Posted by Michael McDermott on Fri, Feb 24, 2012 @ 08:54 AM
The end of the road for gas guzzlers?
With the price of gas threatening to hit $4.00 a gallon in big chunks of the country and $5.00 in California, Alaska and Hawaii, for the first time in a long time, it looks like we finally have consensus on new, more efficient fuel economy standards.
The new standards call for 36 miles per gallon by 2016, and an unadjusted fuel-economy rating of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2026. The current standard is around 27 mpg.
While the Obama Administration expects that the higher mileage standards will cause new vehicle prices to rise by around $2,000 on average, they also point out that drivers will save over three times that amount, or around $6,600 over the life of the average vehicle through lower gasoline consumption. The Go60mpg coalition, an association of environmental advocacy groups, estimates that the new regulations will create over 480,000 jobs and cut Americans’ oil consumption by 1.5 million barrels a day by the year 2030.
While some car dealers say the actual sticker prices will be more than $2,000, other dealers disagree, and say they and their customers welcome and want cars and trucks that offer more fuel efficient options.
As Nick Bunkley reports in his New York Times article, “New Gas Economy Rules Generate Wide Support:"
- '”Our customers strongly desire more fuel-efficient vehicles…everyone seems to win on this deal” said Doug Fox, who has five dealerships in Ann Arbor, Michigan
- '“We’re celebrating something that has taken a long time to reach,” said Representative John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who helped quash previous efforts to impose higher mileage standards. “There appears to be no significant opposition amongst responsible persons.”'
- 'Michael Robinson, vice president for sustainability and regulatory affairs at General Motors, said the company probably would submit recommendations for some technical changes and clarifications to the rules, noting that the proposal is 1,000 pages long. But G.M. is “overall, very satisfied” with the standards, he told reporters.’
Headquartered in Boston, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation provides auto insurance to personal and commercial auto insurance customers in MA and CT. Plymouth Rock is the flagship carrier of The Plymouth Rock Group of Companies, which together write and manage over $1 billion in auto and homeowner’s insurance throughout the Northeast.
Posted by Michael McDermott on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 @ 12:23 PM
Automobile Safety is Improving Every Year
New technologies and advances in vehicle safety are abundant, which is good news for drivers and passengers everywhere. Some could even reduce your auto insurance costs. Here’s a quick preview of just some of what’s new and what’s next on American and foreign car manufacturers’ growing list of safety features, in no particular order:
- Duel stage airbags – these new airbags can sense your weight and how you’re sitting at the moment of impact, reducing your chances of injury. Duel stage airbags can be deployed at a lower setting for collisions at slower speeds, or at full force for accidents at high speeds. Curtain air bags add an extra layer of protection by covering windows and preventing rear seat passengers from hurtling through the windshield upon impact.
- Blind spot detection – small cameras and sensors warn when a car is in your blind spot by triggering a small blinking light in your side view mirror. You’ll still need to check your mirrors before you change lanes, but these new detectors should help many drivers, distracted or otherwise, avoid accidents caused changing lanes.
- Night vision – night vision cameras will project images onto your windshield, letting you see what’s ahead, no matter how dark it is outside. Leave the night vision goggles at home, and tell your mother she shouldn’t be afraid to drive after sunset anymore.
- Pre-collision systems – these safety devices, already seen in some makes and models, detect when you’re tailgating another vehicle, or when something or someone darts unexpectedly in front of your car. Other systems warn you when you begin to drift into the next lane.
- Electronic stability control (ESC) – Just like the “escape” button on your computer, this new safety feature automatically adjusts your car to help you maintain control and escape accidents. Acclaimed by some scientists as the greatest advancement in car safety in decades, ESC applies the brakes in one or more tires to help you regain traction in a slide. Newer ESC versions will also automatically adjust your steering, throttle and gas while you’re moving to help you stay in control of your car. Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the federal government have issued mandates that, starting this year, require all new cars to include some or all of these ESC features.
Posted by Michael McDermott on Tue, Feb 14, 2012 @ 08:49 AM
Detroit rebound? The 2012 Auto Show and the comeback of the American auto industry.
Not a single truck or large SUV was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show this year—a sign that the American auto industry has changed “deeply, quickly, and probably forever” as Peter Valdes-Depena put it in his column for CNN Money. Valdes-Depena attributes this quantum shift to new, stricter fuel economy laws and “changing attitudes toward environmental responsibility.”
In addition to these greening trends and new fuel economy regulations, auto industry journalist and blogger Paul A. Eisenstein predicted 2012’s winners, losers and trends for the auto industry, saying that “The playing field has clearly shifted. For some, it might now seem to be level for the first time in decades. For others, it is listing like the Costa Concordia, the doomed Italian cruise ship.”
Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami, followed by floods in Thailand nearly stopped Toyota and Honda in their tracks, with a combined estimate of one million vehicles in lost production. The Motor City’s rebound, initially jump-started by the federal government’s industry bailout, got an additional boost as Japanese automakers struggled to recover. The one Japanese exception? Nissan, which racked up surprisingly strong sales of its Versa, Altima, Rouge and Frontier models last year. Korean “wildcard” carmakers Kia and Hyundai also did well, and predicted difficulties maintaining their sales momentum if production levels continued to struggle to keep up with demand.
Chrysler took a turn for the better in 2011, with several popular smaller models inspired in no small part by its majority owner, Italy’s Fiat. In the luxury market, Cadillac and Ford’s re-launch of its Lincoln brand created some serious buzz at the Detroit show. But they’ll have a tough battle from the German giants BMW and Volkswagen’s Audi.
We’ll see what’s in store for Detroit and the other automakers as 2012 shapes up. One thing is certain: change is the only constant we can rely on.
Headquartered in Boston, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation provides auto insurance to personal and commercial auto insurance customers in MA and CT. Plymouth Rock is the flagship carrier of The Plymouth Rock Group of Companies, which together write and manage over $1 billion in auto and homeowner’s insurance throughout the Northeast.
Posted by Michael McDermott on Thu, Feb 09, 2012 @ 08:19 AM
In it for the long ride: Americans are hanging on to their wheels longer.
Blame it on the Great Recession, higher new car prices, better manufacturing quality, or just loyalty: a new study by Polk shows that Americans are driving their vehicles longer than ever before. Cars and trucks now stay on the road, on average, for 10.8 years. That’s a big jump up from 15 years ago, when the average vehicle age was 8.4 years.
A new year, a new car?
The Detroit News also attributes this increase to a drop in total miles driven last year and improved rust and corrosion resistant-technologies. Yet in spite of these factors, or perhaps because of them, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) believes that most American drivers will have to splurge on a new set of wheels sooner rather than later.
NADA predicts that all millions of clunkers now on the road will sputter out in 2012, unleashing an unprecedented pent up demand this year for new vehicles. In fact NADA is on the record saying that new car sales will hit close to 14 million units in 2012—blowing away last year’s prediction by nearly 1 million units, and suggesting that fewer people this year will be able to resist that new car smell.
NADA’s chief economist Paul Taylor points to three reasons behind 2012’s expected car and light truck buying surge: more aging cars and trucks, an increase in affordable credit, and stronger buying incentive programs.
How about you, dear driver: do you plan to buy a new (or gently used) car or truck this year? How many miles (and years) have you logged behind the wheel of your current vehicle? Do you plan to keep spending to maintain the car you now have, or do you think that buying or leasing a new car would be a smarter financial move in 2012? If you do plan on buying a new car, what’s your favorite make and model? Please take a minute to leave your comments below, and thanks!
Headquartered in Boston, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation provides auto insurance to personal and commercial auto insurance customers in MA and CT. Plymouth Rock is the flagship carrier of The Plymouth Rock Group of Companies, which together write and manage over $1 billion in auto and homeowner’s insurance throughout the Northeast.
Posted by Michael McDermott on Mon, Feb 06, 2012 @ 02:57 PM
America has become, among other things, a nation of sleep-deprived, distracted and multi-tasked individuals.
We also spend an inordinate amount of time on highways, changing lanes and (when we’re overtired or distracted) drifting around in them. That’s part of the reason why automakers like Ford Motor Company have been busy trying to develop new lane-keeping technology.
Last month, Ford announced this technology would be ready in time for the 2013 rollout of two of its most popular models, the compact Fusion and SUV Explorer. So far there’s been no official word on how much this technology will cost consumers.
So, how does lane-changing technology work? And more importantly, will the technology actually work to keep us safe after we doze off behind the wheel or take our eyes off the road to tell the kids to stop bickering?
Ford’s system uses a camera mounted on the rear-view mirror to detect the road’s lane markings and will warn you if you get too close to the left or right edges of the lane once you get up to speeds 40 mph and above. If you don’t put your directional on, the system will assume you’re drifting and will warn you by vibrating the steering wheel. If you don’t react (maybe you’re sleeping or are still busy tending to the kids in the backseat), then the software will engage your power steering and set you back on the straight and narrow, shifting you back into the center of your lane.
Sounds good, right? Well, the system isn’t perfect yet. Ford’s engineers are busy working out some glitches. For example, if you’re driving in direct or low sunlight, on a curvy road, or in a heavy rainstorm, then the system’s not so great at picking up where your lane begins and ends.
You can read more about Ford’s lane-changing system, as well as existing “lane keep assist” systems already on the road in the Toyota Prius, as well as Lexus and Mercedes models.
What do you think: do you drive a vehicle with lane assist technology? Do you like it? Will these new technologies help keep us safer, or will they lull us into thinking we can multi-task behind the wheel even more?
Headquartered in Boston, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation provides auto insurance to personal and commercial auto insurance customers in MA and CT. Plymouth Rock is the flagship carrier of The Plymouth Rock Group of Companies, which together write and manage over $1 billion in auto and homeowner’s insurance throughout the Northeast.