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Toyota to unlock secrets of black-box recorders

Reacting to criticism that data from black-box crash recorders in its vehicles can be accessed only by the company, Toyota Motor Corp. is moving to ship hundreds of data-decoding machines to the United States and make them commercially available to help diagnose vehicle problems. The devices, known as event data recorders, are similar to the black boxes on airliners and record information such as vehicle and engine speed in the seconds before a crash.

Smart: the best concepts and special editions

By James Clark Motoring Issues 18 July 2014 11:24 As Smart lifts the lid on the new ForTwo and ForFour this week, CAR magazine looks back on wonderful, wacky and downright woeful Smart special editions and concepts that have been created since the diminutive City Coupe first arrived on the scene in 1998. The Crossblade was a 2002 special edition based on the cabrio version of the city car. Its Brabus-tuned motor put out 70bhp and the car weighed just 740kg.

Mini Cooper (2013) New Mini previewed by Mini Vision Concept

The Mini Vision Concept has given the best indication yet at what the Mini 3, due to be shown this autumn, will look like. Shown at a design event in Germany, the Vision, says Mini, is intended to show the future design direction of the BMW sub-brand, but when compared to scoop images of the car, essentially previews the new model in all its glory. Mini Vision Concept: the need-to-know The Mini 3 will keep the familiar styling cues of the first two generations, but there’s a longer wheelbase and a waistline that’s rising more sharply towards the roofline, which lowers more aggressively than before.