Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[That's Rich: Bentley accessories include self-leveling wheel hubs, ridiculous baby seat]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/12/thats-rich-bentley-accessories-include-self-leveling-wheel-hub/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/12/thats-rich-bentley-accessories-include-self-leveling-wheel-hub/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/12/thats-rich-bentley-accessories-include-self-leveling-wheel-hub/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Bentley Accessories Collection - Click either image for high-res image gallery

If you're riding in a Bentley, you're not about to spec it up with gear off the shelf from the local Pep Boys, now are you? Of course not. That's why Bentley has come out with a line of equipment especially made for Crewe's finest.

The new range of Bentley accessories includes everything from body kits and wheel hubs to child seats and flashlights. The vented wings for the Continental range replace the panel between the wheel well and the front door with a chrome mesh vent. Crewe's also offering a set of Rolls-style self-leveling wheel badges that - you guessed it - keep themselves perpendicular to the ground at speeds up to 70 mph or when the car's at a standstill, available for the entire Bentley line-up.

There's also a car cover for the Continental Supersports, a diamond-grip LED flashlight and a booster seat so awesomely ridiculous (or ridiculously awesome) that it makes us wish we were kids again (or had kids of our own... and a Bentley). You can check 'em out in the gallery below and the press release after the jump, but remember: the car's not included.


Gallery: Bentley Accessories Collection


[Source: Bentley]

Continue reading That's Rich: Bentley accessories include self-leveling wheel hubs, ridiculous baby seat

That's Rich: Bentley accessories include self-leveling wheel hubs, ridiculous baby seat originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bentleybentley accessoriesbentley accessories collectionbentley booster seatbentley car coverbentley child seatbentley continentalbentley continental car coverbentley continental supersportsbentley continental supersports car coverbentley flashlightbentley led flashlightbentley self-leveling wheel centerbentley self-leveling wheel hubsbentley supersportsbentley torchBentleyAccessoriesBentleyAccessoriesCollectionBentleyBoosterSeatBentleyCarCoverBentleyChildSeatBentleyContinentalBentleyContinentalCarCoverBentleyContinentalSupersportsBentleyContinentalSupersportsCarCoverBentleyFlashlightBentleyLedFlashlightBentleySelf-levelingWheelCenterBentleySelf-levelingWheelHubsBentleySupersportsBentleyTorchbooster seatBoosterSeatcar coverCarCoverchild seatChildSeatself-leveling wheel centerself-leveling wheel hubsSelf-levelingWheelCenterSelf-levelingWheelHubsThu, 12 Nov 2009 16:28:00 EST<![CDATA[REPORT: Federal laws keeping Volvo from offering safer child seats [w/POLL]]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/21/report-federal-laws-keeping-volvo-from-offering-safer-child-sea/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/21/report-federal-laws-keeping-volvo-from-offering-safer-child-sea/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/21/report-federal-laws-keeping-volvo-from-offering-safer-child-sea/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The safety-conscious folks over at Volvo have been hard at work with child seat maker Britax-Romer on developing a range of next-generation infant, child, and booster seats. And while the seats are going on sale elsewhere in the world, they apparently face an obstacle in the US: the National Higway Traffic Safety Administration. How's that? According to Inside Line, NHTSA mandates that every child seat must fit in every car, but the Volvo-branded seats have been developed to be Volvo-specific items, which means they can't be sold here - not even to Volvo owners.

According to an anonymous Inside Line source at Volvo:

"NHTSA has mandated that child seats cannot be vehicle-specific... every seat must fit every car - in our opinion, this just makes for an inferior seat.

The source goes on to say:

"We have requested rule changes by NHTSA and have been ignored. While NHTSA's rules certainly benefit all consumers, we have a solution that is the best solution for our cars.

Volvo's new infant and convertible child seats are highly adjustable and serve kids from newborns up to age six, with the latter seat able to keep older children facing the rear - something that hasn't previously been possible. The booster seat has eleven height settings and can serve kids up to age ten. The seats will go on sale in Europe and Asia this year, but Americans and Canadians are out of luck.

Be sure to check out the gallery below and vote in our "Is NHTSA right?" poll after the jump (where you can also read Volvo's full press release).


Gallery: Volvo Britax Car Seats


[Sources: Inside Line; Volvo]

Continue reading REPORT: Federal laws keeping Volvo from offering safer child seats [w/POLL]

REPORT: Federal laws keeping Volvo from offering safer child seats [w/POLL] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, we reported that the NHTSA was in the hot seat when it failed to report infant seat failures. Our post stemmed from a report in the Chicago Tribune following its investigation through thousands of buried National Highway Traffic Safety Administration test reports. The Tribune report raised more than a few eyebrows as it called into question current child seat safety standards, and accused the NHTSA of negligence in not reporting the poor results to the public.

SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A., a national non-profit organization dedicated to child passenger safety, was quick to issue a response in a effort to clear up the Tribune's alarming and sensational report. According to SBS, the infant/child seat manufacturers do exhaustive testing of new designs on computers before they ever get bolted to a test sled. Those tests, run at 30 mph into a rigid barrier (as required by FMVSS 213), "...are the equivalent of hitting another car at 60 mph and more severe than more than 95% of real-world crashes." As of today, the largest collection of consistently analyzed cases of children in crashes over a ten-year period was done by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The findings indicated that "...the chance of injury of an infant properly restrained in a correctly secured rear-facing seat is less than 1%." While no restraint system (adult, child, or infant) is optimal for every crash scenario, all studies still indicate that a properly restrained infant is going to fend very well in a real-world crash. Keep 'em buckled up!

[Source: CarSeat.org]

NHTSA in hot seat after troubling baby car seat test found - Part II originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Car SeatCarSeatChicago TribuneChicagoTribuneChild SeatChildrens HospitalChildrensHospitalChildSeatnational highway systemnational highway tra...national highway traffic safety administrationnational highway transportation safety administrationNationalHighwaySystemNationalHighwayTra...NationalHighwayTrafficSafetyAdministrationNationalHighwayTransportationSafetyAdministrationNHTSASafetyBeltSafeFri, 06 Mar 2009 09:58:00 EST<![CDATA[PSA: Evenflo recalls 1,000,000 Discovery car seats]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/07/psa-evenflo-recalls-1-000-000-discovery-car-seats/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/07/psa-evenflo-recalls-1-000-000-discovery-car-seats/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/07/psa-evenflo-recalls-1-000-000-discovery-car-seats/#commentsFiled under:

Evenflo DiscoveryEvenflo has announced a voluntary recall of 1 million of its Discovery car seats. Discovery seats with the model numbers 390, 391, 534 and 552 manufactured between April 2005 and January 29, 2008 are affected. If you currently own and/or use an Evenflo Discovery, you are advised to check the white label on the underside of the seat, where you'll find the pertinent information listed. The problem which caused Evenflo to issue the recall is that the possibility exists for the car seat to separate from its base in the event of an accident. Customers who have affected units and participate in the recall will be sent an additional fastener that corrects the problem.

Additional information and/or instructions can be found at these resources:

Evenflo's press release has also been copied after the jump.

[Source: CNNMoney]

Continue reading PSA: Evenflo recalls 1,000,000 Discovery car seats

PSA: Evenflo recalls 1,000,000 Discovery car seats originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>breakingcar seatCarSeatchild seatChildSeatevenflo car seat recallevenflo discoveryevenflo discovery recallEvenfloCarSeatRecallEvenfloDiscoveryEvenfloDiscoveryRecallrecallThu, 07 Feb 2008 10:57:00 EST<![CDATA[Honda applies Type R brand to child safety]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/07/honda-applies-type-r-brand-to-child-safety/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/07/honda-applies-type-r-brand-to-child-safety/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/07/honda-applies-type-r-brand-to-child-safety/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Type R child seat
Click image to enlarge

Type R child seatIn Japan, Honda markets a line of child safety seats through its dealer network, and today comes word that the automaker's going to leverage its well-known "Type R" brand for a limited-edition kiddie seat. Limited to just 300 units, the seat, as you would likely expect, is done in black and red. The main seating surface is covered in a perforated red fabric, while the side bolsters use a black suede-type material. An embroidered Type R logo is featured prominently across the top. The exclusivity comes at a steep price: ¥44,100 ($366 USD). The regular version of the seat it's based on goes for just ¥13,650 ($113 USD) by comparison.

[Source: Honda via Carview]

Gallery: Honda Type R Child Safety Seat

Honda applies Type R brand to child safety originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 May 2007 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>child safety seatchild seatChildSafetySeatChildSeattype rtype r child seatTypeRTypeRChildSeatMon, 07 May 2007 14:28:00 EST<![CDATA[Misunderstanding caused Consumer Reports child seat snafu]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/21/misunderstanding-caused-consumer-reports-child-seat-snafu/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/21/misunderstanding-caused-consumer-reports-child-seat-snafu/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/21/misunderstanding-caused-consumer-reports-child-seat-snafu/#commentsFiled under:



The independant review set up to study what went wrong in a controversial Consumer Reports test that found 10 out of 12 rear-facing child safety seats to be unsafe has concluded that a misunderstanding between the magazine and the lab caused the error.

The misunderstanding apparently revolves around how fast the crash was supposed to be versus how fast struck car would move after the impact. Since an impacted car moves at half the speed of the object it was struck by, the independant lab misunderstood its instructions by performing crash tests in which the struck vehicle was set to move at 38 mph by an object going twice that speed. Obviously, the instructions for the test meant for the crash to be conducted at 38 mph, a much more reasonable speed, resulting in the struck vehicle moving at 19 mph.

In order to avoid such misunderstandings in the future, president of CR's parent company Consumers Union, Jim Guest, will sign off on "any report that calls a product Not Acceptable or raises questions about an entire group of products." In addition, the independant review suggested that CR be more open when it devises new tests and consult outside experts.

As for the car seats that were wrongly judged to be unsafe, CR plans to retest them again, though this time with a frontal crash test. A new side-impact test is still being developed according to the report by the Detroit Free Press.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

Misunderstanding caused Consumer Reports child seat snafu originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>child safety seatschild seatChildSafetySeatsChildSeatconsumer reportsConsumerReportsreviewtestWed, 21 Mar 2007 12:02:00 EST<![CDATA[NHTSA makes Toyota modify seat latch recall]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/06/nhtsa-makes-toyota-modify-seat-latch-recall/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/06/nhtsa-makes-toyota-modify-seat-latch-recall/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/06/nhtsa-makes-toyota-modify-seat-latch-recall/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues to dog Toyota over a recall involving 157,000 Tundra Access Cab pickups sold between 2003 and 2005. The vehicles in question violate a 2002 NHTSA rule that requires vehicles with air bag shut off switches to have special latches in the front seats for child safety seats, which these trucks don't. Toyota asked for an exemption from the rule and was denied, at which point it decided to issue a recall to disable the air bag shut off switches and affix a new warning label that recommended parents place child safety seats in the back seat. Toyota went this way because engineering new child safety seat latches for the front passenger seat of the Tundra would be extremely expensive and difficult.

The NHTSA decided that disabling the airbag shut off switch would confuse owners, so now Toyota is forced to start over. This time the automaker will be sending a letter to all affected Tundra owners that explains the problem and urges owners to put children in the back seat. The letter will also inform owners that if they want new child safety seat latches in the front seats, they can request them from Toyota, which will retrofit fit them as soon as it figures out how to.

[Source: The Detroit Free Press]

Related Posts:

NHTSA makes Toyota modify seat latch recall originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>child seatChildSeatNHTSArecalltundraFri, 06 Oct 2006 18:05:00 EST<![CDATA[California to ban smoking in cars with kids]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/08/29/california-to-ban-smoking-in-cars-with-kids/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/08/29/california-to-ban-smoking-in-cars-with-kids/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/08/29/california-to-ban-smoking-in-cars-with-kids/#commentsFiled under:

Senators in California are close to passing a bill that would prohibit smoking in vehicles carrying children who are required by law to ride in a child seat. The bill proposed by Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) recently received a 23-14 vote that sent it back to the Assembly, and with our underdeveloped comprehension of state politics we can't really tell you how close that means the bill is to landing on the Governator's desk, but we think it's pretty close. And to think I was freaked out when I last visited California because I couldn't light up in a bowling alley. A bowling alley!

Proponents argue that the bill is an attempt to "protect the health of children who cannot protect themselves." We'll let that one go because we're sure you'll pick it up in the comments, but we will point out something else from the linked article, which is that on the same day the smoking ban was approved the California Senate shot down an alternative fuel bill. This bill would require that at least half of the vehicles sold in California be classified as clean-running alternative vehicles by 2020.

Why bring up both bills? Well, because it seems like the smoking ban bill is something that can be easily passed and forgotten about until election time, whereas the alternative fuel bill, which would join a host of other strict California emissions laws, would be a logistical nightmare. It would no doubt infuriate the auto industry to no end, which does still have some political clout in this country, as we're sure it's getting tired of the Golden State single-handedly setting this nation's environmental policy when it comes to autos.

Thanks for tip, James!

[Source: Mercury News]

California to ban smoking in cars with kids originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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