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Survey: 19% admit using Internet while driving

Filed under: Etc., Safety, Technology

Distracted driving is an ongoing problem. A new State Farm poll proves once again that the roads are full of idiots. One in five of the 912 drivers State Farm informally surveyed in November admitted to accessing the Internet on their smartphones while driving. The insurance company will conduct a deeper study soon, and the 19 percent who admitted to surfing and driving in this study may actually be low for certain groups of drivers. Teenagers and young adults are more tethered to their phones than just about everyone else, and they’re also the least experienced drivers, a recipe for danger on the roads with a likely higher percentage of smartphone use while driving.

Despite the guilty drivers acknowledging the dangers of paying attention to a device instead of the road, none seem too repentant. “I’m not saying it’s the smartest thing in the world,” says Sean Black, a 38 year old Illinois resident, “but I guess I just do it anyway.” As with texting and driving, or even concentrating more on a phone call than piloting your automobile, many feel that only a near-accident or actual crash is going to modify this behavior. Even then, it will be on a case-by-case basis, and it puts the lives and well-being of innocents at the mercy of those too indolent to change their habits.

[Source: USA Today | Image: Corbis]

Survey: 19% admit using Internet while driving originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford nearly overtakes Toyota in Consumer Reports Brand Perception Survey

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Ford, Toyota

Consumer Reports has just released its latest brand perception study, and for the first time, Ford seems to be giving Toyota a run for its money. According to CR, the two brands are nearly tied up, though Ford has edged ahead in categories like safety, quality and value. The Blue Oval has been gaining serious ground recently – jumping 35 percentage points in the study in just two years. Meanwhile, Toyota has seen its score fall by 45 percentage points in the same period of time.

The study measures each brand across a handful of categories, including safety, quality, value, performance, design/style, technology/innovation and environmentally friendly/green. Scores are then averaged to generate a total brand perception. Consumer Reports notes that Toyota still leads the green category by leaps and bounds with a score of 46, though interestingly, it notes that buyers seem to be less and less concerned with just how environmentally friendly their vehicles are. Ford, meanwhile holds onto just 18 percentage points in the same category. Hit the jump for the full press blast.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

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Ford nearly overtakes Toyota in Consumer Reports Brand Perception Survey originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford, Honda lead latest J.D. Power owner loyalty survey

Filed under: Car Buying, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Toyota

J.D. Power 2010 Customer Retention Study

Customer loyalty is incredibly important to automakers and something earned by providing both good products and service. J.D. Power has just put out its 2010 Customer Retention Study to show how well each automaker is doing at keeping existing car buyers coming back for more. Leading the way are Ford and Honda who tie each other with a 62 percent rate of customer retention. Hyundai, Lexus and Toyota are right on their heels however with a rate of 60 percent each.

Overall, import manufacturers have the edge on the domestics but that gap has slimmed down due to customers realizing that American automakers are producing a greater number of good products. Of the top 10 automakers in the study, nine are imports.

One of those imports is Kia, which has climbed the most compared to the 2009 study. Rising 21 percentage points, the Korean automaker now sees a rate of retention of 58 percent. That’s 10 points above the industry average.

Be sure to click past the jump to take a look at the full press release for more information on this study.

[Source: J.D. Power]

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Ford, Honda lead latest J.D. Power owner loyalty survey originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Survey: Consumers find proposed new fuel economy labels confusing

Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Electric, Diesel

EPA/DOT Proposed Fuel Economy Labels – Click above for high-res versions

It’s always a tough road to hoe when it comes time to make wholesale changes to something consumers know and are comfortable with – just ask Car and Driver. But, progress is progress, and sometimes a redesign is necessary in order to keep pace with the times.

Such is the case with today’s fuel economy labels. Although we all understand what miles per gallon means (well, mostly…) and what kind of figures we should expect from a given type of vehicle, the future has plenty in store that will drastically change all of that; namely, electric cars and plug-in hybrids. That being the case, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation were charged with designing completely revised fuel economy labels for new vehicles at the dealership.

Judging by the response from our earlier article on the subject, consumers are split on the new stickers’ effectiveness. A new study from Siegel+Gale seems to confirm this suspicion. The full details can be found in the press release after the break and from this PDF, but the gist is as follows:

Two-thirds of respondents preferred the horizontal option over the vertical option (see here), but 38-percent still found something confusing about the winning label. A resounding 86 percent said that miles per gallon was the most important figure, while 68 percent cared most about greenhouse gas emissions.

As for us, we’re thinking that much of the problem lies with the fact that the public at large still doesn’t understand electric vehicles and, more specifically, extended-range electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Many of the features consumers say they could do without were added to the labels in an attempt to give an accurate representation of electric vehicle mileage benefits.

Gallery: EPA/DOT Proposed Fuel Economy Labels

[Source: Siegel+Gale]

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Survey: Consumers find proposed new fuel economy labels confusing originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Survey: 9 out of 10 say phoning while driving should be illegal – half do it themselves

Filed under: Etc., Safety, Technology

Distracted driver on phone, applying mascara

We all know that driving while talking on the cell phone is a distraction. Even if you say you’re a good driver with superior multi-tasking skills, blabbing on a phone while piloting a two-ton automobile is a quick way to show that you are in fact not smarter than a fifth grader. Don’t let Jeff Foxworthy and his band of miscreants shame you, though… nearly all of us have done it in a moment of weakness. A recent survey of 1,000 motorists found that 90 percent believe that talking on the phone while driving should be illegal. The flip side is that 51 percent of that same data set admit they have used their phone while out on the road.

The survey, sponsored by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, highlights an interesting paradox in our thinking – the “it won’t happen to me” notion. A majority of us agree that doing something is dangerous yet we do it anyway, even when we think it should be illegal. We believe we’re somehow better than the folks who get in the distracted-driving car accidents but we’re exhibiting similar behavior. We eat food, send texts, read our Kindles, call mom and check e-mail while we should be paying more attention to the road. It’s not just about making sure your vehicle is heading where it’s supposed to go but to also maintain awareness of what’s happening around you – and that’s extremely difficult to do when typing out “LOL, OMG-guy nxt 2 me drvng CRZY!!11!”

Check out the official press release after the jump for more details on the survey.

[Source: Chubb Group]

Continue reading Survey: 9 out of 10 say phoning while driving should be illegal – half do it themselves

Survey: 9 out of 10 say phoning while driving should be illegal – half do it themselves originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Survey: Allstate lists America’s safest driving cities [w/video]

Filed under: Etc., Safety, Videos

Allstate has officially ranked the country’s 200 largest cities by the likelihood of their drivers to get into an accident. The annual report singles out localities with the best drivers, and this year, Fort Collins, Colorado took the cake as the city with the safest residents. Last year, the town was stuck at number two behind Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Unfortunately for drivers who live in the former capitol of safe driving, that town saw its rank fall by 17 places to number 18 in just one year.

On average, Allstate says that drivers in Fort Collins will get into an accident of some variety or other every 14.5 years, and that they’re around 31.2 percent less likely than the national average to wrinkle their sheetmetal.

And which localities are the worst of them all? It should be no surprise that the drivers who circle the Beltway in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia are among the worst of the lot. Our nation’s capitol held onto its spot in dead last, with drivers expected to get into a claimable accident every 5.1 years. Baltimore, Maryland is just one notch up the list with that city’s drivers likely to experience one accident every 5.6 years. Hit the jump for a look at the top ten cities, and check the gallery to stick an eyeball on the complete results.

Gallery: Allstate 2010 Safe Driver Report

[Source: Allstate | Image: Garry Sun/bauergriffinonline.com]

Continue reading Survey: Allstate lists America’s safest driving cities [w/video]

Survey: Allstate lists America’s safest driving cities [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’re Doing it Wrong: UK survey shows favorite summer driving song is… Sweet Home Alabama?!

Filed under: Etc., UK

Lynyrd Skynyrd concert

UK firm HPI has some of the most intriguing customers in the business. The firm, akin to CarFax, provides a vetted history of a used car so buyers know what they’re really getting. It has just concluded a survey of its customers to find out what they like most for road trip jams, and out of all the classic rock tracks being laid down in 1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s distinctly non-British Sweet Home Alabama took the top spot.

Right behind Skynyrd came hometown favorite Katrina and the Waves with Walking on Sunshine, one of only three English acts on a list that zooms through genres and has only one song from the last twenty years: The Killers’ Mr. Brightsides. Follow the jump for the rest of the songs, and if you take a trip with an HPI user, get ready for anything…

[Source: HPI | Image: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty]

Continue reading You’re Doing it Wrong: UK survey shows favorite summer driving song is… Sweet Home Alabama?!

You’re Doing it Wrong: UK survey shows favorite summer driving song is… Sweet Home Alabama?! originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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