Either the U.S. government is waging a personal war against Toyota or years of cutting corners have finally caught up to them.
A few hours ago the NHTSA announced the launch of an official investigation into complaints received regarding the rapid frame corrosion of relatively late model Toyota Tundra pickup trucks. According to reports, 20 complaints have been lodged so far detailing excessive rust damage and the NHTSA is concerned by the evidence that the rapid deterioration has resulted in fairly serious issues like spare tire separation and brake system defects.
The House has passed a bill, the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009, that might just lead to future new cars being made out of plastic. It still has to go through the Senate, but are we contemplating a future where we’re all driving polycarbonate cares with panel gaps larger than the federal deficit? Possibly … the bill calls for nearly $550 million per year in research into fuel-efficient cars and trucks that reduce dependence on petroleum. One of the funded projects is to have the Department of Energy demonstrate the production of “cost-effective lightweight materials such as advanced metal alloys, polymeric composites, and carbon fiber;” that is, plastics. Is the government going to require that your next Ford be an oversized Power Wheels car? More after the jump.
For all of you citrus-loving Prius owners out there, orange is the new green. Yokohama has developed a green, eco-friendly, gas-saving tire made out of oranges. Yup, those spherical objects that make your Orange Julius taste good and prevent scurvy are being recruited to help save the earth from performance driving. They’re called “db Super E-Specs” and they are most notable for replacing 80% of the synthetic, petroleum-based rubber in normal tire with a special compound made out of orange oil. If you really want to buff up on your green credentials, be sure to cover the back of your hybrid with pun-laden stickers that note that the Yokohamas are produced in a zero-emissions factory and have 10% less rolling resistance (we used to call rolling resistance “grip” before it became politically incorrect to have a car that could handle) than a conventional tire. What’s the catch? They cost a bit more, and they’re only made in three sizes that are compatible with several hybrid and compact cars. We assume they’ll stay in niche sizes, as we don’t know many hypermiling Nissan GTR owners.
Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that the US is a world leader in utilizing high-tech processes to produce some of the world’s most advanced steel for use in domestic cars. “Buy American!” ideologues aside, guy-on-the-street polling would probably reveal that most Americans think we get our advanced steel products from some country we either defeated or saved in WWII. Simply not true – if we do one thing right, it’s heavy high-strength metal. (We’ll pause here to let you crank up the Springsteen.) We’re not just talking stainless – the US is leading the way in incorporating such exotic steels, like dual-phase (DP) or transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP), which let domestic automakers build cars that are both safer and more fuel-efficient.
It kind of makes sense that lead is still the primary material used to make wheel balancing weights, as one of the heaviest metals and relatively cheap, but with the countless studies showing how the toxic metal causes severe health and environmental damage, perhaps it would make more sense to ban the stuff and come up with a less deadly alternative. That’s the main point of a new proposal by the E.P.A., which has overturned the previous agency policy of kissing the feet of lead industry lobbyists studying the issue further and is now going to follow the lead of European nations (who are of course way out ahead on this issue) and finally ban it from our roads. You see, the little SOBs keep flying off folks’ wheels, landing in estuaries and such, leading to frogs with 12 legs and an uncanny taste for Taco Bell nacho cheese … that sort of thing.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the groups that use and produce these weights aren’t screaming bloody murder. Maybe they sense that getting on the wrong side of a “lead issue” isn’t the best PR move, after that recent Chinese toy scandal. Steel and zinc are two alternatives that industrial weight manufacturers can switch to with relatively little disruption, although because these metals are lighter, they will lead to thicker and more expensive weights. Even Wal-Mart is voluntarily on board, saying they feel it’s “the right thing to do.” Look, when Wal-Mart signs on to a public health move, you know it’s a done deal. Anyways, bully to politicians, the EPA, and the relevant industries for actually doing the right thing here.
Whatever you think of the current Nurburgring hoopla/controversy, its undeniable that the Radical SR8LM is an unbelievable car. And while a lot of that is simply its bantamweight nature, another reason is the head-explodingly badass Powertec Engineering RPA Macroblock V8 lump nestled under the bodywork. Heavily based on Suzuki’s GSX-R 1300 Hayabusa engine, it’s a seriously developed and extremely lightweight powerplant that is begging to be shoved into anything it might possibly fit into, and possibly some things it won’t (you will get massive RideLust bonus points if you engineer a Macroblock R/C car, even if it is absurdly nonfunctional). But while the insane Mosler-esque visions we’re having of dual-RPA engined CRXs doing 4-wheel burnouts are almost pornographic in nature, the reality of the engine in its Radical SR8LM application is almost as titillating.
Despite their urgency to rid themselves of the under-performing brand, Ford apparently has no qualms helping themselves to Volvo’s wealth of cutting-edge technology. Fresh on the heels of the 2009 Ford Focus’ impressive win with the IIHS, Ford is again making headlines for yet another achievement in the field of automotive safety with the 2011 Ford Fiesta.
It’s that time again. Rust or Lust is back, and while we approved of the refined SC300 last week, this week we’re looking at a totally different animal – the last of the F-body Camaros. Better crank up the AC/DC and bust out your muscle shirt, because we’re taking a quick trip down the Highway to Hell.
I have a special place my heart for scrap yards, having worked at one for a few years. So I’m a fan of anything salvage-related. The carnage of ripping things apart can only be topped by putting those bits back together in a strange way, and making them work.
The artists of Transmutant are definitely salvage-related. They’re like a bizarre Euro version of a Burning Man version of Junkyard Wars. That’s a triple combination I can get into.
Fanboys rejoice (and for once, that includes us), the 2010 Chevy Camaro droptop has been revived. Last week, GM announced production of the 2010 Camaro droptop would indefinitely postponed as it appeared GM’s convertible-top supplier was in imminent danger of going under. Although tentatively citing 2011 as a future launch date, sources cautioned that finding a replacement supplier was easier said than done, and the Camaro convertible might very well find itself sharing garage space with the Dodge Challenger convertible. Thanks to the $5 billion-dollar Supplier Support Program hastily introduced by Congress last week, however, GM’s Germany-based supplier has been miraculously pulled from the brink of bankruptcy. With their supplier back on board, GM has once again moved the Camaro convertible to the front of the assembly line, but it’ll still have to wait its turn. Despite initial rumors of a summer 2010 drop date, GM doesn’t expect the new open-top Camaro to hit dealer lots until early 2011.
Unfortunately, although the Camaro convertible was saved from certain extinction, the super-performance 2010 Camaro Z28 was not. Shelved alongside the convertible, the complications with the Z28’s production schedule run much deeper than a simple supplier issue. Expected to receive a revised version of the Corvette ZR1’s supercharged V8, the Camaro Z28 has been heralded as critical to GM’s success in competing against the likes of the Shelby Mustang. With a production costs estimated at a staggering $50 million, however, GM can’t afford to breathe life back into the project and has confirmed that the Camaro Z28 will remain cancelled.
