2004-2009 Lexus Rx 350 330 400h Front Right Passenger Seat Balt Retractor Oem on 2040-parts.com

Hackers compromise Prius, seize control of wheel, brakes and more

As an enthusiast, you're probably already worried about an autonomous car ripping the joy -- and the steering wheel -- from your hands. Now, according to Andy Greenberg at Forbes, you also have to worry about hackers ripping the steering wheel out of your car's hands (boy, do we feel strange writing that). That's because a car's computerized systems are as prone to hacking as your malware-laden desktop.

Jaguar hybrid cars due in 2013-14

Jaguar will launch its own hybrid vehicles soon after Land Rover, CAR can confirm. Parent company Jaguar Land Rover is developing battery-assisted hybrid versions for both brands but its strategy puts part-electric Land Rovers first on the launchpad in 2013.Hybrid Jaguars – set to include the XJ and XF, but eventually every model – are therefore likely to be on the market by 2013-2014, using a similar eight-speed ZF hybrid transmission to petrol-electric BMWs.The staggered roll-out of battery Jags and Land Rovers makes sense: heavy 4x4s have come in the firing line from green protestors who label them Chelsea Tractors. Hybrid Land Rovers will trim emissions and – in plug-in hybrid mode – enable even big bulky Range Rovers to drive in zero-emissions mode into central urban areas emitting nothing more unsaintly than an electric whir.So which Jaguars will go hybrid first?It's likely that the largest models such as the XJ will receive the hybrid power packs first; large cars reap the greater benefit and can more easily swallow the additional cost, put at around £10,000 in today's money.JLR's Midlands engineering bases in Whitley and Gaydon now employ 100 engineers in the expanding hybrid powertrain business unit launched 18 months ago.

Spied: Mercedes-Benz SLC AMG? UPDATED

LATEST UPDATE Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance car off-shoot has kicked off public road tests of its eagerly awaited new sportscar, which is planned to go on sale in North America in early 2015. Smaller and more affordable than the existing SLS AMG, which the new two door liftback will indirectly replace in the German car maker’s line-up, the new car is planned to compete directly with the Porsche 911, both on price and performance. The coupe model, caught here exiting AMG’s engineering headquarters on the outskirts of Stuttgart in Germany yesterday in the first round of durability testing, will proceed a convertible version of the front-engined, rear-wheel drive sportscar due out in 2016, with an expected price tag of around $100,000 in the US.