Americans Are Sitting On $1.7 Trillion In Vehicle Debt

Good morning! It’s Thursday, September 18, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition, Americans are drowning in an absurd amount of vehicle debt, Nissan says goodbye to the Ariya in the U.S., Polestar says 7 actually comes before 6 and Toyota recalls over half a million cars for a gauge cluster issue.

Cars are just about more expensive to buy than they ever have been, and, to be fair, so is just about everything else. Still, that isn’t stopping people from ponying up the nearly-$50,000 on average it takes to buy a new car, and that is causing a hell of a lot of people to go into a hell of a lot of debt. This isn’t really anything new. 

Americans have always borrowed money to buy cars, but there are some worrisome trends to look at, and the overall total of auto-related debts is mind-boggling in and of itself: $1.66 trillion, according to a new report from the Consumer Federation of America. From Road & Track:

According to the report, the average car payment in the States is now around $745, with average loan amounts totaling over $41,000; nearly 20 percent of buyers have found themselves with payments of more than $1000 a month. Loan terms are also creeping back to rates similar to those before the Great Recession, with one in five buyers stretched out on a seven-year term. We’ve even seen the return of the eight-year loan, which all but disappeared following the sub-prime lending crisis.

Speaking of the Great Recession, auto buyers are also defaulting in their payments in ways we haven’t seen since 2008. Delinquencies on payments are almost on par with pre-crisis figures, and have dramatically outpaced the rates experienced during COVID. An analysis of the New York Fed’s consumer credit panel found that buyers in 2024 with an above-average credit score (620-679) were twice as likely to fall behind on payments than they were prior to the pandemic. That’s particularly true of buyers aged 18-29, who, according to the report, are falling into serious delinquency (90 days late or longer) more than older generations. Repossessions were also up 43 percent from 2022 to 2024, representing the highest rates since 2009.

Don’t think that this is just an issue for silly new car buyers, either. Used car prices were up 6.3% year-over-year in June — the continuation of a trend that started during the Pandemic. Adding to the debt issue is the fact that one out of every four trade-in vehicles has negative equity attached to it, according to R&T. That’s, uh, not great.

I’m not sure if there’s any easy way out of this, but it all feels rather bubbly to me. Hold on to your asses, friends. It’s about to get bumpy.

As quickly as the Nissan Ariya came to our shores, it has left. The Japanese automaker has decided to thin its U.S. electric lineup thanks to President Trump’s import tariffs, his killing of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit at the end of September and the overall slowing of EV sales. 

Now, according to a memo to dealers, Nissan will pause U.S. market production of the compact electric crossover for the 2026 model year. Who knows what’ll come after that? Probably nothing, but ya never know, I guess. From Automotive News:

“This decision enables the company to reallocate resources and optimize its EV portfolio as the automotive landscape continues to evolve,” Nissan said in the memo.

The Trump administration’s 15 percent import tariff has hurt the Japanese-made EV’s profitability in the U.S., a person with knowledge of the decision told Automotive News.

[…]

A Nissan spokesperson said a decision has not been made on whether the Ariya would return as a 2027 model.

The Ariya was billed as Nissan’s shot at redemption after the EV pioneer lost its early lead in the segment to Tesla and others.

However, the crossover has struggled to stand out from the competition and has required price discounts and incentive support since deliveries began in 2022.

I don’t want any of my Nissan LeafHeads (trademark pending) to worry for one freaking second, though. That little croupe crossover thing isn’t going anywhere. Sure, production is being slashed already because of an issue with a battery supplier, but look at it! It’s so cute and cheap. 

Before anyone freaks out, Polestar is still committed to bringing its 6 roadster to fruition in the future — it just wants to concentrate on the far more practical 7 compact crossover first. I know. Numbers are hard. That’s why I’m a writer.

CEO Michael Lohscheller says the Swedish-Chinese company will build the 6 in the future (but didn’t say when), adding that it’ll share architecture with the Poestar 5 sedan. The 7, which will be built in Slovakia, is set to go on sale in the U.S. by 2028. From Automotive News:

The Polestar 6 dates to a 2022 debut when it was first shown as the O2 concept. Polestar confirmed production, to take place in China, later that year and said the Polestar 6 would arrive in 2026.

However, import tariffs and the end of federal incentives have made the brand’s U.S. future and lineup uncertain. The Polestar 5 will also be built in China.

Lohscheller told Automotive News Europe in July that the decision to push back the Polestar 6 in favor of the Polestar 7 was simple.

“I want to go more quickly into the compact SUV segment, where there is a lot of volume and a lot of money,” Lohscheller said. “I love the Polestar 6, but I had to reprioritize it in terms of timing.”

I really think it’s time for automakers to drop the whole numbered rollout thing. It just doesn’t work. It’s not creative, and it makes things confusing when stuff like this happens. 

Even Toyota and Lexus, bastions of reliability, aren’t impervious to recalls. The twin automakers are recalling about 591,000 of their vehicles fitted with 12.3-inch digital gauge clusters that have a nasty habit of going blank. That’s not exactly ideal if you want to know what’s going on with your car. From Motor Trend:

The specific problem reported is that on vehicle startup, the screen will be blank. According to the release from Toyota, driving the vehicle without seeing the screen could lead to not being apprised of potentially important malfunction information and it could lead to or otherwise cause a crash as a result. It’s unclear if the screens are going blank while the vehicle is in motion.

Models listed include the Toyota Venza, Crown Signia, RAV4, GR Corolla, 4Runner, Camry, Grand Highlander, Tacoma, and Highlander. Lexus models include the LS, RX, and TX series of vehicles. No specific model year nor trim level is mentioned in the release sent out from Toyota, but the 12.3-inch digital dashboard was offered as early as 2023 on most of the listed vehicles.

The problem with the digital dash blanking doesn’t seem to be a wholly widespread issue in the field via a brief web search on Toyota’s safety recall bulletin number (25TB08), but we do see mentions of it happening on some 2023 and 2024 models. Turning the vehicle on and off again doesn’t seem to temporarily fix the issue, either.

To fix the issue, the screen’s programming either needs to be updated or it needs to be replaced altogether by a Toyota tech. The service shouldn’t take more than a few hours, and the automaker says all impacted owners will be notified by November. 

History.com

It is high time the U.S. built a parking structure bigger than this. It’s only right that we have the biggest parking lot in the world. If you want to learn more about this sucky Canadian mall and its massive parking lot, head over to History.com.

When it comes to the pipes, John Popper could be the best to ever do it. Few dudes have even been able to belt like him.