While dropping last month to No. 23 in the JD Power quality survey, Ford Motor Co. just heard some good news about taking No. 2 in the Strategic Vision study. It tied with Honda and Nissan for the second spot, but it was very good news after falling to its lowest ranking in a decade with the JP Power study.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will propose a rule requiring electric and hybrid vehicles to sound an alert under certain conditions to make pedestrians aware of their presence. The rule will require all such vehicles to come equipped with a pedestrian safety sound system. The regulation will cover light and low-speed vehicles, motorcycles, buses and heavy-duty trucks.
Ford Motor Co. is the first automaker to publicly support a bill introduced last month in Congress that would ban drivers from using cell phones while behind the wheel. Ford eager to protect in-vehicle technologies such as Sync and MyFord Touch that allow drivers to make hands-free calls and do limited text messages orally.
With strict fuel economy standards falling into place and expectations of long-term fuel prices, General Motors is expected to bring a diesel-fueled version of the top selling Chevrolet Cruze to the US market by 2013. It?s expected to get 50 miles per gallon and compete directly with the popular, high mileage Toyota Prius.