autopartswarehouse

Safety is one of the top priorities of all automobile manufacturers. All of these companies try to test and retest every vehicle and its auto parts to ensure that every bit is properly working. In this way, possible accidents can be prevented and also damages or injuries can be reduced at the minimum. The American automaker Ford, for example, is presently keen in finding out ways to reduce unfortunate injuries of the younger passengers who are six year olds.

Using a smart dummy, Ford performs series of crash tests to find out how much injury is possible to acquire by these kids because of the seat belts. Most of the studies done by the company, along with the other automakers, are often geared toward chest and head injuries and have shied away from figuring out the possible lower injuries. Thus, what the company is doing is learning the injuries in the lower abdomen of six year old kids.

"The major focus [of crash tests] has always been on head and chest injuries," said Steve Rouhana, who is the safety engineer for Ford. “We really didn't have the technology before to accurately measure abdominal response."

Another seen cause of such injury is that not all six year old kids have the same body width and length for the allotted seatbelts. Some are too big while some are too small for the vehicle’s seatbelts. Such realization poses more threat because injuries are more likely to happen when the safety belts do not fit well the body of the passenger.

In the next few months, Ford hopes to get decent and helpful results from these series of crash tests in order to minimize the possible lower abdomen injuries to younger passengers.

"We need the precision we know we can get from using dummies in tests that can produce consistent results," said NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson.

Source: Chicago Tribune.

In a few days, Americans, along with the rest of the world, are set to welcome a new and hopefully a better year. Aside from the new calendar year, residents of California have to brave the ban on smoking inside a vehicle with kids and several other laws that will take effect by January 1 in the sunny state.

Similar to the law being pursued in the neighboring country of Canada, California has already pushed through with prohibiting anybody inside the vehicle to smoke when there are younger kids, who are below 18 years old, inside it too. Those who will be breaking this law are set to face a $100 fine. Arkansas and Louisiana also have the same prohibition. The law in Arkansas will cover those passengers that are below 6 years old or those that are below 60 lbs. Louisiana, on the other hand, will be safeguarding passengers below 13 years old.

Aside from banning to smoke inside cars and vans, a similar no smoking law is going to be effective also next year. Puffing that stick of cigarette is no longer allowed within 25 feet from children-laden places like playgrounds and schools.

Such law was successfully enacted as health issues regarding the second-hand smoke continue to arise across the United States.

Source: The Mercury News Online.

Performance auto parts are no longer the only good finds intended for vehicles as a good number of luxury car brands came out with high-end accessories like the Salvatore Ferragamo suitcases best suited for the 2008 Gran Turismo owners.

The Italian manufacturing giant of muscle cars and sport cars has teamed up with the luxury designer brand called Salvatore Ferragamo. The sophisticated tandem produced the five-piece luggage Ferragamo set that is made just for the 2008 Gran Turismo. Made from the finest calf-leather, the luggage set can dramatically fit the trunk of the Maserati-made vehicle. To the delight of women owners of the powerful Italian vehicle, a cosmetic case and clothes bag are part of the five-piece set.

Joining the luxury pieces of Salvatorre Ferragamo suitcase are the Vertu mobile phone, LG Electronics MP3 player, and a Sirena Espresso Machine. Fit for the speed-hungry lives of Ferrari owners, a couple of mobile phones were made for these lucky individuals. The Ferrari 1947 phone is designed to resemble a brake pedal and is equipped with a couple of ring tones. Later next year, the Ascent Ferrari 60, which is made from titanium adorned with leather, will be available to only 60 individuals. For the German car brand Volkswagen owners, the MP3 player from LG Electronics is made available. This music console has the trademark logo of the popular marquee. Last but definitely not the least is the pricey coffee maker in partnership with Starbucks that is made for the BMW vehicle owners.

These are the high-end products that are meant to make things a little more interesting for owners when driving these luxury cars. Moreover, these special auto parts do not necessary make the vehicles perform better because these are mainly geared toward the delight of the owners and passengers.

Source: Wall Street Journal Online.

Mobile phones are not the only ones that get smaller as cars or even sport utility vehicles are reduced from their original sizes by their respective automakers. Most of these vehicles are not only spaces savers but are also made to be gentler to the environment. Unfortunately, as vehicles downgrade in terms of their height and width, parking spaces also join in the bandwagon and further pose more space woes for motorists.

Such situation is said to becoming worse in Texas’ third biggest city of Dallas. No matter how compact the car is now, locals and visitors are experiencing some difficulties in finding decent spots for their vehicles.

"I have a small car, and it doesn't even fit in these spaces. It's virtually impossible to get in and out of the car," said Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt, whose four-door Audi tests the 7 ½ -foot width of a compact space.

Almost three decades ago, parking spaces in this city had to be at least one foot wide. Later on, however, Dallas City enacted a policy of creating just smaller or compact parking spaces to force its locals to go for vehicles with green technologies. Most of the environment-friendly cars are smaller than the average ones. Sad to say, such goal did not prosper as fewer and compact spaces started to pose as another problem as these supposed to be smaller cars do not fit as well.

"The reality of the marketplace is that even the hybrids are big," said Theresa O'Donnell, who is the director of the Dallas Development Services department.

For now, proper zoning of parking spaces is one of the best solutions for this growing problem. The probable solution is reducing the number of cars that can fit in the parking area but make individual spaces bigger.

"If I were going to make a recommendation, I would say reduce the number of spaces required, so that all of the spaces might have a wider stripe but require no more land usage,” said Neil Simmons, who is Dallas’ seasoned city plan commissioner.

Source: The Dallas Morning News.

Apart from coming out with new vehicle models, the Ford Motor Company is also keen in updating their established models. Early next year, the company is due to introduce an upgraded version of the Mustang line dubbed as the 2009 Ford Mustang that can be equipped with a glass-roof.

On January, this high-end Mustang is slated to grace the North American International Auto Show that is held in Detroit, Michigan every year. Aside from the performance-driven auto part, the glass-roof is probably one of the add-on highlights of this Mustang. The precision-engineered glass is capable of reducing the infrared rays in order to maintain the cool temperature of the vehicle’s cabin. The glass’ capability of reducing the sun rays also help prevent the interiors to suffer any premature wearing out, like discoloration. Moreover, this meticulously crafted auto part can endure sharp objects and can block off noise outside the vehicle.

"Mustang is an icon in our product lineup, and we are committed to keeping Mustang news fresh every year," said Derrick Kuzak, who is the vice president of Global Product Development for Ford Group. "As the automotive landscape becomes increasingly competitive, features such as a panoramic glass roof will help differentiate our products from the competition."

According to the American automobile company, providing their potential customer with the option to add a glass-roof is a good choice because there is already a market for vehicles with such feature. Since 2003, sales of such automobiles have garnered as much as 200 percent according to the New Jersey-based AutoTrends Consulting.

"They're not going to sell at the bottom end of the spectrum," said Joseph Phillipo, who is a representative at the consulting firm. "But if you are buying a really sporty car and are willing to spend a decent amount of money–there's clearly a market there."

The glass-roof, which is assembled at the Michigan-based Automotive Alliance International plant, will cost $1,995 and will be fit for the V-6 and GT Mustang models.

Source: Detroit News. Photos from The Mustang News.

There are performance auto parts that make the engine function far better than the regular power plants. As supplementary components, however, these add-ons cannot be the only factors to consider as the engine make itself has to be equally well-done too. To push automobile manufacturers to develop more powerful yet easy on the pocket engines, a bill that bears a 40 percent fuel economy standard is on process right now at the Senate.

Such bill will call for automobile manufacturers to only use engines that can deliver a decent fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon. With that, motorists will no longer have to spend so much time and money in gasoline stations for refills. As promising as this new fuel economy standard looks like, however, vehicle owners will still have to wait for 13 long years before this energy bill becomes fully operational. To date, companies only have to meet the 27.5 and 22.2 miles per gallon for passenger cars and for medium to heavy-duty trucks, respectively.

"It'll be a challenge for the auto companies, no doubt about it. But I think they're capable of meeting it," said Bruce Belzowski, who is the associate director of the Automotive Analysis Division of the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute.

If the bill pushes through, the environment would not be the sole beneficiary as the fuel economy standard will also be an advantage for both automakers and motorists. The bill states that suppliers and car companies will get loans for such improvement while the vehicle owners will get tons of tax credits to afford the green cars.

According to Belzowski, if ever this bill is enacted, it would still take years before the gasoline usage in the United States is reduced because after all, there are almost half a billion gasoline-powered vehicles running in the streets at present.

The bill has a long way to go and things might just change. For now, Americans will have to go with the vehicles available.

Source: Mlive.

Electric cars are becoming part of the much sought after vehicles in the market. With the e-car’s promise of lower emission and more power, most of the giant automobile companies at present have put much stress on developing these environment-friendly cars. Among the companies that have queued plans on e-cars are Smith Electric Vehicles, Ford, and Ener1.

The American automaker Ford, on the other hand, is already slated to test its Ford Escape plug-in hybrid vehicles. Last December 3, the company delivered 20 of its latest finds in Southern California to undergo a series of drive testing. Equipped an efficient lithium ion batteries and a motor, this Escape can go up to 20 mph for the first 30 miles, that is. This powerful yet gentle environment machine needs around six to eight hours for the batteries to work their wonder. Without a doubt, it can save a lot of fuel money.

Smith Electric Vehicles, which is based in the United Kingdom, announced in the event that it has plans of starting up a plant that will solely produce e-commercial vehicles. According to the company, there is already a booming market for these machines. The medium to light duty vehicle is now driven in a certain distance that translates to charging an e-auto for a day. Three years from now, the huge plant is expected to produce as much as 10, 000 automobiles annually. As of posting, the company is yet to finalize the site for its new manufacturing plant.

Ener1, which is a battery company based in Florida, has just declared that it is the pioneer in the industry to come up with a lithium-ion battery that is combined with a hybrid vehicle. Such technology is said to be installed in the Toyota Prius Hybrid.

Without a doubt, electric cars have slowly established their kind in the market as more and more companies come up with electricity-driven four-wheel machines.

Source: Green Tech Media.

Drinking and driving is a definite no-no. A driver who has taken in too much alcohol does not only place his or her life in great peril but also the lives of other motorists. Aside from the possible injuries and casualties, driving under the influence (DUI) can also leave an awful lot of damages, which include vehicles and establishments, that can cost thousands of dollars. In stressing the fight against DUI, sober drivers from the James River High School in Springwood, Virginia were given the chance to experience the inconvenience of alcohol when driving via the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) –produced DUI Simulator last December 6.

Two students and a principal took on the challenge and drove the DUI Simulator, which is actually a golf car that was made to look like a police car, in a normal track. After getting acquainted with the path, the driver was asked to wear the Fatal Vision goggles. Under the supervision of Allen Mann and Mason Jordan of the Virginia State Police, the person behind the wheel tried to steer the DUI Simulator as safely as he or she can. Despite being sober, these drivers had difficulties because of the impaired vision that is very similar to a person who has a .12 to .14 alcohol level in his or her system.

The end result was cones were scattered all over the track. This only showed how dangerous it is to drive under the influence of alcohol. Feeling tipsy is not only the problem as drunk drivers also suffer from impaired vision. Such program made others feel beforehand what it is like to put drinking and driving together.

To further educate young drivers and even the so-called veterans of the dangers of DUI, more DUI Simulator is set to reach local schools across the United States with the support of MADD.

Source: Our Valley.