Posts Tagged ‘ Automobile ’

With where Cars are Heading, my Money’s Going in Funeral Homes

May 21st, 2010. By Hunter West

I love to drive—but I just may have to give it up and be done with it. Because I don’t like where the cars of the future are going. 

For that matter, I don’t like where they are now. 

A recent article in The New York Times focused on the cars of the future and what our dashboards are going to look like. Specifically, a demonstration by Cisco Systems showed how an LED dashboard display can be manipulated and customized much like the screen on your smart phone, iPad or laptop. 

In other words, if you don’t like the fuel gauge over HERE, you can drag and drop it over THERE. 

Same with the icons for the car’s web browser, the weather channel, the stocks channel, the news feed, the video screen, the keyboard and the GPS. 

Here’s the problem…  

It’s one thing to have the dashboard evolve from a collection of mechanical dials to integrated electronic bars, and graphs. This gee-whiz stuff has been happening since the 1980’s. 

The problem—and I’ll say it again—is all the interconnectivity that automotive manufacturers have, or are bringing into the car. 

Were cars to have the capacity to drive themselves, then I’d be all for it. Just like the cockpit of an airliner, where you can throw the multi-million-dollar jet on autopilot and play with your laptop while the plane overshoots the airport by an hour… 

Oh, wait a minute. That’s not so good, either. 

The point is, even if cars were to have the kind of sophistication that commercial jets have, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Automobile, Automotive, Cars, Cisco, LED Dashboard, Smart Car
Posted in Accidents, Automotive, Defective Products | No Comments »

Do Toyota Floor Mats Mask a Larger Problem for All Manufacturers?

November 4th, 2009. By Hunter West

In late August, after an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and three passengers were killed when their runaway Lexus crashed at speeds exceeding 120 mph, Toyota triggered the largest recall in its history and placed a focus on ill-fitting, or improperly-installed floor mats that could jam the accelerator pedal and hold it down. 

But then came the statement released yesterday by the US Department of Transportation (DOT)… 

“Toyota has announced a safety recall involving 3.8 million vehicles in which the accelerator pedal may become stuck at high vehicle speeds due to interference by the driver’s side floor mat, which is obviously a very dangerous situation. Toyota has written to vehicle owners stating that it has decided that a safety defect exists in their vehicles and asking owners to remove all floor mats while the company is developing a remedy. We believe consumers should follow Toyota’s recommendation to address the most immediate safety risk. However, removal of the mats is simply an interim measure, not a remedy of the underlying defect in the vehicles. NHTSA is discussing with Toyota what the appropriate vehicle remedy or remedies will be. This matter is not closed until Toyota has effectively addressed the vehicle defect by providing a suitable remedy.” 

The one sentence is telling: “…removal of the mats is simply an interim measure, not a remedy of the underlying defect in the vehicles.” 

What is the defect? The DOT won’t say, or doesn’t know. Meanwhile the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has done six separate investigations Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Automobile, Car, Floor Mats, Toyota
Posted in Defective Products | 3 Comments »