Automotive Blog automotive technology, explored

Archive for August, 2007

Lane Change Technology

Saturday, 11 August, 2007

My Honda Odyssey doesn’t really have a blind spot, but I do have to look just a little farther back to make sure things are clear to the left or right before changing lanes. On an errand last Thursday that had two sources of distraction in the car, I misjudged and was instantly greeted with [...]

Ranking Hybrids for Safety

Thursday, 9 August, 2007

In an interesting post, AutoblogGreen reports on the top five safest hybrids to drive and for once, the Prius comes in dead last.
Pulling the data from both the NHTSA and the EPA, the hybrids stack up in this order:

Toyota Camry
Honda Civic
Ford Escape
Mercury Mariner
Toyota Prius

AutoblogGreen’s methodology was to look at fuel economy leaders as compared to [...]

Nissan Jumps on Clean Diesel

Tuesday, 7 August, 2007

Nissan seems prepared to follow in Honda’s footsteps and get into clean diesel in a big way. The Nissan catalyst systems uses a multi-layer approach, trapping hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide then causing both to reach with NOx for conversion to nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water.
The system doesn’t need urea injection to come [...]

192 AAs and a Battery Speed Record

Sunday, 5 August, 2007

Yesterday in Japan a student from Osaka Sangyo University, Takashi Sudo, made a drive that should get him into the Guinness Book of World Records. In a car made of fiber composite and powered by 192 AA batteries, Sudo reached an average speed of 65.83 mph over a course 0.6 miles in length. That’s the [...]

VW Working on Adaptive Sunshade

Friday, 3 August, 2007

VW is rumored to be working on a piece of technology that makes window tinting look like paint by the numbers. An adaptive sunshade comprised of reactive crystals in the upper portion of the front window would respond to sunlight and darken as required to shield the driver’s vision.
While the details are a little sketchy, [...]