Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Would you like to see this Buick convertible come to the states?
Once languishing Buick had new life breathed into its sails during GM’s restructuring and part of that was an expanded lineup, the latest of which might be a convertible.
Two teaser images are floating around courtesy of the brand’s Vauxhall subsidiary in Europe. Recent reports are suggesting that Vauxhall could get it’s first convertible since the 1930s which could then be shared with Buick. Despite the teaser images, there doesn’t seem to be any plan for the car to appear during the Paris Motor Show later this month.
Bringing the car stateside would make sense for at least a couple reasons. First, Chrysler is selling the 200 as a hardtop convertible without any real competition from a domestic brand. The Opel Cascada would be slightly larger than a BMW 3 Series convertible, but realistically it wouldn’t compete with it.
Instead, it would be going toe-to-toe with the 200, which currently sells in the top five cars for Chrysler including all of its subsidiaries. Granted, that number includes both the sedan and convertible models, but the fact remains that Chrysler is being allowed to sell it relatively unanswered.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
13 things you should keep in your car in case of emergency
When I was growing up, I noticed that my dad kept the trunk of his car well-stocked with supplies. A lot of the equipment in his car was for his job busting poachers as a game warden, but most of the things he packed in his trunk were for emergency situations.
And there were plenty of times when my dad was able to put his trunk equipment to work.
For example, about 20 years ago my dad was driving home to Oklahoma from New Mexico in his old burgundy Caprice. Just outside of Groom, TX, near the famous leaning water tower along I-40, a hellacious snow storm hit. It was a complete white out, so my dad had to pull over until things settled down.
But things didn’t settle down until a day later.
My dad had to spend the night in his car in the middle of nowhere while a blizzard roared outside. But because he had the forethought to prepare for situations like this, he was able to keep warm with some blankets and avoid ravaging hunger with some MREs
Many of you will be hitting the road this holiday season to visit family, so I consulted my dad, Tom McKay, and asked him what supplies he thinks every man should keep in his car. Here’s his suggested list.
1. Fully charged cell phone. Cell phones have significantly cut down on your chances of being stranded on the side of the road, but don’t count on it as your only line of defense. I’ve been in plenty of rural areas where my cell phone was only worthwhile for playing pong. In addition to you main phone, have a backup one that you can use to call 911. Any old cell phone will do, even if it’s not activated. Cellular carriers are required by law to complete 911 calls from any cell phone. Just throw that old Nokia cell phone from 1999 into your glove compartment and keep it there.
2. Jumper cables. You walk out to your car after a long day of work, stick the key into the ignition, give it a turn, and…. click, click. Crap! You’re going to be late to your kid’s football game! You then look up and notice you left the dome light on all day. It happens to the best of us. Car batteries die, so be ready with a set of jumper cables. And even if you never suffer a dead battery, it’s always good to have a set of jumper cables so you can help a damsel (or dude) in distress who needs their car jumped.
3. Flashlight. Good for providing light at nighttime when 1) putting on a spare tire, 2) jump starting another car, or 3) exchanging insurance information with the clueless driver that rear ended you at a stop light. Get a Maglite and you can also thump would-be car jackers in the head with it.
4. Roadside flares/reflective triangle. When pulled over on the side of the road, you’re basically a sitting duck, hoping that other drivers don’t turn the situation into a clip for one of those extreme video shows. It’s especially dangerous to be hanging out on the side of the road at night. Ensure that you and those around you are visible when you pull over to the side of the road by using road flares or at least a reflective triangle. The old school flaming flares seem to be harder to find these days as people switch to LED “flares.”
5. MREs. You never know when you’ll be stranded for long periods of times in your car. If you’ve ever driven out West, you’ll know that it can be hundreds of miles until the closest source of help. Unless you’ve built up a tolerance for extended periods of fasting, keep some MREs or granola/power bars in the back of your car to munch on while you wait for the tow truck to come.
6. Warm blankets. Tom can tell you firsthand why warm blankets are a must. It got pretty dang cold in his Caprice that night. But blankets have uses that go beyond emergency situations. It’s always good to have a blanket in the car for snuggling with your gal while you cheer for your team on a cold fall night or for laying it on the ground for a picnic.
7. Ice scraper. Don’t be the chump that’s out there scrapping their windshield with a credit card at 5AM in the morning. A good ice scraper will set you back just a few bucks, and it will make clearing your windshield much easier and much faster.
8. First aid kit. Whether you’re cleaning up a head wound filled with glass shards or fixing a boo boo on your two year old, it’s good to have a first aid kit. You can always buy one, but putting together your own in an Altoids tin is more fun.
9. Water bottles. For when you’re stranded in Death Valley in the middle of the hottest heat wave on record… or for any other time your car decides to break down on you. Or, for after you’ve left a concert and you’re so dang parched!
10. Tow strap. I don’t know how many times my dad saved my butt with this thing back in high school. Towards the end of my blue ’92 Chevy Cavalier’s (aka, “The Smurf”) life, it would just stop running and no amount of cable jumping would help get it started. For moments like these, my dad busted out the tow strap. You just attach one end of the tow strap to the front of the car that you want to pull and the other to the hitch on the back of your car. The stranded driver stays in the dead car, puts it in neutral, and steers and brakes while it gets towed to its destination.
11. Folding shovel. There are a couple of instances where a folding shovel might come in handy. The first is when you get stuck in the snow or ice. You can use the shovel to dig some snow out and place some dirt under the tire to get more traction. The second situation is when a car tire gets stuck in a hole or something. You can use the shovel to dig about and create some ramps to help get your car unstuck. Also, it can be used as an improvised weapon, Green Beret-style.
12. LifeHammer. When you’re trying to escape from a sinking car, this little piece of plastic and metal can be the difference between life and death. Use it to break your window, cut your seatbelt and make your escape.
13. Portable air compressor. My dad feels like this was the best purchase he made for the car. When your tire is leaking but hasn’t totally blown out, instead of putting on a spare, you can use a portable air compressor to get back on the road. The compressor fills your tire up enough to allow you to drive to a repair shop to get it fixed. It plugs right into your cigarette lighter. Bonus use: no more paying 75 cents to fill up your tires at stingy gas stations.
There are kits you can buy that have a lot of this stuff in them, but I personally think it’s satisfying to assemble your own cache of supplies. And you can put together a better choice of things.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Monday Maintenance Tip: Safely Avoiding Potholes
Damage from potholes doesn’t stop at tires. In a blink of the eye, you can experience $1000 of damage, possibly more, when your car hits a pothole – it’s possible to impair your car’s shock absorbers, suspension system, struts, rims and alignment as well. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the average additional vehicle operating costs due to rough roads in 2007 was $400, with higher costs experienced in places including Baltimore ($589), Concord, NH ($656), Dallas-Fort Worth ($512), Los Angeles ($746), New Orleans ($622), New York-Newark ($638), Oklahoma City ($631), San Francisco-Oakland ($705) and Tulsa ($703). Deteriorating roads and general inflation since 2007 likely pushed these costs higher.
But there are things you can do before, during and after hitting a pothole. A preventive strategy is more about preparation, driving skills and reacting appropriately when a pothole sneaks up to surprise you. We suggest you approach it on three fronts, as follows.
Adopt smarter driving practices
You can reduce damage with vehicle preparation and driving with good sense:
- Check your tire pressure to keep it at the tire manufacturer’s recommendation. If a tire is too soft, it handles poorly and in a sudden bump may rupture if the wheel rims pinch it against the jagged edge of a pothole. Over-inflated tires are more susceptible to damage as well.
- Have a clean windshield! Your field of vision is critical.
- Observe the traffic ahead of you – if other cars are swerving and stopping, it’s because of a problem in the road.
- Beware of puddles – what might look like a little surface water might have a nasty, deep and sharp-edged pothole lurking below.
- Reduce your speed on roads that are prone to potholes. Slower hits generally involve less damage, a simple matter of physics.
- Stay focused and pay attention to the amount of traffic in front, behind and alongside you. You might be able to avoid potholes but do not want to cause an accident while doing so.
React quickly, intelligently when a pothole is upon you
Assuming you drive defensively – and do not tailgate, which restricts your ability to anticipate potholes or sudden braking by the vehicle in front of you – here is what to do if you are just about to hit a pothole:
- Brake only lightly, if at all. And do something counterintuitive by letting off on the brakes entirely the moment before impact. Clamping down on your brakes at higher speeds not only tempts rear-end collisions but also compresses the front-end suspension system, increasing the damage.
- Hard braking can actually cause greater contact between the tire and the pothole where it might otherwise glide over it.
- Do not swerve in a last ditch attempt to avoid the pothole. Aside from creating a hazard for vehicles immediately behind and beside you, you risk hitting the pothole on an oblique angle, which can cause more damage to the tire, wheel rim and alignment than if you hit it perpendicularly.
Reduce the damage in the aftermath
Post-impact, the right moves can at least limit the extent of the damage:
- Immediately pay attention to whether or not you have a flat tire. If so, minimize how much you drive on it, pull off the road as soon as you can do so safely where you can change the tire to your spare. This will minimize the damage to your wheel rim.
- Even without a flat, there may be preliminary damage. At your next stop, check tire rims to see if they were bent, if there is visible cord material or bulging. This could fail later while driving.
- Note if your car pulls to one side without corrective steering. This suggests the wheels are out of alignment and need mechanical attention.
In most municipalities, you can and should report potholes to the streets department – use a smartphone app such as SeeClickFix or SaveMyTire.com, or the local 3-1-1 or other call-in line. You might also be compensated for your loses if that pothole was reported previously and left unfixed, however rules for this are determined on a city, township or county level.
Courtesy of Pothole.info
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
GM Leads Industry Evaluation of Rear Impact Crash Dummy Tests led by award-winning GM safety engineer could help determine future use of BioRID
The dummy, called BioRID, was designed by Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden, for seat restraint assessment. It is distinguished by its sophisticated spinal column with 24 vertebra simulators that allow it to sit naturally and demonstrates humanlike neck movement in rear-end collisions.
To gain acceptance, BioRID needs to deliver repeatable, reproducible test results, which is considered integral to the design and evaluation of vehicle safety.
GM crash test engineer Barbara Bunn recently developed and conducted tests to evaluate the ability of different BioRIDs to produce consistent measurements when subjected to identical tests. The United States Council for Automotive Research in May recognized Bunn for her execution of the test matrix.
“The test matrix Barb developed will be helpful to the industry for determining BioRID’s future, and demonstrates GM’s commitment to advancing crash test dummy technology and procedures for evaluating vehicle safety,” said Gay Kent, GM general director of Vehicle Safety and Crashworthiness.
To create the test matrix, Bunn, who chairs the Occupant Safety Research Partnership’s Rear Impact Dummy Task Group, collaborated with engineers from Chrysler, Ford and Humanetics Innovative Systems, which manufactures the BioRID. She designed the construction of a crash simulator sled to simultaneously test four BioRIDs. She worked with safety engineers from Porsche, Volkswagen, Daimler, Chrysler and Ford to determine seating postures and other test criteria.
The tests subjected the dummies to a low-speed rear impact simulation in nearly identical seats, and collected measurements of crash forces on areas such as the upper and lower neck. The team compared its measurements to data from similar tests conducted by other automaker labs in Europe and provided its findings to regulators worldwide for consideration.
BioRID is one of many so-called anthropomorphic test devices, or ATDs, the formal name for crash test dummies. GM routinely tests with a wide range of adult male-, female- and child-size ATDs that house sophisticated data collection sensors, capable of generating status reports 10,000 times per second.
GM engineers analyze data from physical crash tests and computer simulations to understand how a vehicle, its safety systems and occupants respond during a crash. These data help engineers look for ways to enhance vehicle safety.
The efforts are evident across the GM’s product lineup. For the 2012 model year 14 Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC vehicles have been named 2012 Top Safety Picks by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which includes rear impact testing among its criteria for Top Safety Pick. Eleven 2012 models have received 5-Star Overall Vehicle Scores in U.S. New Car Assessment Program testing administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“The execution of the BioRID test matrix couldn’t have been done without a strong spirit of collaboration,” Bunn said. “Ultimately, every automaker wants to improve the crash dummies that we use to design safety into our vehicles. That way, all of our customers will benefit in the long run.”
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