Top 20 Safety Features

The most significant and sought-after technology on modern vehicles makes the road safer for drivers, passengers, pedestrians and even animals.

We now have vehicles that can park themselves, car radios that can hold enough music for a cross-country trip and climate controls that can measure occupants' body temperature. But of all the great gadgets on cars these days, safety technology is by far the most vital—and the most in demand.
In a 2006 survey of 500 consumers conducted by Accenture, more than two-thirds of respondents ranked safety as the most important technology to have in their automobiles, and seven out of 10 were willing to pay extra for safety features. Accenture is the largest consulting firm in the world and is one of the largest computer sciences and software companies on the Fortune Global 500 list.

Safety technology has experienced a quantum leap in the last few years, with advances spurred by the government in an effort to lessen loss of life and injury, as well as automakers seeking a competitive edge. But it's equally driven by consumer awareness.

"Auto safety took a big step forward in the '90s, when there was a high awareness of ABS brakes and airbags," notes Charlie Vogelhiem, vice president, automotive development, with J.D. Power and Associates. "We saw that when people had a vehicle that didn't have airbags, for example, they were less inclined to keep it."

Below we highlight the top 20 auto-safety technologies currently available, ranging from the common to the cutting-edge. And if auto-safety tech follows the typical pattern, even innovative features currently found only on higher-end cars should trickle down to more affordable automobiles. "As consumers replace their existing vehicles and the technology price tag continues to decline," explains Accenture's Richard Spitzer, "[safety features] will be part of the deciding factor in the car purchase decision."

Pre-Collision Systems
This technology uses various methods to sense and prepare for a collision. When a sensor signals an impending crash, the system takes preemptive action such as pre-tensioning the seat belts, preloading the brakes and even aligning airbags to better protect occupants.

Electronic Stability Control
To help drivers maintain control, ESC compares steering and braking inputs with the car's lateral acceleration, rotation and individual wheel speeds. If a difference in the driver's intended path and that of the car is detected, brakes can be automatically applied and the throttle can be dialed back until the vehicle is back on track.

Brake Assist
This technology resulted from a study that determined that most drivers do not push the brake pedal hard enough in emergency situations. So when sensors detect "panic" braking, Brake Assist applies maximum brake boost and therefore decreases stopping distance.

Dynamic Head Restraints
Few people adjust their car's headrests properly to prevent whiplash, so some vehicles now come with active head restraints that move into more effective positions when a car is rear-ended. Volvo's Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS) and Saab's Active Head Restraint (SAHR) go a step further by getting the seats to help in mitigating whiplash injuries.

Dual-Stage Airbags
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stipulated that all passenger cars and light trucks produced after September 2006 must include passenger-side front airbags that are automatically enabled or disabled depending on whether a front passenger is detected (typically by seat sensors), and some now deploy in stages depending on the severity of a crash or the weight of the front-seat passenger.

Side and Supplemental Airbags
Side airbags can greatly reduce injuries, since occupants are often more vulnerable than in front- or rear-end crashes, where there's more of a "crumple" zone to protect them. Side airbags are not mandated by the NHTSA, however, and auto manufacturers can decide where and how to deploy them, and whether they're a standard or optional feature. Some luxury cars also include supplemental airbags, such as with BMW's Active Knee Protection and Head Protection systems.

Blind Spot Warning Indication
The Volvo S80's Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) uses a camera on each side-view mirror to scan a driver's no-see zone and indicators in the corners of the front windows alert the driver to the presence of vehicles. The Side Assist in the Audi Q7 and Side Blind Zone Alert in the 2008 Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS and STS work in much the same fashion, except the indicators are located on the side-view mirrors, and GM's system use radar instead of cameras.

Lane Departure Warning System
Infiniti's Lane Departure Warning (LDW) System uses a camera in the rearview mirror to detect when the vehicle gets close to the lane marker and sounds an audible warning. GM will also offer the technology on the 2008 Cadillac DTS and STS, and Buick Lucerne.




Night-Vision Camera System
Hitting an animal or pedestrian while driving after dark is an accident night-vision cameras can help prevent. BMW's night-vision system senses thermal energy and Mercedes' projects infrared light in front of the vehicle, and both show night-vision images on a screen in the dash.

Adaptive Headlights
This technology directs light from the headlights in the direction that the steering wheel is turned, to help illuminate where the driver intends the car to go. A feature currently found only on higher-end cars, adaptive headlights will likely trickle down to more affordable vehicles.

Tire-Pressure Monitor
Starting in the 2008 model year, the Feds will require all new vehicles to include tire-pressure-monitoring systems, which use sensors to provide information on tire inflation to a display in the instrument panel. Vehicles ranging from sports cars to SUVs already allow drivers to check tire pressure on the fly, and some show pressure in individual tires.

Rollover Protection
Manufacturers first offered airbag systems that inflate from the headliner or ceiling in top-heavy SUVs to protect occupants in case of a rollover. Ford's Safety Canopy, for example, covers 65 percent of the window surface in the first two rows of seats in Ford, Mercury and Lincoln SUVs, and the system is also available on the Volvo and Land Rover SUVs, as well as on the Ford Freestyle, Five Hundred, Mercury Montego and the Volvo C70 convertible.

Head-Up Display
Looking away from the road for even a few seconds can be dangerous. By projecting vital information from the speedometer, tach or navigation system on the windshield, a head-up display (HUD) allows drivers to keep their eyes straight ahead.

Bluetooth Hands-Free Phone System
While head-up displays let you keep your eyes on the road, Bluetooth lets you keep your hands on the wheel when using a mobile phone. The technology establishes a wireless connection with a compatible phone so that calls can be made and received using buttons on the steering wheel and voice commands.

Voice Activation
Using voice activation, you can change a radio station or adjust the volume on the audio system, raise and lower the temperature of the climate control, even enter destinations into a nav system—all without lifting a hand off of the wheel.

Navigation Systems
GPS navigation systems take the guesswork out of getting where you're going—and are much safer than reading a map behind the wheel. They issue turn-by-turn guidance and will reroute you if you miss a turn.

Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive Cruise Control automatically keeps a safe distance between you and the car ahead so that the driver doesn't constantly have to adjust the speed. A radar sensor monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front of you, and most systems allow selecting a gap with which you're most comfortable.

Rearview Camera
Rear-vision cameras first appeared on super-sized SUVs to help drivers see behind the vehicles. But they are now available on luxury and sports cars as well as minivans and crossovers. Some also include visual aids that allow aligning a vehicle with an intended parking spot.

Obstacle Sensors
As with rear-vision cameras, obstacle sensors can help make you aware of objects you wouldn't normally see. The systems detect objects in close proximity to the vehicle and issue audible and/or visual warnings.

Emergency Response
OnStar and similar telematics services are known for "concierge" features such as unlocking doors and providing directions. But in the case of an accident they can pinpoint your location and detect if an airbag has deployed so that emergency personnel can respond accordingly.

Heartbeat Monitor
The key fob remote for the 2007 Volvo S80 will not only tell you if someone has broken into the vehicle while you were away, but a heartbeat sensor will alert you if someone is hiding inside.

While safety technology can save lives, features such as electronic stability control can also give drivers a false sense of security. "People may not understand that if you don't maintain your brakes, for example, the stability control won't work properly," maintains Lauren Fit, a.k.a., The Car Coach. And while safety technology compensates for human error, it can't make up for lack of common sense. "Nothing takes the place of putting down the phone and paying attention to what you're doing," remarks J.D. Power's Charlie Vogelheim.
(C)MSN

If you drink, you can't drive these Nissans

Beer-breaths, beware.

A new concept car with breathalyzer-like detection systems may provide even greater traction for Japanese efforts to keep impaired drivers off the road.

Nissan's alcohol-detection sensors check odor, sweat and driver awareness, issuing a voice alert from the navigation system and locking up the ignition if necessary.

Odor sensors on the driver and passenger seats read alcohol levels, while a detector in the gear-shift knob measures the perspiration of the driver's palm when starting the car.

Other carmakers with detection systems include Sweden's Volvo , which has developed technology in which drivers blow into a measuring unit in the seat belt before an engine can start.

But Nissan's car includes a mounted camera that monitors alertness by eye scan, ringing bells and issuing a voice message in Japanese or English if a driver should pull over and rest.

The car technology is still in development, but general manager Kazuhiro Doi says the combination of detection systems will ultimately keep an eye on who's behind the wheel.

"We've placed odor detectors and a sweat sensor on the gear shift, but for example if the gear-shift sensor was bypassed by a passenger using it instead of the driver, the facial recognition system would be used," said Doi.

Also keeping a short leash on drivers, car seat belts tighten if drowsiness is detected, while an on-road monitor checks if a car is keeping its lane properly.

Japan's No. 3 carmaker, which competes with Toyota and Honda, has no specific timetable for marketing, but aims to yoke all technology to cut the number of fatalities involving its vehicles to half 1995 levels by 2015.

Nissan's Doi says they still have to distill exactly what impairment means: "If you drink one beer, it's going to register, so we need to study what's the appropriate level for the system to activate."
(C)Reuters

Hybrid lovers: The honeymoon may be over

As the reality of fuel efficiency sinks in, fewer new car buyers are considering a hybrid, according to J.D. Power.

The percentage of car shoppers considering hybrid vehicles has declined in the past year, according to a survey released Tuesday by J.D. Power and Associates.

Fifty percent of new vehicle shoppers surveyed said they are considering a gasoline/hybrid electric vehicle. That's down from 57 percent last year.

"In the 2006 study, we found consumers often overestimated the fuel efficiency of hybrid-electric vehicles, and the decrease in consideration of hybrids in 2007 may be a result of their more realistic understanding of the actual fuel economy capabilities," said Mike Marshall, director of automotive emerging technologies at J.D. Power.

Interest in hybrid vehicles declined the most among younger shoppers. Last year, 73 percent of car shoppers between ages 16 and 25 said they were interested in a hybrid vehicle. This year, 60 percent were.

Car shoppers also said they were willing to pay an extra $2,396 for a hybrid powertrain while expecting a fuel economy improvement of 18.5 miles per gallon.

Meanwhile, consideration for diesel-powered vehicles stands at 23 percent. Last year, only 12 percent of car shoppers considered purchasing one. New clean-diesel models, which have much cleaner exhaust than older versions, have just begun appearing on the market this year along with the low-sulfur diesel fuel needed to run them.

Shoppers expected to pay $1,491 extra for a diesel powertrain. They also expected to get about 15 mpg better fuel economy.

"As the automotive industry steadily offers more alternative powertrain/fuel options to consumers, buyer preferences will continue to shift the market in the coming years," said Marshall. "

The consumer research company also released an Automotive Environmental Index which ranks auto companies and specific models according to their fuel economy and emissions as determined by data from the Environmental Protection Agency and vehicle owners.

Toyota was the highest-ranking car brand in J.D. Power's Automotive Environmental Index, followed by Volkswagen and Honda. This is the second year J.D. Power has released that Index and Toyota has moved up six rank positions since last year.

The index is based on a car's emissions as reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its fuel economy as reported by the EPA and by drivers responding to a separate survey by J.D. Power.

Of the top 30 vehicles in the J.D. Power index, 10 were hybrids from Ford, General Motors and Toyota.

Toyota, including its Lexus luxury brand, had more vehicles in the list than any other manufacturer.
(C)CNN

Plug-In Hybrids a Solution to Global Warming

The first major analysis of the potential impact of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles has found the widespread adoption of such cars and trucks would dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and improve air quality.

By 2050, plug-in hybrids, or PHEVS, could eliminate 450 million metric tons of CO2 annually - the equivalent of taking 82.5 million conventional cars, or a third of the nation's current fleet - off the road. That would also cut oil consumption by nearly 4 million barrels a day. Assuming PHEVs hit the market by 2010, and depending on sales of the cars, the total reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 would 3.4 to 10.3 billion metric tons, according to the study conducted by the non-profit Electric Power Research Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study was based on sophisticated computer modeling of the U.S. power grid and transportation system.

"What we’re talking about today is potentially a very, very large effect," said John Bryson, CEO of utility giant Edison International (EIX), during a press conference in Washington, D.C. this morning. Utilities like Edison, PG&E (PCG) and Austin Energy have taken the lead in pushing automakers to get in gear on plug-in hybrids.

Even if plug-in hybrids become the dominant form of transportation they would only spike electricity demand by five to eight percent, researchers said, because most car owners probably will charge their vehicles at night when power plants are idle or under-utilized. The study's computer models considered various scenarios, from a high CO2-intensive grid to a greener one as well as plug-in hybrids with varying ranges and sales. But even if plug-in hybrids made up only 20 percent of the nation's vehicle fleet in 2050 and the electric grid remained relatively dirty, greenhouse gas emissions would still decline by some 163 million metric tons annually.

The impact of plug-in hybrids on global warming will depend on the electric system, noted NRDC scientist Dan Lashof. "The key to utilizing plug-in hybrids is a cleaner power grid," he said. The greener the grid, the greater the greenhouse gas reductions as coal-fired power plants are displaced by renewable energy or begin to deploy technology to capture their CO2 emissions.

General Motors (GM) executive Tony Posawatz brought a plug-in Chevrolet Volt concept car to the press conference. The automaker is designing the Volt to run primarily on battery power and use other alternative fuels to extend its range. "We at General Motors are certainly very interested in this study," said Posawatz. "The potential for plug-ins, I think everyone recognizes, is tremendous."
(C)B2

Once Frumpy, Green Cars Start Showing Some Flash

When Christopher Paine, the director of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” filmed the General Motors EV1, he had to search for a flattering perspective.

“When we filmed the car on the road, its best angle was the low front shot from the side,” he said. “It was gorgeous. The back of the car was more challenging. The car’s style did not appeal to certain design sensibilities.

“That Citroën-like back was not successful,” he added.

Mr. Paine is putting it mildly. The EV1 was derided for its appearance. So was the spacey Honda Insight, the first hybrid to go on sale in the United States. Neither was a commercial success.

Both shared a stylistic similarity to the long skirts of the early 20th century: They suggested Popeye’s pal, Olive Oyl, in her ankle-length dress. The rear fender skirts seemed frumpy.

Honda’s hybrid evoked similar reactions. While the Insight could theoretically get 56 miles a gallon in the city and 70 on the highway, its shape put people off.

The EV1, G.M.’s pioneering electric car, and the recently discontinued Insight raised a challenge that designers are still dealing with. How do you signal green to other drivers, and is it for pride or marketing? How do you provide drivers assurance about the novel technology? What does green look like? How do you design a green car? How green do drivers want to appear?

One way to suggest green through design is simply to paint or mark models that have better fuel economy or reduced emissions. Toyota offers the hybrid versions of the Camry in a color called Jasper Pearl, a light, almost luminous, green. When I drove a test model, several people asked if the car was a hybrid, simply because of its strange green paint, I believe.

Saturn offers the hybrid version of its Vue utility wagon in green. It also applies what it calls a Green Line badge to them — the word line implying more green models to come. Ford adds a green-leaf badge to hybrid versions of its Escape and Mercury Mariner.

BMW’s 7 Series with hydrogen power is indistinguishable from other 7 sedans except for its badge. Honda’s discontinued Accord Hybrid resembled the standard model, and its Civic Hybrid is distinguished from its siblings largely by pie-pan wheel covers.

The Toyota Prius offers a now-recognizable and characteristic silhouette: a long arc of roof, a short hood and a high, stubby back. It is not lovely and it is not as radically different from other cars as the EV1 or the Insight. But it is different enough to signal that it represents a different kind of car.

While in the traditional visual language of auto design the small hood sends a signal that the Prius is low-powered and ineffectual, its now familiar silhouette speaks of greenness. Of course, Toyota also offers other hybrids whose status is signaled by a badge that reads Hybrid Synergy Drive.

For the next-generation Prius and other possible hybrid vehicles, Toyota designers have been trying to answer the question of what green should look like.

One effort, by Toyota’s Calty design studio in Newport Beach, Calif., is a show car that aims to make the hybrid attractive by making it sporty. The car, called the FT-HS, projected a hybrid power plant with the equivalent of 400 horsepower. It seemed inspired by the idea of the electric Tesla sports car, to replace the sense of green as sacrifice with one of sport and indulgence.

Toyota called the idea hybrid-sports. William Chergosky of Calty, said: “The FT-HS wasn’t just meant to showcase the idea of hybrid-sports. It was also meant to be a vehicle that would help us clarify a hybrid design idiom. The design language of a hybrid should speak to its function.”

Mr. Chergosky said the FT-HS’s design started with the idea of placing the engine in an unconventional place. “Our model was the styling cues that midengined cars have.

“What we hoped to create was a look that conveyed lightweight, efficient, advanced and clean,” he said — not simply hybrid.

This can seem high-concept. Mr. Chergosky added in an e-mail message: “The hybrid story should be a holistic one that starts from the inside (the heart) and transforms the outer shell (the healthy body).”

Another new green Toyota is the Hybrid X show car, created at Toyota’s ED2 design center in southern France and introduced at the Geneva auto show last spring. The glass of the highly aerodynamic body forms two U shapes. Seen from above they make the X of the car’s name. The emphasis is on an open, spacious interior.

Honda’s Small Hybrid Concept, also in Geneva, seemed aimed at curing the ills of the Insight, although its rear end bore an echo of that car. It rides on macho 20-inch wheels and has no hint of fender skirts.

For the Volt, Chevrolet’s electric show car with a supplementary gas engine, a team of designers led by Bob Boniface tried to avoid the dull appearance of other green cars. They took echoes of the face of the sporty Camaro and made the beltline, which separates the windowed greenhouse from the lower body, high.

Ultimately, a dramatic change in the engineering of cars will change their appearance and style. “A car on the outside fundamentally has to look like what it is inside,” said Chris Chapman of BMW’s Designworks studio in Newbury Park, Calif. “This was true in the first electric cars and will be in the future.”

The basic design of any car, he said, is dictated by the placement and size of engines, batteries, fuel and so on. These affect where passengers and luggage go. Together, they make up what designers call the package. As changes occur in motors, he said, “people come to accept the new look, as they accept the flat wedge airfoil shape of the Prius,” he said. “In the long run, new designs and layout and architecture will have to come out from underneath, from the basic technology.”

Designers have done little to signal green in a car’s cabin, but that may be changing. Ford recently announced that its 2008 Escape would use only recycled fabric in its seating surfaces. This is green, but not obviously so. But why shouldn’t it be? asked David Lyon, head of North American interior design for G.M. He is looking for alternatives to leather, a sort of design equivalent to a vegan menu, and for materials that look recycled. Recycled items can become something for drivers to boast of, he said.

Green cars can too often look “like sensible shoes” in the phrase of Bob Boniface, the G.M. designer.

Tom Peters, who headed the design of the latest Corvette, said, “There are two schools of thought on this.” One makes the car conventional, the other makes it strikingly different. The former strategy is aimed at reassuring buyers. Drivers are used to cars with hoods and engines in front, for instance.

“If there is no engine in front — without that mass in front of us —many of us feel vulnerable,” he said.

But he added: “From a designer’s standpoint, you want to celebrate the new techno. With fuel-cell technology it is very exciting to create a new shape, a new surface vocabulary, new ways to get into and out of the car. People are ready for that now.”
(C)NYT

Lexus LS 600h: Conspicuous Consumption With Green Illusions

Lexus's 2.5-ton flagship moves on hybrid power.

In “North Dallas Forty,” the shaggy 1979 gridiron film starring Nick Nolte, a lineman played by John Matuszak ranted memorably to a coach about the hypocrisy of pro football: “Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. And every time I call it a business, you call it a game.”

Toyota and Lexus would disagree, but their recent hybrid models, including the Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX 400h utility wagons, the Lexus GS 450h sedan and now the Lexus LS 600h L, similarly seem to be trying to have it both ways.

In recent advertisements, including one in the “green issue” of Vanity Fair, Lexus uses one hand to present the 400-plus horsepower of the LS 600h L and the other to pat its own back for saving fuel and planet alike.

The ads and the cars have convinced many, including some credulous journalists, of Lexus’s pitch: that a hybrid car or S.U.V. can drive like a Porsche and sip fuel like a Prius. But a closer examination proves once again that there’s no free lunch, even at the drive-through.

For more than a year, Lexus has suggested that the LS 600h L — as tested, a $121,000 hybrid version of its LS 460 L flagship sedan — would set a new standard for four-door luxury automobiles. Its pitch was that the car would perform like a V-12 supersedan while whipping V-8 rivals on fuel economy. Instead, the hybrid may have set a new standard for automotive hyperbole.

Behind its green Teflon shield, the Lexus proved to be just another overstuffed sedan that can barely top 20 miles a gallon — less, if you actually tap into all that power. If that’s saving the planet, Jor-El had better prepare the escape pod before it’s too late.

Before the enviro-brigade readies the guillotine, I hasten to add that this isn’t about hating hybrids. Electric propulsion is looking more and more like a winning technology. Companies from Toyota to General Motors are working to develop affordable lithium-ion batteries, which could deliver clean, efficient, renewable power in plug-in hybrids or purely electric vehicles.

I can’t believe that adding a cupful of electric juice to a fat barrel of V-8 muscle is what environmentalists have in mind.

On the performance front, forget about the Lexus hanging with V-12 sedans like the Mercedes S600. Turns out that the Lexus can’t even outrun its own nonhybrid version, the LS 460 L. Nor is it appreciably quicker than V-8 competitors that cost $20,000 to $30,000 less, like the Mercedes S550, the Audi A8 and the BMW 7 Series, or the similarly priced Maserati Quattroporte.

It must be noted that such decadent sedans are about more than straight-line speed. Park those high-wattage rivals beside the Lexus, and the modestly styled LS virtually disappears; challenge them on a twisty road and they all disappear from the Lexus by virtue of their sportier handling.

Spurred from a stop to 60 miles an hour, the LS 600h L clocks a swift 5.5 seconds, according to Lexus’s own testing. Yet the gas-only LS 460 L, with a mere 380 horsepower from a smaller V-8, reaches 60 in 5.4 seconds, nosing out the more powerful hybrid.

How is that possible? Check the scales, where the Lexus hybrid weighs in like Jared before his Subway diet.

The hybrid does add all-wheel drive, not available on the LS 460 L. But together, the heavy batteries and all-wheel-drive system burden the hybrid with more than 700 additional pounds, for a total of 5,049. Forced to motivate the added weight, the hybrid’s larger 5-liter V-8 — another environmental oxymoron — and dual electric motors makes acceleration a wash. (One motor drives the four wheels. The other starts the gas engine and recharges the batteries.)

Excess weight takes its toll on mileage as well. The hybrid got 21 m.p.g. — amazingly, 1 m.p.g. less than the nonhybrid version that I tested on the same urban roads and highways in and around New York City. That perfectly wonderful LS 460 L is blessed with one of the most fuel-efficient V-8s I’ve driven, a 4.6-liter smoothie.

But the Lexus hybrid’s biggest jolt comes from sticker shock: the LS 600h L starts at $104,715, about $32,000 above the LS 460 L. Laden with options for $121,000, the hybrid costs about $30,000 more than the comparable gas-only version.

Driven gently, the Lexus will indeed beat the mileage of its apples-to-apples V-8 rivals, but only by 1 m.p.g. to 3 m.p.g. A Mercedes S550 isn’t an egregious guzzler at an E.P.A.-rated 16/24 m.p.g., and I managed 19 m.p.g. during a recent test. And when I drove the Lexus in mildly spirited fashion, its mileage dropped to 19 m.p.g. It’s hard to see why such minuscule mileage gains would dazzle the type of person who’s ready to drop $100,000 on a car.

The E.P.A. rates the hybrid’s mileage at 20 m.p.g. in town and 22 on the highway. The nonhybrid is rated 16/24 under the same revised formula, which takes effect for 2008 and is intended to present lower, more realistic mileage estimates for most cars.

In its defense, the hybrid should save you a few bucks if you do a lot of city driving. But on the highway, the gas-only model was decidedly more efficient, and thus ended up doing 1 m.p.g. better over all. And in bumper-to-bumper traffic, where you expect a hybrid to excel, the LS 600h L mustered only 14 m.p.g., certainly nothing to marvel at.

The uneasy comparisons don’t end there. The gas-only version handled better and drove more smoothly.

The nonhybrid benefits from the world’s first eight-speed automatic transmission, which lifts mileage and operates with hushed aplomb. The hybrid’s continuously variable transmission, in contrast, has to busily calculate and divvy power from the gas and electric sources. It’s among the most seamless of its kind, but not as smooth or transparent as the Lexus eight-speed. And its manual-shift function is nearly useless. In trying to mimic the feel of sporty downshifts, it ladles on ever-higher levels of regenerative hybrid braking. To the driver, the sludgy effect feels like throwing anchors of various sizes out the window.

Lexus’s hybrid double-talk extends to emissions arguments. When the company says the Lexus hybrid is cleaner than average cars, people will assume that has something to do with global warming. But in this instance, that is not the case.

To its credit, the car’s super-ultra-low emissions vehicle rating (SULEV, if you will) is indeed cleaner than other V-8 models, but only if you are measuring the pollutants that form smog. (Even on the smog index, many gasoline models also achieve SULEV ratings or better).

But the critical earth issue today is conserving fuel and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. Those greenhouse gas levels are almost entirely a function of fuel economy: if you use more gas, you spew more carbon dioxide. So on that score, the 21 m.p.g. hybrid actually emits far more carbon dioxide than, say, a Mercedes-Benz diesel E-Class that can attain 30 m.p.g.

The LS 600h L also emits more greenhouse gases than the average new car that currently achieves 27.5 m.p.g. So a common Toyota Camry, among dozens of models, leaves a smaller carbon footprint than this hybrid land yacht.

One final ignominy: given the hybrid batteries and a separate air-conditioner for the back seat, the hybrid’s trunk measures a meager 11.7 cubic feet, smaller than that of a Kia Rio or other compact sedan. (Skip the rear air-conditioning in a Lexus LS 460 L, and you’ll enjoy a 50 percent larger trunk, at 18 cubic feet).

Jim Farley, general manager of Lexus, defended the car’s performance and green credentials. “If Lexus had to have a flagship, this is how it should be,” he said. “It’s the progressive person’s alternative. Hybrids are a huge platform for us at Lexus, and they’re only going to get bigger.”

Certainly, this hybrid Lexus is one of the quietest, most comfortable, best-built sedans around. It has every imaginable safety system and creature comfort. The navigation system is first-rate. The Mark Levinson audio system is amazing. And the optional ($12,675) Executive Package is the hands-down — or feet-up? — coolest feature. It includes rear seats that recline, heat and cool, along with a right-hand chair with a steeper recline, massage functions and a powered ottoman for the full mini-Maybach effect.

Yet every compliment you can lavish on this impressive ride, minus the all-wheel drive, applies equally to the nonhybrid version.

So why would anyone spend an extra $30,000 for this car? Certainly, the performance gains of 12-cylinder sedans aren’t always justified by their enormous premiums. Many people buy them for that V-12 badge on the fender, the exclusive message it sends. Ditto for the Lexus, but the roughly 2,000 people who’ll line up for the hybrid won’t be broadcasting their superior power, but their superior morals, however illusory.

If that’s not you, stick with the Lexus LS 460 L. Enjoy a back-seat massage and relax. You’ll know that you’ve got the better car — one that’s equally fast and frugal, but also weighs less and handles better.

You can actually park that terrific gas-only Lexus in the garage and have $30,000 to buy a Prius hybrid, with cash left over. Save the LS for special occasions and run errands in the Toyota at more than double the mileage. While Lexus plays the hybrid game, it’s the Prius that takes care of business.
(C)NYT

Electric Cars Nearly Ready, but Batteries Are Less So

Clever and attractive, the Chevrolet Volt, a design study for a new wrinkle in electric cars, dominated the headlines coming from the Detroit auto show in January. But the introduction was punctuated with an asterisk.

The car that promised a fuel economy equivalent of 150 miles a gallon and a total range of 640 miles using its onboard recharging system carried a major caveat: the lithium-ion batteries required to make it a reality are not yet available, and won’t be until 2010 at the earliest, industry experts say.

The Volt is not the only car waiting for lithium-ion batteries to be roadworthy. Reports last month in Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, a Japanese business newspaper, said that the next generation of the Toyota Prius would be delayed by six months because the carmaker had decided that lithium-ion batteries were not quite ready.

Officially, the car was not postponed because Toyota had never announced an introduction date, but such a decision would have major implications: reverting to nickel-metal hydride batteries in today’s Prius means finding room for a larger and heavier power pack. A Toyota spokesman, John Hanson, said that while the company saw “huge potential” in lithium-ion batteries, it wanted to assure future Prius buyers the same levels of affordability and reliability they experience in today’s models.

The quest for batteries that provide sufficient range at a reasonable cost has gone on for a century. Electric power was a viable alternative when automobiles were first gaining popularity, eventually losing out to combustion engines in the 1920s. In recent decades, research efforts have gained greater urgency.

Like King Canute, who as ruler of England commanded the incoming tide to go out, the state of California decreed in 1990 that pollution-free electric cars must come into being. Battery-electric cars looked like a sensible solution for urban air-quality problems because pollutants would be produced where the electricity was generated, rather than where the car was driven.

Since the early 1990s the price of gasoline has doubled, and with it the motivation to seek alternatives. Battery technology has evolved considerably; hybrids have arrived, priced to reflect their need for two power plants instead of one and a battery that by itself is one-third of the car’s driveline cost. The plug-in hybrid — whose battery can be recharged from a wall socket as well as by an onboard combustion engine — has attracted a vocal following.

Before 1990, the principal battery choices were lead-acid, the familiar auto engine starting battery, and nickel-cadmium. The lead-acid battery is well-proved, but heavy considering the small amount of energy it can store. Nickel-cadmium batteries offer more miles of driving for a given weight and size, but are less attractive because a recycling system is not well-established. They are also at least four times as expensive.

The real force driving battery development has been portable electronics and cordless power tools, not vehicles. Both are high-volume applications. The workhorse here is the nickel-metal-hydride battery, which can store three times the energy of lead-acid cells in a package the same size. Nickel-metal-hydride is the most commonly used type of batteries in hybrids and electric-only vehicles because they are long-lived — Honda’s warranty for the Civic Hybrid battery runs 10 years/150,000 miles in some states — but are a great deal more expensive than a basic lead-acid battery. With a rapid recharge taking three hours, they were not the answer to California’s push for mainstream zero-emissions cars.

Another new battery type came along in 1991 — the lithium-ion battery. Its light weight — lithium is the third-lightest of elements — improved energy capacity for a given weight, and subsequent developments in electrode chemistry suggest that by 2010 it will be the winning technology for all applications. (It is already common in devices like cellphones and laptop computers.)

One problem has been durability, with early lithium-ion units tolerating only 750 cycles of discharge and recharge, or about two years of service, before deterioration of the terminals carrying power reduces charge capacity by 20 percent. A change from a terminal made of carbon to one made of lithium titanate spinel oxide holds the promise of increasing this to 9,000 cycles and 20 years’ use.

Many other battery chemistries exist — sodium-sulfur, nickel-zinc and nickel-iron — but the major contenders for use in electric vehicles remain the nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion types.

Temperature control is an important consideration in the development of auto batteries; some cell or electrode types need to be warmer than others to function. And there are upper temperature limits — overheating and fires from lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers made headlines about a year ago.

All batteries slowly lose their charge to small internal currents, which generate heat just as a toaster does. If electrode deterioration increases this self-discharge current enough, catastrophic overheating can occur. Novel electrode chemistries or external control electronics promise to eliminate this hazard.

So far, lithium-ion batteries have gained capacity at the rate of 8 percent to 10 percent a year, doubling their ability to store energy over a decade. This and improved electrode chemistry have refreshed the appeal of the battery-electric car. Tesla, an electric-car startup that plans to start delivering its $98,000 Roadster this fall, has developed a power storage system of 6,831 lithium cells, each about the size of a AA battery, that it says will power the car 200 miles.

With the prospect of greater range, increased durability and their low cost to refuel, battery-electric vehicles start to look like just a bigger and practical power tool — one that may well make more sense than electric cars that use hydrogen fuel cells to produce power.

Would urban and suburban citizens buy lots of small electric vehicles at a price competitive with economy gasoline-powered cars? Have batteries matured enough to hit such a price point? Or will new emissions solutions make the small turbodiesel our first choice, as in Europe? It all comes down to price.
(C)NYT

Crash test is pain in the neck for car makers

Some car companies - even those that have "Top Safety Pick Awards" from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety - say its rear impact protection test doesn't reflect reality, and that its methods force auto makers into a one-size-fits-all solution.

The institute's rear impact test, which was developed in conjunction with auto safety groups around the world, is supposed to show how well a car protects you from whiplash in case of a rear collision.

While whiplash may not seem like much, it's a big deal if you suffer from it - the pain is severe and can last for weeks or months. And it's a really big deal if you're running an insurance company. Whiplash claims cost them $8.5 billion every year, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Two years ago, the institute begin giving out "Top Safety Pick" awards for car, SUV and van models that get its top rating of "Good" for front side and rear impact protection. Winning car companies even get an actual trophy.

But getting a top grade for front and side impact protection, where poor performance means an increased likelihood of death, isn't enough to win the prize. Autos have to protect against whiplash too.

Cars that have earned the institute's "Top Safety Pick" award include the 2008 Ford Taurus, the Volvo C70 convertible and Hyundai Entourage minivan.

But some cars that get top "Good" ratings for both front and side impact crash ratings, including the BMW 3-series and the Toyota Camry and Avalon, still get "Poor" ratings for rear impact protection.

The Insurance Institute's rear impact safety test has two parts. The first simply measures the seat to determine the relationship between the seat back and head restraint, which is commonly known as a headrest.

Only seats with a headrest that's located and shaped to prevent the head from moving back in a crash even get to go on to the actual "impact" test. If not, the seat automatically gets a "Poor" or "Marginal" rating.

Seats that get an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating - the institute's two best ratings - are then mounted on a moving platform, and a crash test dummy is seatbelted in pace. A puff of compressed air sends the sled forward in a sudden movement to mimic the impact of a car traveling at 20 miles per hour.

Automakers object to these tests for two reasons. The first is that the Institute crash-tests seats once using a single average-sized crash test dummy. Car companies say they test their seats using dummies of various sizes.

"General Motors designs its head restraints to meet a variety of driver sizes rather than focusing on a single set of metrics," GM said in a statement regarding recent rear impact tests on SUVs, trucks and vans. "Head restraints are part of the integrated approach to occupant protection in all GM vehicles."

The Institute counters that, in real life, people rarely adjust their head restraints, usually leaving them in the lowest position no matter how tall they are. In an impact test, however, the institute does move the headrest to the proper height for the dummy. At worst, said Institute president Adrian Lund, it still replicates a situation that's probably safer for occupants than real life.

Some car companies object to the fact that the "impact" test is conducted using a sled rather than a real car being hit by another real car.

"Impact absorbing structures on Toyota vehicles play a major role in helping to effectively absorb impact energy in the event of a front, side or rear collision," said Toyota in a statement. "When performing the rear crash dynamic test, the IIHS procedure does not take the whole vehicle into account."

Crashing real cars is expensive, though, and the Institute wrecks many real cars for front and side impact crash tests. In the rear impact protection test, said Lund, the jet of air that briefly rockets the sled forward is precisely programmed, from the rate of acceleration to the way the sled stops, to emulate the movement of a vehicle's passenger compartment during a 20 mile-per-hour rear hit.

In the end, the Institute insists, its rear impact test is just as good as crashing real cars, which shows in reduced whiplash claims for occupants with "Good" seats.

"Of all the safety devices in our vehicle," said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute, "you are more likely to need a good head restraint than an airbag"
(C)CNN

Hybrid synonym - Prius

A riddle: Why has the Toyota Prius enjoyed such success, with sales of more than 400,000 in the United States, when most other hybrid models struggle to find buyers?

One answer may be that buyers of the Prius want everyone to know they are driving a hybrid.

The Prius, after all, was built from the ground up as a hybrid, and is sold only as a hybrid. By contrast, the main way to tell that a Honda Civic, Ford Escape or Saturn Vue is a hybrid version is a small badge on the trunk or side panel.

The Prius has become, in a sense, the four-wheel equivalent of those popular rubber “issue bracelets” in yellow and other colors — it shows the world that its owner cares.

In fact, more than half of the Prius buyers surveyed this spring by CNW Marketing Research of Bandon, Ore., said the main reason they purchased their car was that “it makes a statement about me.”

Only a third of Prius owners cited that reason just three years ago, according to CNW, which tracks consumer buying trends.

“I really want people to know that I care about the environment,” said Joy Feasley of Philadelphia, owner of a green 2006 Prius. “I like that people stop and ask me how I like my car.”

Mary Gatch of Charleston, S.C., chose the car over a hybrid version of the Toyota Camry after trading in a Lexus sedan.

“I felt like the Camry Hybrid was too subtle for the message I wanted to put out there,” Ms. Gatch said. “I wanted to have the biggest impact that I could, and the Prius puts out a clearer message.”

Unlike the original Prius buyers, who wanted to be first with its innovative technology, the latest owners are far more conscious of foreign oil dependence and global warming, said Doug Coleman, Toyota’s product manager for Prius.

“Consumer knowledge and consumer awareness is changing,” Mr. Coleman said.

Prius sales for the first six months of the year are up 93.7 percent from last year, to 94,503, and Toyota has already sold close to as many Prius cars as it did in all of 2006.

To be sure, many owners are still choosing the Prius for the fuel economy that a hybrid offers — rated at 60 miles a gallon in city driving and 51 on the highway (although those numbers are estimated at 48 miles a gallon for city driving and 45 on the highway for 2008 models under more realistic government-imposed standards). But many are looking for something extra.

“The Prius allowed you to make a green statement with a car for the first time ever,” said Dan Becker, head of the global warming program at the Sierra Club (and yes, a Prius owner).

Not everyone is a fan of the statement. Some postings on Internet car discussion groups occasionally make dismissive references to “Pious Prius owners.”

Prius was first embraced by Hollywood stars and other celebrities and remains in vogue long after most cars have lost their buzz. Owners have included Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billy Joel, Bill Maher and Larry David. Mr. David has bought three, including one for his character to drive on his HBO series, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Now Prius drivers are typically found in cities on the East and West Coasts, and in college towns like Ann Arbor, Mich., and State College, Pa.

“You can’t drive across town without seeing half a dozen of them,” said Peter A. Darnell, a software engineer and Prius owner in Westford, Mass., north of Boston.

Mr. Darnell admits to feeling smug this year when gasoline prices spiked above $3 a gallon. But that was not the main reason he bought his car. “I have to admit that I’m a granola-crunching liberal, and I really liked the idea of minimizing the impact on the environment,” Mr. Darnell said.

Corey Confer, general sales manager at Joel Confer Toyota in State College, said he had received calls from as far away as Key West, Fla., from buyers looking for a Prius.

His dealership advertises an $800 discount on each vehicle, while some dealers in the West, where gas prices are highest, are adding $2,000 premiums.

Nationwide, Prius sales jumped sharply in May, when gasoline prices rose above $3 a gallon. Worldwide, Toyota has sold more than one million Prius cars.

Toyota was alarmed to see Prius sales flatten last year, just when it planned to double shipments to the United States. It sold 105,000 in 2006, but is on track to sell 175,000 this year.

Before gas prices hit record levels, Prius sales were climbing, in part because of the first national advertising campaign, as well as rebates, which began in February.

The deals caught Dave Hancock’s eye. “I usually fast-forward past commercials, but I put on the brakes and said, What’s this?” said Mr. Hancock of Rochester.

When he brought home his car, his daughter called from Atlanta to congratulate her parents “for being so environmentally conscious,” said Mr. Hancock, who is retired from the Eastman Kodak Company.

Toyota’s competitors have had little success in approaching the sales level of the Prius, but not for lack of trying.

Honda actually beat Toyota to the hybrid market with its Insight, but it has since discontinued that car. And it is dropping a hybrid version of the Accord, whose gas mileage was not much better than the gas-powered Accord, and carried a higher price.

Honda, which sells a hybrid Civic, said it planned to come back with a new hybrid designed from the ground up as a hybrid, not a converted car. It is already giving sneak peeks to environmentalists like Mr. Becker of the Sierra Club, who drove a prototype brought to Washington by Honda engineers.

General Motors has been promoting the Chevrolet Volt, a concept hybrid that it says it will build once it has developed batteries for it.

In the meantime, G.M. is selling the Saturn Vue, a small sport utility vehicle that is available in “mild hybrid” form, meaning that it has an electric motor that can assist its primary gas engine but the car cannot run on electricity alone. G.M. also plans to introduce a hybrid version of the Saturn Aura car and says it will eventually have 12 hybrid vehicles, although Volt appears to be the only one that would be built specifically as a hybrid.

“We think we’re covering the market well,” said Brian Corbett, a G.M. spokesman.

So does the Ford Motor Company, even though it has pulled back from a commitment to sell 250,000 hybrids a year in the United States by 2010.

In June, Ford officials, including the chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said the company had more hybrids under development beyond the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner, both small S.U.V.’s. It has not set a new target for hybrid sales. Escape sales are up 10 percent this year, with Ford expecting to sell 22,000.

Toyota executives have said they plan to offer a hybrid version of everything the company sells worldwide, perhaps as soon as 2010. Japanese press reports say Toyota may even build Prius into a separate brand, with basic and sporty Prius models.

Automotive News reported that Toyota may add a stand-alone hybrid for Lexus, which sells several hybrid cars and S.U.V.’s. Mr. Coleman of Toyota would not discuss specifics, but he said senior management “is very bullish” on hybrids.

(C) Nick Bunkley and Mary M. Chapman contributed reporting.

Safiest cars

These cars earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award.

That means they earned the best possible ratings front, side and rear impact protection and they are available with electronic stability control.

Acura MDX
The MDX is a midsized SUV with a third row of seats in the back, but it feels stable and handles surprisingly well for a vehicle of its size.








Acura RDX
The Acura RDX shares some of its basic engineering with the Honda CR-V, which was also awarded a Top Safety Pick award by the Insurance Institute. As with all Honda SUVs, electronic stability control, which helps prevent vehicles from going out of control or flipping over in emergency maneuvers, comes as standard equipment on the RDX.





Audi A4
The A4 was close to making the cut last year, but it was hampered by a merely "Acceptable" performance in whiplash protection. With improvements to the Audi's seats, the A4 and larger A6 earned the Insurance Institute's Top Safety Pick award.






Audi A6
The A6 was close to making the cut last year, but it was hampered by a merely "Acceptable" performance in whiplash protection. With improvements to the Audi's seats, the A6 and smaller A4 earned the Insurance Institute's Top Safety Pick award.






Ford Edge
The Edge, a car-based crossover, is targeted at young, urban couples or small families looking for something more versatile than a car but more stylish than the typical SUV.








Ford Taurus
The Ford Five Hundred had been a Top Safety Pick before the Insurance Institute added a requirement that vehicles must be available with electronic stability control to get the awards.
Slightly redesigned for 2008 and renamed the Taurus, this car is now available with stability control so it has been returned to the list.

Ford Taurus X
The Taurus X, formerly known as the Freestyle, is an SUV-like wagon that shares most of its engineering wth the Ford Taurus sedan. The Taurus X has three rows of seats.








Honda CR-V
The CR-V shares some of its basic engineering with the Honda Civic. That car was dropped from the Insurance Institute's Top Picks list, however, because of a new requirement that all vehicles on the list must offer electronic stability control.






Honda Pilot
The mid-sized Honda Pilot has been one of the most popular crossover SUVs around since its introduction in 2002. Like all Honda SUVs, it comes standard with electronic stability control.







Hyundai Entourage
The Entourage is Hyundai's new minivan. The Kia Sedona is essentially the same vehicle with relatively minor differences. The Sedona has a smooth and quiet ride, comfortable interior and solid build quality, according to Edmunds.com.







Hyundai Santa Fe
The Santa Fe was completely redesigned for the 2007model year. Like all Hyunda vehicles it has electronic stability control as standard equipment.








Kia Sedona
The Sedona is Kia's new minivan. The Hyundai Entourage is essentially the same vehicle with relatively minor differences. The Sedona has a smooth and quiet ride, comfortable interior and solid build quality, according to Edmunds.com.







Lincoln MKX
The MKX is Lincoln's luxury version of the Ford Edge. In addition to a different look, the MKX's ride and handling are slightly different from the Edge's as well.

Saab 9-3
The 9-3 offers excellent handling and performance for a front-wheel drive car. Evidently, it offers class-leading safety, as well.

Saab 9-3 convertible
The 9-3 was one of two convertibles, both made by Swedish car companies owned by one of the major Detroit automakers, to earn a Best Pick. Saab is part of General Motors.
To earn a "Top Safety Pick" designation, a vehicle must get top scores in all impact tests and it must be available with electronic stability control.

The 9-3 has automatic rollbars that deploy in the event of a rollover.

Mercedes-Benz M-class
With its car-like engineering, the M-class is, technically speaking, a crossover vehicle. It handles well and, according to the Insurance Institute's tests, offers excellent protection in the event of a wreck.







Mercury Sable
The Mercury Montego had been a Top Safety Pick before the Insurance Institute added a requirement that vehicles must be available with electronic stability control to get the awards.
Slightly redesigned for 2008 and renamed the Sable, this car is now available with stability control so it has been returned to the list

Subaru B9 Tribeca
Its peculiar design may not suit your tastes, but the Tribeca does perform very well in crash tests. Electronic stability control comes as standard equipment.

Subaru Forester
To make the Top Picks list for 2007, the Insurance Institute required vehicles to have electronic stability control available as, at least, an option. The Subaru Forester and Legacy are the only vehicles on the list that do not have it as standard equipment. For the Forester, stability control is available only on the Sports 2.5 XT version.





Subaru Legacy
The Legacy is Subaru's midsized answer to the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Aside from its strong performance in the Insurance Institute's very demanding crash tests, the Legacy also offers all-wheel-drive. That's something you won't find in any Camry.






Volvo XC90
Volvo's reputation has been built on safety, so Volvo's absence from last year's Insurance Institute Top Safety Pick list was surprising to many consumers. The fact is, however, that many companies now make very safe cars, not just Volvo. Ford's Swedish luxury brand makes the cut this year with its XC90 SUV.





Volvo C70
The C70 is a hard-top convertible made by Ford-owned Volvo of Sweden.
A hard convertible top, like the one on the C70, cannot support weight and does not offer any safety benefit as compared to a cloth top. The C70 has automatic rollbars that deploy in the event of rollover.
(C)CNN

In Rear-End Crash Test, Most Trucks & SUVs Fail to Stop Neck Injury

Most trucks & SUVs do poorly in whiplash test. 54 current models - or two-thirds of all the vehicles in the test - fail to adequately protect occupants in rear-end collisions.

Two-thirds of pickups, vans and sport-utility vehicles don't provide acceptable protection against whiplash in rear-end collisions, according to tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Some 54 models were rated "marginal" or "poor" by the Institute in tests that involved measurements of seats and head restraints and, in some cases, simulated rear-end collisions.

Vehicle seats and head restraints are first measured to determine if the headrest, because of its shape and angle, is likely to provide adequate protection.

Seats that are deemed likely to provide good protection are then tested in a simulated crash. The seat is attached to a moving platform that is struck from behind at 20 miles per hour. The Institute then measures impact forces on a crash test dummy riding in the seat.

Twenty-one current models - or 24 percent of those tested - earned the best possible rating of "Good." Twelve models earned an "Acceptable" rating, the second-best rating.

"In stop-and-go commuter traffic, you're more likely to get in a rear-end collision than any other crash type," says IIHS's David Zuby. "It's not a major feat of engineering to design seats and head restraints that afford good protection in these common crashes."

The agency stresses that to reduce neck injuries, the vehicle's head restraint should be high enough to be at the back of the head.

Rear-end collisions are frequent, and neck injuries account for 2 million insurance claims each year, costing at least $8.5 billion.

For SUVs, the best performers were models by Subaru, Volvo, Acura, Ford, Honda and Hyundai.

Some manufacturers objected to the fact that the seats are not tested while mounted in the vehicle.

"We are confident our whiplash injury lessening system and vehicle design will provide a reasonable level of safety for our customers in the real world," Toyota said in a statement.

While Toyota's Tundra pickup earned the top "Good" rating for whiplash protection in the IIHS tests the Toyota Sienna minivan and Toyota Highlander, when equipped with a tilting headrest and adjustable lumbar support, and 4Runner SUVs earned "Poor" ratings. The Toyota Rav4 and FJ Cruiser SUVs and Tacoma pickup all earned a rating of "Marginal."

Overall, SUVs have the most vehicles with "Good" protection - 29 percent - while vans followed with 27 percent and only 6 percent of pickups earned a "Good" rating.

"The reason may be that automakers have updated or introduced many new SUVs since 2006, but minivans and pickups are being updated more slowly," said Zuby.
(C)CNN

For Riders, Risk Is Growing

The air bag on Lou O'Connell's Gold Wing helped him avoid injury.

Returning to the office from lunch on his 2007 Honda Gold Wing motorcycle one day this spring, Lou O’Connell got a glimpse into the future, if only by two seconds or so. A car pulled out of a shopping center in Weston, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale, and into his path. He could see that he was going to hit the car.

Mr. O’Connell said that although he did not expect to be killed in the impending crash — becoming one of the 5,000 or so motorcycle riders who will die on American roads this year if recent trends continue — he knew that at the very least he was about to go flying over the handlebars.

But then there was a bang and a cloud of powder in front of him. Though the front of his bike had slammed the passenger side of a black Nissan 350Z, Mr. O’Connell found himself nearly uninjured — intact enough to lay down the bike and stride over with some well-chosen words for the car’s driver.

Mr. O’Connell’s accident was, so far as Honda knows, the first in which the air bag of a motorcycle deployed to protect a rider. At least for now, the air bag is an option only on the big Gold Wing touring bikes, which cost nearly $25,000 fully equipped with features like heated handgrips and antilock brakes.

“It’s amazing,” said Mr. O’Connell, who escaped with only bruises on his shins. Without the air bag, his injuries might have been serious: Florida relaxed its helmet law in July 2000, and he had been seduced by good weather to ride without one. “It was so nice, I couldn’t resist, and I couldn’t resist the American dream,” Mr. O’Connell, an immigrant from Ireland, said. “The American dream is to ride a motorcycle without a helmet.”

Honda began development of motorcycle air bags in 1990 and tested the system for a decade before making it available on the Gold Wing for 2007. A Honda spokesman, Jon Row, emphasized that the air bag was something of a last measure in today’s safety technology, and is not intended to replace the need to wear a helmet.

Mr. O’Connell, 40, and the father of two young children, said the accident persuaded him to wear his helmet whenever he rides.

The crash was something of a milestone in motorcycle safety, one of the few positive developments in recent years. Riding a motorcycle is becoming riskier. Deaths last year increased by 5.4 percent over 2005, according to preliminary estimates of the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System, and are up for the ninth consecutive year. Deaths have increased 125 percent over 10 years, a period in which registrations rose more than 50 percent.

Even when adjusted for more bikes covering more miles, the picture is grim. While the death rate for people in vehicles fell by about 17 percent for each mile traveled over that period, the rate for motorcycle riders more than doubled, according to the report.

That timeline coincides with factors including a rising average age of riders, more powerful engines and the repeal of state laws requiring universal helmet use, in part a result of pressure applied by lobby groups that persuaded legislators to “let the rider decide.” Wearing a helmet cuts the risk of death by about 37 percent, according to Ted R. Miller, a researcher at the Pacific institute for Research and Evaluation. Making helmets mandatory increases use because police officers can check compliance at a glance.

Measuring the effect of motorcycle helmet law repeals is tricky because of factors like the increase in motorcycle sales. Still, the numbers are powerful. Texas, which loosened its laws in 1977 and then reinstated universal coverage in 1989, again backed down on the regulations in 1997 for riders over 21; fatalities shot up 31 percent in the first year after the law was relaxed. A study in Florida sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that in the two years after that state repealed its universal helmet law in 2000, fatalities for every 10,000 motorcycles were up 21 percent, compared with 13 percent nationally.

At the National Transportation Safety Board, the death toll has not gone unnoticed because it is now larger than the number of deaths in airplane, marine, railroad and pipeline accidents combined. Deborah A. P. Hersman, a member of the board who presided over a two-day motorcycle safety forum last September, said in an e-mail message, “This is the only mode of transportation in which the overall number of fatalities and the rate of fatalities continue to steadily rise, and yet there is no public outcry.”

While it might seem that older riders would be more experienced and less likely to take risks, other factors may lie behind their portion of the fatality increases.

“It’s the baby boomers,” said Barbara L. Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, a Washington-based group of state officials. Many riders are returning to bikes years after having given up riding, and “they don’t realize how powerful the bikes are,” she said.

Government statistics support, in raw numbers at least, the assertion about older riders, even if the data cannot assign blame for the fatal crashes. Umesh Shankar, an analyst at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that the number of fatalities among riders 40 and over had more than tripled.

The industry, though, says the statistics are misleading. The Motorcycle Industry Council, a trade association, says that the fatality rate — which takes into account miles traveled — has been calculated incorrectly, in part because the Transportation Department does not accurately tally the number of miles ridden. For instance, government statistics say motorcycles traveled 9.6 billion miles in 2003; the industry council’s research says they actually traveled 20.6 billion miles.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation, which is allied with the industry council, does agree that returning riders can be a problem. Dean L. Thompson, a spokesman for the safety group, said that older riders should “not be in denial about their skills, which decline over time.” Riders should know their limits, he said.

With gasoline prices high, some riders are putting more miles on their bikes. Mr. O’Connell, the Gold Wing owner, loves to ride but also uses the bike in his business. He is a commercial real estate broker, and says when he arrives to show a property, the big Honda impresses customers.

The industry’s consistent message is that more rider training will reduce the number of deaths. Last fall, Ms. Hersman took a basic rider course, and got a motorcycle endorsement on her Virginia drivers license.

Ms. Hersm