[Quietcars] Bob's review of the Detroit 2009 Auto Show.

[michael townsend]

Two things today, friends.  

Ken, thank you for your continued effort to find out why certain aspects of
accident reports are either incomplete or missing.  I believe that police
efforts, however, do record the make and modems of vehicles involved in
accidents, and it may or may not be an oversight on the law enforcement
agency to note whether vehicles involved in accidents are hybrids.  But, if
VIN numbers are required on accidents reports, certain information contained
therein would disseminated make, model, date of vehicle assembly and there
are also codes to tell which options are contained in the particular
vehicles in question.  However, accident investigators and insurance
industry officials may have to be trained to decipher such details and make
them available to the public.  

For example, on the older muscle cars, one can tell the date of the build,
special options on the cars, like engine size, transmission, and such, by
the VIN or other coding on various parts of a vehicle.  Perhaps, it might be
well for someone to suggest that further review of such numeric designations
might be in order to further the cause of obtaining statistics to determine
more specific designations of the vehicles involved in pedestrian accidents
to make more clear the statistics we need to bolster on-going legislative
efforts as it regards the hybrid issue.  

Bob, I thank you very much for taking the time to have written such a
comprehensive and unbiased review of the hybrid section of this show.  

I am a car devotee, and I have been since I was a young teen.  

The auto industry has changed considerably since first I went to the New
York Auto show in 1969 with my first foster family.  

Then, we saw the Mustang, all dressed up in Boss 429 clothes, ready to
rumble and tear up the streets, along side of the ill-fated, six cylinder
powered Corvair which was soon to be dropped form Chevrolet's lineup because
of an assault by then consumer advocate Ralph Nader.  We saw a ten
affordable Porsche 911 coupe at a cost of $9000 along side of a then
inexpensive $40,000 Ferrari, and everyone walked around looking, listening
and smiling, dining on 75 hot dogs, $1 beers and having a blast, not even
knowing that a car that was too quiet to hear was in the future.  Exhausts
were tuned, loud, and the times were robust, complete with $2 wages, the
Vietnam war and the memories of the shootings of both Dr. Martin Luther King
and Robert Kennedy.  President Jonson has left office and Nixon was in the
White House.  Watergate had not yet happened, nor had the war in Vietnam
even begun to be dismantled, and the hybrid was not yet thought of for
commercial use.  

I am sure that there were some primitive systems out there that designers
were using, and there were industrial uses for the electrically powered
vehicles, but, yet, the hybrid was not thought of for public consumption.  


Forty years later, we have a totally different situation, with legislation
that has been proposed to make noisy vehicles that blind people and people
who can see that may or may not have a disability can't hear.  But, there is
much to-do about which noise these vehicles can or will emit, and, we are
closer to resolving this problem than we were, but there are still many
wrinkles to iron out in solving this hybrid issue.  

I found your review of the Detroit Auto Show's hybrid display and marketing
very interesting and quite enlightening.  

As a car nut, I see a lot of promise in the industry during a time of much
speculation as to which players will remain as viable participants in the
industry, during which bail-outs of GM, Ford and Chrysler have been
prominent in the news, and Toyota, having lost money in a particular quarter
for the first time in its nearly 71 year history, has also made the
headlines.  

Ford has sold Jaguar and Land rover to an Indian manufacturer, Tata Motor
Corporation, and they are rumored to be ridding themselves of Volvo and
divesting themselves of interests in Mazda, to an extent as well.  

GM is rumored to be ridding itself of the Hummer brand, as well as keeping
an eye out for the quirky Saab nameplate and they are rumored to be thinking
about loosening their grip on Saturn and Pontiac as well.  

The merger between GM and Chrysler has not been discussed lately, but nor
has it been denied, and Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, Kia and Hyundai are growing
in market share because of innovative automobiles which are gas efficient
and consumers are buying them because of price and warranty applications
that are consumer friendly and wise.  

Bob Wilson had commented on the two engineering firms which have put forth
sound and logical presentations on possible resolutions to the quiet car
issue, with little response from either blindness organization, probably
because these systems might be user programmable in that they can be turned
off or changed to suit the ears and tastes of the driver or buyer, rather
than being an industry standard.  

Volvo has implemented a pedestrian warning system which seems quite
plausible, as most of the Volvo applications in terms of relative safety
are, with little response from both blindness organizations, probably
because it is doable, however, I don't know whether this Volvo-based system
has any warning bells or whistles to enlighten the potential victim.   See
below article

"Stockholm - The new Volvo S60 concept unveiled ahead of the Detroit Auto
Show later
this month features a revolutionary new driver safety system which brakes
the car
automatically to avoid a collision with a pedestrian.
The technology, know as Collision Warning with Full Brake, monitors the road
ahead
using both radar sensors and a camera. It recognizes not only other
vehicles, but
pedestrians who step into the path of the car. The system will be available
in the
production version of the S60 four-door coupe which is due to enter the
showrooms
in late 2009.
'Up until now, we have focused on helping the driver avoid collisions with
other
vehicles. Now we are taking a giant step forward with a system that also
boosts safety
for unprotected road-users' said Thomas Broberg, safety expert at Volvo
Cars.
In an emergency, the driver receives an audible warning and a signal
designed to
look like a red brake light flashes up in the windscreen's head-up display.
If the
driver does not respond to the warning, the system 'assumes' that a
collision is
imminent and applies the car's full braking power automatically.
Volvo says the main aim is still for the initial warning to be sufficient
for the
driver to brake or manoeuvre away from the hazard. Full automatic braking is
an emergency
measure that is only activated when the collision is unavoidable.
Accident experts say pedestrian survival in serious crashes increases
dramatically
when the vehicle's speed drops from 50 kilometres per hour to 30 km/h.
The Volvo S60 Concept foreshadows the production version and is powered by a
four-cylinder,
1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine which turns out 180 horsepower."
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/autos/news/article_1453380.php/V
olvo_S60_concept_brakes_itself_to_avoid_pedestrians


I am sure that other manufacturers will offer their solutions to this
pressing problem, and the ACB and the NFB will continue to fight on for
pedestrian safety for those of us who have to walk rather than drive.  

Thanks, Bob, and all of the other list contributors for your continued
efforts to enlighten, educate and inform.  I only hope that I can continue
to do my part in finding interesting articles to share with listers to
further this same effort.  


Mike Townsend and Seeing Eye dog Brent
Dunellen, New Jersey  08812
emails:  mrtownsend at optonline.net; 
michael.townsend54 at gmail.com
Home Phone:  732  200-5643
Cellular:  732  718-9480