Automotive News
News for Feb 2, 2012Sales of new cars and trucks blew out of the gate in the American market last month. Ward’s reports that 910,000 vehicles were sold, an 11.5 percent increase compared to a year ago. Most impressively, the SAAR rate hit 14.1 million vehicles, a rate that suggests this year will come in almost 1.5 million vehicles higher than last. The biggest sales gain came from Mazda, which posted a 68 percent increase. Volkswagen was up 48 percent. Chrysler Group was up 43 percent. Jaguar-Land Rover up 31 percent. And Kia was up 28 percent. The biggest losers were Suzuki, down 41 percent; Mitsubishi, down 17 percent; and General Motors, down 6 percent. The Toyota Camry was the best-selling car; the F-Series, the best-selling truck; and the Honda CR-V was the best-selling crossover.
News for Jan 30, 2012
More good news for Chrysler. Next week the company is set to add some 1,600 workers at its Belvidere assembly plant to start building the 2013 Dodge Dart. The facility is also home to the Jeep Compass and Patriot. The hiring blitz has already started and the new crew will begin working sometime in July. Chrysler is adding shifts at other plants as demand for new cars starts to recover.
Selling cars in California just got more difficult. Last week the California Air Resources Board approved new mandates that one out of every seven new cars sold in the state must be zero-emission by 2025. The new rules say 1.4 million electric or hybrid cars must be on roads by that time. It also calls for a 75 percent reduction in smog-forming pollutants and a 34 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions. So why can California pass its own rules? That’s because the state started regulating emissions before the feds, and the Supreme Court grandfathered it in to make its own rules
News for Jan 20, 2012
Believe it or not, there’s still interest in Saab. Chinese automaker Youngman Lotus will renew its efforts to acquire Saab. But it looks like Youngman will have some competition. Bloomberg reports that Turkish private equity firm Brightwell Holdings intends to place a bid for Saab. It would keep production in Sweden but it also needs approval from GM and the Swedish government.
German automakers could be penalized for not meeting fuel economy targets in the U.S. Carmakers had to achieve a fleet average of 27.5 miles per gallon in 2011, and achieve CO2 emission limits. Daimler, Porsche and BMW were the farthest from meeting the standards according to initial estimates. Daimler had the lowest average at 25.2 MPG. The government won’t finalize its results until later in the year
News for Jan 19, 2012
Europe’s financial troubles are starting to hurt automakers, forcing them to cut costs wherever they can. Peugeot just announced that it’s dropping out of the 24 hours of Le Mans this year. Probably a smart move considering the company recently announced it would axe 6,000 employees.
News for Jan 18, 2012
The average age of vehicles on roads in the U.S. increased again last year. A new study from Polk says that the average age is 10.8 years, an increase of one year compared to what it was five years ago. The age of vehicles is due to the poor economy, which has dramatically lowered car sales, but researchers expect it to change as sales pick up.
About 100 new Saabs sitting on the company’s Trollhättan, Sweden assembly line are headed for the crusher. They can't sell them even for parts because of requirements of the bankruptcy proceedings.
source: www.autolinedetroit.tv/
Other news
Runaway John Deere
Wacky article from Autoblog. A couple from Richmond Hill,
Ontario posted a video on YouTube of a John Deere tractor that
was running amuck in a Wall-Mart parking lot! The green and
yellow rig was used for plowing snow but it was stuck running in
circles for some unknown reason. On its rampage it smacked into
the side of the building and demolished a Suzuki SX4 and a
Toyota Corolla in the process. After what seems like forever
someone finally gets enough courage to climb aboard to try to
put a stop to the mayhem. It ended alright, when the tractor
smashed into a light pole.
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/04/10/video-driverless-john-deere-tractor-terrorizes-walmart-parking/
Suicide Vest Detector
November 2010
Naval Researchers have found that by
tweaking a radar gun, the same kind of radar gun the police use
to nab speeders, they can detect suicide bombers. Autoblog
reports that the radar gun can pick up the patterns of wire
loops used to wire suicide vests. They say it detected
volunteers in replica suicide belts 85 percent of the time at a
distance of 33 feet, about 10 meters. However, it also gives off
a high number of false alarms, like with jewelry and underwire
bras. So they’re hoping to fine tune it to overcome those
problems.
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.
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.
