Focus Avs Aeroskin Hood Protector - 320009 on 2040-parts.com

Accident prevention features to affect vehicle safety ratings?

To score high on the government's five-star safety program, car companies may soon need to do more than just protect passengers during a crash. They might need to keep their customers out of accidents, too. That would be a boon to suppliers selling such equipment as radar and video cameras that watch the road ahead.

Toyota ends powertrain deal with Tesla

To the surprise of no one, Toyota has announced the end of a partnership with Tesla that gave rise to the slow-selling RAV4 EV, which will be replaced by a fuel cell car next year. Toyota has said that it can't meet California's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate profitably with electric cars, but it thinks it can make money, or at least not lose so much of it, with fuel cells. Toyota signed a $100 million joint development deal in 2011 with Tesla, to build powertrains for its RAV4 EV.

Local Motors XC2V design competition winners announced

The winners of the Local Motors XC2V design competition have been announced. Created in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the brief called for individuals to co-create a vehicle body design for two different missions – Combat Reconnaissance and Combat Delivery & Evacuation – based on Local Motors' tubular steel chassis. The goal was to create a fast, lightweight, highly capable vehicle that would be suitable for various field missions.