Autoblog

California recently banned talking on cellphones, and then followed up by making texting illegal, while driving. For a moment there, it was looking like all you were going to be able to do behind the wheel in California was, you know, drive. But thanks to the dedication of Governor Schwarzenegger, individual freedoms have not been extinguished. Promising to only sign bills that are "the highest priority for California," Arnie vetoed a bill that would ban driving with dogs in your lap.

While we understand the spirit of the veto -- California does have much bigger issues to deal with than lapdogs -- we do sometimes wonder why a 40-pound kid has to be in a child seat, but a 40-pound, unpredictable animal can take a nap between you and the steering wheel.

[Source: AP, | Photo CC | Credit: Katrinkles]

If residents in several cities in Clark County, Washington want to get their cars clean, they could soon be forced to do it at retail car washes. According to an employee at the Washington state Department of Ecology, the state wants "people to make the connection of 'what goes on the street goes into the creek.'" And soapy car wash residue is something they don't want in the creek.

The state wants the cities to come up with a way to keep any water that isn't rain water from getting into the environment without being treated. The cities, about a dozen in all, say that's crazy, and have threatened to sue the state for trying to enact measures that exceed federal Clean Water Act.

The state suggests that if people still want to clean their cars, that they don't use soap with phosphorus, and wash their cars on gravel or grass where the water will be filtered by the soil. That's ironic, because part of the state's measure also requires sprinkler water to be captured and treated. Residents could always try the state's other option: don't use soap at all.

[Source: Next Autos, Photo CC | Credit: Koop]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Ford Flex.

Ford has made safety one of its top priorities, and its efforts have paid off. Not only does the Blue Oval have more five-star crash rated vehicles than any other automaker, but it's added another notch to its safety belt with NHTSA giving the Flex five stars for both front and side impact tests. A front crash impact score of five stars means that there is a 10% or less chance of serious injury at 35 mph, and the five star side impact score indicates a 5% chance of serious injury at 38.5 mph. The Flex comes standard with dual front air bags, headliner mounted side curtain air bags, traction and stability control, and tire pressure monitoring, which helps with NHTSA scoring. The Flex also received four stars for rollover protection, tying the CUV for best in class in the crossover segment.

With a Volvo-derived platform and plenty of heft, we're not surprised the Flex achieved a five-star score in NHTSA testing. Then again, it doesn't hurt that just about every automaker engineers all new cars and trucks specifically to score well on the Fed's tests. Hit the jump to view Ford's press release.


[Source: Ford]

The idea of having Uncle Sam come after you for back taxes is an unpleasant thought for any American. It's another story altogether when the feds are the ones doling out the Benjamins, though, as Ford is learning. The Blue Oval is officially suing the government for $445 million in overpaid taxes between 1983 and 1989 and again from 1992 to 1994. Ford wasn't overly excited about filing a lawsuit against the IRS, but due to the overwhelming amount of money involved and the fact that Ford can use all the cash it can get its hands on, the company felt it had little choice. The government actually claims to have paid the money in full, but Ford contends that the interest was not fully repaid. Considering that the additional interest was nearly half a billion dollars, we're guessing Ford really overpaid back in the day.

[Source: Detroit News]

Click above for a photo gallery of the Jeep J8

Unless you're a foreign military, government, or humanitarian organization, you're not getting your hands on the Jeep J8, a vehicle we think a number of Jeepers would be all over in about two seconds if it were to be offered in neighborhood dealerships. Available as a two-door pickup (above) or a four-door (like the civilian Wrangler Unlimited), the J8 goes on sale this month and was officially revealed at Euro Camp Jeep '08 in Germany.

Power comes from a 150-horse turbodiesel with 295 lb-ft of torque, with that juice going to all four wheels via a five-speed auto and Jeep's Command-Trac 4WD. The J8's built to be a workhorse, with a Dana 60 rear, leaf springs in back, upgraded brakes, and a revamped intake that lets it ford 30 inches of water and handle a sandstorm lasting up to five hours. Its max payload is 2,750 pounds, and it has a towing capacity of over 7,700 pounds. Because the J8's duties will vary depending upon who's placing the order, a variety of cargo and seating configurations are offered, as is left- or right-hand-drive. All this, and no, you can't order one. Yes, that sucks.


[Source: Chrysler]

If you're of the opinion that the religious right has too much influence on American politics, you should check out Saudi Arabia. The royal family has relied for decades on the support of fundamentalist Wahabi clerics who, in return for their support to the ibn Saud regime, have insisted on ever more stringent laws. Among those measures has been a strict ban prohibiting women from driving that has been in effect for 75 years since the founding of Saudi Arabia in 1932, but the Saudi government is finally preparing to lift the ban.

The government decision reportedly stems from an effort to placate a mounting women's lib movement, whose activists have been mounting rolling demonstrations by leading convoys of women driving around in the kingdom despite the law prohibiting them from obtaining driver's licenses or automobile insurance. According to the Saudi government, the ban will be lifted by the end of the year. Critics point out, however, that previous government commitments towards reform have not been met.

[Source: The Daily Telegraph via Instapundit, Photo by HASSAN AMMAR/AFP/Getty]

Only days before heading to bankruptcy court, Italian engineering firm and carrozzeria Bertone revealed that it was about to pull a last-minute trick out of its sleeve in an announcement later that day. But when the announcement didn't come, the industry was left wondering if, after 95 years in business, Bertone was about to slip away.

The company's chairwoman and family scion Lili Bertone, however, announced last night that her company would be sold to Gruppo Prototipo chief Domenico Reviglio. Likewise based in Turin, Gruppo Prototipo focuses on testing pre-production vehicle prototypes. It owns the famous Nardo high-speed test facility, and since the late '90s has been the sub-contractor for most of the Fiat Group's testing requirements.

The announcement came as a surprise to the Italian business community, which widely believed negotiations with business mogul Gianmario Rossignolo were near conclusion. Previous negotiations with Fiat had fallen through, and Bertone has a workforce of 1,300 to support despite the lack of contracts to sustain the company. The Italian government, meanwhile, has opted to extend the two-year financial protection it had granted Bertone for an additional two months.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

The federal government has gotten more interested in greenhouse gases, and as a result there has been a lot of tough talk concerning raised CAFE numbers. Much less time has been devoted to reducing CO2, which is the single largest contributor to global warming. Now that the spotlight is shining squarely on emissions, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has thrown out the 2008-2011 CAFE rating for light trucks. The 2008-2011 changes represented the largest jump in fuel economy in the history of CAFE, with MPG going from 22.2 to 24, but with the growing problem of greenhouse gases, that obviously didn't go far enough for the courts.

While better fuel economy and less harmful emissions coming from light trucks would be a welcome sight to all, changing the rules after 2008 trucks are already on the streets sounds a bit ridiculous. It isn't like automakers can easily change course for 2011, since much of the product plans are already set in stone. It has been 19 months since the new CAFE standards were introduced, which makes this seem more like an effort to get automakers to chase their own tails.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Charges of anti-Americanism have followed the transmittal of an e-mail from the US Department of Health and Human Services to 67,000 federal workers. The e-mail, written by an unnamed member of the department, gives advice on buying a personal car and suggests making fuel efficiency the first consideration, citing the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid and Nissan Altima Hybrid by name. Then, based on a list from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, it suggests 12 cars to look at, all of them imports. It also specifically recommends staying away from SUVs.

[Source: Detroit News]

Congress asked the NHTSA to put together a report on electronic measures available in vehicles to help prevent fatalities from people being backed over. The NHTSA doesn't have exact stats on how many people are killed in these kinds of accidents because they mostly happen on private property. However, the agency does have a clear take on what it thinks of reversing cameras: they are "expensive, unreliable, and [give] drivers a false sense of security."

Some commentators have taken that to mean that there is something wrong with reversing cameras, in columns with titles like "Rear-View Cameras Not Foolproof." To put it simply: nothing is foolproof. True, there are rear view camera systems that don't provide much field-of-view or no nighttime visibility. And the gigantic backsides of some SUV's can make it difficult to get everything in the rather small screen used for the navi. Nevertheless, rear-view cameras are meant to be an aid to sound driving, not a preventive that can assure you never run over anyone when you reverse as long as you're looking at the screen.

The NHTSA is working on getting better numbers, but in the mean time it "plans to work to improve the use of detection systems to potentially help alert drivers to backovers."

[Source: Yahoo!]