To meet the Federal Motor Safety Standard No. 108, a vehicle’s rear turn signal at present can be either amber or red. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking for the public’s opinion on a proposed regulation that would mandate vehicle rear turn signal to be amber-colored only.

This regulation was made after a study proved that amber lights are 5.3% more effective than red turn signals in preventing crashes. The study focused on vehicles that switched rear turn signal color from one model year to the next. Though 5.3 seem like a small percentage, NHTSA believes that it is statistically significant.

European countries already require that rear turn signals be amber.

Public comment for the proposed regulation will be accepted until Sept. 6.

Info Source: KickingTires
Image Source: egmCarTech

Ford doesn’t want to go unnoticed this time. Yes, this automaker wants to tell the world that it has produced its 100,000th hybrid SUV. It was a silver 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid, which rolled down the assembly line at the Blue Oval’s Assembly Plant in Kansas City.

The world’s first hybrid SUVs - the Ford Escape Hybrid and twin Mercury Mariner Hybrid - are considered the most fuel-efficient SUV on the market. These SUVs have a fuel economy rating of 34 mpg in the city, 31 mpg in the highway. They will soon be joined by the 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrids, the most fuel efficient midsize sedans in the United States, delivering 41 mpg city driving and 36 mpg highway.

That’s not all. The company also revealed its plan to bring next generation hybrids, pure battery-electric vehicles, plus a plug-in hybrid to the automotive market by 2012.

Image Credit: motorauthority

Press Release

[Source: Nissan]

As production of the European specification Nissan GT-R begins in its Tochigi plant in Japan this month, a raft of small but significant changes have been made to the car as part of its kaizen – continuous improvement – philosophy.

The GT-R’s hand-built 3.8-litre V6 twin-turbo engine has gained 5PS thanks to some fine tuning of its electronics, taking power output to 485PS, while torque remains unchanged at 588Nm. Additionally, Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyres will be fitted as standard. The tyre was developed specifically for the GT-R and it combines grip and durability, as demonstrated during its ‘time-attack’ lap of the Nurburgring, which yielded a time of 7 minutes 29 seconds. And, just to improve the ride performance even further a modification has been carried out to the suspension spring rate settings.

Another update sees the introduction of the Gun Metal grey coloured Rays seven-spoke alloy wheel design for the standard and Premium Edition GT-Rs, while the Black Edition will be fitted with the same design but, appropriately, in black. Additionally, customers can now choose a new pearl white called ‘Storm’ as an exterior colour – an eye-catching, deep white replacing the original pearl white which had a slightly darker shade.

For customers ordering now, the price of the GT-R will start from £56,795 on the road with an increase of £1300 for the Premium Edition (£58,095) and another £1300 for the Black Edition (£59,395). This represents an increase of 3.8 percent.

Deliveries of the GT-R will begin in April through a network of Nissan High Performance Centres, where customers will have contact with highly-trained staff who share their enthusiasm for the GT-R’s unique blend of accessible performance, striking design and state-of-the-art technology.

To date, Nissan has taken in excess of 2500 customer orders in Europe with 1200 coming from the UK. Any new customer orders should expect delivery in mid 2010.

For a vehicle to qualify for the Top Safety Pick Award, it should have electronic stability control (ESC). Just what is electronic stability control? This is considered as one of the greatest enhancements in vehicle safety. According to IIHS:

Electronic stability control senses when a driver may lose control and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to keep the vehicle stable and avoid a rollover. It helps motorists avoid skidding across icy or slick roads or keep control when swerving to avoid an unexpected object in the road.

Unlike airbags, which only assist you in times of collision, ESC will guide you so you won’t loss control of your vehicle at high speed. It will help you stay in control of your automobile during emergency maneuvers such as coming into a bend too fast, swerving, skidding, or braking suddenly to avoid an obstacle. This means that ESC will assist the driver even without sending out commands to the vehicle.

So you may now ask, how does ESC do this very important task? ESC keeps an eye on your steering versus the vehicle’s direction. When it senses that the two factors do not match, the ESC will automatically actuate the brakes in the appropriate wheel for short periods of time and will reduce engine power.

Electronic Stability Control is such a great feature for your ride. It assists you at times when you need to be in control of your vehicle. It will make sure that you and your vehicle are on the safe side and not towards danger even if your ride oversteers or understeers.

Image Credit: conti-online