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If you’ve been able to pull your eyes away from the latest sensational coverage of Jim Sikes’ runaway Toyota Prius in San Diego, you may have come across another story from the Detroit Free Press in which Toyota is taking heat from Detroit’s Big Three.

It seems that in the frenzy of the congressional hearings, Toyota submitted a chart showing the number of recalls from itself and other manufacturers over the past decade.  The chart was titled, “Automotive Recalls in Perspective” and revealed that all three of the Detroit firms had roughly triple the number of recalls that Toyota did over the same time period.

Detroit is upset by the chart but can’t risk challenging Toyota in public because an attack will only draw attention to their own bad data.  Big Three insiders are said to be skulking behind the scenes, throwing around phrases like, “It’s tearing the whole industry apart.”

The Freep also points out that this may be yet another PR misstep by Toyota because the charts were somewhat irrelevant to the congressional hearings.  The investigation is for Toyota’s poor management of the recalls today – not yesterday.

Where I take offense is in Detroit’s whining and grousing behind the scenes.  Yes, the chart was intended to make them look bad and Toyota look good.  But isn’t that exactly what the Big Three and their dealers did last month when they resorted to cheap shot incentives and advertisements to lure customers away from Toyota?

If you can’t take the heat then stay out of the kitchen.

You’ve likely heard about a bunch of exciting new cars called “Four Door Coupes” (aka four-door fastbacks) that have either recently hit the market or will be coming out in the next couple of years. These entries include the Tesla Model S, Jaguar XF, Porsche Panamera, Aston Martin Rapide, and Volkswagen CC, just to name a few.  It seems like every major car company has one of these sleek cars slated to come out at some point in time

So you may ask, “Isn’t a four door coupe a contradiction?”  The term confuses a lot of people. Since much of the general population refer to coupes as two-door cars, it’s easy to understand why this new term seems like a contradiction in words.  The word coupe is of French origin (meaning “cut”) and refers to a horse carriage with a single row of interior seating and a separate driver row  outside the carriage.  The rear area was “cut” making it more compact. That means it has has little or no rear seat room.  The Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) refers to a coupe as a vehicle with less than 33 cubic feet of rear interior volume.  That seems consistent with the original definition where the coupe only has one row and little room for another set of people – which is typically reserved for smaller two door cars.  That sheds light on why people associate coupe with two doors.

The other likely reason why we associate two doors and coupes is the four door association with the term sedan.  The term sedan is of Italian origin that’s literally means carrying chair (as in two people – front and rear – carrying another person on a platform that has a chair in it). When it was time to name the first four door multiple row car, it was dubbed the sedan, or saloon.  By process of elimination, many companies started referring anything with two doors as a coupe. Which means that the number of doors never had anything to do with the term coupe.

Now I can stop here and everybody would be happy, right? A coupe is a two or four door car with a small rear area, right?  Well, not exactly. Famous cars like the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Ferrari Scaglietti, or the Bentley Continental all have rear seat areas that exceed SAE’s guideline. none of these should be technically designated a coupe.

Confused again? Let me finally cut to the chase.  When car companies refer to a Four Door Coupe, they are referring to the automotive designer’s definition of the word.  In product design, there are three “boxes” (or areas) that, at a high level, can make up the configuration of a car. Those include the hood area, passenger compartment, and the trunk.  A coupe a configuration is a design without a formal trunk and therefore is designated a “Two-Box” design… one box for the hood and one for the passenger compartment. Check out the box overlays on the Audi e-Tron concept car below.

Compare the above image with the sedan below (Toyota Avalon), which has a “Three Box” construction since a trunk visually stands out at the rear of the vehicle.

Finally, the minivan below is often referred to as a “One Box,” because the A-pillar (the vertical structure that attaches to the windshield and is in front of the driver) is pulled forward giving the design a minimized hood.  minivans have no visible trunk (how ugly would that be?).

Hopefully, this explanation makes sense of the term Four Door Coupe, which is essentially a four door car with a Two-Box configuration (no trunk). For over a decade, car designers have long dreamed of the four door coupe as the trunk-less look gives it a much more streamlined and sporty proportion. The issue was always length and rear seat headroom of such a vehicle and became a engineer’s packaging nightmare. But with some clever engineering (i.e., lowering the rear seating position), we can now enjoy the sportiness typically reserved for two door coupes in a four door configuration. Let’s take a look at eight distinct Four Door Coupes, both on the road today or down the road in the not to distant future.  Click on any of the colored links to get a better description of the car, including pricing, photos, and even opinions and reviews.

1. 2010 Mercedes CLS - this was one of the first of a new breed of four door coupes.

2010 Mercedes Benz CLS AMG

2. 2010 Hyundai Sonata – The Koreans get serious with design to match their reliability!

2010 Hyunda Sonata

3. 2010 Jaguar XF – The Ian Callum designed beauty has help revive Jaguar.

2010 jaguar XF

4. 2011 Porsche Panamera – the much anticipated Porsche four door fastback… but don’t call it a sedan.

2011 Porsche Panamera

5. 2010 Volkswagen CC

6. 2010 Honda Acccord Crosstour

7. 2012 Tesla Model S

8. Concept: Audi A7

In the past week I’ve read announcements for six different automakers who are recalling significant numbers of vehicles for one problem or another.  The list includes Toyota, Hyundai, Chrysler, Mazda, Saab and GM and the reasons for these recalls range from braking systems (Chrysler) to power steering issues (GM).

All this recall news got me a little worried: are recalls always this prevalent?  Is this surge a result of the ongoing Toyota media coverage, or is something going terribly wrong across the auto industry?

After combing through data from NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, I found that safety recalls are more common than I expected.  Despite clever computer-aided design tools and modern manufacturing techniques, the total number of automobiles being recalled has been on the rise for the past several decades.

Part of the reason for this rise is because so many components are shared across multiple vehicles these days.  If one of those components has a problem; the recall is likely to affect all of the other vehicles that shared that part.

The good news is that automakers have created robust quality checks in their engineering and manufacturing processes and that modern automobiles have advanced diagnostic systems that can record problems in detail.  These combined efforts make it much easier for automakers to track, isolate, and react to problems quickly.

CNN Money reports that the Chrysler recall mentioned above affects some of the 2009 and/or 2010 Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger, Dodge Nitro, Dodge Ram, Jeep Liberty, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Jeep Commander.  The problem could result in a sudden failure of the braking system but it was fortunately caught early by two Chrysler employees.  As a result, only 24,000 vehicles are affected by the recall and Chrysler claims not to be aware of any related injuries or accidents.  (Kudos to Chrysler for taking such swift action!)

Safety recalls are inevitable and it is important to be aware that recalls can happen at any time, no matter how young or old the car is.  The best defense is to know whether or not your vehicle has been recalled.  You can do this by checking with the manufacturer, your local dealership, or at SaferCar.gov.  Additionally, we recommend calling the manufacturer of your vehicle and making sure that your contact information is up to date so that they are able to send you notification in the event of a recall.

Be safe out there!

It seems not all people – or companies – are born with a sense of humor.  The Wall Street Journal reports that luxury conglomerate, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is suing Hyundai over its recent Super Bowl ad for the new Sonata midsize sedan.

The ad poses the question, “What if we made luxury available to everyone?” and shows funny images of luxury goods in unexpected settings.  Police officers nibble on caviar in one scene; a gigantic yacht sits quietly on a suburban street in another.

But the scene that LVMH takes offense to involves a game of basketball where players use a ball emblazoned with the famous Louis Vuitton Toile Monogram of x’s and o’s.  The lawsuit alleges, “Hyundai’s conduct has caused and will likely continue to cause confusion, mistake, and deception among the general consuming public as to the origin and quality of its products advertised in the offending commercial,” and LVMH is seeking damages and the complete removal of all copies of the advertisement.

LVMH argues in their suit that Hyundai will unfairly benefit from the association with Louis Vuitton imagery.  But how is this any different than the satire routinely seen on Saturday Night Live?  If we follow Louis Vuitton’s reasoning, SNL should be paying royalties every time they spoof a product or poke fun at a politician.

Knock-off products are one thing; satire another. For better or worse, the Toile Monogram is a well-known symbol of modern luxury and Hyundai was taking a fair and funny shot. I think that the folks at LVMH should take two monogrammed chill pills and laugh this one off.