Honda has issued two recalls today — one for the 2012 Accord and 2012 Crosstour, and another for the 2011-2012 Ridgeline.

The 2012 Accord and Crosstour recall is the most worrisome of the two. According to a bulletin from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Accords and Crosstours from the 2012 model year may have been built with a faulty inflator for the side-curtain airbag on the passenger’s side. As a result, those airbags may not deploy during a crash, seriously increasing the risk of injury to vehicle occupants.

For years, we’ve reported several Chinese automakers’ intentions sell cars in North America.  Producers like Brilliance, Chery and Geely made it clear they want a presence in the market.

Even electric-car startup Coda looked like a lock for first Chinese car on sale here, until they stressed final assembly would take place in California.

It’s rather a moot point, since the first Chinese car is now on sale here in North America.  

Many of the people arrested under Alabama’s new immigration law–immigrants from Central and South America, documented or not–get no media attention.

A state that arrests or tickets executives from foreign automakers who provide thousands of jobs, however, makes the press sit up and take notice.

Two weeks, two executives

It’s been nearly three weeks since Honda told us it would be premiering a small sports electric concept car at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show. True to its promise, Honda has just unveiled what it calls the EV-STER electric sports concept on the show’s first press day. 

With an unmistakably Honda front grille and rear quarter panels reminiscent of the euro-specification 2012 Honda Civic hatchback, the EV-STER measures just under 12 feet in length, 5 feet wide, and 3.5 feet high. 

Over its nearly 40-year run, the Honda Civic has become synonymous with reliability, affordability, and value. In fact, the Civic is so ubiquitous on American streets that it’s become nearly invisible.

Then the 2012 Civic rolled out, and people started to notice — but not in the good way. Today, Honda says it’s working to address the 2012 Civic’s critics with a makeover, which could come a full year ahead of schedule.

Five months ago, we drove the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid–which gave us slightly more than 45 mpg using “Econ” mode. That’s the best gas mileage of any Honda Civic in recent memory.

So we were eager to test the new-for-2012 Civic HF model, which forgoes the electric motor and lithium-ion battery pack of the Civic Hybrid.

Its standard 1.8-liter gasoline engine is paired with the aerodynamic tweaks (a new front fascia and decklid spoiler, among others) and low rolling resistances tires used on the Civic Hybrid, along with unique alloy wheels.

World debuts for new concept and production models typically happen at premier auto shows, like the North American International Auto Show, the Tokyo Motor Show or even the IAA (more commonly known as the Frankfurt Auto Show). The Orange County International Auto Show, held annually in Anaheim, California, isn’t where most automakers would choose to debut a revision to one of their most popular models.

Honda isn’t like most automakers, so it chose the Orange County International Auto Show for the world debut of its 2012 Honda CR-V Concept. Not only is the current CR-V one of Honda’s best-selling models, it’s also the best-selling SUV in the United States, by calendar year, from 2007 through 2010.

For a few years now, hybrid sales have been stalled at 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. market. But for the first seven months of this year, the total is at the low end of the scale: Hybrids represented 2.06 percent of sales from January through August, and just 1.98 percent of sales in August alone. The top three best-selling hybrids since January are:

• Toyota Prius: The quintessential hybrid, the mid-size five-door hatchback Prius has been the best-selling hybrid in the States for many years.
  2011 EPA ratings: 51 mpg city, 48 mpg highway, 50 mpg combined

Owners of 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrids may soon be getting a recall notice in the mail.

If, that is, their car is one of roughly 5,600 of the hybrid sports coupes fitted with the six-speed manual transmission rather than Honda’s continuously variable transmission (CVT) automatic.

The manual-transmission cars require a software update to modify the logic that controls the 15-kW electric motor in Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system.

Though it isn’t set to go on sale until the end of the year, the new 2012 Honda CR-V crossover has been previewed in concept form and it’s safe to say the upcoming production version will closely resemble the lines seen here today.

It looks as though we’ll get a fairly conventional crossover design for the new CR-V, though there’s a chance a third-row seating option will be offered this time ‘round to give it more ammunition against its closest rival, the Toyota RAV4, which currently offers the option.