WORLD TRADE
CENTER, PENTAGON ATTACKED IN “DAY OF TERROR”
A
multi-pronged terrorist attack at the beginning of the work day on Sept. 11 has
left thousands of people dead in lower Manhattan and approximately 200 dead
outside Washington, D.C., in what has become known as the “Day of Terror” – the
single largest loss of life to terrorism on American soil. The attacks began
shortly after 9 a.m., when a hijacked American Airlines plane slammed into the
north tower of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan's financial district. A
United Airlines plane crashed into the second tower some 18 minutes later. A
third airplane, confirmed as another American plane, crashed into the Pentagon's
fourth, fifth and sixth wings, destroying an area 150 feet wide and five stories
tall and setting fire to the nerve center of the American military. A fourth
airplane, belonging to United Airlines, was lost some 80 miles outside
Pittsburgh, and is believed to have been kept from its target of Washington,
D.C., by the actions of several heroic passengers.
Do your part for the rescue and aid efforts
by contacting your local chapter of the Red Cross, www.redcross.org.
BIG
3 RALLY MONEY, EQUIPMENT FOR RESCUE EFFORTS
General
Motors, Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler are each pulling their massive
resources together to aid the victims and the rescue efforts from Tuesday’s
terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. GM’s General Motors Foundation
has donated $250,000 to the American Red Cross and is matching all employee
contributions to the Red Cross on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Additionally, GM
has fielded a fleet of trucks, vans and SUVs to aid workers in the recovery and
clean-up efforts. The DaimlerChrysler Foundation has made a $10 million donation
to help children who have lost parents in the attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon. DCAG Chairman Juergen Schrempp said, "The attacks have deeply
affected the lives and futures of many children who have lost a mother or
father. While this can never replace the void in these children’s lives, it can
help give them renewed hope." Ford is stepping up to the volunteer plate as
well, with Red Cross donations and vehicles, including sending 10 Excursion SUVs
out to assist the New York Fire Department.
Day of Terror:
Big 3 Shut Down by Joseph Szczesny
MIDSIZE SUVS EARN IMPROVED CRASH RATINGS
After crash testing eight new midsize
sport-utility vehicles, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) came
away impressed. The IIHS rates vehicles as being "good," "acceptable,"
"marginal," or "poor." The testing regimen is especially important because it
includes offset crash testing wherein the driver-side front end receives the
bulk of the impact, a more real-world imitation of the most frequent form of
collision. Results of the latest round of IIHS testing show that the 2001 Acura
MDX, 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Sport, 2001 Suzuki Grand Vitara XL-7 and 2001
Toyota Highlander all received the highest rating: good. The 2002 Buick
Rendezvous and 2002 Isuzu Axiom received "acceptable" ratings, while "marginal"
scores went to the 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer and 2001 Pontiac Aztek. The fact
that none of the eight SUVs tested as "poor" marks a significant improvement in
SUV safety engineering. The 2002 Ford Explorer was held back from testing while
the company makes engineering changes that may affect its crash-test
results.
Recall, Rollover
and Safety Info by TCC
Team (9/10/2001)
CR Likes the
Explorer by Joseph Szczesny
(8/13/2001)
GM MAKES IT
OFFICIAL: NO OLDSMOBILE AFTER 2004
Everybody
knew that General Motors Corporation was pulling the plug on Oldsmobile, but
until last Friday, nobody knew when. Now GM has made the official declaration
that Olds ends with the 2004 model year. In a terse written announcement, the
company said that "Oldsmobile production has remained unprofitable." This could
inspire one to ask how a company that sold 289,172 vehicles in 2000 could fail,
but there it is. The last Olds Intrigue and Aurora V-6 models will roll off the
line next June as 2002s. A year later, the V-8 Aurora will take its final bow as
a 2003 model. Only the Alero, Silhouette and Bravada will stick around for the
2004 model year. The end of Oldsmobile means that Mercedes-Benz will be the only
surviving automaker in the world to have built cars in three separate
centuries.
FORD AIMS AT MAKING SAFETY BELTS EVEN
SAFER
The
Chicago Tribune is reporting that
Ford Motor Company is working on a system that could innovate seat-belt safety.
The idea is a seat-belt shoulder strap that can inflate like an airbag in a
crash. According to Steve Rouhana, an engineer at Ford’s Safety Research Center
in Dearborn, Michigan, the belt would inflate and expand to spread the impact
harshness of a collision over a wider area of the torso. "Today’s belts are two
inches wide," Rouhana told the Tribune. "An inflatable belt would expand to six
inches wide. That would distribute your body weight over more of the belt so
that the belt would absorb more of the force of the impact."
Recall, Rollover
and Safety Info by TCC
Team (9/10/2001)
TCC Tip: Seatbelt
Safety by TCC Team
JUDGE BAGS RED-LIGHT CAMS
Red-light cameras might not disappear from the nation’s intersections, but a recent ruling by a San Diego judge gives manufacturers of the systems — and the police departments that use them to ticket red-light runners — reason to pause. On Sept. 5, San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald Styn threw out 292 tickets issued by red-light cameras made by Lockheed Martin and operated by the company on behalf of the San Diego police. Judge Styn, in a first of its kind ruling, said that the tickets were “untrustworthy and unreliable.” Central to the case, the judge observed, was the fact that the city gave Lockheed a $70 commission on each $271 ticket issued and collected. This violates a California state law that says private companies cannot be used to administer law enforcement programs — and cast into doubt Lockheed’s role as a "neutral evaluator of the evidence," Styn ruled. The ruling does not have to be applied directly in other jurisdictions, but it’s expected to have a wide impact on similar setups across the country.
Judge Bags Red-Light Cams by Marty Padgett (9/10/2001)
GM
OKAYS CADILLAC PERFORMANCE LINE
As
first reported by TheCarConnection last month, Cadillac is studying a
brand-within-a-brand of high-performance products, much like BMW’s M series.
That concept has just been given the go from General Motors’ Automotive Strategy
Board, confirms North American chief Ron Zarrella. The initial cost, insiders
reveal, will be under $100 million. The first product to market will be a
version of the new Cadillac CTS, likely bumped up to somewhere above 325
horsepower, hints brand manager Jay Spenchian. Look for it to hit showrooms in
18 to 24 months. "You have to start with something that really gets peoples’
attention," he says. Specific details are still under study, as is the name
Caddy will use. The debate is whether to tie up with a well-known partner, such
as Mercedes-Benz did with its AMG line-up, or keep things in house, as BMW did
with cars like the M5, and Audi does with its S series.
Preview: 2003
Cadillac CTS by TCC Team
(8/20/2001)
FORD'S
TH!NK AND DAIMLERCHRYSLER'S SMART COMING TO U.S.
North
America’s tepid response to electric vehicles has left carmakers scratching
their heads and wringing their hands, especially as government regulations keep
calling for less pollution and better fuel economy. Ford Motor Company and
DaimlerChrysler AG think that they might have an answer to the problem in the
old adage "Small is Beautiful." Ford plans on bringing its Th!nk Neighbor
electric city car to the U.S. later this year. With a top speed of 25 miles per
hour and a 30-mile range, the little Neighbor—coming in two- and four-door
versions—truly exists only as an errand and urban commute vehicle.
DaimlerChrysler’s two-seat Smart, on the other hand, is a bit more ambitious,
coming as it does out of the Mercedes-Benz philosophy of carmaking. Already a
hit with the youth of Europe, tiny Smarts powered by gasoline and diesel engines
dot the city streets in many German cities. EMotion Mobility of Atlanta, Georgia
is buying 15,000 Smarts from DaimlerChrysler in Germany and will convert them to
electric for use as short-trip rentals in high-traffic urban areas and
transportation centers.
The NEV Next
Door? by Frank Bohanan
(4/2/2001)
Panoz, DC in
Electric-Car Deal? by Marty Padgett
(8/20/2001)
MICHELIN TO
CUT 2,000 JOBS IN NORTH AMERICA
The
North American subsidiary of the world’s second largest tiremaker has announced
that it will do away with 2,000 jobs—approximately seven percent of its work
force—as part of a $200 million cost-cutting program. Michelin North America,
Inc. says that it expects the cuts to be felt at each of the company’s 23 North
American plants. The company blamed recent downturns in the transportation
industry for the changes, reflecting a worldwide slowdown that is forcing
Michelin’s parent company in France to pare down its personnel in Europe as
well.
AMERICA SAYS
"HANG UP AND DRIVE!" ACCORDING TO POLL
The
results of a new Harris poll released by the Advocates for Highway and Auto
Safety (AHAS) indicate that three out of four adults in the United States want
to see laws enacted restricting the use of cellular telephones while driving.
The survey, which also found that two thirds of the nation owns cell phones,
found that the cell-phone danger beat out drunk driving and intersection safety
as the Number One safety issue that respondents wanted addressed. The AHAS is a
consortium of consumer, health, safety and insurance interests.
NY Says Shut Up
and Drive by Joseph Szczesny
(7/2/2001)
NEW-VEHICLE
AFFORDABILITY INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT FOR YOUNGER BUYERS
During
the past 14 years, the under-35 age group has gone from a 37.3-percent share of
the light vehicle market (1988) to 24.4 percent in 2001--a loss of about
one-third. The reduction is even more significant for the under-25 age group who
went from 11.2 percent of the market (1988) to 6.0 percent (2001), a
reduction of 48 percent. This change in demographics could have major
implications for new-vehicle marketing, advertising and promotional
programs.
Source: J.D. Power and
Associates Power Car and Truck Media Reports
FIND OUT
WHAT YOUR CAR DID IN ITS PREVIOUS LIFE
Many
vehicles work hard for a living, but fleet cars and trucks have exceptionally
tough careers. When many of these vehicles are retired from fleet service they
are sold to the public. According to Experian Automotive's National Vehicle
Database, approximately one in 91 vehicles on the road are fleet vehicles. For
more information on how to gather crucial vehicle information, please go to www.e-autohistory.com.
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