Automotive News
News for August 25, 2010
Hyundai says that the Sonata is the most-shopped vehicle in the American market and it could sell more if it could make more. So now it’s moving the Santa Fe CUV out of its assembly plant in Alabama and into Kia’s plant in Georgia. The Associated Press reports this could free-up Hyundai to make 100,000 more Sonatas a year in Alabama. Toyota Camry and Honda Accord: you better watch out, they’re coming after you!
News for August 31, 2010
The U.S. EPA and NHTSA are aiming to make it easier for consumers to compare fuel-economy ratings between different vehicles. The two government agencies are collaborating to design a new type of window sticker that clearly shows things like fuel economy and fuel costs, as well as emissions. So far they’ve revealed two different designs and are looking for public input. Part of the idea is to introduce a letter-grading system to the auto industry – something students are already very familiar with. For example, depending on how efficient a vehicle is, a pure-electric car could get an “A+,” a plug-in hybrid an “A, ” a flex-fuel vehicle a “B” and so-on down the line. New EPA labels could go into effect in 2012.
Demand for four-cylinders in North America is starting to slide. According to Ward’s, about 62 percent of 2010 models are equipped with four-cylinder engines compared with 65 percent last year. Also more V-8s are being installed in cars this year, about 6 percent compared with about 5 percent in 2009. While car buyers are upgrading their engines, truck buyers are downsizing. V-8s are being equipped in about 37 percent of trucks this year compared with about 40 percent last year.
News for August 30, 2010
Car sales around the globe are starting to slow down. According to Ward’s, even though global sales hit just over 43 million units through July compared to a year ago, they were down compared to this June and analysts expect sales to continue their downward slope. In fact, if things keep going like they’re going, by October there could be no sales growth compared to 2009. And while Asia shows the most growth, sales have started to slow down there, too.
And in related news, the AP reports that analysts expect weak August sales in the American market compared to 2009 because the cash-for-clunkers program inflated sales last year.
If you own a BMW and take it to the dealer, they are going to find something wrong with it. That’s because BMW is getting its dealers to buy a diagnostic computer called MPi-EDGE/World Class Inspections. Ward’s reports that it does a more thorough inspection of a car and typically finds something that adds about $125 to a customer’s repair bill. With car sales down, dealers are surviving with their repair and service work, and a tool like this is going to make them more profitable.
News for August 25, 2010
The federal government is investigating at least 20 dealerships that may have violated the rules of last year’s Car Allowance Rebate System – the U.S. cash-for-clunkers program. According to USA Today, auditors report that as much as $94 million in rebates may be ineligible due to a lack of proper documentation. That’s about 3.3 percent of all the claims submitted. There were other issues reported as well – for instance, some dealers allegedly shipped cars overseas that were meant to be destroyed. So far nine different stores have paid a combined total of nearly $72,000 in fines. Altogether this is a remarkably small amount of fraud to uncover given the scope of a $3 billion government program involving nearly 19,000 dealerships and almost 700,000 new-car buyers.
News for August 23, 2010
India car maker Mahindra has finally been given a green light by the U.S. EPA to sell its pickups in America. The Indian automaker had hoped to offer a diesel-powered truck in the U.S. last-year in August, but it could not because it hadn’t received regulatory approval. Now it aims to have trucks on sale by December. Look for a version of the company’s Scorpio utility vehicle to follow, coming out late next year, and a hybrid SUV sometime by 2013.
News for August 19, 2010
As long expected, GM filed the paperwork yesterday to become a publicly traded company again, probably later this year. The document GM filed is over 700 pages long, laying out the strengths and weaknesses at the company. But it does not give any indication of how much money the company plans to raise or what the price of the stock will be. That’ll come later. So, should you buy GM stock when it starts trading again? Here’s a word to the wise. The Wall Street Journal points out that GM’s European operations need billions for restructuring, and that GM’s pension fund us under funded to the tune of $27 billion.
Suzuki is in deep trouble in the American market. Suzuki’s sales are down close to 50 percent compared to a year ago, and now Bloomberg reports that 42 of Suzuki’s dealers have simply stopped selling cars. That’s out of 310 dealerships. Even the Suzuki Kizashi, a pretty decent compact car that was supposed to turn the company around has turned out to be a sales dud.
News for August 16, 2010
Next month the U.S. EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are expected to announce the next round of fuel-economy goals for 2025. And the numbers are eye-popping. According to Ward’s, experts believe the two agencies will announce that automakers must meet a fleet-average of 60 MPG by 2025, that’s 3.9 L/100 km. Analysts thought it was ambitious for Hyundai Motors America CEO John Krafcik to announce they’ll hit 50 MPG by 2025, and Hyundai only sells passenger cars in the U.S.
source: www.autolinedetroit.tv/
Other news
Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars
Remotely
March 2010
More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled
or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok
in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to
get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto
payments.
Police with Austin’s High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday arrested
20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center
employee who was laid off, and allegedly sought revenge by
bricking the cars sold from the dealership’s four Austin-area
lots.
The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an
alternative to repossessing vehicles that haven’t been paid for.
Operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets
car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards
that responds to commands issued through a central website, and
relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a
car’s ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin honking, as
a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a
running vehicle.
NASA and GM Create Cutting Edge Robotic Technology
02-04-2010
WASHINGTON -- NASA and General Motors are working together to
accelerate development of the next generation of robots and
related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace
industries.
Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together to
build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with
people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision
technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during
hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and
plants.
The two organizations, with the help of engineers from
Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston, developed and built the
next iteration of Robonaut. Robonaut 2, or R2, is a faster, more
dexterous and more technologically advanced robot. This new
generation robot can use its hands to do work beyond the scope
of prior humanoid machines. R2 can work safely alongside people,
a necessity both on Earth and in space.
Laser Spark Plugs
October 13, 2009
Ford is working on replacing spark plugs with laser ignition.
Benefits include, the ability to project the spark into the
middle of the mixture, away from the cold cylinder wall, the
possibility of creating numerous sparks per cycle – maybe even
in different places – and the ability to analyze the products of
combustion by collecting reflected laser light.
Developing fiber-optic cables robust enough to deliver the
high-energy laser light is proving tricky, and the cost will be
higher than plugs and coils.
Hybrid Use
July 17, 2009
Autoblog reports that a study released by Quality Planning shows
that hybrids may not be all they’re cracked up to be. Throughout
2007 and 2008 the organization analyzed the habits of 360,000
drivers. It found that hybrid and non-hybrid drivers have very
similar commutes, but ‘hybrid people’ drive 25 percent more,
burning most of the fuel hybrids are supposed to save. The study
also shows that hybrid drivers are much more likely to get
traffic tickets, and it also shows that repair costs for hybrids
are significantly higher than with non-hybrid cars.
Flying automobile
Ottawa, 25.11.2008 12:00
Canadian engineer Paul S. Moller has designed a functional
flying automobile after 40 years of hard work.
Moller International has developed a concept vehicle that can
execute vertical take-off and landing like a helicopter, fly
like an airplane and drive short distances on the ground like a
car.
This innovative vehicle, called the M400 Skycar, has four
aircraft engines.
The M400 Skycar is a four-seat model that can be altered to seat
six passengers or one passenger. The Skycar has a 1.200 km
range, and approx. 11,000 m ceiling. In addition, it can climb
more than one vertical mile per minute.
Since it is airborne, the Skycar is not restricted by road speed
limits or by traffic jams. If successful, the M400 Skycar could
be the next big step in the field of personal transportation
.
Copyright 2008 makfax.
Be wary of ‘fuel-saving’ devices for
your car
By JONATHAN WELSH
The Wall Street Journal
High gas prices have produced a bountiful supply of one kind
of product: fuel-saving gadgets for your car.
These devices, which cost anywhere from $35 to $300, are pitched
as simple ways to improve fuel economy. While not all of the
devices are new, $4-a-gallon gasoline has increased consumer
interest and inspired new ad campaigns — often evoking hybrid
vehicles and alternative fuels.
A kit called Water4Gas, for example, has instructions for
converting your car into a “water hybrid” that uses “the atomic
power of hydrogen” for less than $150. The Magnetizer offers to
save fuel by rearranging the ions in your fuel line. The maker
of the Fuel Saver 7000 says the $170 device boosts fuel economy
by treating gasoline to a “three-stage” vaporization process.
One familiar type of fuel saver looks like a fan or turbine made
of sheet metal or plastic and ranges from $35 to $65. Installed
in a vehicle’s air-intake such products, with names like
Turbonator, Spiral Max or CycloneFuelSaver, are supposed to
improve fuel combustion inside engines by causing incoming air
to swirl.
Another type of device works on the fuel to make it burn more
efficiently. Some systems inject air, water or other vapors or
liquids into the fuel mixture before it enters the engine or
infuse fuel with tiny amounts of platinum. Others use heaters to
expand the fuel or employ magnets attached to the fuel line to
modify the fuel.
But auto-industry officials and federal energy experts say most
fuel-saving add-ons don’t work. The Environmental Protection
Agency and Federal Trade Commission have tested products that
claim to boost fuel economy and found they generally don’t
improve vehicles’ efficiency — and they sometimes actually harm
performance and increase emissions. The dozens of products
tested include some air-swirling gadgets, magnetic devices and
liquid-injection systems, though not specifically the FuelSaver
7000, Water4Gas, Magnetizer, Turbonator, Spiral Max or Cyclone.
And drivers, beware: In some cases, installing certain devices
can void cars’ factory warranties.
Biofuels May Hinder Antiglobal-Warming
Efforts
The idea behind switching energy usage from fossil-based fuel
like gas to ethanol is that it is better for the environment.
Much of the push to create alternative energy companies has been
based on this premise and it has also helped the American farmer
get more for crops like corn.
Now it appears that ethanol may not be so "green." According to
The Wall Street Journal "a study published in the latest issue
of Science finds that corn-based ethanol, a type of biofuel
pushed heavily in the U.S., will nearly double the output of
greenhouse-gas emissions." A second study appears to support
those findings. Part of the CO2 increase created by biofuels is
due to changing land from forest to farmland. The process causes
large amounts of greenhouse-gas emissions to be sent into the
atmosphere.
The news is hardly good for the hundreds of biofuel companies
that have been created around the drive for "green" fuel, and it
may not be good for farmers who are getting higher yield from
the crops they plant to create alternative energy.
Friday, February 01, 2008 MEDFORD, Wis. (AP) —
Frank Oresnik is on the verge of making history driving his old standby — the pickup truck he says is about to pass the
1 million mile mark.
Oresnik took the 1991 Chevrolet Silverado to the Oil Ex-Change Quick Lube in Medford on Thursday for what he expects will be its last oil change and tuneup before hitting the magic number.
He said the truck is 1,200 miles from a million, and once he hits the mark he will retire the vehicle.
"I feel almost like the longtime NFL player as he goes into his last training camp knowing this is the end," Oresnik said.
He credits proper maintenance and a good measure of luck for allowing the truck to rack up so many miles. He said he's had more than 300 oil changes and tuneups at the Medford business, going in every 3,000 miles.
The truck has had four radiators, three gas tanks, five transmissions and six water pumps, but the engine has never been overhauled, Oresnik said.
He bought the Silverado in June 1996 after the original owner put 41,000 miles on it. Oresnik uses the vehicle to deliver seafood in three states, putting on about 85,000 miles a year.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
These vehicles are built to last, and
their owners have a few tips for you
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, October 5, 2007
Maybe you or someone you know has an old junk heap of a car with
150,000 miles on it. Maybe you think that's a lot.
It's not. read
more
What's in your Glove Box?
Americans no longer use the glove box to store gloves, which
is what the space was originally designed for when it was first
introduced in the 1920s, and 72 percent of people do not know
how the compartment originally got its name.
While drivers need to be more mindful about storing their
vehicle title in the glove box, they are on the right track when
it comes to storing other essentials. The survey took a peek at
what people are storing in today's glove box:
The results revealed that nearly half of Americans are storing
something they shouldn't - the vehicle title. Forty-four percent
of Americans are unintentionally sending an invitation to car
thieves by storing their vehicle title in their glove box. If a
vehicle title gets in the wrong hands, a thief would be able to
change the name on the title, sell the vehicle or legally put
the keys in his or her pocket.
"Vehicle titles should never be kept in the glove box but
rather in a safe place at home or in the office," said Mike
Accavitti, director for Dodge Brand and SRT Marketing and
Communication. "Dodge wants to inform consumers on what should
be stored in the glove box and how they can optimize utilization
of the space to enhance their lifestyle."
While drivers need to be more mindful about storing their
vehicle title in the glove box, they are on the right track when
it comes to storing other essentials. The survey took a peek at
what people are storing in today's glove box:
94 percent store proof of insurance.
92 percent store vehicle registration.
71 percent store tissue and napkins.
63 percent store maps.
53 percent store a flashlight.
47 percent store their sunglasses.
44 percent store the vehicle title.
38 percent store a first-aid kit.
Moose Attacks Car
10/24/09
By Rich Hewitt
Bangor News
PENOBSCOT, Maine — There’s a moose on the loose and apparently
it’s not a happy camper.
Unprovoked, the unidentified moose attacked an unarmed vehicle
on Western County Road just after dark Wednesday.
According to Deputy Jeff McFarland of the Hancock County
Sheriff’s Department, a Castine woman was traveling on the road
when she came across the belligerent beast blocking her way.
The woman told the deputy that she stopped abruptly to let the
moose pass by.
“She was waiting for the moose to get out of the road,”
McFarland said Friday. But then “just as it passed the car it
drew right off and kicked it. I guess it didn’t like her
headlights.”
The well-aimed kick destroyed the headlight of the woman’s 2004
Volvo and damaged the front fender and bumper, the deputy said.
He estimated the damage to the car at $2,000.
After the moose kicked the Volvo, the animal sauntered off into
the woods.
Hair samples were found on the vehicle and officers may have
obtained a partial hoof print, a police dispatcher offered. As
of Friday afternoon, however, the moose was still on the loose.
Deputy McFarland issued a warning to motorists:
“Don’t mess with the moose in Penobscot.”
Take A Cab: South Korean woman fails
driving test... 771 times
by Chris Shunk on Feb 6th -
autoblog.com
Most people pass the driving exam on the first try, with a
select few failing once or twice before finally getting it
right. In South Korea, one woman has been trying to pass the
written test since 2005 and has yet to pass. In all, the 68
year-old woman, known only as Cha, has failed the exam 771
times. Okay, so you're thinking that South Korea has some
wicked-hard test that takes a MENSA certificate to pass.
Probably not. Actually, you only need a 60% to pass, and Cha
typically lands in the 30-50% range. Unfortunately, the test
isn't cheap, either. Each and every failure costs Cha 6,000 won,
which equals about $4.69 in U.S. funds. That doesn't sound like
much, but spread over 771 failures, we're talking about $3,600.
Cha is hoping to get a car to help her business. She sells food
and household items door to door.
November 11, 2009
Talk about perseverance. Now Autoblog, says Cha Sa-soon has
finally passed the written portion of the exam after 949 times!
On the 950th attempt she finally made it. It's not like the test
is that hard, you only need a 60 percent to pass. This
accomplishment only took her four years and cost of five-million
won or about $4,200. Now all she has to do is complete the road
test.
Dizzy carpet python spends week wrapped
around car's air-conditioning fan
By Alyssa Betts Northern Territory
News November 24, 2008 08:07am
A Carpet snake has survived a week "spinning around like a
bloody washing machine" wrapped around a car's air-conditioning
fan.
Mechanic Kit Carson, 59, found the 1m snake after being asked to
investigate strange noises in a Northern Territory woman's car.
"Him and I both got a jump," he told the Northern Territory
News.
"He'd been spinning around like a bloody washing machine, but
the end of his tail must have been hanging out - it was all
feathered and ratty."
Mr. Carson, of Cheaper Car Air-Conditioning, put the dazed snake
into a bucket and took him to Yarrawonga's Ark Animal Hospital.
The snake is now in better shape - although he is now a little
shorter than when he arrived.
Vets were forced to amputate about 5cm of his tail.
