The second-generation Mazda 3 attained 5 stars in the National Highway Traffic Administration's (NHTSA) frontal-impact crash test, and this week, it achieved the same result in European NCAP testing.

And because we never can seem to get our fill of cars getting smashed, we bring you additional clips of the Mazda 3 participating in NHTSA's new pole side-impact test, plus the regular side-impact test, plus the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) side-impact test.

Thousands of stories have been written about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, but if you read many of them with a keen eye, you realize the author doesn't quite have all the facts about this series hybrid car (with plug-in capability) — and often inaccurately called an electric car. It's no wonder given that information has been released in fits and starts, and then revised, and revised again.

Fortunately, John O'Dell, our resident Green Car Advisor, has place together an A-to-Z guide to the Volt that provides answers to nagging questions.

For instance, writes O'Dell, "the engine-generator automatically kicks in when the battery charge is 70 percent depleted, proving the juice the electric drive system needs to keep operating.

"[But] contrary to what you might have heard elsewhere, the Volt's engine-generator doesn't recharge the battery pack. It can trickle a little excess juice into the pack from time to time, but its primary job is to keep the electric motor fed."

Green Car Advisor: 2011 Chevrolet Volt: Our A-Z Guide to the Volt as We Know It Today

Matthew K., official SLS AMG reporter, is back and this time he's riding shotgun in the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG while Tommy Kendall drives.

And he talks all the way through a lap of Laguna Seca.

First Drive: 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, California, is a classic hamburger joint, built in 1949. It's also the place to go on a Friday night if you drive anything manufactured before 1973, as Bob's hosts a weekly classic car show. It's the last place we'd ever expect a hybrid car to turn up, let alone anything with a catalytic converter. But this is exactly where the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will be this Friday as it makes the rounds in Los Angeles before parking itself at the LA Auto Show next week.

We got a few dirty looks a few years back when we took an HHR to the Friday car show at Bob's. We can't imagine the crowd of Ford V8 and Chevelle owners will take to the Volt any more kindly.

GM FastLane

BMW has released close to a dozen videos on the redesigned 2011 BMW 5 Series. We've picked out a selection for you here, starting with this neat computer animation that lets you see the F10 5 Series sedan from every conceivable angle in various interior/exterior color schemes.

After the jump, you'll see the official unveiling in Munich on Monday. Then, we bring you running footage of both the 2011 BMW 535i (the de-badged gray car) and the BMW 530d (silver), and the latter also includes a demo of the diesel 5er parallel-parking itself at a resort using BMW's new automated parking system. Next, there are demos of the 360-degree camera system and Nightvision, followed by a trip down the works line. Enjoy.

First Look: 2011 BMW 5 Series

General Motors announced today that the 2011 Buick Regal will be build at its Oshawa, Ontario, plant starting in the first quarter of 2011. Also starting production there at that time will be the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro convertible; Oshawa already builds the hardtop Camaro.

All 2011 Regals sold in the 2010 calendar year, though, will be built in Germany — where the Opel Insignia is built. The base Regal, with the 182-horsepower, 2.4-liter inline-4, goes on sale in the United States in the second quarter of 2010. The better Buick Regal, with the 220-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged four, will reach U.S. dealers in the third quarter of 2010.

First Drive: 2011 Buick Regal

Updated

Just as the Lexus LFA drove into the Cars and Coffee lot in Irvine, California, on Saturday, we turned and noticed that Ken Block's Subaru TRAX STI was already there — and this time the sleigh was hitched up.

A couple weeks ago Block and DC Shoes released a video of a frolick on Utah ski slopes with the snowcat version of his rally car. The "idea" behind the vehicle is apparently to transport friends to remote snowboarding locations in the most fun and death-defying way possible. Hence, the optional sleigh with Recaro seats and five-point harnesses.

Though the TRAX STI didn't exactly fit in with the Cuda-'n-Camaro crowd, plenty of people looked at it anyway. Although, we're guessing DC Shoes might not have planned on getting upstaged by a Lexus LFA.

Photo room after the jump.

And although we weren't around to see it, the TRAX was driven out of Cars and Coffee, sleigh and all, and somebody shot a quick video of it. That's after the jump, too.

Just as the Lexus LFA drove into the Cars and Coffee lot in Irvine, California, on Saturday, we turned and noticed that Ken Block's Subaru TRAX STI was already there — and this time the sleigh was hitched up.

A couple weeks ago Block and DC Shoes released a video of a frolick on Utah ski slopes with the snowcat version of his rally car. The "idea" behind the vehicle is apparently to transport friends to remote snowboarding locations in the most fun and death-defying way possible. Hence, the optional sleigh with Recaro seats and five-point harnesses.

Though the TRAX STI didn't exactly fit in with the Cuda-'n-Camaro crowd, plenty of people looked at it anyway. Although, we're guessing DC Shoes might not have planned on getting upstaged by a Lexus LFA.

Photo room after the jump.

Indeed, there is more to the Toyota floor mat debacle than floor mats. Toyota announced today it will modify the gas pedal in 3.8 million vehicles. Modifications will typically involved shortening the pedal to move it farther away from the mat. However, in the Lexus ES 350, and Toyota Avalon and Camry, Toyota will also remove foam material from the floor to allow more clearance.

As those three models are deemed most susceptible to having the floor mat wad under the accelerator, owners will be notified by the end of 2009. Lexus IS and Toyota Prius, metropolis and Tundra owners will get notices in primeval 2010. In addition, the ES 350, IS 250/350, Avalon and Camry will be fitted with a brake override feature that cuts power if simultaneous brake/throttle application is detected.

Toyota is also working on a new accelerator pedal design, and by April 2010, new pedals will be ready to install in vehicles covered by the recall. Owners who want one will likely need to ask for it specifically when they go to the dealer.

Our own testing team has examined various Toyotas and reports that this is a legitimate problem that should be taken seriously.

"Our tests confirmed that an out-of-position floor mat can, indeed, cause the throttle to stick because of the shape and geometry of the current gas pedal," Technical Director Dan Edmunds says. Edmunds was the engineering manager of the chassis and brake development group at Hyundai USA Technical Center and senior chassis development engineer for Toyota's Technical Center before joining Edmunds.com in April 2006.

"Temporarily shortening and replacing the accelerator pedals are viable solutions to alleviate the problem," he added.

Toyota: Details of Remedy to Address Potential Accelerator Pedal Entrapment

This is by far the best video that came out of yesterday's Viper ACR track day at Laguna Seca. Here, Dodge Engineer Chris Winkler talks you through a whole lap of the track in the 2010 Dodge Viper ACR, and some of the handling idiosyncrasies of a hugely powerful rear-wheel-drive car. There are a few cutaways, but mostly it's footage from the camera he had mounted in the cockpit.