Mitsubishi Ek Wagon 2005 Right Side Mirror Assembly [1413500] on 2040-parts.com

Volvo celebrates the seatbelt’s golden anniversary

By Freddie Fulton Motor Industry 12 August 2009 10:11 Today marks the 50th anniversary of the three-point seatbelt. It was patented by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959, but the Swedes magnanimously opened up the tech to other car makers as they saw the real-world safety benefit of seatbelts in all cars. The design was so effective that in Germany the patent registrars listed it in the top eight inventions which have made an impact from 1885 to 1985.

CES: GM to open the dashboard to developers

At last year's Autoweek Design Forum, father of the iPod and Nest Labs co-founder Tony Fadell suggested that automakers concentrate on designing and building cars, leaving handset makers to handle infotainment. The latest announcements from Ford and GM -- in conjunction with the International CES -- suggest that automakers would rather treat the dashboard space as a handset. Yesterday, Dearborn, Mich., announced the Ford Developer Program, which opens up Sync to outside application development; now General Motors has announced a similar initiative.

James May does Isle of Man TT run in electric Motor Bike made from Meccano

James May & Oz Clark in their electric Meccano Motor Bike & Sidecar in the Isle of Man With Top Gear on a break, Messrs Clarkson, May and Hammond have the chance to go out and do their own projects. And one of those is James May’s Toy Stories. And it seems James May has been out on the Isle of Man filming for a Christmas Special for his Toy Stories series, together with long-standing sidekick on other projects, Oz Clarke.