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Suzuka-based Topia Corp. presented an electric car during the 19th Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions Expo in Tokyo, which weighs just 150kg (330lb). The so-called Huvo is the prototype of a single seat mini car. To save weight and development costs, the HUVO is made out of materials that would make any contemporary golf cart proud; mainly plastic, ceramic, more plastic, and a bit of high-tensile steel plate.
The Concept Chevy Volt, with its revolutionary E-Flex Propulsion System will be different than any previous electric vehicle because it will use a lithium-ion battery with a variety of range-extending onboard power sources, including gas and, in some vehicles, E85 ethanol to recharge the battery while driving. Chevy claims that if you drive less than 40 miles a day, you'll never have to put a drop of gas into your Volt. But the Volt is expected to cost around $40,000 or so when it goes on sale (which could be as soon as 2010). |
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 When renting a car you should:
A) Fill it up yourself before returning your vehicle;
B) Let the rental car company do it at a per-gallon rate that often far exceeds the price at the retail pump; or
C) Buy a full tank from the agency when you pick up the car often at or below market prices and pay nothing upon return.
If you already own a fuel-efficient car, this won't necessarily make as much sense as if you own a vehicle with poor gas mileage, but still can if you plan to sell your car in the future. Whether it's for a long road trip or just to drive around town, if you are going to be getting a rental car this summer, here are a few other tips to help keep costs down: |
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There are two sorts of satellite navigation systems: "Static" ones guide a motorist from one address to another, taking no account of road conditions at the time. "Dynamic" systems feed in traffic information to suggest the best route at the time. Most recently the leading supplier of navigation solutions today announced the results from leading research institutions in Europe and the US that prove the positive influence of satellite navigation devices on driving and traffic safety. The study was commissioned by TomTom and conducted recently in Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Italy and the US.
Compared to navigating by conventional means, the research proves that the workload of drivers is reduced when using a satellite navigation solution. TUV/DLR (Germany) and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (US) measured reduced driver workload when participants were driving in unfamiliar areas to an unknown destination in Germany and the US respectively. In other words, driving while using conventional navigation tools, such as maps and digital Internet route planners, proved to present a higher workload. |
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 In the next three years, the oldest baby boomers will turn 65. By 2015, for the first time in Canadian history, seniors will outnumber children under 15. By 2031, the number of elderly people in Canada will more than double from 4.3 million to 9.1 million, with seniors accounting for roughly one in four drivers.
"Ten years ago, agencies were only thinking in terms of whether or not a driver was fit to be on the road. Now we're seeing a much larger look at the whole transportation process."
Today's vehicle manufacturers are literally putting their engineers in older people's orthopedic shoes to meet the boomers' future driving needs. Both Ford Motor Company and Nissan/Infiniti have their young designers don special aging suits that simulate mobility and vision limitations through such contraptions as cataract goggles and flexibility-restricting body casts. |
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If you haven't had the cooling system checked in a while, do it now. Have your mechanic do a visual check, and if needed, have it flushed and new coolant added. Not only will this keep your engine running, it will help the air conditioning run more effectively, too. Have them checked for wear and tear, and be sure they're properly inflated. "One thing you don't want is to be standing by the side of the road having to change a tire or waiting for a tow truck.
The best protection from the damaging effects of ultraviolet light is to simply limit sun exposure. But for sun lovers or those who simply can't avoid the sun, Dr. Jacobs says there are measures to help protect your eyes and the sensitive skin around your eyes from damaging UV light. Moreover, they said sunglasses should be used whenever the eyes are exposed to UV radiation even on cloudy days and in wintertime. |
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 Drivers who take their eyes off the road to text and e-mail, keying in messages into cell phones, PDAs and BlackBerrys while racing down the road, are indulging a dangerous habit. Last year, nine states have considered legislation specifically banning driving while texting, or DWT. Washington became the first state to pass a law, which takes effect in January, making DWT a crime with a $101 fine. |
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 One American life is lost every 22 minutes in an alcohol-related traffic collision. The dangers of drinking and driving have been taught for generations, yet the cautions still fall upon deaf ears. For one Tracy resident, this nightmare became her reality when the car she was driving was hit by a drunken driver.
One out of 10 children ages 12 and 13 uses alcohol at least once a month, 60 percent of all teen deaths in car accidents are alcohol-related. In a single year, 522 children under age 14 were arrested for driving while intoxicated, (113 of them were under 10 years old).
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 The invention of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) has served the dual purpose of fuel economy and the growing demand for less polluting vehicles. The vehicles that run on gasoline incur high fuel costs for customers and the electric vehicles involve high initial investment, as they are much costlier. To deal with the situation, automobile manufacturers have invented the hybrid electric vehicle that runs on both gasoline and with electric motors.
It's a simple fact that hybrids get better gas mileage than gas-powered cars. Take a look at the standard four-cylinder Toyota Camry. According to the EPA, the Camry has a combined highway/city miles per gallon rating of 25. GM has put more than 2 million E-85 ethanol-capable biofuel vehicles on the roads, and by the end of 2008 the company expects to have eight gasoline-electric hybrids in production. It has put fleets of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in cities around the world. |
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 Federal standards require that a vehicle's rear-view mirror provide the driver with a certain field of view. To meet the requirement, manufacturers often use a convex mirror on the passenger side. It gives a broader view where most vehicles create an area of reduced visibility, frequently called the blind spot.
Why we have two different kinds of mirrors on our cars? Why is the passenger-side different from the driver-side mirror? For most drivers there's a lingering doubt when changing lanes on the freeway: Did I miss a car in the blind spot?
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 In general, the technology works by having cameras posted at intersections with traffic lights and capturing pictures of license plates as cars pass under a red light. Then, a citation, along with a photo of the driver running the red light, can be mailed to the offender. Everything is intended to combat aggressive driving on multi-lane highways by keeping the far left lane clear of most traffic.
Some studies that conclude cameras reduced crashes or injuries contained major “research design flaws,” such as incomplete data or inadequate analyses, and were conducted by researchers with links to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The IIHS, funded by automobile insurance companies, is the leading advocate for red-light cameras. Insurers can profit from red-light cameras, since their revenues will increase when higher premiums are charged due to the crash and citation increase, the researchers say. |
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 Finding the probable cause of accidents is not always easy. Each accident presents new challenges and, unfortunately, the answers to investigations are not always found in the wreckage at a crash site. For instance, government data show that in 2003 there were more than 3.8 million police-reported crashes of the kind the new technologies could help prevent: rear-end, lane change and run-off-road collisions. A truck exits suddenly from a side road, directly into your lane only dozens of meters ahead. Suddenly, your car issues a warning, starts applying the brakes and attempts to take evasive action. Realizing impact is unavoidable; in-car safety systems pre-tension the safety belts and arm the airbag, timing its release to the second before impact. Such is the promise of the uncrashable car, coming to a dealer near you in the perhaps not-too-distant future.
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 Seat belt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a harness designed to hold in place the occupant of a car or other vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop. A mother pregnant women always should sit where she has not been shown to affect the safety of an unborn baby in a crash. Motor vehicle accidents cause 70% of all cases of abdominal trauma in pregnancy. Compared with a belted passenger, an unbelted pregnant woman in a car crash has double the risk of vaginal bleeding and quadruple the risk of fetal death. "That's basically what all of us have now," said Jones, who is director of the maternal fetal medicine program at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas. "It's the lap belt that's integral with the shoulder belt."
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 Some older drivers simply cannot be "rehabilitated" -- the phrase used by driving experts. Drivers who continue to be a danger to themselves and others on the road for various reasons, most notably due to medical problems that impair driving ability to dealing with a collision; from awareness about how changes in health might affect driving ability to antilock braking systems., and dementia associated with cognitive impairment and lack of insight leading to loss of decision-making skills.
American Automobile Association (AAA) worked with the University of Florida (UF) and National Older Driver Research and Training Center (NODRTC) to identify the many vehicle features that can optimize safety and comfort for seniors. These features may be specifically helpful based upon specific conditions or limitations. Some of the recommendations included in Smart Features for Mature Drivers include: |
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 The newly formed safety technology and product company called Radar Safety Technologies, LLC (RST) is announcing today at the Mid-American Trucking Show at the Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, Kentucky its new safety product FrontAlert(TM) Collision Alert System (CAS) for Automotive, Recreational, Mining, and Military markets. RST's FrontAlert(TM) (CAS) is a new Collision Alert System for the Commercial Vehicle market that is designed to detect hazards in your vehicle's path and alerts you of a potential collision. The new FrontAlert(TM) (CAS) is available beginning second quarter 2008.
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Motorist News
The choices are clear: Either spend money on a new car every few years, or keep the same trustworthy one for a longer period of time. With appropriate maintenance and care, an average car can run great and look sharp for many years. There's no one better-suited than the owner to wash the car and give it other much-needed touches of love. Check washer, coolant and other fluid levels at every oil change. In addition to these essential tips for improving a car's endurance, consumers should also replace the battery, fuel filter, belts, hoses, PCV valves, spark plugs and others, according to the manufacturers' repair book. Take a look some easy maintenance steps, put together here