If Americans are buying more fuel-efficient cars, is it making any difference? The latest study by the University of Michigan cites benefits far greater than the fuel economy improvements would indicate.

Single-serve coffeemakers are one of the hottest gifts of the holiday season. Not only can you make everyone their own special blend of coffee but the perky machines come in interesting shapes and bright colors so they look good on your counter too. Of the two dozen tested by Consumer Reports, three made our list of top-picks and a few others deserve honorable mention including the new entry from Starbucks. Here are our top five.

Every time Consumer Reports complains about an overly complicated vehicle control system, like Cadillac's CUE or MyFord/MyLincoln Touch, we hear critics call us Luddites who hate all touch screens. But that misses a rather big point. It isn't the technology that's the problem, but rather how well it's implemented.

Dream On Me has recalled about 50,000 bath seats because they can tip over, posing a drowning risk to babies. The Consumer Product Safety Committee and Dream on Me have received five reports from consumers involving the bath seats.

After the deaths of five infants using Nap Nanny infant recliners, the Consumer Product Safety Commission sued the products' manufacturer in an effort to prevent further tragedy. The recliner was originally recalled in 2010 after the first reported death in a Nap Nanny. On December 5th, the CPSC took the unusual step of filing an administrative complaint due to defects in the products' design, warnings, and instructions, alleging that the products "create a substantial risk of injury to the public."

"Would you get that same car again?" That is the key question we ask subscribers in our annual owner satisfaction survey to discover how happy owners are with their car. And once again, we see a link between excitement and satisfaction.

Sony bungee-jumped into the sports camcorder market recently with two Action Cam models, one with and one without Wi-Fi. I've been shooting with the Wi-Fi model (HDR-AS15, $270) for a while. In short, if I ever work up the courage to go helicopter skiing or skydiving, the Sony Action Cam could certainly capture the video on my way down.

A KitchenAid stand mixer on the counter suggests not only that you have the cooking chops to use it but that you can afford a high-end appliance as well (typically they cost between $200 and $500). But keeping up appearances just got a bit more dear—for the holidays KitchenAid is offering stand mixers that are hand painted and signed by the artist. For $1,900 you can whip up a batch of snickerdoodles in a mixer with one of three leopard prints, regular, white and noir, or in three other options.

Want to make the gamer in your life very happy? Pick up one of these popular titles and put a bow on it. We chose ten new games from a number of different genres and for a variety of gaming consoles, including the new Nintendo Wii U; there's something for every gamer on this list!

Power, speed, and run time are among the criteria that separate the welcome cordless-tool gift from the model that gets used once or twice before it's banished to the basement. But in Consumer Reports tests, we found plenty of choices that do all they should do with batteries that last through most jobs and don't take hours to recharge if they do run down. Here are some of our top choices that were lightweight in their respective categories and easy to handle.

Ford has been making some eye-opening claims about the fuel economy of the redesigned 2013 Fusion Hybrid sedan and new C-Max Hybrid wagon: "47 city/47 highway/47 combined mpg." After running both vehicles through our real-world tests, we have gotten very good results. But they are far below Ford's ambitious triple-47 figures.

If you're considering giving the gift of navigation this holiday season, we can point you in the right direction with our test-based advice.

For the first time in its 66 year history, some Tide commercials are featuring husbands doing the laundry. Imagine that—men washing and folding their family's clothes. What's next? Vacuuming? Maybe so. Men are spending two more minutes a day on chores than they did eight years ago—an average of 16 minutes a day. At that pace it'll take a while for them to catch up to the 52 minutes of daily housework performed by women. Still, cleaning brands are taking notice and retooling their ads and products to appeal to men.

If the idea of a car battery that could last 10 years, has more cranking power than conventional batteries, can stand more charge and discharge cycles, and offers faster recharge time appeals to you, you're in luck. It's coming soon. And as a bonus, it weighs just 6.6 pounds.

You have to give Google TV credit—it isn't a quitter. Despite the lackluster reception of the first Google TV–powered products back in 2010, the company has refused to throw in the towel. Instead it has regularly revamped its software to address some glaring issues, such as its initial inability to access Google's own Android marketplace (since rechristened Google Play).