Crash Testing
By admin | January 26, 2010
Crash testing provides dramatic evidence of how vehicles behave in collisions, with the end result that vehicles designed to perform well in crash tests usually prove safer on the road. Read the rest of this entry »
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Is Your Car Crashworthy?
By admin | January 26, 2010
Most newer vehicles are safer than older models in a crash. What makes them so?
The most important vehicle safety features are the ones that reduce your chances of being injured or killed in a crash. Read the rest of this entry »
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Anti-lock Brakes
By admin | January 26, 2010
Old hands at rainy and winter driving know to “pump” the brakes when slowing on slippery pavement to avoid locking the wheels and causing a skid.
An anti-lock brake system (ABS), which works by means of a small onboard computer, performs the same “pumping” action automatically, at a rate faster and more precise than human reflexes can duplicate. Anti-lock brakes also apply pressure selectively, by sensing which wheels are receiving the most traction at any instant and then sending braking pressure only to those wheels. Read the rest of this entry »
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Robert Stempel on the Race to Build a Better Battery
By admin | January 21, 2010
A leading auto exec encourages people to start thinking of the electric car as “just another consumer electronic device.” A CarPoint exclusive interview.
Robert Stempel, former chairman and CEO of General Motors, has long been involved in leading-edge automotive technologies. Today Stempel serves as executive director of Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) and chairman of the Ovonic Battery Company—a subsidiary of ECD and producer of nickel metal hydride batteries. In this interview with CarPoint, Stempel dispels some of the myths and reports some of the breakthroughs in modern battery and electric car development. Read the rest of this entry »
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Yesterday’s Electric Vehicles
By admin | January 21, 2010
Electric vehicles are not a new idea. Early versions were built more than 160 years ago.
As battery technology evolved in the late 1800s, the eventual perfection of a type called the lead acid battery—still the most common variety—helped give birth to the first production electric car, in 1888. Read the rest of this entry »
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Electric Vehicles on the Horizon
By admin | January 21, 2010
From the drawing boards and test tracks of major manufacturers—could these be the cars of tomorrow?
There’s general agreement that the key to electric vehicles’ success lies in the continued development of power sources. The majority of today’s electric vehicles are powered by some variant of the traditional sealed battery. Yet while effective, current versions have the same limits as their predecessors—short charge life and high cost. Read the rest of this entry »
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Hot Rod Redux: Looking at Plymouth’s Prowler
By admin | January 21, 2010
“Way cool, Daddy-O,” might be the best way to salute the eye-popping Plymouth Prowler, Chrysler Corporation’s ’90s version of the classic ’50s hot rod, due to arrive in showrooms in the spring of 1997. Read the rest of this entry »
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Electric Cars are Here. (Now.)
By admin | January 21, 2010
America’s first consumer-available electric car from a major automaker rolled onto showroom floors just as 1996 drew to a close. Right now GM’s sleek, new EV1 glistens under the lights at 24 Saturn retailers in the Southwest. Read the rest of this entry »
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Spy Photography, Automotive Style
By admin | January 18, 2010
Long before any new car makes it to the showroom floor, carefully disguised prototypes are secretly tested around the world. The job of the professional spy photographer is to locate these “test mules” and get them on film years before the car hits the market. Read the rest of this entry »
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Consumers Rank Auto Complaints Number One
By admin | January 18, 2010
Two studies of consumer complaints recently released by prominent watchdog groups point the finger at automobiles as the single biggest sources of consumer headaches.
For the third year in a row, auto-related complaints led the annual list of “Top 10 Consumer Complaints” issued by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) last summer. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Consumer Headaches | No Comments »