Eagleeye Driver & Passenger Replacement Headlight 03-05 Toyota Matrix on 2040-parts.com

Hybrid Cars are Dangerous

Hybrid cars are reckoned to be dangerous to vision-impaired pedestrians - but Lotus has a solution with 'Safe & Sound' But this is about the problems that are starting to arise when Hybrids (and EVs for that matter) are running ‘Silently’. And with sales of Hybrid cars rocketing – particularly in Japan – it is causing concern to the authorities. So the Japanese Government has set up a panel to investigate the problem, consisting of consumers, vision-impaired groups, the police and representatives from the car industry.

Carbon-fiber parts and a software fix help create a lighter, faster Fiat

Chrysler Group's Mopar parts brand and Italian supplier Magneti Marelli have teamed up on a design exercise based on the 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth that shaved weight and added horsepower. The vehicle, called the Venom, has a number of carbon fiber components -- hood and side mirrors, for example -- that makes it about 200 pounds lighter than the 2,512-pound Abarth. The Venom uses software updates and additional exhaust components to boost the Abarth's standard 160-hp 1.4-liter turbocharged engine's output by as much as 25 percent.

June sales get a pick-me-up from pickups

If there's a bright spot in June's tepid light-vehicle sales, it came from an unlikely segment. After slumping for several years as the economy tanked and gas prices spiked, pickup demand is rising faster than the overall sales gains of most automakers--serving as a pillar once again during the industry's fledgling recovery. And most of the buyers returning to showrooms are pickup enthusiasts, automakers say.