Tag: cars

Report: NHTSA expected to mandate black boxes in all cars next month

Filed under: Technology

electronic data recorderAre you ready for a black box to be installed in your car? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration apparently is. According to a new report from Wired, NHTSA is expected to rule next month that all new cars will need to carry just such a device.

Now, before you get all “Screw the Gubment!” in the comments, you should know that many modern cars already have black box systems installed – you might have one and not even know it. General Motors, for instance, has been installed the electronic data recorders since the 1990s, on almost all vehicles fitted with airbags.

The concern for most drivers, however, lies with what type of information is captured, and who has access to it. Also, different automakers use different Electronic Data Recorder devices. A black box standard needs to be developed, which would allow for the data retrieved from an EDR to be consistent regardless of the vehicle make it’s pulled from.

Some view this mandate as an invasion of motorists’ privacy. However, the data recovered from the black box systems can provide crucial insight into crash dynamics. Exactly who’s allowed to view that information varies by state, of course, and only 13 states currently have legislation in place regulating the release of EDR data.

What do you think, is this a good idea, or a bad one? Have your say in Comments.

NHTSA expected to mandate black boxes in all cars next month originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top Gear crew makes pit stop, has trouble charging electric cars [w/video]

Filed under: Nissan, Peugeot, Celebrities, Humor, Electric

Jeremy Clarkson gets a push in a Nissan Leaf

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson gets a push in a Nissan Leaf – Click above to watch the video after the break

It would seem that the guys from Top Gear are back to giving electric vehicles the what-for. According to The Lincolnite, James May and Jeremy Clarkson were respectively spotted piloting a Peugeot iOn and a Nissan Leaf through England during a cross-country trek (which is exactly what electric cars are for, right?).

The duo stopped by Lincolnshire County to ask about the nearest place to charge their alternative-fuel steeds, only to find that the entire municipality is bereft of chargers. Apparently May and Clarkson then set about driving around the city until their vehicles died and they were forced to get a tow.

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because Top Gear rustled up a mess of snakes the last time Clarkson jumped behind the wheel of an EV. After depicting the Tesla Roadster as suffering a brake failure and running out of power, Tesla shot back refuting what happened as pure fiction. That little dust-up has yet to settle.

The truth is that the vast majority of people come to Top Gear to be entertained, and most viewers probably realize that there’s plenty of editing that goes into each segment. We seriously doubt that most EV buyers use the UK show as a go-to resource, but that doesn’t stop the constant ragging on alternative fuels from growing trite.

Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Top Gear crew makes pit stop, has trouble charging electric cars [w/video]

Top Gear crew makes pit stop, has trouble charging electric cars [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 May 2011 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Radiation found on Japanese cars shipped to Chile

Filed under: Etc., Japan, Safety, South America

Nissan tests for radiation

According to The Mainichi Daily News, customs agents in Chile have detected low levels of radiation on vehicles shipped from Japan. Of the 2,500 vehicles shipped from the port of Yokohama, radioactivity was detected on 21 once they reached Iquique. The levels of radiation were determined to be too low to be of any harm to humans by the Chilean Nuclear Commission, though that didn’t stop around 100 dock workers from protesting on the grounds that their health was needlessly put at risk.

We’re just glad that the individuals working to contain Japan’s compromised reactors are a little more selfless.

Each of the contaminated vehicles will be hosed down inside the Hyundai 106 container ship that they arrived in, which should contain the radiation inside the vessel. So far, this is the first batch of exported vehicles to show any radioactivity since the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters in Japan this March.

Radiation found on Japanese cars shipped to Chile originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 May 2011 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ben “The Stig” Collins names the five worst cars he’s ever driven

Filed under: Etc.

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

The five worst cars Ben Collins has ever driven – Click above for high-res image gallery

Over the course of his years donning the white suit and helmet for Top Gear, pro driver Ben Collins has had the chance to drive an enviably wide array of cars. Their track times all went up on the power lap board, but there are better ways of evaluating how a car handles under pressure – like asking the guy who drove them. That’s what Australian car site Drive did, and got the former Stig to jot down some notes. They weren’t in Morse Code, but while his list of the worst five cars he’d ever driven includes some obvious choices, a couple may surprise.

First up on Ben’s hit list: the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. When we drove it, we found its dynamics were lightyears behind its looks, and His (deposed) Stiginess apparently agrees. At the end of Collins’ list is another supercar – the TVR Sagaris – which he feels was horribly emblematic of the company that produced it, while pointing to the fact that Jeremy Clarkson loved it as evidence enough of its dubious distinction.

In between these two European supercars on Collins’ list comes the Fiat Multipla, whose horrid styling was surpassed only by its dismal performance, and the Cadillac Escalade, which the Englishman found to be all show and no go – particularly off road. Finally, the previous-generation Dodge Charger drew the Stig’s ire for its gross weight and lamentable slushbox. If for America’s sake alone, we can only hope that, heavier still though it is, Collins might take a crack at the new model.

Gallery: Ben Collin’s Five Worst Cars

Fiat MultiplaCadillac EscaladeDodge ChargerTVR Sagaris

Ben “The Stig” Collins names the five worst cars he’s ever driven originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 02 May 2011 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jay Leno plays around with the cars from Fast Five

Filed under: Coupe, Videos, Chevrolet, Dodge

jay leno garage fast five corvette grand sport dodge charger

Jay Leno and the cars from Fast Five – Click above to watch the video after the jump

Fast Five is the latest in the reinvigorated Fast and Furious franchise, and while the latest film adds Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (along with Paul Walker and Vin Diesel), the real co-stars are, as always, the cars. A whole new batch of wheels debuts in Fast Five, and Jay Leno took a firsthand look at some of them.

Movie car builder Dennis McCarthy brought a C2 Corvette Grand Sport replica, which features a 1980s Corvette suspension and a custom body by Mongoose. While many movie cars feature “fake” power, the Vette still packs 500 horses. And since this Vette was made for movie production, there are another nine copies, two of which sit on Volkswagen platforms to better handle some off-road stunts.

Beyond the Corvetteette, McCarthy brought a 1960s Dodge Charger with a gutted blower and a small-block Chevy underhood. Hit the jump to watch the 10-minute video, which features a few clips from the movie and some behind-the-scenes footage as well. At one point, Jay leaves his garage and heads over to McCarthy’s home turf, which shows more metal from Fast Five.

[Source: Jay Leno’s Garage]

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Jay Leno plays around with the cars from Fast Five originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Forbes releases 2011 Worst Cars on the Road list

Filed under: Car Buying, Budget, Hybrid, Sedan, SUV, Truck, Etc., Crossover, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, GM, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Smart, Luxury

2011 Cadillac Escalade

Forbes’ Worst Cars on the Road – Click above for high-res image gallery

Forbes has released its 2011 Worst Cars on the Road list, and the outcome is not pretty for American manufacturers. With the exception of the 2011 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the 2011 Smart ForTwo and the 2011 Nissan Titan, the cars on the list are all American-made. Worse than that, they all come from two manufacturers: General Motors and Chrysler. Ford managed to avoid the list completely.

To determine which cars get the dubious honor and which don’t, Forbes compiles results from six studies by Consumer Reports including the Most Reliable Cars Report, Best and Worst Safety Performance Survey, Best and Worst Fuel Economy, Highest Cost of Ownership, the Best and Worst Values Report and Consumer Reports’ overall scores for new cars.

Chrysler made the list with the 2011 Chrysler Town & Country, which racked up dismal scores for reliability and cost of ownership. Both the 2011 Jeep Wrangler and the Jeep Liberty made the cut, with the Liberty scoring poorly for reliability and fuel economy. The Wrangler joined the Liberty in the reliability department, and also ranked for worst value, and made a spot on Consumer Reports’ Worst Cars list. The 2011 Dodge Nitro and Dodge Dakota made the list for similar reasons.

The picture is almost as bleak at GM, where offerings from Chevrolet and Cadillac crowded the picture. The base model 2011 Cadillac Escalade earned spots on the Worst Value, Highest Cost of Ownership and Worst Safety Performance lists. The 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid hung with the Cadillac for Worst Value and safety, and earned a spot on the Least Reliable roster as well. The Chevrolet Aveo and Chevrolet Colorado rounded out the worst General Motors offerings for 2011.

Though the results make it seem like General Motors and Chrysler still can’t do anything right, there are plenty of vehicles from both manufacturers that didn’t make the list. Added to that, luxury vehicles like the Escalade are at a disadvantage in the value and cost of ownership categories. Head over to Forbes for further explanation on how the worst cars are weeded out. Thanks for the tip, Irving!

Gallery: 2011 Forbes Worst Cars on the Road

2011 Cadillac Escalade2011 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid2011 Chevrolet Colorado2011 Chevrolet Aveo2011 Chrysler Town and Country

[Source: Forbes]

Forbes releases 2011 Worst Cars on the Road list originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: See how Nissan checks its cars for radiation

Filed under: Japan, Safety, Videos, Nissan

Nissan radiation testing in Japan

Nissan radiation testing – Click above to watch video after the jump

Japanese automakers are continuing to test their products for excessive radiation levels as they leave their respective manufacturing facilities and before they’re loaded onto container ships for transport. Nissan has released a video detailing the company’s radiation check system, which includes monitoring randomly-selected sample group vehicles in three key locations.

Workers measure levels at the vehicles’ wheels, the center of the hood and the steering wheel before handing out clean bills of health. So far, all of the company’s vehicles have passed without a problem.

Automakers began testing vehicles after the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant despite the fact that most manufacturing locations are situated well away from the ill-stricken facility. The video after the jump follows a few vehicles (including a 370Z and a GT-R) through the test procedure and onto a transportation vessel in port. Click past the jump to watch the full video for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Stephen!

[Source: Integrity Exports]

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Video: See how Nissan checks its cars for radiation originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Bristol Cars saved by… Frazer-Nash?!

Filed under: Performance, Etc., Earnings/Financials, UK, MISC

Bristol Fighter

Ill-fated Bristol Cars has reportedly been rescued from the perils of administration by an unlikely savior. Kamkorp Autokraft, a Swiss company that’s part of the Frazer-Nash empire, officially bought the British automaker after it was forced to make 22 members of its 25 person staff redundant last month. According to PistonHeads, Kamkorp Autokraft says it intends to blend the Bristol Cars tradition of building beautiful vehicles with the alternative-energy knowledge amassed by Frazer-Nash. The news likely means that the world will be treated to an all-new electric sports car sometime in the near future.

Bristol Cars has its roots in aircraft manufacturing, but converted to building bespoke vehicles for the well-to-do of the UK shortly after World War II. The company hit financial dire straits last year, and in March of 2011, Tom MacLennan and Trevor Binyon were named joint administrators. Remarkably, sales and service have carried on throughout the whole ordeal, and that doesn’t look to stop anytime soon.

William Chia, the director of operations for Frazer-Nash, said that his company is committed to continuing to service the brand’s cars.

[Source: PistonHeads]

Report: Bristol Cars saved by… Frazer-Nash?! originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Inside line drives a trio of Fast Five cars

Filed under: Classics, Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Chevrolet, Dodge, Celebrities, Specialty, Off-Road

1965 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport

Fast Five 1965 Corvette Grand Sport – Click above to watch the videos after the jump

The fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious series, Fast Five, is ready to debut this summer, unleashing another round of “nos”-fed hilarity. In anticipation of the promised vehicular mayhem, they guys at Inside Line caught up with Dennis McCarthy, the man behind the stable of hot rods featured in the movie.

The first is a one-off, tube-frame monstrosity of an offroad car hauler lovingly dubbed “Mongo.” Mongo was designed to assist Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in filching exotic cars from a moving train. To our eyes, Mongo looks ready to do just that, sporting a 600-plus-horsepower 502-cubic-inch Chevrolet V8, 7:10 gears and 18 inches of suspension travel. According to McCarthy, Mongo did his own stunts, completing a 75-foot jump and driving away unscathed. Wow.

The next sample on today’s palette is possibly the most famous car to come out of the Fast and the Furious franchise, Dom Toretto’s 1970 Dodge Charger. Though the car in the film sports a 900-horsepower supercharged Hemi, keeping costs low dictated a slightly tamer set up for the actual workhorses of the film. In stuntman-ready trim, the Charger sported a 400-hp Chevy small block (sorry, Mopar fans…) capped by a gutted BDS blower just for effect. According to IL, it’s loud, scary to drive and uncomfortable, just the way any self-respecting mock up should be.

The final car on the list is the star of the show, a replica of a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, build by Mongoose Motorsports. It features the ubiquitous Chevrolet 502 big block, backed up by a Borg Warner Super T-10 four-speed stick. The combination rides on C3 Corvette suspension, which struggles to handle nearly 600 horses stuffed into a featherweight frame.

After weeks of abuse at the hands of Hollywood, none of the cars are feeling as healthy as they once were. That said, they all still run, which can’t be said for hundreds of other cars used in the movie. Added to that, they’ll all still burn up the rear tires with poise, showing they still have their dignity. Click past the jump to see all three cars in action.

[Source: YouTube via Inside Line]

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Video: Inside line drives a trio of Fast Five cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Cuba’s cadre of classic American cars in danger?

Filed under: Classics, Etc.

classic cuban car

Cuba has an interesting law when it comes to the purchasing and sale of automobiles. While European and Asian cars can be imported, only vehicles built before 1959 (the year of the Cuban Revolution) are allowed to trade hands on the open market.

This means that Cuba’s automotive landscape is filled with an excess of classic American iron. It’s a post-war plethora of beautiful automobiles in varying states of repair. This could all be changing, however, because the island nation is talking about reforming some of the laws that have been on the books for decades.

If Cubans are allowed to purchase modern vehicles, does that mean an end to the classics, which have come to serve as iconic fixtures of this communist Caribbean country? Not right away, according to a report by NPR. The classic cars are a treasured part of Cuba’s history, and folks feel that they will be sticking around even after modern vehicles begin to arrive. Only time will tell.

[Source: NPR via The Truth About Cars | Image: FDITG/Flickr CC 2.0]

Report: Cuba’s cadre of classic American cars in danger? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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