Genuine Gm Acdelco 22163652 Brake Hose on 2040-parts.com

Continental developing experimental semiautonomous vehicle

A vehicle that drives itself has been a fantasy for many drivers since they encountered their first traffic jam. While a fully autonomous car is not quite here, Continental—yes, the same company that makes tires—has an experimental semiautonomous vehicle that will eclipse the magical 10,000-miles-on-road mark this month. Its unassuming Volkswagen Passat is fitted with a plethora of safety and technology systems that the company has been developing and tweaking over the course of the project.

Bondholders snub GM, bankruptcy filing likely

Nowhere near enough General Motors bondholders agreed to exchange their debt for stock before a midnight Tuesday deadline, making a bankruptcy filing by the automaker highly likely. GM had set a threshold of 90 percent of the $27 billion in bond debt it wanted to exchange for 10 percent of the stock in a reorganized company for the deal to take place. In a statement Wednesday, GM said the amount of notes tendered was substantially less than the 90 percent target.

No sign of global auto meltdown at Tokyo Auto Salon

With more than 600 cars on display and a record number of exhibitors, nothing at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon tuner show hinted at the global economic downturn. As always, there was a great mix of styles, from hard-core, 1,000-hp, supertuned machinery to weird customized scooter tricycles. Auto manufacturers tried hard to capture the minds--if not the wallets--of the younger-than-30 crowd with customized versions of production cars, while tuners were busy persuading power junkies to choose them for their next engine modification.