Mahindra Trucks, In Trouble?

This may be a sign that Mahindra's attempt to import diesel pickup trucks into the U.S. is in big trouble.

According to Global Atlanta (here), Mahindra's U.S. distributor Global Vehicles has filed a federal lawsuit against the company. Mahindra, despite rumors to the contrary, has not yet filed for EPA certification of its pickup trucks. Which likely means, they aren't making emissions.

Meanwhile, the many U.S. dealers (some of them closed Chrysler or GM dealers) who put down money on a franchise to sell Mahindra trucks have nothing to show for their investments.

"Chevy"

I heard on the morning news that GM is instructing its employees to always refer to Chevrolet as Chevrolet, not as Chevy. They apparently want to portray a grown-up, mature brand.

Good luck with that.

Chevy is ingrained in the culture. They'll have to retrain thousands of NASCAR fans.

They'll have to get songs re-written: "Drove my Chevrolet to the levr-o-let but the levr-o-let was dry"

It's good for Dodge (Ram) and Ford, through--they only have one syllable. Easier to say.

Fiat Cinquecento (500) Spotting

You see some neat cars sometimes, living near Woodward Ave.

It's a lovely little car. But it is little. Will it save Chrysler? What do you think?

Onstar Vs. Sync

A friend of mine was looking for a luxury car, and was wondering about the differences between Onstar (Cadillac) and Sync (Lincoln).

There is a major difference in how these two systems work.

Onstar is a concierge service--when you press the little blue button, you initiate a voice call to a data center where someone will offer to help you. Likewise, when something goes wrong, they can call you and ask if you are OK. Onstar has a subscription fee.

Sync is a speech recognition system. You don't talk to a human, you talk to a Microsoft box which integrates some functions of the car with some functions of your cell phone. Sync does not have a fee.

Onstar advantages: the phone is built into the car, so it is always on, you can talk to a real person, Onstar can do things like unlock your doors or stop your car remotely if it is stolen.

Onstar disadvantages: it has a subscription fee.

Sync advantages: it is free. It has a nice interface for iPod control, will read text messages to you, get news and weather updates, etc. Sync will have apps that users can download and run, and there will be more of them over time.

Sync disadvantages: If you don't have your phone with you or your phone is damaged, Sync can't help you as much. Sync can't do things like immobilize your car or unlock your doors. Some phones or devices aren't fully supported, depending on how they implement bluetooth and other details.

Both systems offer 911 functionality, Onstar through a concierge and Sync through an automated dial-out using your phone.

The Gaza "Peace" Flotilla

If the "peace activists" of the Mavi Marmari just wanted to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, why did they bring slingshots, metal poles, gas masks, and knives with them?

Video here.

If the "peace activists" wanted to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, why did they prepare to attack the Israeli commandos before they boarded the ship?

Video here.

if the "peace activists" wanted to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, why didn't they just follow the Israeli navy to Ashdod, and have the cargo inspected, as they were offered?

If the Israeli commandos came with the intent to injure "peace activists", why did they rappel down from a helicopter armed with paintball guns?

If the Israelis wanted to injure "peace activists", why didn't the helicopter's machine gun fire into the crowd?

If the Israelis wanted to injure "peace activists", why did the men hold off on using their lethal weapons (handguns) until they were being hurt themselves?

The blockade of Gaza is a legal military action, according to international law, as Israel is in a state of war with Hamas, who runs Gaza. Under a legal blockade, Israel has the right to board any vessel which shows that its intent is to run the blockade.

Israel has a right to prevent non-humanitarian materials from reaching Gaza, which could be used to make missiles or tooling for missiles. For example, concrete can be used to make metal molds, for casting rocket parts. Electric wheelchairs can be dis-assembled for wires, motors, switches, microprocessors, batteries, etc.

The "peace activists" where in fact running the blockade with the intent to provoke Israel into doing something embarrassing, and with the intent to use the other passengers as human shields. The "peace activists" were in fact engaged in an act of war. The "activists" who were killed were not murdered, they were shot in self defense.

$5000 Event Data Recorders? Not Likely

Automotive News has an interesting article where they speculate on the possible cost impact of the EDR requirement in H.R. 5381. Somehow, they manage to throw out numbers like $5000 per car, but if you read the article, you see that they are extrapolating from airplane flight data recorders, which are required to survive deep submersion, very hot fires, and huge g forces.

Many cars already have EDRs, such as the much maligned Toyota unit, which is a closed system, and can only be read with Toyota tools.

The way the EDRs work is that they write data to flash memory in the few milliseconds before, during, and after a safety event, such as an airbag deployment. They typically have a large capacitor onboard, which provides a little bit of power so the unit can finish writing the data if it loses power during a crash.

I think it is unlikely that NHTSA will mandate that car EDRs be made to the same deep submersion and high temperature survival specs that airplane black boxes are made, as these are much less likely to occur in even a very severe car accident.

What may be required is a larger capacitor or a backup battery to keep the thing running longer after losing powere, and more memory to store a longer trace. For example, if the unit needs to store 64 bytes of data at a very vast 1ms rate, a minutes worth of data would require about 3.8 MB of storage. So we are talking about a few dollars worth of flash memory, and maybe another few dollars for longer term keep alive capability.

I could see the cost of EDRs going up by, say, $50-$100 per vehicle. But not $5000.

The Smoker Slob

I understand, lady in the crossover SUV with the MSU theme license plate and the hardshell roof cargo carrier, that you can't drive to work in the morning without your cigarette. You pay the taxes, so may as well enjoy your vice. But do you have to throw your cigarette butt out your window when you are done with it? Can't you keep your butt to yourself?