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Crash Avoidance Technology Only "Kind of" Works, Says IIHS
The Institute for Highway Safety has concluded a study that shows the crash avoidance technology like blind-spot sensors, forward collision automatic braking, lane-departure warnings, emergency brake assistance and adaptive headlights won't significantly help prevent fatal car crashes and it is mostly due to the drivers. So much for PReVENT. The study shows that the crash-avoidance technology won't be cared about and ignored by the drivers. They technology also causes the drivers to be more reckless and careless while driving. More »
news
Bill Introduced To Protect The Blind From Hybrids
Despite how ridiculous it sounds, the above headline is absolutely true. A bill is being introduced in Congress that will establish some kind of safety standards to protect the walking blind from hybrids. Hybrids and other electric cars pose risks to the blind because they are too quiet. The blind listen for cars when crossing the street and having fleets of too quiet hybrids poses a dangerous risk, New York representative Edolphus Towns said. There's research to prove it too! More »
gadgets
Ford Introduces New Blind Spot System, Shoots Radar Waves Out Ass
Starting in 2009, Ford will be offering two new features to aid blind-spot visibility for drivers. The first feature is the Cross Traffic Alert with Blind Spot Monitoring System, a new technology to alert the driver of objects in their blind spots when reversing and while driving. Basically, as you can see from the video above, the system shoots radar out of the ass of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models equipped with the new technology and warns the driver. Warning occurs with either a tiny red light on the side view mirror (in the case of another vehicle sitting in your blind spot while driving) or on the side view mirror, on your vehicle information center and with a loud beeping noise (in the case of the cross traffic alert while reversing). This differs from the current system of "turn-and-look" by being able to detect objects not only directly behind the car, but to the sides as well. So that covers the first "innovation", but the second new feature must be equally amazing, right? Let's see — what was that second feature again? Oh wait, here it is. Ford will be offering — little convex bubbles on your side mirrors as standard on all vehicles. Oh. Um. Right. Well, at least there's that first technology, right? Press release from Ford after the jump. More »
It is a Dodge Charger! We don't care what one of us says.
offbeat news
National Federation of the Blind Upset With The Sounds Of Silence From Hybrids
We've just heard the National Federation of the Blind believes hybrid cars, when in electric-only mode, are way too silent, and therefore a possible threat to the safety of the visually impaired. According to Deborah Kent Stein, the NFB's chair of their Committee on Automotive and Pedestrian Safety, she claims she's "...used to being able to get sound cues from my environment and negotiate accordingly." In an interview with the Associated Press she says, much to her surprise, she simply has no clue when a hybrid car, running at slow speeds, is approaching. "We did a test, and I discovered, to my great dismay, that I couldn't hear it." Well boo-hoo, Deborah. Don't you know we're saving two koala bears in the arctic or something with every drop of gas we save — isn't that worth the lives of a few people without sight? [World Car Fans]
driver assistance
Mercedes' BlindSpot Assist, in Depth
Who hasn't been there. You're talking on the phone, eating a falafel, texting with your homies, thinking about your next pinochle play, smoking a cigar, imagining Nigella Lawson naked in a dumpster full of clotted cream, taking a bath, plotting world domination and trying to drive at the same time. Next thing you know, a large, rocket-propelled can of pork shoulder caroms off your side window, scaring your sleeping grandfather half to death. If you had Mercedes' new Blind Spot Assist, you'd have seen that can coming and been able to take evasive action, saving grandpa's wits. The new system uses six short-range radar sensors in the front and rear bumpers, which monitor zones circling the vehicle.If the system detects an object in the any of the zones, a warning symbol appears on the rearview mirror. Ignoring the warning causes the symbol to flash, and triggers an audible warning. The system is an option on an option on S- and CL-Class models. Use as directed. [via Benz Insider]
Wired's Autopia blog says suing Chinese car companies for knocking off other automakers' designs is like filing against Champ Car drivers' wives and girlfriends for aping Britney Spears. They do have a point. [Autopia]
No, one of us is not "drunk posting" today — he's just really excited to get folks to join the Jalopnik Facebook group! He's also hoping he won't go blind. [Facebook]
news: weird
A Blind Man Gets Nicked for Being 'Defective' Behind the Wheel
So we can't say that we endorse Omed Aziz' actions. The Iraqi native was busted by British coppers for driving in what the chairman of the bench at Warley Magistrates Court termed "a dangerous, defective state." Why? Well, apparently, Mr. Aziz has no eyes, having lost them in a bomb blast in his homeland. What's more, he's hard of hearing and was being guided around by an unlicensed driver. Officer Stuart Edge, who pulled Aziz over, tells a snippet of the tale, "I asked him if he could see me. He removed the dark-coloured sunglasses he was wearing and I could clearly see he was blind as he had no eyes." Man, that had to have been be a bit creepy. More »
news
Loud Pipes Save Lives: Blind Concerned With Lack of Hybrid Noise
While the goal of most manufacturers is to reduce NVH levels as far as possible, one group is concerned about the run-silent-run-deep modus operandi of hybrid vehicles: the blind. Dependent on the sound of a revving engine to know whether the coast is clear at an intersection, sightless folks are worried about hybrids in electric mode sneaking up on 'em as they attempt to cross the street. At least one school for the blind in Arkansas has been loaned Toyota hybrids by a local dealer so their students can learn the telltale sound of silence. More »
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