A CVT works with an engine in sending power to the wheels. Every car out there must have a transmission, even the electric cars have a fixed transmission(1), so the first question is what even is a transmission? Basically, a transmission takes the engine’s rotation speed (RPM) and divides it … Read more
Early 2021 brought several weather surprises, including what’s become known as the Texas Winter Storm. That storm, though, ultimately affected much of the continental United States as well as parts of Canada and northern Mexico. Some 4.2 million Texans were without power as the state’s power grid buckled and rolling … Read more
In the near future, checking tire pressure may become a thing of the past thanks to innovative technology. Specifically, tire manufacturer Michelin and the General Motors Company (GM) are collaborating on updated tire technology that will eliminate the risk of flat tires and blowouts in passenger vehicles equipped with Uptis … Read more
Display expands rearward vision by 300 percent. One of the most anticipated new cars from Cadillac is the CT6, a high-end full-size sedan set to debut in late 2016. Parent GM has promised to elevate Cadillac to the top of the mass-produced luxury segment and the new model will help … Read more
GM, Ford and Chrysler Embrace Fuel Saving Innovation. Fuel prices are continuing to fall, dropping below $2.50 per gallon for regular grade gasoline in some areas. That’s just the kind of move that has some shoppers looking at larger and less efficient vehicles, perhaps advancing certain auto trends not yet … Read more
The Consumer Reports 2014 Annual Reliability Survey is out, what paints a highly critical and negative picture of in-car technologies, particularly infotainment systems. Such systems typically provide audio, information and navigation access, but often do not deliver as promised. Instead, users may find these systems confusing, unreliable or simply unworkable, … Read more
J.D. Power 2014 Multimedia Quality and Satisfaction Study reveals much. New car owners love their technologies, but only when they work right. Today’s cars offer a varying range of audio, communication, entertainment and navigation (ACEN) systems with hand touches, finger gestures, buttons, knobs and voice commands among the ways that … Read more
Report offers support for an emerging infrastructure. A new study from the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, sees tremendous promise in hydrogen vehicles. The study says that fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) may be just a few years, not decades behind conventional electric vehicles, as … Read more
Innovative seat belts provide enhanced crash protection. Nearly five years have passed since Auto Trends first shared news about Ford’s inflatable safety belt technology. This writer called the technology “nifty” in recognition of the innovative thinking and engineering behind this important safety device. Over the intervening years, Ford has introduced … Read more
At some point in the not too distant future, your car may be controlled by the cloud. No, not the cumulus or cirrus cloud drifting slowly by in the sky, rather by network-based systems running on servers located far from the road. Essentially, your car would contain a device that … Read more
If you survey the auto industry you’ll find more than a dozen original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) ranging from Toyota to General Motors and all the way down to Mitsubishi and Jaguar Land Rover. These are the companies that provide the final product or the vehicles you drive. Automotive manufacturers have … Read more
Start-stop technology is one of the newest engineering features that automakers are employing in a bid to squeeze more mpg out of every model sold. What start-stop does is to shut down the engine when idle, such as at a traffic light or at a railroad stop, then automatically restarts … Read more
Bring it on. The first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle will not come from Honda, General Motors or Toyota, who are among the biggest names associated with this emerging technology. Instead, the winner in the race for the first hydrogen-powered vehicle will be Hyundai when its 2015 Tucson FCV (fuel cell … Read more
Automotive collision avoidance systems designed to increase safety, reduce damages, and lower the number of fatalities have successfully accomplished that task according to a recent study published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). In particular, owners of vehicles with forward collision avoidance systems that include autonomous braking showed … Read more
Innovative dirt detection technology is an auto industry first. The Ford Motor Company is working to ensure that the vehicle you buy is free of nasty dirt particles. The automaker announced today that it is using dirt detection technology to identify and get rid of dirt particles smaller than a … Read more
It is quite a feat when any vehicle makes 40 mpg on the highway. However, it is a much more noticeable accomplishment when a midsize sedan reaches that threshold and does so without a hybrid powertrain or a diesel engine under the hood. That’s exactly what Mazda has done with … Read more
Head-up display, sometimes referred as heads-up display (HUD), has been rolling out across the auto industry: first with luxury vehicles and now to family cars. IHS, the automotive research firm, expects a seven-fold increase in HUD-equipped cars worldwide, bringing 2012’s 1.2 million units to 9.1 million units in 2020. A … Read more
Internal Combustion Engine: First Use Karl Benz registered his first car in July 1886, the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, model no. 1. That single cylinder four-stroke engine produced three-quarters of a horsepower and included an automatic intake slide, a controlled exhaust valve, and evaporation cooling. Various engine refinements were … Read more
Access to the Internet is more widely available than ever before and the inside of your vehicle is no exception. As cars become capable of displaying more than just simple navigation instructions, will navigation become infotainment? And, will dashboard Internet access be deemed too distracting? What is Dashboard Internet? Dashboard … Read more
Corrected: March 12, 2013 Diesels are available in European luxury cars, particularly Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW models driven by natty-suited professionals. Diesels are also found in heavy duty pick up trucks, and are prized by work crews and outdoors enthusiasts both. In the middle ground are the vast majority of … Read more
Chevrolet is still calling the Impala its flagship sedan, despite its plans to introduce the burly full-size Australian-built Chevrolet SS for the 2014 model year. Thats understandable since the SS is more of a niche player or will only be sold stateside, while the Chevrolet Impala is the brands standard … Read more
Innovative hybrid system uses gasoline and compressed air. French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën no longer sells its cars in the United States and Canada, an absence that may not be remedied anytime soon despite the company’s new alliance with the General Motors Company. The PSA Group has had some struggles … Read more
Uniform Lighting Lens University students often lend businesses a hand in developing or improving technologies that make various consumer goods better. At Michigan Technological University, Consumer Product Manufacturing Enterprise students worked with Blue Marble Security Enterprise to test 3M’s Uniform Lighting Lens to investigate the optical properties of the micro-patterned … Read more
EV maker seeks to eliminate range-anxiety completely. The problems with electric vehicles go beyond high prices and basically boil down to two significant issues: restricted range and long charging intervals. For commuters, an electric vehicle is an ideal option, but for everyone else EVs can be a major inconvenience. If … Read more
Advanced Cadillac XTS features Super Cruise technology. Autonomous driving may still be about a decade away from arriving on the market, but that isn’t stopping General Motors from bringing semi-autonomous driving to its all-new Cadillac XTS. The large sedan, debuting this year, wont be outfitted with Super Cruise technology, but … Read more
All-new full-size luxury sedan debuts this spring. The 2013 Cadillac XTS will be available in front- and all-wheel-drive when it goes on sale this spring. The new model replaces both the DTS and STS, which were retired last year. This fall, several months after the XTS becomes available, a Driver … Read more
Electric cars, are they really better? Vehicle electrification is in the news thanks to recent announcements of the planned launch of several electric-powered vehicles, including the Nissan Leaf, Fisker Karma and the Ford Transit Connect EV. Electric vehicles offer distinct advantages over their gas-powered counterparts although their price premium can offset some of those … Read more
Ford has apparently hit a home run with its SYNC technology, a factory-installed, in-vehicle communications and entertainment system developed by Ford and Microsoft. Ford SYNC permits drivers to bring virtually any digital media player or mobile phone into their vehicle and operate these devices using voice commands, or by using … Read more