February 13th, 2006 by admin
Driving laws encourage safe teen drivers.
Drew Eggleston is anxious to get his license. In a week, the 16-year-old will take his driving test. But like teens all over the state, he won’t be driving his friends anytime soon.Teenagers all across the country this year will turn 16 with the anticipation of "freedom" and "independance" from their parents. But, in California, teenagers will be waiting a little longer. As of Jan. 1, 2006, California requires teenage drivers to have their licence for an entire year before they can transport their peers. California legislators decided to adhere to this law because of teen driving behavior.
According to the Institute for Highway Safety, Begining teen drivers who transport other teens are three times more likely to have a fatal crash than other drivers.
Crash rates for young drivers are high because of immaturity and driving inexperience. Teens are more likely to speed, pass inappropriately and follow other vehicles too closely.
With California changing their driving laws, other states may follow the trend. This could lead to a decrease in teen accidents and lower insurance rates.
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February 12th, 2006 by admin
A better ethanol
In the past ten years, biotechnology has become a very popular concept. The prominence of biotechnology stems from public concern about our unhealthy addiction on fossil fuels. Cars and SUVs today consume a great deal of gasoline and automakers have come to realize consumers are in the market for energy-efficient vehicles.
Alternatives have become available. Hybrid automobiles, ethanol, and other feul alternatives will continue to advance over the next few years.
Ethanol is the fastest growing fuel alternative, but, until recently, ethanol has been difficult and expensive to produce. Scientists at the Natural Resource Defense Council believe using microbes may solve the current production problems that plague ethanol production.
Thanks to biotechnology breakthroughs, supporters of alternative energy sources say that after decades of unfulfilled promise and billions in government corn subsides, energy companies may be able to produce ethanol easily and inexpensively.
Using microbes may even solve a growing dilemma over the current ethanol manufacturing process, which relies almost exclusively on corn kernals and yielded only 4 billion gallons of ethanol last year (compared to the 140 billion gallons of gasoline used in the U.S.). There’s growing concern throughout the Midwestern corn belt that the 95 U.S. ethanol plants are increasingly poaching corn meant for the dinner table or livestock feed.
Hopefully, as technology advances, Americans will abandon their addiction on oil and gasoline altogether.
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February 11th, 2006 by admin
Protect Yourself With An Auto Warranty
Complaints from the Attorney General’s office of the state of New Mexico are topped by consumer Auto Sales complaints:
1. Auto Sales (491 complaints)
In 2005, as in previous years, consumers filed the most complaints about contract disputes in automobile purchases. Consumers filed complaints involving items being added onto the sales agreement, such as extended warranties and miscellaneous items that had not been disclosed to them before the purchase took place. Also common were reports that dealerships did not give consumers the interest rate they were originally promised. Other frequent complaints involved odometer rollbacks, which gives a false indication of the total miles that have been put on a vehicle. Also common were reports of previously wrecked or salvaged vehicles that were repaired and sold, but the vehicle’s repair history was not disclosed to the consumer, which could later lead to many costly repairs.
Anyone who’s ever purchased a car knows that buying a car comes with risk. You have no idea if the car will have problems or not. In fact, if it’s a used car you may end up with one that’s not been maintained or even raced. An auto warranty is your best protection when buying a car.
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February 9th, 2006 by admin
The US government is giving benefits to hybrid car drivers
If beautiful aesthetics, clean design, and lower gas prices aren’t enough, the US Government is resorting to bribery to encourage hybrid use.
In the United States, Prius drivers can use a carpool lane in some places even when no one else is in the car. No matter where they’re driving, they coast down the road in a whisper-quiet hum unlike anything else. Best of all, even if no one likes admitting it, they get to enjoy the cool-kid cachet that comes with being an early adopter of a fad. No other vehicle has had a recurring role on the TV show "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
You can expect to see more of these vehicles on the road in the coming months. In fact, if gas prices continue to rise, we may just see the hybrid age a year or two ahead of expectations.
February 8th, 2006 by admin
Drivers now can make trips with real-time directions
Fold up the maps and just press the blue button
Everyone has heard about the onboard communicator known as "Onstar".
Onstar has been a helping hand in saving thousands of people’s lives and is now making road trips even more comfortable and convenient. Onstar now offers real time GPS directions.
The OnStar safety and navigation system will be upgraded a decade after its debut at the Chicago Auto Show, which opens Friday. The upgrade will enable users to receive real-time directions while they are driving. Turn-by-Turn Navigation will debut on the Buick Lucerne and the Cadillac DTS in March, and will gradually be added to other GM vehicles. GM says it will be available on approximately 1 million cars and trucks by the 2007 model year, when GM plans to make OnStar standard on all vehicles.
If you’re a guy and the whole idea of "asking for directions" makes your masculinity twitch then I’m sure you will be excited for this new edition.
Women seem less hesitant to ask for directions, but the convenience-factor should still make this addition quite attractive for both sexes.
AutoWarranties.com Research your next auto warranty online
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February 7th, 2006 by admin
The Luxury Automaker Is Feeling the Pain of No Search Traffic
BMW was banned from Google’s index for shady search engine optimization work after the Super Bowl on Sunday.
The car manufacturer created a page, stuffed it with keywords, and had it redirect to another page that was significantly different than the page the searcher thought they were getting.
BMW Germany’s offense? It apparently showed one page–a "doorway"–to Google’s search crawler, but another to visitors. The doorway was allegedly loaded with the keywords "used cars," but the company then redirected visitors to a different landing page.
Google blogger Matt Cutts first wrote about the development this weekend, saying that the tactic violated Google’s quality guidelines, which state that Web sites shouldn’t show different pages to search crawlers than to users.
A BMW spokesman told Forbes that the company had not done anything wrong. "We do not understand why Google has decided this," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
February 6th, 2006 by admin
You might think it sounds unrealistic, but cars run on alternative fuel sources are getting better every year
With the surge is gas prices, you might wonder why we aren’t seeing more on alternative fuel options. While cars are being built to test and expand this market, there is a resounding lack of news coverage on energy efficient autos.
Honda hopes to change all that. Their FCX runs on clean and efficient hydrogen. The costs for running a car on hydrogen are greatly reduced, because there’s so much hydrogen just ‘floating around’ for our use.
From a Honda Press Release:Honda Advances the Hydrogen Dream
Several months ago at the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda introduced a wind cheating, earth friendly, fuel cell-powered concept called the FCX. Several weeks ago in Detroit at the NAIAS, Honda quietly announced that they would build a production vehicle based on the FCX concept. With the advancements they’ve made for this latest generation of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, a production model will be ready within three to four years. It will probably be available only to a small group of alternative fuel loyalists and devotees, and likely only in Japan or possibly California where Honda previously introduced the FCX-V4 of which a portion of 30 examples found their way into government fleets (see new vehicle preview section of this website for January 16, 2003: 2003 Honda FCX-V4 Preview) and at least one famiy (see automotive news section of this website for July 3, 2005: Honda Tests Hydrogen-Powered FCX with Private Family for First Time), but the packaging solutions Honda has developed for hydrogen storage as well as their clever Home Energy Station, alleviating the need for widespread hydrogen refilling stations on the road, point the way around many of the obstacles, or detours, on the road to the hydrogen highway and zero-emission culture of the future.
There is a very good chance that Hydrogen-Powered cars will overtake the current gasoline cars. It might take a good 5-10 years to get rolling at first but when people see the potential this technology has, they will certainly conform to these "new and improved" fuel-efficient automobiles.
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February 2nd, 2006 by admin
Great reviews and plenty of headroom speak highly of Hyundai’s new Azera
It’s never easy to know which car may be the absolute *best* one for you and your family. The new Hyundai Azera is one you should give a second look.
The Azera also comes with Hyundai’s industry-leading warranty coverage that includes a limited powertrain warranty that lasts for 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.
The base Azera SE has a starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price under $25,000. That compares with a starting price of the car it replaces, the 2005 Hyundai XG350 sedan, of $24,899. With destination charge added, the XG350’s total starting price was $25,494.
Hyundai priced the top-of-the-line Azera, the Limited model, to start around $27,000.
The roomy Azera is less than $30K fully loaded and according to the review, it drives beautifully too.
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January 30th, 2006 by admin
Ford releases the newly redesigned Expedition
Ford launched the 2007 Ford Expedition at the Houston Auto Show a week ago.
Notice the larger back end, and minivan-ish look. Ford seems to realize that many of their SUV buyers are really wanting stylish minivans to transport their children.
How many SUV owners do you know that actually take their SUV off road?
The 2007 Ford Expedition should be popular with today’s active families. It will be interesting to see how much the new car price and warranty quotes rise from last year’s more masculine model.
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January 27th, 2006 by admin
Car Maintenance Can Save You Money In Fuel Costs
Taking a trip to the gas station is not som
ething anyone looks forward to, with gas prices at all-time highs. But, with simple auto maintenance on your new OR older car, you can save money at the pumps.
• Worn spark plugs – A vehicle can have either four, six or eight spark plugs, which fire as many as 3 million times every 1,000 miles, resulting in a lot of heat and electrical and chemical erosion. A dirty spark plus causes misfiring, which wastes fuel. Spark plugs need to be replaced regularly.
• Dirty air filters – An air filter that is clogged with dirt, dust and bugs chokes off the air and creates a "rich" mixture – too much gas being burned for the amount of air, which wastes gas and causes the engine to lose power. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, saving about 15 cents a gallon.
Applying just one of these simple strategies can save you money next time you have to fill up.
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