Motoring: A New Legislative Push for Safer Power Windows March 7, 2007
After some children and pets were strangled by power windows, manufacturers redesigned window controls, but some vehicles still have dangerous old-style switches. RALPH NADER, never one to mince words, wrote a letter to the National Highway Safety Bureau in 1968, demanding a public warning about the dangers of power windows, calling them “upward bound glass guillotines” that “have strangled and injured thousands of children and infants.” Mr. Nader, the national consumer advocate, got the warning he wanted. But four decades later, safety advocates still concerned about the dangers of power windows are on the brink of a bigger prize.Last …
Cargo Worker Lands in Trouble for Posting Photos Online of Prototype Corvette March 4, 2007
In a city where cars are the stars, the biggest recent celebrity scandal involves a top-secret high-powered sports car and an overzealous loading dock worker who is said to need a new job. DETROIT In a city where cars are the stars, the biggest recent celebrity scandal involves a top-secret high-powered sports car and an overzealous loading cargo worker who now needs a new job.The amateur paparazzo was said to have been fired recently from his job at a freight company after posting 23 photographs online of a prototype version of what is believed to be a 680-horsepower Chevrolet Corvette …
Back at the Brink, Chrysler Finds Fewer Friends March 3, 2007
Back then, it was Lee Iacocca and the federal government bailing out Chrysler. Today the German owners must figure out how to fix the company. Correction Appended AUBURN HILLS, Mich. DAIMLERCHRYSLER always seems to outdo itself at the Detroit auto show, and this year was no exception. The company showcased celebrities like the chef Bobby Flay, and then generated a fresh round of buzz via an artificial ice rink (its surface carefully scuffed to keep visitors from slipping) that it built to show off its legendary Mercedes-Benz line.For DaimlerChrysler itself, however, the corporate mood was just as cold as the …
Mississippi to Be Site of Toyota Assembly Plant
Gov. Haley Barbour announced that a highly sought factory would be built 20 miles outside Tupelo. Toyota said today it would invest $1.3 billion to build its eighth North American assembly plant in Blue Springs, Miss., just outside Tupelo in northeastern Mississippi. The plant will build the Toyota Highlander, a crossover vehicle, and will employ 2,000 workers. Production is expected to begin in 2010, and reach 150,000 vehicles each year.The 1,700-acre site was promoted vigorously by the state, which wound up in a competition with Arkansas and Tennessee for the factory.The decision brings Toyota to an area best known for …
Design: Colani?s Concepts Make Concept Cars Look Tame March 2, 2007
Luigi Colani, the ?designer?s designer? whose free-flowing concept cars are often too esoteric for production, has had a considerable influence in the design world. I AM at the moment building the most sensational Corvette ever,” Luigi Colani said. Not that Chevrolet had asked him to design a Corvette, any more than BMW, Ferrari, Mazda, Volvo or other automakers had asked him to design the many models he has created over the last half-century. His artistry does not require an invitation. “The car they have is pretty good, maybe a 50, but mine will be a 99!” Mr. Colani …
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