Thứ Năm, 20 tháng 5, 2010

IIHS: NEVs Aren't Safe (On Public Roads)

Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) are not safe enough for public roads.  That's because they don't have to meet Federal automobile crash standards, and are very light.  In any meeting between an NEV and a real car, the occupants of the NEV have a good chance of being squashed.

IIHS demonstrates this quite graphically, here.

Anyone driving an NEV on public roads is only a little better off than riding a scooter.

Thứ Hai, 17 tháng 5, 2010

Buick Regal Impressions

I was at the Birmingham art fair this weekend, where Buick had set up a small display with two 2011 Regals.

The Regal is a sharp looking car, with taught lines and a hint of curve. I thought they looked like a mix if Mazda and BMW.

Thankfully, no stupid faux portholes.

Inside the car I sat in was decidedly un-Buick with nice materials, tight seams, and no fake wood in sight.

My only complaints: my right leg was rubbing up against the center console (but I wasn't in a real driving position) and the center stack seemed to have about 50% more butons than it ought to. Buick should hide more of that stuff behind a touch screen. Maybe there is one and I was just sitting in the cheaper variant.

If the Regal drives as sharp as it looks and feels, then I think Buick will do all right.

Hacking Cars? Not So Fast

In a widely publicized paper, here, a pair of research teams were able to "hack" cars, to demonstrate that modern cars are not sufficiently secure.

Don't worry, you're not in danger, yet.

The key to hacking a car is that the vehicle communications bus, typically a mix of high and low speed CAN bus, is not encrypted.  By connecting to the OBD-II port with the right tools (such as a laptop with a CAN communications interface device), a determined hacker could monkey with key signals.  To do so, he would have to either reverse engineer or obtain from other sources the CAN messaging protocol.  Then, by reading in, modifying, and rebroadcasting key messages, he could indeed do bad things, like shut down the car.  For example, a hacker could broadcast an erroneous vehicle speed on the bus, causing the speedometer to display the wrong speed, and other systems to think the car is moving (or not) at a different speed than it actually is.  

However, the only practical way to do this is to attach a foreign device to the cars CAN bus.  So your car would have to be physically compromised, either by having the wiring modified, or by having some sort of dongle installed on the OBD-II port.  The ECUs that form the vehicle CAN network are not typically easy to reflash with unauthorized firmware, so "hijacking" an ECU or installing a car virus is not really feasible.  The ECUs I have worked with all have memory checksum functions, and VIN compare software, to verify that the ECU has valid software and is in the correct vehicle.  According to the research paper, the team was able to compromise a telematics module and run malicious code on it.

The paper does point out some holes in vehicle bus security, and there are some things which can be done in the shorter term to mitigate such a threat.  ECUs should have robust challenge/response sequences before accepting diagnostic and test commands, for example.  They should also have robust checks against invalid software, so that it is difficult or impossible for a hacker to flash a module with homegrown software.  

Thứ Sáu, 14 tháng 5, 2010

New Carnival Of Cars

A new auto blog on the block, Automedia, is hosting a Carnival Of Cars. Check it out here.

Chủ Nhật, 9 tháng 5, 2010

Grass Fed Kosher Beef!

I'm throwing this out there in case someone else is interested in the information.

The company that is supplying some Costco stores with kosher beef, Colorado Kosher, uses cattle that are grass-fed for the first part of their lives, then finished on a feed lot (e.g. grain) for the last 4 months or so. So they aren't 100% grass fed, but they are a combination. I got this information from the company, when I called to ask.

So, if you wanted to try the taste of grass-fed beef, and keep kosher, find out if you local Costco store stocks this brand.

Thứ Năm, 6 tháng 5, 2010

Buy A Paper Poppy

Today, I went to a local market to buy some lunch supplies.  Out front was an old fellow in VFW gear, Chris, selling the wire and paper poppies.

I dropped a dollar in his milk jug, and thanked him for his service.  

On the way out, I stopped to ask him where he served.  "North Africa and Italy" he said, which made me pause--this guy was a WWII vet, probably about 90 years old.  I asked him what his job was in the army.  "Infantry--I carried a tommy gun, do you know what that is?".  Chris is short, about 5'6", with sharp blue eyes and a straight posture.  He has a firm handshake and a clear voice.  

"You must have seen so much, I can't even imagine what you went through", I said.  "I am reading Audy Murphy's memoir, and it is amazing what you guys survived".  

I hit a nerve.  Chris stuttered, and turned away from me, wiping his eyes. "Excuse me, I don't want you to see..." he said.  I was caught off guard, and felt ashamed for making an old man cry.  "There was a job we needed you guys to do... " I stammered "... and you did it."  He composed himself after a moment and turned back to me.  "We did it, what we had to".  I asked him about some of his experiences, based on Audy Murphy's book.

"I hear you guys were always hungry, sometimes really hungry" I offered, "that's not something we worry about much these days".  We were standing next to a vegetable display, piled high with tomatoes and cucumbers.

"There was this time once," he said, "when we were diggin in in Italy outside of..." (I missed the placename, rats) "...and one of the guys yells, 'Scallions!'.  Well, there was this pile of manure with scallions growing out of it.  We all dropped our shovels and ran over.  We plucked them out of the manure pile, brushed them off on our coats, and ate them."

"In this one town, we went through, and someone told us that we had to meet a local girl.  It turned out that she was from Brooklyn.  She had come back to Italy to visit her family, and they [the fascists] took her passport.  It was 1939, and after that, she was stuck there.  So she meets us, and she goes to the wall of her house, and takes a stone out.  Behind there is bunch of cheese, and sausages, she had hidden from the Germans.  She puts it down in front of us, we had a nice meal."

I asked him about the Germans, was it true that sometimes prisoners were not taken?  (In Murphy's book, there is a scene where the Germans tied a pair of captured American officers to the front of a tank, hoping to avoid fire.  The GIs hit the tank with an anti-tank gun anyway, killing their own men).  

"Not my company, but one that was to the right of us on the line, one of their patrols was captured by Germans.  The German officer killed 7 prisoners.  After that, well, there weren't any prisoners for the next several months."

"Later, in May, the Germans in Italy surrendered.  I was on guard by the side of the road outside of the village where my company had stopped.  A German jeep came up the road, with a couple of officers in it, holding a white flag.  If those guys had made a sudden move, I would have let them have it.  I told them to keep that white flag high, and showed them the road to the general, where they could surrender"

"I never kept that tommy gun on safe.  You had to be ready all the time. The whole time I was on the front."

I shook his hand, and held it for a moment.   "You should write this all down," I told him, "You should save your memories for your great grandchildren.  It's a treasure.  And it will keep your mind young."

"If I could get the money together,", he said, "I would go back to Italy.  The people are so wonderful, and the food is so fresh."

If you see an old guy selling poppies for the VFW, stop and say hello.  Thank him for his sacrifices, because chances are that he may have gone through hell to protect our way of life.  He may have lived in mud.  He may have been wounded, and watched his friends be blown to pieces.  He probably buried some of his friends in far away fields, the names of which we are forgetting.   Maybe buy a poppy, to help the old soldiers keep their memories fresh, and keep our history from fading.

Parents Magazine FAIL

Parents magazine has published its list of top family friendly vehicles for 2010.  But their screening criteria are full of fail.

"We've only included models equipped with antilock brakes and front, side, and side-curtain air bags. "

ABS?!?  

I can't recommend any vehicle which does not have ESC, particularly any vehicle with a tall profile such as most CUVs and SUVs.  

Thứ Hai, 3 tháng 5, 2010

Mahindra Trucks, Waiting... Waiting...

Mahindra is not inspiring confidence.  After several delays, the news is that they are almost ready to submit EPA certification paperwork.  Which means that an actual approval to sell their trucks in the U.S. is still some time away, on the order of months.  Meanwhile, dealers are getting antsy.  Some of them have paid around $200,000 for a franchise,  plus much more for showroom remodelling, but don't have anything to show for it yet.  And Mahindra is clamming up, refusing to comment to Automotive News:

Repeated efforts to speak with top officials at Mahindra and Global proved unsuccessful. A spokesman for Global Vehicles said CEO John Perez was out of the country and unavailable for comment. A request to speak with other Global Vehicles executives went unanswered. 

Efforts to reach Perez -- a normally talkative businessman with a rich baritone that carries a slight trace of his childhood in Cuba -- drew a response from a U.S. representative of Mahindra & Mahindra in New York. The representative said that Goenka would prefer to handle discussions of the venture instead of Perez. But Goenka was not available for interviews. 

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100329/RETAIL07/303299954#ixzz0msQyYrXJ

Pickuptrucks.com item here.

One of the reasons for the delay is that the U.S. importer asked Mahindra to make many changes to the trucks, to bring them up to American customer expectations.  This forced some re-engineering of the trucks, which then required re-testing.  

I am planning on looking one of these over, maybe test driving it, when (and if) they finally do go on sale.

It isn't easy to break into the consumer auto business.  There is a reason that only a few huge companies are able to do it, and (sometimes) make money at it.  The regulatory hurdles are very high.

Thứ Năm, 29 tháng 4, 2010

Aptera Flounders On Lane Change

This is bad news.  If the Aptera, a supposedly well developed and carefully engineered vehicle, can't negotiate a Consumers Union lane change at a measly 45mph, they are in big trouble.  It probably has a lot to do with the tricycle design -- the rear end is likely to want to come around without strong ESC intervention because it has so much less grip than the front.  From CU's blog:

Watched by a large group, including many note-taking and video-taping team members, the three-wheeled Aptera car struggled to find a clean run. More than two dozen attempts were made, with the car routinely sliding enough to topple several cones. In watching, it seemed natural to question how difficult this test is to pass. However, all current production vehicles, from small cars to large trucks, can successfully negotiate this test. We expect the Auto X Prize finalists to do the same.

For reference, just about any mass produced four wheel car can easily negotiate a lane change maneuver at 45mph.

Automotive Companies Doing Business In Iran

The New York Times recently published a list of international companies who are doing business in Iran. Here are the automotive companies on the list which have joint ventures or licensing agreements with Iranian companies:

  • Daimler -- Active
  • Fiat -- Active
  • Kia -- Active
  • Mazda -- Active
  • Suzuki-- Active

Any American who cares about our national security, and particularly anyone who cares about the state of Israel should think carefully before supporting any of these companies.

Mazda is most upsetting to me, because I have owned Mazda vehicles in the past, without knowing that they have a joint production agreement with Bahman of Iran. Bahman is, according to a Rand report, partly owned by the Iranian government.

I will discourage anyone I know from purchasing these brands until they stop doing business on the ground in Iran.



Chủ Nhật, 25 tháng 4, 2010

Lt. Steve Zilberman RIP


I saw this story and was moved. Lt. Zilberman, a US Navy Hawkeye pilot lost an engine while returning from a mission. He fought the controls long enough to let his three crewmates bail out, but did not survive his water landing. He leaves behind a young wife and two young children.

Link

Also, there is a fund you can donate to for his kid's college education. See the VAW/VRC Memorial Scholarship Fund here.

Thứ Năm, 22 tháng 4, 2010

Happy Earth Day, Obama!

For Earth Day, President Obama and Vice President Biden are flying, with their respective entourages, to New York.  In separate planes (as required by security).  

While the heads of state travel, the other airplanes will have to circle overhead, and planes on the ground will have to idle, again for security reasons.  

So, for Earth Day, Obama is going to burn literally tons of aviation fuel.  Couldn't he have led by example, and appeared by satellite link, or something?

Rant: Gun Safety

I just read a very sad story about a 4 year old boy who accidentally killed himself by playing with a loaded gun that his parents left in their bedroom.

The parents should be prosecuted.  They should lose their gun ownership rights, permanently.

I am a solid 2nd supporter and a life member of the NRA.  I don't believe in waiting periods, assault weapons bans, ammunition serial numbers, "smart guns", or any of it.  But I do believe in responsibility.  All gun owners are responsible for the safe storage of their weapons.  Period.

There are inexpensive gun locks and quick-access boxes which would allow you to get your piece out quickly if you need to.  I myself have a fantastic pistol safe with a Simplex pushbutton combination lock.  I can get my .45 out and ready to shoot in about 10 seconds.

There is no excuse, ever, for leaving a loaded gun around where a little kid could find it and hurt themselves.  

Epic Car Forum Breakup

This is one of the saddest, funniest, craziest things I have ever read.  Read it for yourself.  You get the details slowly, but by the end, you see the whole picture: illegal immigrant live-in boyfriend sperm donor who works 3 nights a week spends all his money on his car and brags on the Acura forum.  Baby mama finds his account open, and dumps him right on the forum.   

Thứ Năm, 15 tháng 4, 2010

2011 Explorer: Off Road Machine?

This interesting video that was posted on Youtube shows the vehicle dynamics manager for the 2011 Explorer program at Ford explaining the benefits of their new Terrain Management System (TMS). Ford's TMS is similar to Land Rover's Terrain Response, where the driver turns a dial to select one of several icons representing different road conditions.



The video is unusual, in that it shows (camouflaged) Explorer prototypes being driven off-road, before the product has been revealed. This isn't often done in the industry.

The video also shows the Explorer playing in the sand and mud, doing some more-than-casual offroading.

Even though the 2011 Explorer is going to be a unibody design with front-wheel-drive powertrain, it looks like Ford has some more serious off-road capability built in.

Thứ Ba, 13 tháng 4, 2010

More Bad News For Toyota -- CR "Do Not Buy"

This is bad.

Consumer Reports tests vehicles for emergency handling by running them through some high speed dynamic maneuvers, such as a lane change.  When CR did this test to the Lexus GX 460 SUV (the luxury cousin of the 4Runner) the vehicle exhibited a very yaw angle.  This is good for sports cars, where the driver is assumed to have enough control to manage oversteer.  But on a high center of gravity SUV, a loose stability control tuning is dangerous.  Says CR:

We believe that in real-world driving, that situation could lead to a rollover accident, which could cause serious injury or death. We are not aware, however, of any such reports. 

...

In real-world driving, lift-off oversteer could occur when a driver enters a highway's exit ramp or drives through a sweeping turn and encounters an unexpected obstacle or suddenly finds that the turn is too tight for the vehicle's speed. A natural impulse is to quickly lift off the accelerator pedal. If that were to happen in the GX, the rear could slide around far enough that a wheel could strike a curb or slide off the pavement.


Because of this behavior, CR has given Toyota another black eye, with a rare and embarrassing "Do Not Buy" rating.  This puts the Lexus GX460 in the same company as the Suzuki Samurai.

Thứ Hai, 12 tháng 4, 2010

The iPod touch rocks!

I am playing with my new iPod touch, and it is amazing how much you can do with this little thing. Even blog!

Thứ Tư, 7 tháng 4, 2010

Edmunds $1,000,000 Unintended Acceleration Challenge

Edmunds has published the official rules for the promised $1,000,000 contest to see if anyone can create a plausible failure mode that results in unintended acceleration in a factory stock mass produced vehicle.  Rules here.

My prediction:  some college engineering students will come up with something similar to Prof Gilbert, where they will induce a specific multi-point failure.  Edmunds will deem it not "plausible", and will keep their money.

Me, I'm going to submit a photo of a guy stepping on the brake and gas pedals at the same time.  It is not following the rules, but, it probably explains a large part of the cases.

Thứ Sáu, 2 tháng 4, 2010

Post-Passover Pizza For The Hungry


My favorite Jewish Pizza joint, Jerusalem Pizza in Southfield, MI, is once again auctioning off the very first pizza made after the end of Passover to benefit the Yad Ezra food bank. eBay link here.

I am so in.

Thứ Năm, 1 tháng 4, 2010

"Naughty Volvo"?

So Volvo has launched a web marketing theme of "naughty".  I went to Volvo's web site to look at it and well, videos of a Volvo stopping automatically to keep from hitting a pedestrian isn't exactly naughty.  When you try to dial up the naughty-ness, the video gets more shaky, the driver seems to be driving faster, and some naked (male) jogger runs through the frame for some reason.

Here's an idea, Volvo, if you want to get "naughty".

V60 wagon + Haldex AWD + manual transmission + direct injected turbo engine = V60R 

Then film the V60R running the Nurburgring, in the wet, with gobs of heroic drifting.  That might be naughty.

Ja?

Thứ Năm, 25 tháng 3, 2010

Nooooooooooooooooo! Volvo to kill V70 wagon.

I can't believe it.

One of Volvo's iconic products was the turbo wagon.  It was a way to drive an honest wagon, and look and feel good doing it.

Now, according to a leaked document at Jalopnik, Volvo is going to drop the V70 wagon in the U.S., to concentrate on the butched up XC70. 

The more sedate midsize wagons will still be produced for other markets, so there is always a chance that if fashion swings back to car-based wagons, Volvo will reconsider.  Maybe someone will make a business out of lowering XC70's and tearing off their body cladding?

Thứ Sáu, 19 tháng 3, 2010

The Most Expensive Cars To Insure

I thought this was interesting. This is a list of the most expensive 2010 models to insure. I suppose if you have the riches to own a Porsche 911 GT2, which is a second or third car, you probably can afford almost $3,000 for insurance! Data courtesy of Insure.com.


The most expensive 2010 vehicles to insure
Rank Make and Model Style & Type Cylinders Avg. national premium
1 Porsche 911 Carrera GT2 2 Door Coupe 6 $2943.78
2 Mercedes S65 AMG 4 Door Sedan 12 $2863.03
3 Dodge Viper SRT-10 2 Door Coupe 10 $2851.89
4 Porsche Panamera Turbo AWD 4 Door Sedan 8 $2837.39
5 Dodge Viper SRT-10 2 Door Convertible 10 $2815.90
6 Mercedes CL600 2 Door Coupe 12 $2754.80
7 Audi R8 2 Door Coupe AWD 8 $2751.55
8 Porsche Panamera S 4 Door Sedan 8 $2744.78
9 Mercedes SL600 2 Door Convertible 12 $2715.86
10 Porsche 911 Carrera Turbo 2 Door Coupe AWD 6 $2706.04
11 Mercedes CL65 AMG 2 Door Coupe 12 $2699.74
12 BMW M6 2 Door Convertible 10 $2689.13
13 Mercedes S600 4 Door Sedan 12 $2667.48
14 Mercedes SL65 AMG Black Series 2 Door Convertible 12 $2655.15
15 Mercedes SL65 AMG 2 Door Convertible 12 $2653.53
16 Mercedes CL63 AMG 2 Door Coupe 8 $2646.92
17 BMW M6 2 Door Coupe 10 $2627.27
18 BMW 760Li 4 Door Sedan 12 $2565.59
19 Jaguar XKR Portfolio SC 2 Door Coupe 8 $2537.79
20 Jaguar XKR Supercharged 2 Door Coupe 8 $2533.48
Source: Insure.com, from a study commissioned by Insure.com from Quadrant Information Services