is people say it's not American I mean there's a lot of BMWs builtin right built down in in South Carolina and there's some Audi's built in Mexico you know what work is that German anyway alright so I hope we made the right assumption for this person yeah and they meant American manufacturers well you know it's a general yeah exactly we have Ford Chevy you know Chrysler they're not on the list you can find all that information on consumerreports.org just search on best used cars for teens on that note we're gonna wrap up this episode as always check the show notes below for all the information about the cars and topics that we talked about in this episode thanks for watching and we'll see you next time youthere's been a lot of recalls in the news recently and we talked about the Takata airbag recall as well as a new one from Fiat Chrysler automobiles we just got a brand-new Lexus 3 row SUV into our fleet and we answer the question what's the best American car for a teenager next on talking cars hi everyone and welcome back I'm John linka I'm Jennifer stock burger and I'm Ryan - Luke askew and this week we have a little special thing going on it's Valentine's Day I just wanted to give a little gift to you because I do enjoy working with you know we do like working with each other and you know I saw some comments last week that I wasn't looking too happy and I apologize for that but we're gonna jump right in now with some serious stuff because part of our news this week is about recalls and there's some big big recalls that have been in the news recently the first one is Takata and generally call it never ever recall it keeps on giving nothing light of it but can you explain what Takata is because the most people that may just be a name they don't understand right so Takata is one of if not the major manufacturer of airbag units it's a kind of recall which is now from the first time it was it's it's stretching on like ten years of Investigation and recall is about the inflator portion which is a chemical composition that in some cases has exploded not exploded like it's supposed to but exploded beyond the contents of the can that's holding it so it's literally sent metal shrapnel killing about 50 killing 15 people in the United States alone more around the world they think like 22 around the world so but it's millions of inflators it's affected all manufacturing right right right sighs I said you talk about millions 40 million in flavors have been recalled and 20 million inflaters have been repaired that's domestically according to Nitsa right you talked about the scope and scale it's incredible it's the biggest recall ever ever ever and the problem is the parts weren't available and still are not available to replace them all so it's this really difficult recall to manage and track in that one it's read some regional issues in that and that's what they've tried do is implement the repairs and areas that seem to need the most either vehicles that are showing a higher propensity areas with high humidity that have shown a higher propensity and they kind of staged it out because the parts to start there the other issue is they keep adding cars to it yes yes that's some of the more recent well that's what part of it is well it's like you said it's been going ten years now almost and you know it's it was it was big in the news and now it kind of went away a little while you know for a little bit and now it came it came back I kind of forgot about this sure and I think people you know they they assume that this is over like they have all the vehicles covered which ones have these issues but there's still discuss so you have to pay attention you could potentially have one of the cars still to this day don't find it even if you checked on it once ago right like recall fatigue like I hear another recall here another recall specifically Takata oh I own a Honda Civic Honda's have a number of vehicles that I could it didn't affect mine so I'm good right but now they're adding more vehicles to it yeah you know and in the case we have here Ford in January earlier Jen in January 2018 added three thousand 2006 Ford Rangers to the list then all of a sudden a couple days ago around February 12th they added an additional thirty three thousand models of vehicles to it and also Mazda has the same thing because Mazda made the B series was the same as a version so again well what what could people do what should they do to make sure that they stand hopital right so I would add those B Series pickups and Ranger pickups - there must be a high propensity for this to happen because board actually said don't drive which is not what other manufacturers have said so it's this balance between this life-saving component and and I would still say airbags save many more lives than have been hurt or or lost because of this but it's this really difficult balance of what you do so advice would be you got to keep on it if you're any of these manufacturers go back to that to that VIN lookup right right you can hook up your VIN of National Highway Traffic Safety minutes right right look it up the VIN is is for those of you who don't know it's usually inside the the windshield right the - you kind of have to look downwards readily right metal plate number put it in it's typically also on some of the documentation your registration or your insurance you can look there too but put that number and if you think your vehicle is affected and get it fixed as soon as you can because it is very dangerous right so you can go also go to see our org slash car recalls right and you'll have a listing of there we also have CR dart org slash Takata so we have a whole timeline of what's going on so you can find information there and like you said with the VIN you know you can use the VIN lookup on it we have a recall list by it by manufacturer there's also some other some other recalls and then we're gonna get to some more advice because Fiat Chrysler has a smaller recall thirty-nine thousand four hundred and change 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan minivans and Jeep Wrangler SUVs so Ryan not the current the new one right new but the one that they just replaced you know yeah that's outgoing yeah you can tell us a little bit about that one well it's a it's a brake switch that actually is failing and allowing you to put the vehicle into gear without stepping on the brake yep and that's a big big no-no right I mean you have a kid in the car leans on the shifter and off they go and you just stepped out for a second I mean that that could be bad exactly make sure the Dodge you know where you can pull it down yeah yes yes yeah it's not a good thing I think it'll be brake lights even on in some cases brake lights on when there's no brake being applied imagine trying to follow that person yeah the brake lights can't go to your driving down the highway that person just use the brake as a footrest you know one of the interesting things is again with the recalls and is that people sometimes will buy a used car they'll get a car from a from a family member and then they're not getting the recall notices now some manufacturers we I talked with are with one of our analysts Mel you he told me that some manufacturers will go and actually pull registrations right and then they'll contact people be it that way some manufacturers if you bring a car into the dealership for service for the first time they'll update their information and some don't do any of that or if you only take it to a mechanic you're not going to have right now a dealer shop yep right yeah so what should people do Ryan how should they you know make sure that they can get recall information what's the best way well you can you can use our website to look it up or you can contact your madam manufacturer of your vehicle and you know tell them hey I have this car I bought it used so they may not know that and you know get you on a mailing list exactly I assume that's but you can't assume that they know when you buy these cars I mean if you buy it new they should but even still I mean maybe there's something could fall through them it's like being proactive yeah being exact that's why some of the stuff is serious like your shifter you know the shifter one that's could be serious exactly and on a note of safety we really want to thank everyone for sending in their information and their comments about our discussion from a couple weeks ago about the safety system you know it's great to know what people think about the different nomenclature and then that note let us know if you've been affected by the Takata airbag recall we'd love to hear your stories if you've had a problem you know getting up getting an airbag they had to park your car if you had to have it brought in or even though maybe the dealership gave you a loan or while I was being serviced hey no we're gonna pivot now to talk about a new car at the test truck we just got in the new 2018 lexus rx350 l so they make two versions of the L for a long wheelbase right exactly they make the 350 which is the normal conventional v6 and then the H is the hybrid Brian tell us about what the changes are for this and what you thought about driving it well both both of the previous the regular 350 we've liked a lot here this is the same thing just longer because they put a third row seat in the vehicle that probably shouldn't have a service yeah it's it's a seat in a pinch we'll call it that I mean I tried to crawl in there yesterday and it was and you made it I mean granted I'm a six foot to a adult that probably isn't gonna get back there but if you need to even put kids back there I mean this is a cramped area the middle row does slide forward but now the now that seat is up against the driver's seat or the you know passenger front seat and it's like it's it's a tight tight spot Jen with kids you think it's it's a little different than Ryan's experience I used exactly the same words that Ryan used it's a it's a seat for in a pitch there is no way that you would really want to be even put a kid back there for every day and there's so many cars you think of Highlanders you know just don't same same factor Highlander or Traverse or MD that have so much better third rows Atlas comes to mind right if you're going now with that said as a parent you sometimes need that in a pinch seat you've got one extra kid that needs a ride home from soccer or you know this girl's can you give her a ride home it's fine for that and I would say when looking even for that pitch seat the ability of to move that second row I mean if you had the second row permanent there's no way but the ability to move that second row and cheat them a little bit to give that third upper and those are the type of things you want to look for and can you get in it well that's the other thing is I even getting in it it's clear I couldn't even a small child I don't think could get up over that is like a little V they give you right when you slide the slide it's tight I mean it's really tight I found I drove at home you know the RX is a great vehicle has a very low - I forgot how low the - great visibility as opposed to drive forward forward visibility right well even the back the window is pretty big compared to the Alpha most ovo that I just drove another night which is about this big the thing I found really interesting is that in the advertisement they have a little girl and her parents and they're talking about you know the moms pregnant like oh are you excited to have your you know your new sister or brother come home and the girls in the back seats are you excited about your baby sister coming okay that thing is let's just remember kids legs aren't hinged at the ankle they're exami like everyone else and the little kids gonna sit there and their feet are not going to they have to image straight out so it could be banging exactly a decent length to that small of an area like I've been their feet over and get them tough right yeah it's it's a pinch seat but like you said Volkswagen Atlas out eq7 even Toyota Highlander which I'm surprising us entry bedroom right right why not have a Lexus Highlander right exactly I would add - for anybody who's thinking of a thir so you've got a bigger family and there are gonna be kids back there is my kids had a really difficult time because of what you're saying there in that third row you got a front seat back in front of you you got this angled you got barely any visibility you got a high head restraint behind you and they would get motion sick barely they're in a cave here so it was really hard so if people are talking about there not just look at these options to move and create room but can your kids ride there yeah well like like it yeah we're we're gonna be putting it to our tests obviously we're gonna you know look at look at how it fits and we'll give you dimensions on it and also some more some more anecdotal experiences and we'll have it on consumerreports.org finally we're gonna get to a question we've asked each week for video questions we got this really great right in one but really remember people send us your video questions to consumerreports.org slash talking cars you could upload a question there be great to get and we really like having you guys participate in the show this question is what is the most reliable American car for a teenager and what is how long we're gonna both but Jen compiles a list of this regularly so natural resource just to go to you and you know like Ryan said exactly what does it mean we weren't sure so you have some good suggestions so let me just go through kind of our criteria for what goes on that teen driver list both new or used and it's kind of a Goldilocks thing in that we look at obviously recommended vehicles so that means good performance good reliability good safety so that's inclusive but then we kind of call out ones that are too fast and are too slow right you don't want to put your kids in the sports car rocket you want but you do want them to be able to merge if they need to merge so there's a balance there not too many passengers we actually exclude stuff with third rows because you know graduated licensing helps some yeah they can't you don't want them to load it right some cases they can't take people with them at first anyway after that yeah it's almost like night driving don't drive at night at all right okay now go everywhere and then you're looking for ones that have particularly good handling capabilities and that kind of rules out stuff like some of the pickup trucks look at our own issue right yeah because you know rollovers and such so with that said for used vehicles to this question we do kind of say we want electronic stability control so that's where our years start where we say okay from this year forward and then we're looking specifically at reliable years so with that said of the 47 vehicles that are on our news driver our newest cars 14 drives there's six of them that are american-made yeah we have Chevrolet Equinox four-cylinder from 2012 to 17 the Chevrolet Malibu non-turbo 2009 to 16 we're gonna have the rest these in the show notes right and become a listicle um you know and they range from what 4,000 up to you know depending is 6 for some some of the cars up to 30 for others depending on how right edge is fairly new to the list right so that's $19,000 car still you know so but Ryan you know you raise a point of like what is American well it's yeah where is it are you looking at manufacturer where that you know where they're where they're from or where's it where's a car actually made right um do you have a favorite like you look at that do you have one that you think is underused list yeah I would I like the fusion Ford regional it's a really good looking car even the older ones good looking car it's fun to drive that there was two years of the focus the focus is fun to drive that's I'm partial to smaller more nimble cars it would be one of those yeah yeah the Fusion has more years because right focus that into some transmission issue and that's reliability as part of its not just you know what five thousand our car can I get well we're not gonna give you a five thousand our car it's gonna break down and cost another five in maintenance and repair you know and you can get the fusion nine ten around the five thousand dollar range with stability control now we're just getting to the point where some of those used cars have the stability control yeah you know and as you know with each year the list drops where you have electronics like and again you don't have to say it's optional you could say it's standard right gnarl is the only includes years where it was standard to make it so people are not to search too much for what the car it's hard sometimes on the used car to know if it had it or not you know Ryan's point is you could also get a Honda Accord you could get a Toyota Camry you could get a lot of other vehicles that are made in America percent American parts right built by American workers but you know if that final dollar goes back to well to Japan it goes to Korea it goes to driven wherever it is people say it's not American I mean there's a lot of BMWs builtin right built down in in South Carolina and there's some Audi's built in Mexico you know what work is that German anyway alright so I hope we made the right assumption for this person yeah and they meant American manufacturers well you know it's a general yeah exactly we have Ford Chevy you know Chrysler they're not on the list you can find all that information on consumerreports.org just search on best used cars for teens on that note we're gonna wrap up this episode as always check the show notes below for all the information about the cars and topics that we talked about in this episode thanks for watching and we'll see you next time you\n"