Car Safety

  • SARTRE self-driving cars during testing

    Like it or not, a future filled with semi-autonomous (and eventually, fully-autonomous) automobiles is coming. For all the complaining from enthusiasts (ourselves included), there’s no denying that self-driving cars will improve safety for today’s attention-impaired drivers, as well as delivering mobility to those who can no longer drive themselves. Volvo has been a leader in the field of autonomous cars, acting as one of the driving forces (no pun intended) behind Europe’s SARTRE (SAfe Road TRains for the Environment) project. As a result of its research, Volvo is working...

  • Car-2-Car and Car-2-Object communication technology
    Volvo Outlines Benefits Of Car 2 Car Communication

    Earlier this month Volvo signed a Memorandum of Understanding with fellow members of the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium being run in Europe, helping pave the way for the implementation of Car-2-Car and Car-2-Object communication technology in its cars. By enabling vehicles to communicate with...

  • 2012 Maserati GranTurismo MC
    2012 Maserati GranTurismo And Quattroporte Recalled For Faulty Tire Pressure Monitor

    Maserati has issued a recall on certain versions of its GranTurismo flagship and Quattroporte luxury sedan due to a potential fault with the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) fitted to the cars. The recall affects all 2012 GranTurismo coupes and GranTurismo Convertibles, including the...

  • Nissan Autonomous Emergency Steering System
    Watch Nissan’s New Autonomous Safety System In Action: Video

    A few weeks ago Nissan revealed a special Leaf prototype, which was able to park itself, sans driver, thanks to Nissan’s own autonomous driving system. It turns out this was just a teaser for more comprehensive autonomous driving technology from the Japanese automaker, which it plans to start...

  • 2012 Land Rover Range Rover
    2012 Range Rover Recalled For Windshield Mounting Defect

    Jaguar Land Rover has announced the recall of certain 2012 Range Rover models, which may have had their windshields improperly installed during the assembly process. As a result, the windshields can come loose in a crash, increasing the chance of occupant injury. Though the NHTSA announcement does...

  • 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
    2013 Mercedes-Benz SL Class Recalled Due To Flammable Refrigerant

    Following a recent investigation into the harmful effects of a new type of refrigerant used in the air conditioner in the latest 2013 SL Class, Mercedes-Benz has decided to issue a recall on the luxury convertible to replace the substance with a safer version. The refrigerant in question is...

  • 2013 BMW M5

    A few weeks ago, discussions emerged among BMW owners of a faulty oil pump issue that could lead to catastrophic engine failure, without warning, in the 2013 BMW M5 and M6, including both Coupe and Convertible. Today, that issue has become a recall. The official NHTSA notice explains the problem: "Due to a manufacturing process error, the tolerance between the engine oil pump's drive shaft and the pump's rotor was not within specification. As a result, the pump's driveshaft could separate from the rotor." The result of that separation would be a sudden loss of oil pressure, potentially...

  • SARTRE self-driving cars during testing
    Volvo Paves Way For Car-To-Car Communications With Signing Of MoU

    Volvo is paving the way for the implementation of Car-2-Car and Car-2-Object communication systems in its own vehicles with the signing today of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with fellow members of the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium being run in Europe. The consortium’s goal is to...

  • UConnect's Access Assist buttons
    Chrysler Introduces Access Assist To Its UConnect System

    GM’s OnStar may have been the first to offer drivers a panic button and a help button for on-the-road emergencies or questions, but in the years since OnStar’s launch the technology has become widespread. Today, help buttons are offered in telematics systems from Hyundai (Blue Link)...

  • Goodyear's Air Maintenance Technology self-inflating tires, explained.
    Goodyear To Field-Trial Self-Inflating Tires In 2013

    Under-inflated tires wear quicker, consume more gasoline and pose a potential blow-out risk as the tire heats up or comes unseated from the rim of the wheel. Despite the risks, Goodyear says that most drivers (without TPMS technology) only check tire pressure about once per year. In 2011, Goodyear...

  • BMW's UR:BAN project looks to improve city traffic safety
    BMW's Project UR:Ban Looks To Improve Driver Safety In Cities

    According to BMW’s research, cities continue to grow larger as more and more people embrace an urban way of life. As a result, cities are getting more crowded with both pedestrians and automobiles. One of the biggest challenges in future urban mobility, then, is finding harmony between...

  • Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT is the official safety car for the 2012 Formula 1 season
    F1 Safety Car Gets Upgraded To Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT

    The regular Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG has proven to be more than capable of being the official safety car in Formula 1, but nevertheless a more potent model is set to take over the role from this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix onwards. That more potent model is the SLS AMG GT, which gets a bit...

  • A Cadillac SRX demonstrates Rear Automatic Braking - image: John F. Martin for Cadillac

    The purpose of front and rear bumpers on automobiles is self-explanatory: at low impact speeds, bumpers are supposed to absorb energy and prevent body damage to a vehicle. In that regard, they’re passive safety devices, coming into play only when a low-speed accident occurs. The best kind of bumper, then, would be an active one that prevented you from having a collision in the first place. Enter Cadillac’s Front and Rear Automatic Braking system, which acts as a “virtual bumper” to prevent accidents instead of just minimizing accident damage. Available on ATS, XTS and...

  • SARTRE self-driving road train testing on Spanish highway
    Volvo Concludes SARTRE Autonomous Car Research, Looks To Implementation

    Europe’s SARTRE (SAfe Road TRains for the Environment) project, first established in 2009, has come to an end, with the results proving positive for all those involved. One of the partners was Swedish automaker Volvo, which is now looking at integrating some of the findings in its production...

  • 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo
    Lamborghini Gallardo Recalled For Leaking Power Steering Hose

    Lamborghini has issued a recall for certain versions of its Gallardo supercar due to a potential fluid leak from the affected models’ power steering hoses. The affected cars are from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 model years, of which 1,491 examples are currently in the U.S. The recall affects both...

  • 2013 Scion FR-S in IIHS crash testing
    2013 Subaru BRZ And Scion FR-S IIHS Crash Test Videos

    Top safety marks for the Subaru and Scion sports car twins prove light and small doesn't have to mean unsafe.

  • 2013 Acura ILX
    Acura ILX, Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ Do Well In Latest IIHS Testing

    Americans, right or wrong, tend to equate the size of a vehicle with its safety. While you can’t get around the laws of physics, the latest testing from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that small cars, when designed properly, can be safe, too. The latest vehicles to earn the...

  • 2013 Volvo S80
    2013 Volvo S80, XC70 Models Recalled For TPMS Programming Flaw

    Volvo is recalling some 300 model year 2013 S80 sedans and XC70 wagons to correct a software error in the Central Electronic Module relating to the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). As delivered, the cars will display a “TPMS Service Required” message after some 15 minutes of...

  • Mazdaspeed Motorsports driver Connor De Phillippi stacks a virtual race car while texting

    In 2010, 3,092 people died in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver, while some 416,000 were injured in crashes involving driver distraction. Traveling at 55 mph, a driver covers some 300 yards, blind, in the 4.6 seconds it takes to send the average text. Those numbers aren’t made up: in fact, they come from www.distraction.gov, and if anything may be on the conservative side. How many crashes, for example, occur as a result of distracted driving but aren’t documented as such? More often than not, drivers at fault in an accident will deny the (often illegal) use of a...

  • Safety assist features on the 2013 Ford Fusion
    Survey Shows Drivers Favor Cars That Make Them More Aware

    Let’s face it: there are more cars and drivers on the road than at any other time in U.S. history, and the sheer pace of modern life ensures that many behind the wheel are sleep deprived, distracted, over-confident in their ability or some combination of these risk factors. Recently, Ford...

  • 2012 Volvo S60 undergoing IIHS' new frontal crash test
    Risk Of Injury In A New Volvo Drops 50 Percent Since 2000

    Safety sells cars, especially when shoppers are looking for a new family vehicle. No other automaker has done as much to market safety as Volvo, probably since safety has been a primary focus of the Swedish automaker for decades. Its latest internal review of accident data shows that the risk of...

  • GM working on car-to-car and car-to-object communications technology
    GM Participating In U.S. Car-To-Car Communications Trial

    Coinciding with a similar program being run in Germany, the U.S. Department of Transportation is about to start a trial of technology relying on car-to-car and car-to-object communications. The hope is that cars, either through warnings made to their driver or through autonomous systems will be...

  • 2006 Saab 9-7x
    Buick Rainier And Saab 9-7X Recalled

    General Motors has announced a wide-ranging recall on certain SUV models from the 2006 and 2007 model years. The vehicles affected by the recall include the Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL from the 2006 model year, and the Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, Isuzu Ascender...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma during road test, Los Angeles, Feb 2012
    Fisker Karma Fire Caused By Faulty Cooling Fan, Voluntary Recall Issued

    A recent incident involving a Fisker Karma that caught fire while parked on a roadside in Woodside, CA, has been discovered to have been caused by a faulty cooling fan. The fire, which took place on August 10, is the second time that a Fisker Karma has caught alight, though the reasons surrounding...

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