After a long, grueling slog through both houses of Congress, the highly anticipated, two-year surface transportation bill has finally passed. But now that it's been hacked to shreds by the House and the Senate, then stitched back together in joint committee, what, exactly, is in it? Hard to say...Read More»
Gentlemen: on a scale of one to ten, how much do you value your relationship with your wife? Girlfriend? Mother? Sister? Female co-workers? If you answered more than, say, a five, you might want to skip this article entirely, because it could get you into a lot of trouble. You see, the National...Read More»
If the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has its way, new cars, trucks, and SUVs will soon come with brake-override systems. That's according to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that the agency has posted to its website (PDF). If you follow the news, you can probably guess the...Read More»
What if the traditional pedal setup, with an accelerator and brake adjacent and just a couple of inches apart, typically, isn't such a great idea after all? Japanese inventor Masuyuki Naruse doesn't think it is, and argues that it can cause drivers to mistake the accelerator for the brake, in...Read More»
American Honda has announced that it will be installing a brake-override system on all of its Honda- and Acura-brand vehicles for the North American market by the end of 2011. The device would, quite simply, allow the brake pedal to override any throttle input returning the engine to idle or near...Read More»
If you've at all mused that someday Capitol Hill will try to legislate stopping distances, take a deep breath as that time has come—well, almost. All those weighty congressional hearings this past winter have come to fruition—from the House last week, and now the Senate—in freshly drafted...Read More»
Mazda Motor Corp. (7261:JP) plans to install so-called smart throttles—incorporating brake overrides—in all of its future models, reported Automotive News, citing automaker officials in Japan. The move appears to be a purely preemptive measure, or an added safety feature, as the Japanese...Read More»
