How Does a CVT Work?

CVT transmission

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

What is Bidirectional (Two-Way) Charging?

bidirectional charging

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

Flummoxed by New Car Technology? You Are Not Alone.

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

UC Davis Study Shows Confidence in Hydrogen

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

Ford to Share Inflatable Safety Belt Love

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

Cloud-Based Safety Systems and Your Car

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

The Top Auto Suppliers and What They Provide

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

The Rise of Automotive Safety Features

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

IHS: Head-Up Display Demand Set to Surge

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

Diesels, They Are A-Coming

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

PIN This 2014 Chevrolet Impala

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

Michigan Tech Students Help Build a Better Taillight

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

Tesla Motors Unveils Supercharger Network

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

Semi-Autonomous Cadillac Possible by 2015

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

Are Electric Cars Really Better Than Gas Cars?

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

Is Ford SYNC The Voice Recognition Benchmark?

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