NHTSA ill-equipped to assess cars' high-tech systems, study says

The nation's top auto safety regulator is ill-equipped to detect problems with high-tech electronics that are increasingly commonplace in today's cars, a new government study has concluded.

Calling such shortcomings "troubling," the report called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to review its technical capabilities and appoint an advisory panel to help it evaluate potentially serious risks associated with systems such as adaptive cruise control.
Despite those findings, the National Research Council found in a 162-page report that NHTSA's decision to close its investigation of sudden acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles was appropriate, and backed its conclusion that there was no evidence that an electronic defect caused the dangerous problem.

Nonetheless, the proliferation of computerized devices poses new challenges for NHTSA, and "the agency needs to plan for the future of electronics in vehicles," said Louis J. Lanzerotti, a physics professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and chairman of the committee that authored the report.

When NHTSA commissioned the study in March 2010, it was tasked with evaluating "the broad topic of electronic vehicle controls and unintended acceleration as a whole."

The final report, however, dwells largely on the issues raised by Toyota's problems, which led the automaker to issue more than 14 million recall notices worldwide. It also spurred congressional hearings, record fines and fears that unknown electronic bugs could pose a safety risk in modern vehicles.

Lanzerotti, however, said he knew of no fatalities caused by any electronic systems in any vehicle, a contention that safety advocates disputed.

According to the NRC, which is the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences, NHTSA paid $1.3 million for the study, which came in seven months behind schedule.

"NHTSA has already taken steps to strengthen its expertise in electronic control systems," the auto safety agency said in a statement Wednesday. "But NHTSA will continue to evaluate and improve every aspect of its work to keep the driving public safe."

The NRC committee's 16 members reviewed NHTSA investigations as well as a study by NASA on Toyota throttle systems. In addition, it met with consumer advocates, academics and automakers, including a full day spent with Toyota officials in Irvine, according to Lanzerotti.

Its report found that NTHSA did not have the technical expertise to properly monitor safety in electronics that are rapidly taking control of nearly every automotive system. To deal with that, it recommended a number of steps, including the appointment of an outside technical advisory panel to help NHTSA keep abreast of technological advances. The findings mirrored conclusions made by NHTSA itself more than a year ago, when it found it needed to "increase its existing expertise in vehicle electronics and emerging technologies."

The contrast between the NRC's two findings — that NHTSA properly concluded that Toyota's electronics were not at fault in sudden acceleration and yet at the same time is lacking in technical expertise — struck some interested parties as glaring.

Toyota Camry: Will It Remain a U.S. Top Seller?

The Toyota Camry has been the top-selling car in the U.S. for most of the past dozen years. But I think that may change in 2012.

By now many people have heard that the redesigned Ford Fusion is sufficiently attractive and feature-laden to challenge the Camry. Longtime rival Honda is also working on a new Accord sedan to help regain sales the company lost in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year.

But even without stronger competition, I’m not sure the latest Camry is worthy of any sales records. While backing out of the driveway during a test-drive of the redesigned 2012 model I leaned to my left to get a better view of the outside mirror. Next I felt a sharp pain. I had bumped my head on the door frame.

This unpleasant experience essentially sums up my time with the latest version of Toyota’s popular family sedan.

Of course I have felt this way about the Camry for a long time, having driven models from almost every generation dating to the mid 1980s. I drove a 1994 model from New Jersey to Maine and a 2007 version from Florida to South Carolina. In the second case, after 500 miles at the wheel I felt like I would never stand up straight again.

I have always had trouble finding a comfortable driving position in the Camry, and there is never enough headroom. The new model, which ranges in price from $ 21,955 to $29,845, has sides that seem to tape inward toward the roof more than on earlier versions. So the cabin feels especially pinched.

Maybe the Camry wasn’t designed for people taller than six feet.

2012 BMW M3 DTM safety car revealed

The German based automaker BMW has recently revealed its 2012 M3 DTM safety car, which will be run on the track by three teams.

The 2012 M3 DTM safety car has been revealed quietly revealed on Facebook, just like the new generation of the BMW 3-Series, and even if the new generation of the BMW M3 is just about to hit the market, based on the new 3-Series (F30), the company has chosen to use the E92 version. The new BMW M3 DTM safety car might have been officially revealed, but the car manufacturer didn’t release any details on it, so for now we will have to settle for some rumors, which are saying that the 2012 BMW DTM safety car’s engine is expected to develop less than the DTM racers’ 480 horsepower and its top speed should stand around 186 mph.

The 2012 DTM season will be more interesting than in previous years with the field expanding to three manufacturers, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW, and nine teams. This season will also pave the way for next year’s North American DTM series, which is expected to run in conjunction with NASCAR. This will only be the start of a globally competition, after the Grand Touring Series is expected to unite the DTM in Germany with North America’s Grand Am Series and Japan’s Super GT in 2015.

Nauna’s owner lands latest electric car

Tom Moloughney, the owner of Montclair's popular Nauna's Bella Casa, now has another claim to fame: He is the first customer to receive BMW's latest electric car. In a special ceremony last Friday, Ludwig Willisch, president and chief executive officer of BMW North America, presented Moloughney and his wife Meredith the keys to the ActiveE, a 100 percent electric car that is the successor to the electric Mini-E. For the past 2 1/2 years, Moloughney has been testing the Mini-E for BMW.

Molougney and his wife drove their Mini-E from their home in Chester, N.J., to BMW's headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., where they traded it in for the ActiveE.

At that moment, they became "Electronauts," as the carmaker put it.

The ActiveE is BMW's next step toward mass producing an emission-free electric car to sell to consumers.

"It's a BMW. It rides like a dream," Moloughney said of the ActiveE. "It's 100 percent electric. It has four seats and a trunk. The Mini was just a two-seater."

The Moloughneys are the first of what will be 700 "Electronaut" households who will lease a BMW ActiveE for a two-year period.

Moloughney is a vocal proponent of electric cars, and his two-year spin with the Mini-E has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

"Calling the Moloughneys pioneers is very appropriate because they have shown the world that an electric vehicle can absolutely serve one's daily driving needs without compromise," Willisch said in a statement. "We learned a lot from all of our experience with the Mini-E and we are looking forward to learning more in these next two years with the BMW ActiveE as we prepare for the launch of the first BMW i models in 2013. We are pleased that Tom and Meredith have agreed to stay with us on this journey."

Last week, the Moloughneys had lunch with the managers of BMW's electric vehicle program in Woodcliff Lake, and Willisch came in to introduce himself. Then the couple got a tour of the technical facility that BMW has in Woodcliff Lake.

"They're building out a whole electric-vehicle area to accommodate their future electric vehicles," Moloughney said. "They're dedicating a big area where they're going to have all the battery operations, and all the electronics testing, so we got a tour of all that. It was really nice. They showed me one of the cars that I have that was completely disassembled. They pulled all the batteries out, all the electronics and showed me all the reinforcement they put in to protect the batteries in case of a crash."

Moloughney then did some video interviews, and Willisch gave him the keys to his new leased ride.

"This car is fully engineered as a BMW product," Moloughney said. "All of the electric motors and controllers and the batteries are all newly developed all in-house with BMW. This is the last step before they sell an electric car. They're going to sell an electric car in about 18 months. It's called the BMW i3. This car has all the components that's going to be in the i3. We're field-testing it for them."

The ActiveE can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in less than nine seconds, and its newly developed lithium-ion batteries give it a driving range of up to 100 miles on a full charge.

GM Breaks 9 Million Taking Global Sales Crown From Toyota

General Motors Co., saying today it sold 9.03 million vehicles worldwide last year, regained its spot as the world's top-selling automaker as Toyota Motor Corp. struggled with floods, earthquakes and a tsunami.

GM's deliveries rose 7.6 percent from 8.39 million in 2010, the company said on its website, topping an analyst's estimate and exceeding the 9 million mark for the first time since 2007. Toyota, which ended GM's 77-year reign as the world's largest automaker in 2008, hasn't reported full-year results. Toyota has estimated that 2011 calendar year sales will decrease 6 percent to 7.9 million.

The return to No. 1 marks a sharp rebound for GM, coming two years after the company exited a U.S. government-backed bankruptcy. When GM was last No. 1, in 2007, it was known as General Motors Corp. and lost $38.7 billion. Last year, the Detroit-based automaker may have earned $8.1 billion, the average of four analyst estimates.

“The difference between this title and other times is that they are profitable and that's where the bankruptcy was helpful,” Rebecca Lindland, an industry analyst with IHS Automotive, said today in a telephone interview. “It's great to be No. 1, but it's a lot more fun to be profitable.”

GM Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson has said that he places a higher priority on profit margins than on global unit volumes. While analysts estimate that GM will boost revenue 2.9 percent to $154.2 billion this year, he is pushing for profit margins before interest and taxes to beat those of Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG.

“We need to focus on profits and margins and not necessarily try to post numbers on the board,” Akerson told reporters at the Detroit auto show earlier this month. “We want to grow in terms of our cash flow so we can continue to invest in both up and down cycles and be strong financially.”

GM advises Volt owners to return their electric cars

General Motors is advising Volt owners to return their electric cars to dealers for repairs that will lower the risk of battery fires.

The company hopes that the repairs, which will add steel to the plates protecting the batteries, will ease worries about the car’s safety. Three Volt batteries caught fire after government crash tests last year, prompting a federal investigation and sending GM engineers scrambling to find a fix.

The free repairs, announced Thursday, will fix 8,000 Volts on U.S. roads and another 4,400 still for sale. The cars are covered by a "customer service campaign" run by GM, which is similar to a safety recall but allows the carmaker to avoid the bad publicity and federal monitoring that come with a recall.

GM and federal safety officials believe last year’s fires were caused by coolant leaking from damaged plastic casing around the batteries after side-impact collisions. That coolant caused an electrical short, which sparked battery fires seven days to three weeks after the crashes.

GM has a huge incentive to fix the problem and protect the Volt’s image. Although the car isn’t a big seller — it’s fallen short of sales goals — it burnishes GM’s image as a greener, more innovative carmaker.

The safety stumble could make it even harder for the Chevrolet Volt to compete with rival electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf. To contain the bad publicity after the fires, GM last year offered to buy back Volts from worried owners. Still, no owners have reported fires after crashes.

Starting in February, dealers will add steel to a plate that protects the Volt battery, spreading the force of a crash over a larger area, says Mary Barra, GM’s product development chief. Tests by the GM and the government have shown that the repairs prevent battery damage and coolant leaks.

"We have made the Volt even safer," says Mark Reuss, GM’s North American president.

Auto Expo 2012: Mahindra Group unveils electric car

"We want to change the way people commute. And we want to do it in a way that is responsible, that is clean, that does not tax the planet and that makes the experience of commuting guilt-free and a very joyous one."

On that note, Anand Mahindra, managing director (MD) of utility vehicles major Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) unveiled the company's new concept car, the Mahindra Reva - NXR, at the Auto Expo in the national capital. "A first step in that direction has been the NeXt Generation concept of Electric Vehicles (EVs) from Mahindra Reva," Mahindra said, adding that it would change the way people look at electric cars .

The car will hit the Indian roads later this year. However, the company did not reveal any details about the car. "Just imagine travelling from Connaught Place to Delhi international airport for an energy cost of Rs 10 and doing so in air-conditioned, climate controlled comfort in your own car without emitting a single molecule of harmful gases. That is how we believe we could shape the future of mobility," Pawan Goenka, president- automotive sector, M&M, said.

Goenka added that the additional features of the car and its price will be revealed at the time of its launch before Diwali. Dismissing the claim that electric vehicles are not commercially viable, Mahindra added that, "l firmly believe that Mahindra is on the threshold of shaping the way we will commute in the 21st century."

"Today, we usher in a new paradigm to bring in products and mobility solutions which will bear testimony to our commitment to a cleaner environment and the mobility needs of tomorrow's consumers," Mahindra added.

The company will be unveiling six new vehicles, including a compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) and a shorter version of its sedan Verito, by the end of the next fiscal.

However there are automakers who feel that electric vehicles are not commercially viable in India, at least in the present context. "LPG, CNG, these lowemission fuels are much more practical options than hybrid or electric vehicles, which India simply cannot afford, said Arvind Saxena, director of marketing and sales at the Indian unit of Hyundai Motor Co. Mahindra also unveiled two two-wheeler models, Duro DZ and Mahin dra MGP30.

It’s Electric. Should It Look Electrifying?

A CENTURY ago, when electric cars were popular — especially in cities and among women drivers — they looked discernibly different from gasoline-powered automobiles. In the age of the horseless carriage, the transportation historian James Flink wrote, electric cars looked even more like carriages.
Those early electric cars were upright and boxy, just the look that today’s designers are trying to avoid.

The electric cars on display this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit are adopting one of two overriding design philosophies: make it exciting, or make it familiar.

Joel Piaskowski, Ford’s director of exterior design for the Americas, says both approaches are valid. “Some people want to stand out and make that an expression,” he said. “Others want to be discreet.”

While the electric design studies of the recent past were often futuristic pods, the designs of the latest production models are dictated largely by one mundane factor: where the batteries go. The most common solution, in the vehicles’ floor, usually establishes what designers call the small-tall format.

Fitting the elements of electric drive into a conventional body can limit range or passenger space, and the small-tall configuration isn’t inherently stylish.

The challenge, said Adrian van Hooydonk, head of design of BMW, is to present the small-tall configuration in an attractive way. Many designers have resorted to visual tricks to keep electrics from looking gawky or humpy.

In an effort to reduce the car’s apparent height, the designers of the Chevrolet Volt, a General Motors team lead by Robert Boniface, worked to fool the viewer’s eye. They artificially lowered the beltline — essentially, the baseline of the car’s windows — by putting shiny black trim under the greenhouse. They added dark glass beneath the spoiler to make the rear seem less high-set.

Nissan designers kept the Leaf from looking goggle-eyed by reducing the headlights to blisters that swell above the hood. The designers also rolled the tail of the car backward and downward in an effort, not wholly successful, to hide its awkwardness.

But even within the small-tall genre, the cars’ shapes vary a great deal. The small electric car that Mitsubishi calls the “i” (adapted from the Japan-market i-MiEV) uses the same beanlike body as a gas model.

More electric cars in regional district plans

The Nanaimo Regional District plans to buy more electric vehicles, develop a plan to protect certain forested areas and examine whether compressed natural gas can be harvested from the local landfill.

Those are some of the initiatives outlined in the RDN's Climate Action Revenue Incentive Report for 2011. Regional districts must complete these reports in order to recoup money from the province on what they paid in carbon fuel tax last year.

Projects and ideas outlined in the report demonstrate how the RDN will continue working toward carbon-neutral operations in 2012, said Chris Midgley, manager of energy and sustainability. Some of the new initiatives build on current projects to generate cleaner energy at the Cedar Road landfill and other facilities. The RDN has already been successfully harvesting bio gas at the landfill to produce electricity. Now, it plans to examine whether the methane from decomposing waste can be captured and refined into compressed natural gas, a more environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline or diesel.

Midgley said the possibility exists to produce enough gas to power a single vehicle that would operate at the landfill. But he stressed that it's not yet clear if such a project is feasible.

He added that the RDN will also be looking at ways to boost the amount of electricity produced at the landfill this year by using more efficient methods of harvesting the bio gas.

The RDN is also looking at ways to prevent deforestation on private lands. There are many forested areas that are zoned for residential development, where landowners are entitled to harvest the trees. Midgley said there's an opportunity to reach agreements with these landowners, which might include incentives of some sort, to protect the forests for the long-term.