Continue reading Hybrid drivers are safer from injury in a crash

Hybrid drivers are safer from injury in a crash originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

REPORT: The future of the BMW 3 Series originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Environmentally-friendly California is putting an end to lead balancing weights on wheels and tires. The heavy metal neurotoxin is polluting the state's ground water supplies, according to the Center for Environmental Health. The group claims that more than 500,000 pounds of lead weights are inadvertently flung off wheels each year, making it the state's leading cause of environmental lead contamination. Under a court settlement approved this week, Chrysler and the three largest lead weight wheel manufacturers will all phase out lead in wheel weights by the end of 2009. While California is taking the initiative in this country, we are still years behind the European Union, which banned lead weights in 2005. With lead on the chopping block, future wheel weights will be made from either steel or zinc alloy. Those metal weights are larger and more expensive to produce than lead, but much safer for Mother Earth.

[Source: Business Week]

Lead wheel weights meet their demise in California originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The weight difference is more significant than many think. In fact, it has been estimated that a 65-pound weight difference could mean as much as a 1-mph advantage during a race. To even the field, the new rule will divide the drivers into three categories. The heavy group get weight cut, while the lightest group will get ballast added - to the vehicle's chassis, not the driver's derrière. We don't want to affect Danica's swimsuit modeling career, do we?

[Source: Inside Line, Photo by Darrell Ingham/Getty]

New IRL rule weighs heavy on Danica Patrick originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading How the new Mazda2 shed the pounds

How the new Mazda2 shed the pounds originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Jul 2007 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There are still some carmakers using innovative packaging and better technology to make new models lighter. Mazda lopped off a massive 100kg from its already super-small Mazda2 model, and the new Audi TT is lighter than the outgoing car thanks to an aluminum spaceframe construction.

Vehicles keep piling on the pounds originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ferrari makes commitment to green performance with FXX Millechili concept

Ferrari makes commitment to green performance with FXX Millechili concept originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pop quiz: if you're driving an H2 and you see a sign forbidding vehicles above 6,000 pounds to use a street, do you avoid that street? Neither does anyone else. In a sarcastic, meandering article touching on carbon dioxide, gasoline, SUV-haters, municipal codes, and testosterone, the LA Times looks at the genesis of road weight restrictions and how SUV's trample on them.

The California Motor Vehicle Code has all sorts of byzantine rules applicable to different kinds of trucks and what roads they can use. Certain roads and bridges are explicitly off limits to vehicles weighing more than three tons. But those rules were made when nobody expected the random businessman, housewife, or athlete to be driving a vehicle weighing more than three tons just for the heck of it. (FYI, a half-ton Suburban weighs more than 7,000 pounds before the first soccer mom gets in.)

But in spite of the proverbial legal limbo, a city spokesman said the rule applies, in general, to "business and commercial trucks." Even better, he was backed up by a pickup-truck-driving LAPD officer who let everyone off the hook by saying "We are not going to cite somebody for driving an SUV down the street." Roll on, ladies and gentlemen, roll on.

Thanks for the tip, Stedwoo!

[Source: LA Times]

Weight watchers: Are heavy trucks and SUVs illegal on some California roads? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Worth its weight? ShurTrax could keep your pickup planted originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Excess weight is the enemy of every automobile. Extra pounds will make a car slower at the top end, more sluggish off the line, wobblier in the corners, more lethargic under braking, guzzle more gas and expel more toxic fumes...among other problems. It can render an otherwise great car imperfect. Case in point: the US-bound Italian beauty, the Alfa Romeo 159.

The 159 is, as we've said time and time again, one of - if not the - most beautiful sedans on the market. Unfortunately its performance has not been quite up to par with its drop-dead gorgeous looks. And the more powerful V6-powered all-wheel-drive Q4 version only adds another 200kg to the problem. But Alfa's working on it, announcing a two-stage weight-loss program for the 159. The first stage will take some extra pounds off the body, chassis and suspension using lightweight construction materials such as aluminum. The second stage will be marked in 2008 with the introduction of a new lightweight five-cylinder turbodiesel.

Of course the same problems plague the 159's sisters, the Brera and Spider, but while the lightweight diesel is almost certain to find its way into the shapely two-doors, there's no word yet on whether the first stage weight loss will hit them, too. Now, nobody wanted to resort to taking the 159 off of pasta and pizza, so next time, Alfa, just watch the weight from the start, alright?

[Source: Motor Authority]

Alfa puts the 159 on Atkins originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just as Americans continue to get fatter, so do our cars. According to the EPA, the average weight of a new vehicle in 2006 is a whopping 4,142 lbs - that's up a quarter-ton from ten years ago, and is the heaviest yet since the EPA began tracking the statistic in 1975. Not only does weight hurt fuel economy, but it also drags down performance. Adding additional horsepower is easy nowadays, but that of course hits economy a second time. The end result is that fuel economy improvements have stalled in the last decade, despite vastly improved engine technology.

This has prompted automakers to consider a variety of diet plans. The supplier of trim moldings for Buick's Lucerne managed to cut a whopping five pounds out of that vehicle's plastic and rubber trim, while the aluminum hood and deck of Chrysler's LX vehicles are said to shave 15-20 lbs. Such improvements seem minor, but when repeated several times throughout the vehicle, substantial gains can be had.

Of course, like any weight-loss program, it's much easier to put the weight on than it is to take it off, so the situation is unlikely to improve substantially until buyers accept a compromise in power, features, safety, size, or price. The likelihood of that, even at over $3/gallon, seems quite low at this time.

[Source: Autoweek/Automotive News]

Automakers toil to drop a few pounds originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.