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Category “general”

ABCNews Story Reviews Onboard Safety Tech

Thursday, 10 September, 2009

ABCNews is running a story today by Lisa Stark and Lindsey Ellerson, “New Technology Successful in Reducing Severity of Car Crashes.” Basically it’s a run down of technologies (available and in development) to combat driver distraction for collision and accident avoidance. (The article runs to three pages and is well worth your time to get [...]

Great Site to Buy Used Truck & Trailer Rigs

Friday, 28 August, 2009

After a brief hiatus, we’re glad to be back with a great source to buy used truck & trailer rigs. UsedTruckListings.com is one of the most straightforward sites I’ve stumbled onto in a long while. When they say “Fast. Free. Easy.” — well, they mean, “Fast. Free. Easy.”
Visitors to the site find a simple list [...]

Disappearing Auto Trends and Form Factors

Tuesday, 21 April, 2009

I read with some interest Roman Mica’s two articles on the Top Ten List of Endangered Automotive Trends and Features for the Dallas Examiner. (Read part one here and part two here.)
In descending order, the items Mica chose are:
- the key (to lock and unlock the car)
- a key to start the car
- the CD [...]

Toyota Should Maximize Prius Offerings

Thursday, 26 March, 2009

Toyota has the third-generation Prius coming up soon, a long-awaited update to its six-year old dominant hybrid offering. The expected base price has been set at $22,000. But here’s the rub. Honda just introduced a hybrid Insight going for $20,000. Yes, the race for hybrid king of the heap is still on.
Toyota has already come [...]

Slight Presidential Correction

Wednesday, 25 February, 2009

Last night as I was listening to President Obama’s speech, I groaned when he said America invented the automobile. Once upon a time I was a college history professor and I seriously considered having a stamp made up that read, “Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. He invented the moving assembly line that made [...]

Wrong way detection? Uh, pass.

Tuesday, 10 February, 2009

According to a post over at Engadget, Nissan is working on a system to keep drivers from going the wrong way. Using a cellular-connected GPS, the unit would warn the driver if they head off in the wrong direction as well as tell them as they’re approaching an area “prone to congestion.” Well, unless, the [...]

Toray, ACE Form Partnership for Carbon Fiber Development

Tuesday, 6 January, 2009

These days everything automotive seems to be gloom and doom, but there are innovations and indications of progress out there under the layer of black mourning cloth. For instance, the world’s largest supplier of carbon fiber, Toray Industries Inc., of Japan, has acquired a 21 percent take in ACE Advanced Composite Engineering GmbH, its chief [...]

Bad News Continues But There’s Still the Detroit Auto Show

Friday, 19 December, 2008

So, in the midst of all the automotive gloom and doom — a recap in case you’ve been on another planet:
- Chrysler shut down for a month starting today.
- Chevy backing out of New Year’s Eve sponsorship deals.
- Ford shutting down 10 plants from Jan. 5-12.
- Toyota operating at a loss.
- Honda scrapping the NSX [...]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, 25 November, 2008

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and if you plan to be out shopping on Friday, our sincerest wishes that you emerge unscathed from the retail madness. If you’re in need of some automotive eye candy, don’t miss this video from Good Morning America on their look at cars of the [...]

Are You Getting It Yet, GM?

Saturday, 22 November, 2008

Okay, I’m trying to be all good and techie oriented, but it’s hard with the “will they or won’t they survive” drama afoot for the Big Three. After my grousing (along with that of many other folk) about the execs going hat in hand to Washington aboard their private jets, I was amused to read [...]