Iconic US Road Trips Prove Fatal for Many Partiers
By Dave Bean, Associate Editor, FMW
With the arrival of summer, we’ve apparently reached the point where most of us feel like it’s ok to take to the road again and enjoy that much delayed trip to points far and wide.
Many people, however, are so enthusiastically ready to bust out of their home offices and pods, that they start the party while on the road.
And this is where the problem begins and, unfortunately for many, ends.
A recent study conducted by Forbes Advisor looked into the various causes of fatalities on America’s most popular road trip routes and determined that more often than not, it was drinking and/or drug use that led to the end of the road for many people - permanently.
Forbes Advisor utilized data gathered from 2015 through 2020 by NHTSA from their Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The name of each route was provided by Hertz.
GM Expands EV Emergency Training for First Responders
July 3, 2022 - GM has released a new EV First Responder Training program that not only provides vital information on the technology inside of an electric vehicle but also details industry best practices for dealing with EVs—and electrified vehicles like hybrids—in all kinds of potentially difficult situations.
"The best way for the public and private vehicle fleet owners to rapidly adopt EVs is to train firefighters and emergency responders on how to handle incidents involving battery powered vehicles," Andrew Klock of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) said in a statement.
The National Fire Protection Association, which is assisting GM in this new project, already has EV and alternative-fuel safety materials from more than 60 vehicle manufacturers available on its website. And Tesla also has emergency-response manuals for all of its models.
How MPGe Works For Electric Cars
July 1, 2022 -- The metric is new to most, but it doesn't have to be as confusing as it sounds.
When you read that a new electric car gets, say, 115 MPGe, it's easy to understand why you might be confused. After all, electricity doesn't come in gallons, and if it's so efficient, why wouldn't the car go further? Some may disregard it entirely. But it's not that tough to understand and, when you do, you'll know why it's important.
The purpose of MPGe as a concept was to make EV efficiency comparable to gas-powered vehicles. Introduced in 2010, the "Miles Per Gallon Equivalent" wanted to translate new tech into an old language. The obsession with range is understandable, but range and efficiency are two different things.
A hyper-efficient car with a tiny pack may go less on a charge than a behemoth with a 200-kWh battery, but that doesn't tell you anything about how much those few hundred miles will cost or how much of an impact they'll have on the environment.
Magna LitGate Turns a Car’s Body Into Lighting
July 2, 2022 - Lighting on the outside of cars has always been delivered by dedicated fixtures that interrupt the rest of the car's design around them. Enter so-called Breakthrough Lighting from auto tech giant Magna.
It embeds invisible light elements into almost any plastic body panel, which comprises a growing percentage of the modern car body. When needed, the embedded lighting becomes visible. When not, it disappears.
Magna says Breakthrough Lighting technology will be ready for production in 2023. That doesn't mean a carmaker will, or even could offer it that soon. Federal lighting regulations have a lot to say about automotive exterior lights and may hold back some use of any radical new lighting technology.
Buick and GM Top 2022 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study as Industry Average Worsens
June 28, 2022 - According to J.D. Power’s most recent Initial Quality Study, released June 28, the average number of problems per 100 vehicles increased by 11 percent from 162 in 2021 to 180 in 2022, a record high.
Buick topped the list as the brand with the fewest problems per, tallying 139 versus 156 last year. Chevrolet ranked third with 147 after Dodge’s 143. In addition, the 2022 Corvette was named the highest initial quality model overall.
Excluding Teslas due to market saturation, fully electric vehicles averaged 240 problems per 100, while plug-in hybrids averaged 239 problems per. These are in comparison with ICE-equipped vehicles, which averaged 175 problems per. Tesla itself average 226 problems per 100 vehicles, and newcomer EV brand Polestar averaged a staggering 328 problems per, by far the most of any brand included in the study.
