Car Blog

Mopar Gives Challenger the Scoop, Further Enhances Look of Brand’s Iconic Muscle Car

Mopar is giving Dodge Challenger even more of a muscular appearance.

“Our mission at Mopar is to add value to all of our brands,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mopar Service, Parts and Customer Care, Chrysler Group LLC. “Our ‘Moparized’ Dodge Challenger is a great example of how we can further enhance the value of all of our Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge Car and Ram Truck vehicles.”

Mopar’s new exterior appearance package is now available as a factory production option. The exterior includes a unique body-color hood with scoop, body-color rear “Go-Wing” spoiler and strobe stripe performance graphics. An interior appearance package is also available and includes a Mopar-branded T-handle shifter, bright pedal kit (automatic only), bright door-sill guards, premium carpet floor mats and a full vehicle cover to protect this prized possession.

“We worked closely with Mopar to further enhance the appearance of Dodge’s modern-day muscle machine,” said Ralph Gilles, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dodge Car Brand. “Our additional design cues effectively communicate the vehicle’s world-class handling, performance and cutting-edge technology.”

The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the exterior package is $1,995. The MSRP for the interior package is $945 for the automatic transmission and $780 for the manual transmission. Both options are available on SE and R/T models in the following colors: TorRed, Bright Silver Metallic, Brilliant Black Crystal and Bright White.

Source: Chrysler Group LLC

Four ways to reduce traffic related stress and spend more time with friends and family in 2010

NAVTEQ provides new ways to lower your stress level, make more time for your family, and even reduce your personal carbon footprint. NAVTEQ Traffic.com(TM) is helping drivers with four traffic-related resolutions for 2010.

Find more time for yourself and your family.

The more time you spend in traffic, the less time you have for the most important people in your life. Let NAVTEQ Traffic.com can help you cut your commute. Sign up for MyTraffic at www.traffic.com and save your favorite routes. Personalized traffic updates are then available from any web-enabled device and on most major carrier portals. Just enter http://mobi.traffic.com/ into your mobile web browser, or through your carrier portals within categories such as: “Maps/Traffic,” “Weather” and “Travel.”

Show up on time, every time.

Perhaps the only driving experience more frustrating than being stuck in traffic is getting lost. Make sure that you are equipped to find your way, no matter where you are going. In addition to NAVTEQ Traffic.com, use a GPS navigation in your vehicle, and always make sure the maps are up to date. If you haven’t updated your navigation maps in the past year, visit NAVTEQ.com to purchase a new map update.

Cope with traffic-related stress.

Do you arrive at work or come home stressed out from fighting through traffic? Give yourself a break. Find the faster moving roads by texting your CITY CODE (NY, CHIC, PHL, LA, etc.) to TRAFC (87232) to get instant traffic updates for the worst city area delays. NAVTEQ Traffic.com city codes can be found at http://bhelp.traffic.com/city-codes-used-for-sms.

Reduce your carbon footprint.

The less time you spend stuck in traffic, the more you reduce your carbon footprint. A recent NAVTEQ® study* showed that cars equipped with GPS navigation systems with real-time traffic info can reduce the time of their average trip by 18% and reduce their car’s carbon emissions by 21 percent. Don’t have a traffic-enabled system? Check http://mobi.traffic.com/ for real time traffic updates.

Source: NAVTEQ

Leaping into the world of virtual engineering, Ford Motor Company now employs the same type of motion-capture technology used to create films like “Avatar,” “Lord of the Rings” and “Shrek” to design vehicles that are more comfortable and enjoyable to drive.

Motion-capture, a technology that digitally captures movement, is used by Hollywood computer animators and video game designers to make nonhuman characters appear more lifelike. Ford uses the technology to create realistic digital humans that engineers use to test vehicles in the virtual world. Ford is the only automaker to use motion-capture software in this way for vehicle design.

“Just like in the movies, we hook people up with sensors to understand exactly how they move when they are interacting with their vehicles,” said Gary Strumolo, manager, Ford research and engineering. “Once we have all that motion captured, we create virtual humans that we can use to run thousands of tests that help us understand how people of all sizes and shapes interact with all kinds of vehicle designs. It’s an incredibly efficient way of engineering tomorrow’s vehicles.”

Capturing motion in movies and cars

One of the newest ways Ford is using motion-capture technology is through a system called Human Occupant Package Simulator (HOPS), which combines motion-capture software with a special test vehicle to measure and evaluate body motion.

A human test subject is outfitted with up to 50 motion-capture sensors. The test subject performs a series of movements, such as swinging a leg outside of the vehicle or reaching for the seat belt. The markers record trajectories of the test subject’s movements. The recordings are then loaded into a database to create digital human models.

Ford engineers use the digital human models to evaluate movement using different virtual vehicle design proposals from a small car to a full-size pickup truck. The system also can be reconfigured to represent the driver and the front, second or even third-row passenger compartments.

The HOPS motion-capture technology allows engineers to apply a more scientific approach to understanding how people interact with vehicles.

“Comfort or discomfort is inherently a subjective measure,” said Nanxin Wang, Ford technical leader. “For a given vehicle, some people will say it’s comfortable to get in, while others may say just the opposite. The challenge is to find out why people feel that way and how we can change the design to improve the perception.

“Before HOPS, the only way to evaluate a given design was to have people get into a vehicle and tell us how they liked it,” Wang continued. “This took lots of time and guesswork. Now we can couple this subjective appraisal with objective measurements of their arms, legs and head movements, along with muscular efforts to quantify movement mathematically. Our design teams use the data as a guide for developing a variety of vehicle platforms that provide optimal comfort, regardless of a person’s size or shape.”

Creating a holistic experience

Ford also is applying motion-capture animation software to improve real-life driving situations before the first prototype is even built. In Ford’s Immersive Virtual Evaluation (iVE) lab, engineers create virtual vehicles complete with exterior views with buildings, intersections and pedestrians.

“This technology enables us to evaluate many vehicle exterior and interior alternatives in a virtual environment from any location – in the driver’s seat or hundreds of feet away from the vehicle – with animated characters and vehicles,” said Elizabeth Baron, a technical specialist in Virtual Reality and Advanced Visualization at Ford.

Two specialized tools used in the iVE lab are the Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE) and the Programmable Vehicle Model (PVM).

“The CAVE is a room where images are projected in stereo onto three walls and the ceiling to generate real-time, virtual vehicle interiors and exteriors at actual scale,” explained Baron. “When you look around, you can see virtually everything inside and outside of a vehicle that is still only a design in a computer.”

The PVM, an adjustable physical device that can be scaled to the actual dimensions of a car or truck, provides an even greater realistic experience by adding the element of touch.

“We set up key dimensions – steering wheel, gas, brake, center stack, etc. – and then we put the virtual world around that physical model,” said Baron. “Instead of being in a room, you’re actually sitting in a representation of the vehicle. You can touch and feel most everything, but what you’re looking at is digital.”

Both virtual design tools help Ford improve the design aesthetics, engineering and ergonomics of its cars and trucks. They also enable the company to bring products to market faster and more cost effectively.

Source: Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is using a new technology that allows engineers to actually see unwanted sounds and eliminate them during vehicle development to ensure new vehicles have the quietest interior cabins.

Ford is the first automaker in North America to use the new “Noise Vision” tool, which is part of Ford’s drive to lead the industry in top vehicle quality and customer satisfaction. Customers connect an ultra-quiet cabin with overall product quality and satisfaction, and quietness is one of the top reasons to buy a vehicle, according to third-party customer satisfaction studies.

“The key to world-class interior quietness is to pinpoint the source and location of every unwanted sound, no matter how subtle it is,” said Bill Gulker, Ford’s leader of Wind Noise Engineering. “Noise Vision already is paying off for Ford, with the new 2010 Taurus, Fusion, Flex and F-150 achieving the quietest interiors in their class.”

Noise Vision is a small sphere that is placed inside the vehicle cabin. It is equipped with more than 30 highly sensitive microphones and 12 special cameras. Powerful software reads data from Noise Vision and creates a computerized image showing interior noise “hot spots,” including wind noise, a squeak or rattle, or unwanted feedback from the engine or the road.

Ford began using Noise Vision – formally known as the Noise Source Identification Tool – to develop new vehicles for the 2010 model year. The high-tech tool’s thermal imaging is similar to the kind used for military work and medical research.

In the past, Ford engineers worked long and hard to identify unwanted rattles, squeaks or knocks. Finding an unwanted sound often was a process of elimination, which could take days or weeks.

Noise Vision streamlines the process to hours, and it’s saving money, too. In the past year alone, the technology has allowed Ford’s North American NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) engineers to reduce 200 hours of wind tunnel testing time a year – saving more than $300,000 in testing costs.

“We used to rely on trial and error to make a vehicle quieter,” said Gulker. “It was a process of elimination that often led us to mask the issue with thicker glass or more sound insulation. Noise Vision literally shows us where the noise is and allows us to eliminate it once and for all.”

Quietness and quality leadership

Today, Ford’s initial vehicle quality is equal to Toyota and Honda. Ford vehicle interior quietness also rivals many luxury brands, including Lexus, according to third-party consumer research.

In fact, Ford has the fewest wind noise, squeak and rattle issues of any full-line vehicle manufacturer, according to the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study. Ford brands also have higher interior quietness customer satisfaction scores than their Asian counterparts, according to the RDA Group’s Global Quality Research System. Ford’s U.S. vehicle leadership includes:

– The Ford F-150 is the top model in its segment for quietness, according to the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study. F-150 also is No. 1 in quietness customer satisfaction, according to the RDA Group.
– Flex owners are significantly more satisfied with interior quietness than the majority of owners of competing crossovers, according to J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study.
– The Lincoln MKZ beats the current Lexus ES350 in key interior quietness attributes, such as road noise at 30 mph and wind noise at 80 mph, according to the RDA Group.
– Ford Escape is tied with the Honda CRV for first place in the small utility segment for interior quietness customer satisfaction, according to the RDA Group.

Source: Ford Motor Company

Chevrolet Releases Cold Weather Feature’s Popularity Figures

With winter weather coming to much of the country, the scrunch, scrunch, scrunch sound of scraping ice from the windshield leaves most people cold – literally and figuratively. So it makes sense that more and more customers are making remote start a popular feature on Chevrolet vehicles. Chevrolet announced that for the 2010 model year, 80 percent of the Tahoes and Suburbans have the factory-installed feature that lets customers start their vehicles with the touch of a button.

The remote start feature, available since the 2004 model year, is also popular on other Chevrolet cars and trucks:

– Traverse – 72 percent
– Impala – 70 percent
– Malibu – 40 percent

The feature costs $300 or less, depending on the model.

“Chevrolet customers tell us they love this feature, because it makes their lives a little easier,” said Chuck Bongiorno, GM’s engineering group manager for vehicle access, starting and security. “On a cold winter morning, a customer’s Malibu or Equinox can be toasty inside and the windows defrosted before they get in their car to head off to work.”

Remote start also can reduce overall emissions versus a cold-start drive-away because as the idling engine warms, it activates the catalyst that traps unburned hydrocarbons.

And no need to worry about a car thief jumping in and driving off. The vehicle doors are locked while remote start is running. Remote start runs for 10 minutes and then shuts off, unless the driver extends the time up to 20 minutes.

The Chevrolet remote start system makes sure the vehicle is operating properly every time it is started. The system checks to be sure the hood is closed, via a hood switch and conducts a host of vehicle diagnostics.

Using the remote start system is easy. First, the driver presses the “LOCK” button on their key fob, locking the doors. Then the driver presses and holds the remote start button on the fob for one and a half seconds. This two-step process helps prevent inadvertent activation and assures the vehicle is locked. To signify the remote start system received the signal, the vehicle’s signal lamps flash once. When the engine begins running, the parking lamps illuminate.

“The system in the Chevrolet lineup is superior to any on the market because it is integrated into the vehicle’s electrical, theft and safety systems,” said Scott McCullough, the GM lead subsystem engineer on the system. “A fully integrated system enhances vehicle quality and reliability while offering customers a more price competitive option.”

Ford currently offers a dealer-installed, after market system that costs nearly $400. Toyota’s remote start system costs more than $500.

Introduced in 2003, the Chevrolet remote start system is offered on the 2010 Silverado, Avalanche, Tahoe, Suburban, Traverse, Impala, Malibu, Cobalt, HHR, Camaro, Equinox and Express models.

Source: General Motors

Chevrolet, General Motors and the National Federation of the Blind are cooperating to identify a safe level of sound to alert the blind and other pedestrians to the presence of near silent-running electric and hybrid vehicles.

“We are confident electric vehicles can produce a safe and acceptable level of sound to alert blind pedestrians to their presence,” said John Pare, NFB executive director of strategic initiatives. “We look forward to working with Chevrolet and GM to identify an appropriate sound that will alert pedestrians in the most effective and least disruptive way possible.”

Members of the National Federation of the Blind and engineers from GM began meeting earlier this year to understand the safety needs of pedestrians with respect to quiet vehicles, and to work on solutions for the benefit of pedestrians, cyclists, runners, children and other members of the public.

Several NFB members recently experienced a demonstration of the pedestrian warning alert on a pre-production Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle driven at various speeds by chief engineer Andrew Farah. While visiting GM’s Milford Proving Ground, they also evaluated the alert from the front, sides and rear of the car.

“We have significant background in the area of pedestrian alerts dating to our work on our first electric car, the EV1,” Farah said, “The most important thing is to listen to the people who will interact with these vehicles in everyday life.”

Deborah Kent Stein, who chairs the NFB’s Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety, said, “A recent report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) demonstrated that the silent operation of hybrid vehicles is an issue for all pedestrians, not just the blind. In certain situations, electric or hybrid vehicles are twice as likely to be involved in collisions with pedestrians. The NFB looks forward to working with the safety agency in the crafting of appropriate standards establishing an acceptable level of minimum vehicle sound.”

“The National Federation of the Blind appreciates the opportunity to work with General Motors on this problem,” said Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. “We urge all automobile manufacturers to work with the blind in designing vehicle sounds to alert us to the approach, speed and direction of vehicles so that both drivers and pedestrians can safely use America’s roadways.”

Source: General Motors