Toyota said on Tuesday it will recall some 3.8 million vehicles, including the Toyota Prius, because of the risk a floor mat could keep the accelerator pedal forced down. As an immediate remedy, the Japanese automaker urged drivers of a range of recent models to remove driver's-side floormats until it could issue a recall in consultation with federal safety regulators.
After years of complaints from blind pedestrians that ultra-quiet hybrid cars pose a safety threat, the auto industry is responding by producing on-board devices that emit sounds, such as jet engines, boings, or human voice saying, “Excuse me.” One day, electric car and hybrid drivers might download “vroomtones” for their cars, the way they download ringtones for cell phones today.
The Honda Insight and Toyota Prius received the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's “Top Safety Pick” award based on front, side, and rear crash testing. The rating dispels the myth that high fuel efficiency always requires a compromise in terms of safety.
Lotus, the British performance carmaker, Lotus, has introduced a new device that makes hybrid cars louder. Since hybrid cars first hit the market, concerns have been raised about the potential risk who may not hear hybrids in a cross-walk.
According to a number of urban myths, the growing fleet of hybrid cars is actually an evil force ready to inflict great harm to people with pacemakers, blind people, and anybody who dares to sit behind the wheel of a gas-electric vehicle. Here are the top five safety dangers supposedly posed by hybrids.
Soon after the introduction of gas-electric vehicles in 2000, hybrid shoppers and drivers started worrying about the potential negative health impacts from electromagnetic fields (EMFs). There are still no definitive answers to those worries.
As gas prices continue to rise, the size of American vehicles is starting to shrink. But does a shift to smaller cars require a compromise on safety?
Many of the eco-friendly innovations in our vehicles begin in the R&D departments of large auto suppliers. We spoke with Bill Kozyra, president and CEO, Continental Automotive Systems North America, about what he sees as the three largest trends in automotive technology: sustainability, safety and connectivity. Kozyra also says that the Chevy Volt is on track for production in 2009.
Tesla Motors side-stepped disaster by winning a federal waiver allowing its all-electric Roadster to be produced without advanced occupant-sensing airbags. If the waiver had not been granted, the carmaker might have been forced out of business.
Hybrids are very quiet—practically silent at slower speeds. Blind people rely on cars to make at least a little noise to safely cross the street. That awkward combination has created an unexpected tension between the makers of hybrid cars, environmentalists and blind pedestrians.
