A similar controversy back in the 1980s set Audi back on its heels in that decade – and a reputation for poor quality and unsafe vehicles takes years to overcome.

Well, NHTSA got together with a bunch of scientists and engineers from NASA to look into the Prius problem in particular and the Toyota unintended acceleration problem in general, and the results are both interesting and educational.

Toyotas, like many modern cars, control the car’s acceleration electronically. That means that when you “step on the gas” you’re simply telling the car’s computer to accelerate, but the actual opening of the car’s throttle and fuel delivery system is computer-controlled. The engineers from NASA went over the programming, the actuation mechanisms, the brakes, and perhaps most importantly the onboard data records from the cars that were reported to have the problem.

The result is that with the exception of one car that got the floor mat stuck on the gas pedal and some non-crash incidences of “sticky” pedals, every case of unintended acceleration was the result of “pedal misapplication” by the driver – in other words, the drivers were standing on the gas when they thought they were using the brake!

The executive summary of the report takes a page or two to deliver this finding, but the bottom line is that cars today have never been safer or better-engineered. The report suggests more work to make cars foolproof, but the bottom line is that there’s no substitute for a good driver.

Interestingly, one thing NHTSA did NOT recommend was eliminating floor mats. Although it seems obvious that the modern style of floor mat that is hooked or screwed into the floor is a much safer design than just tossing a mat under your feet.

Oh and incidentally, remember we mentioned the Audi problem in the 1980s? The NHTSA report from that controversy found the same thing – it was the drivers, not the cars, that had the problem.

You can see the whole web page for the study here.

This 1968 VW Transporter will be remade by Leif's Auto Centers

It’s not a sports car. It looks like a box that might contain a sports car. It’s a 1968 Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter – commonly known as a microbus. On its best day, this vehicle was a utility wagon, and its 47 horsepower engine never impressed anyone with its speed and torque.

This particular 1968 Volkswagen Transporter has already had a long and useful life, and it bears the battle scars of 43 years on the road. After nearly half a century of putting along in the slow lane, this ancient “panel delivery” bus was recently purchased by Leif’s Auto Centers as a company project car.

1968 was a big year for Volkswagen. When it was new, this Transporter received some great upgrades over prior years. The new model year features for ‘68 included a new, slightly more powerful 1600cc engine, a smoother transmission, and an upgraded suspension and driveline for better handling and steering.

Now all of that good stuff will be thrown away as part of this project.

When all the work has been done, this Transporter will sport a powerful 6-cylinder engine transplanted from a Porsche 911 – a cousin of the venerable VW powerplant, but as different from this van’s original engine as a shark is different from a goldfish. VW’s ancient and greasy 4-speed transmission will be replaced with a state of the art all wheel drive system. Finally, a fully modern sport-tuned suspension and brake package will replace the half-century-old 4-wheel drum brakes and torsion bar springs.

That’s the good news for the underside of the van. But the topside is Leif’s particular specialty. The old microbus will be taken down to bare metal, repaired, and then built back up in the best way possible: with input from Leif’s customers and fans. When it’s done, the bus will be called the Mystery Machine, after the van in the popular Scooby-Doo Saturday morning TV show of the 1970s.

“Each phase of the project, we’re going to post to Facebook and to our website and let our customers and fans choose what kind of colors, what designs we use on this project, so at the end, it will be a combined product of all that input,” says Jeshe Burch, Marketing Director for Leif’s Auto Centers.

Every step of this restoration and modification will be documented through Leif’s online presence, and through Leif’s sponsorship of The Ride Show on NW32TV (KRCW-TV). And when the project is finally complete, fans who have followed the build will get the chance to own this unique sports van – Leif’s plans to contest the project via either raffle or sweepstakes and donate the proceeds to charity. For one final hurrah, the fans will decide which charity gets the money.

“We want to highlight the fact that we do more than just collision repair at Leif’s. We are now a full-service automotive service center, from fuel and maintenance to repairs and lifestyle services,” says owner and founder Leif Hansen.

You can follow the restoration and modification process on this 1968 Volkswagen Transporter online at www.leifs.com, or like Leif’s on Facebook at: /leifsautomotive.

Photo by Kenneth Johnsen

Green is the dominant color at the 2011 Portland International Auto Show, held at the Oregon Convention Center this weekend. Everywhere you look, automakers are rolling out a new generation of ecologically friendly cars, including the long-awaited Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF battery-electric vehicles. But amidst all the green, there’s a flash of white – John Wayland’s 1972 Datsun 1200 sedan, nicknamed White Zombie, is a home-built electric drag racing car that holds the world record ¼-mile time for a street legal electric vehicle. The car will be on display at the show all weekend.

“We are an invited featured guest, and we’re thrilled to be at the show. This is the big one,” Wayland says.

It’s been a long road to get the electric racer to the Oregon Convention Center for this event. Wayland has been working on this car for 17 years, starting with traditional lead-acid batteries and upgrading to new materials as battery technology has evolved.

“We went to a Lithium battery pack in 2007, but last year we hit the jackpot with a Lithium Polymer battery from Dow Kokam. These batteries are incredible. Because they’re Li-Pol, they’re high in energy density. We got the materials from Dow, but we built the actual battery packs ourselves,” Wayland says.

The old lead-acid battery pack in White Zombie weighed 900 pounds, while the new pack weighs just 450 pounds. But weight savings was only part of the improvement.

“900 pounds of lead acid batteries gave us 30 miles of range on this car. Now we use 450 pounds of Li-Pol, and those batteries have 8 times the energy density of lead-acid, and it quadrupled our maximum range to 120 highway miles on a charge. But our focus is on performance, not on range; this was a side benefit,” Wayland says.

In addition to range, the new battery pack powered Wayland’s car to a world record. “We hold the ¼-mile record for a street legal electric vehicle, at 10.258 seconds and 123.79 miles per hour. The car will do 0-60 in 1.8 seconds,” Wayland says.

While he’s proud of his cutting-edge development in electric cars, Wayland is quick to downplay performance comparisons with the production electric vehicles that will be on display at the auto show. “White Zombie has spearheaded performance development, but there’s no warranty on this car. GM and Nissan and Toyota have to sell cars at retail, so they have to make sure that their cars will last and be reliable for years. They’re only using a portion of their battery pack, but we can use the whole pack,” he says.

In preparation for the show, Wayland wanted to dress up his car as much as possible, and the effort led to his newest sponsorship. Leif Hansen of Leif’s Auto Collision Centers saw the White Zombie and got on board immediately.

“The technology in that car is way beyond anything that’s going on right now. When you see this guy making his own batteries, getting the stuff from Dow Kokam,

it’s an amazing feat of human ingenuity. I like working with people who have passion. He’s on to something and it blows me away,” Hansen says.

Leif’s is getting the car ready for the auto show this week, and afterwards will perform a complete body and paint restoration on the car.

“Right now they’re just fixing it up, but after the show Leif’s is going to take it down and it will look like a brand new 1972 Datsun. We’re going to make it with proper fit and finish, and it’ll be a race car,” Wayland says.

Looking to the future, Hansen and Wayland see more possibilities for partnership.

“He’s got some guys he’s working with who are building 30-minute battery chargers. We have 200 Leif’s fuel centers opening up, and I want to have recharging available in every station. We’re looking at putting those 30-minute chargers into every Leif’s fuel center, because ten to fifteen years from now, there’s going to be a lot of electric cars on the road, and we’ll be there for them,” Hansen says.

For his part, Wayland plans to keep pushing the electric performance envelope.

“We push the performance, and GM, Nissan, and Toyota can’t ignore us. Too often, people think of electric cars as being like oatmeal, and I want to show them that it’s more like a juicy steak,” Wayland says.

In the standard Sonata, you get a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine making 198 horsepower and delivering fuel economy of 35 MPG on the highway and 22 MPG in the city. You have your choice of 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic transmission. That’s pretty good performance, but if you were hoping for the V6 version, Hyundai has a performance alternative – a 2-liter turbocharged Sonata.

The Sonata Turbo delivers 274 breathtaking horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque, and it delivers that power at any RPM thanks to its quick twin-scroll turbo. And here’s the best part – the EPA-rated fuel economy is almost identical to the base model, at 22 MPG city and 34 MPG on the highway.  But the better best part is that we ran an experiment – what kind of fuel economy could we coax out of the 2.0T over a 50 mile drive?  And before you think we went to the top of a hill and coasted down, this was a windy mountain road and freeway trip – with plenty of fast & slow, up & down, slow & go, and stoplights. In our real-world test, the Sonata Turbo gave us 41.1 honest MPG, and that’s nothing short of phenomenal in a family sedan.

And to answer the next obvious question, the Sonata turbo is really fast when you lay into the throttle.

But Hyundai didn’t just raise its game on the engine. The new Sonata is a state of the art sports sedan, with excellent handling, quiet interior, and all the bells and whistles you want in a new car. The seats are comfortable and the controls are all well laid out. Hyundai has done its homework and discovered that it really doesn’t cost any more to create a nice interior. Of course, there’s an optional leather package and optional heated seats, which we love. And in keeping with the top luxury cars on the market, you can now get heated rear seats in the Sonata.

The third player in Hyundai’s new 2011 Sonata lineup is the hybrid. In this car you get the same 2.4-liter engine as the basic Sonata, but you also get the electric traction motor and regenerative braking that have come to define the hybrid experience. The pairing produces 166 horsepower and 154 pound-feet of torque, which made for a pleasant driving experience, but obviously lacked the power of the Turbo engine. You also give up a little trunk space in the hybrid to accommodate the battery pack. We ran the Hybrid through another 50-mile test with both city and highway driving and came up with 51.4 MPG over the whole test. That’s much better than the official EPA rating of 36 city MPG and 40 MPG on the highway.

One thing to notice about Hyundai’s rated numbers is that most hybrids do better in city driving, but the Hyundai engineers told us that when they looked at actual hybrid driving patterns, people drive longer distances on the highway. In other words, hybrids aren’t just for people who never leave the city any more. The new Sonata hybrid is a hybrid for everyone. And did we mention 51.4 MPG in a real-world test?

So, to the bottom line – what’s it going to cost you to own one of these nice new Hyundais?  Well, the basic Sonata GLS starts at $19,915 with a manual transmission, and at $20,915 with the automatic. Top price on a Sonata GLS is $28,115 with all the options. The turbo Sonata starts at $24,865 and goes up to about $30,000 if it’s all optioned up, while the hybrid starts at $24,900 before options.

With pricing as close as all that, the real question seems to be whether you like the Turbo or the Hybrid. But whichever Sonata you prefer, you’re getting a great car. So if you’re shopping the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, or even the 3-Series BMW, you really ought to stop by and take a look at the new 2011 Hyundai Sonata. You’re going to like what you see.

Which brings us to the S60 – this is Volvo’s all-new revision of its mid-size sedan, and they’ve gifted the car with a new turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine making 300 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. The engine is mated to a smooth 6-speed automatic transmission with all wheel drive.

The S60 is aimed squarely at the Audi A4 and the AWD sedans in BMW’s 3-series and the Mercedes-Benz C-class, as well as the offerings from Infiniti, Acura, and Lexus. The S60 is attractively priced for the segment, starting at $37,700 and a well-optioned S60 can be put together for well under $45,000.

On the road, the S60 delivers a pleasant performance driving experience very much in the mode of a European luxury/performance car.  The transmission shifts smoothly and is well-geared for winding country roads. The Volvo uses a twin-scroll turbo for quick spool-up, and the AWD system keeps the car solidly planted on the road. Acceleration is brisk, but not breathtaking due to the car’s 3901-pound curb weight. But that weight also delivers the silky-smooth ride, so it’s a worthy tradeoff.

The S60 is a handsome car on the outside – the bodywork uses a nice fastback design, and generally looks more aggressive than the previous generation. The car features 18-in wheels with run-flat tires as standard equipment, and the overall effect is sporty and a little bit in your face, but with a grown-up attitude.

Inside, the S60 is as quiet as a library and as comfortable as your favorite chair. The dash and controls are laid out with Scandinavian simplicity and functionality. As a luxury car, the Volvo comes with every modern convenience, including optional navigation, leather, heated seats, advanced climate control, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and a great stereo with hard drive and iPod connection.

Volvo has developed three suspensions for the S60 – the “Dynamic” suspension is stock, but less-naughty customers may also order the car with a softer “Touring” suspension as a no-cost option. At the high end, Volvo offers the FOUR-C Active Chassis. The FOUR-C is self-adjusting suspension that uses sensors to continuously monitor the car’s behavior. In fractions of a second, the shocks are adjusted to suit the current driving situation.  You can select three individual suspensions settings  (Comfort, Sport or Advanced) from the driver’s seat to adjust the car’s ride to your liking.

After driving the S60 for several hundred miles, it’s apparent that there’s little real need for the Touring setup – the Dynamic suspension is sporty in the corners, but sacrifices almost nothing in terms of noise, vibration and harshness. The S60 with Dynamic suspension is still a car that you can hop into and drive across a continent in comfort.  The FOUR-C active suspension is a neat feature, but most drivers will put it in Sport mode and just leave it there all the time.

As part of the introduction test drive, Volvo took us to a road racing track to try out the S60’s wilder side. As with all road cars, it wasn’t hard to take the S60 to the limit on a race track, but the experience was instructive – it’s not legal or responsible to drive a 300 horsepower car on a public road in such a way that you can feel the traction control or ABS engaging on every corner, but that’s exactly what the race track experience is about. Here again, the S60 delivers the experience you expect from a European sports sedan – the traction control engages smoothly and the ABS on the S60 4-wheel disc brakes keeps the car well in hand under extreme driving.

Like all road-going cars, the S60 understeers at the limit, but Volvo has eliminated the torque-steer that characterized the previous front wheel drive S60. The S60’s 300 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque are quite nicely controllable when you divide the torque among four tires instead of just two. The S60’s all wheel drive system lays all the power to the ground and the car simply goes where you point it.

No review of a Volvo would be complete without a nod to the company’s industry-leading safety features. Sports car enthusiasts often scoff at Volvo’s reputation as the safest automaker in business today, but there’s nothing particularly sporty about running over a pedestrian in a parking lot. Volvo’s great new feature in the S60 is a forward-looking radar that senses people in front of the car. If you’re traveling at less than about 22 MPH, which is to say at parking lot or slow city street speeds, the S60 will sense an imminent impact with a pedestrian and stop the car if it becomes apparent that you won’t. For most of us, we might never need that feature, but it sure doesn’t hurt and you can override the computer with any input to the brakes or steering wheel. We tested the pedestrian avoidance feature and it works admirably.

The bottom line on the 2011 Volvo S60 is simply this – if you’re shopping the European or Japanese luxury sport sedans, or the AWD Cadillac CTS, you really need to seriously consider Volvo. The S60 is worth your attention.

“Giving our customers control of their vehicles with smart phone application technology is a key advantage of OnStar’s in-vehicle connectivity,” said Chris Preuss, OnStar president. “This technology empowers drivers to make decisions about their travels well before they enter the vehicle, meaning their full attention can stay where it needs to be – on the road ahead.”

For example, say someone is racing to catch a flight and realizes at the gate that he forgot to lock his vehicle. OnStar’s mobile app technology allows him to log into his Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick or GMC app, enter his custom PIN and send a remote lock signal to his vehicle, giving him the peace of mind to go on with his trip knowing his vehicle is secure.

Or, for example, a family attending a baseball game on a hot summer day could remotely start their vehicle as they are leaving the ballpark, so the vehicle is cooled to a comfortable temperature by the time they reach it.

In addition, the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC apps will leverage OnStar’s unique connection to the vehicle to provide key diagnostic information, including fuel tank level and range, remaining oil life, current and recommended tire pressure and lifetime average miles per gallon . The diagnostic information is current as of the last vehicle start, giving OnStar subscribers an up-to-date health report of their vehicle anytime they need it.

Important vehicle information, such as current odometer reading, vehicle VIN and OnStar account number also will be readily accessible within the apps upon secure login. And should OnStar subscribers need assistance with something that the mobile apps don’t provide, they can one-touch dial to specially trained advisors, who are available to assist customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The OnStar mobile app services will be available to millions of drivers of the vast majority of vehicles in the 2011 Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC portfolios, including the just-launched Chevrolet Cruze and Cadillac CTS Coupe, and are currently functional on the iPhone and Android systems. The Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC mobile applications will offer a variety of other features tailored specifically for each brand’s customers that will be revealed in totality when the brands begin bringing their apps to market in the months ahead.

“We’re working aggressively to bring the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC applications to market as soon as possible,” says Joel Ewanick, vice president, GM Marketing. “Because we know that each brand’s customers have different tastes, wants and needs, the apps will be very specifically tailored to offer them the services they value most, leveraging these innovative OnStar features as a compelling mutual foundation.”

OnStar and Chevrolet announced the auto industry’s first working smartphone application for the Chevrolet Volt at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. The Volt mobile application is a unique app that will be available to customers in tandem with the launch of the vehicle, as previously announced.

Now in its eighth generation, the compact Toyota pickup dates back to 1964 with the names Stout, Hilux and finally the Tacoma.  Over that period, sales have passed five and one-half million and today the Tacoma commands nearly 40 percent of the compact pickup segment in the U.S.  The Tacoma outsells its nearest competitor by nearly 2 to 1.

Under the Hood of the 2010 Toyota Tacoma, you have two engine choices.  A 2.7-liter four-cylinder that will give you 159-horsepower and 180 lb-ft of torque or a 4.0 liter V-6 engine that produces 236 horsepower and  266 lb-ft of torque.  Toyota has added an electronic Throttle Control System, which contributes to the engine’s strong performance and helps with fuel economy.  Toyota offers both a manual and automatic transmission and a choice of two and four-wheel drive.

The 2010 Tacoma comes in 18 different body configurations with three cab types —  regular cab,  Access Cab and the four-door Double Cab.  The truck stands out in a crowd with its bold headlights and dominate grill.  Flush rear surface glass and surface structures between the bumper sides and body contribute to a clean look.  To help with Fuel economy the Toyota engineers crafted the inner bed of a sheet-molded compound that is 10 percent lighter than steel yet tough and durable.

The Interior is well laid out and functional allowing the vehicle to be used for utility or everyday driving.  Overall,  the Toyota Tacoma delivers utility and functionality in a rugged reliable package.

Billed as the ‘most exclusive hand-built supercar on the planet’, the Rapier, offers a multitude of unique engineering specifications, power-plant offerings, exterior colors, interior schemes and a host of other fully customizable options.

The car utilizes an all-aluminum, gas tungsten arc welded, monocoque chassis/space frame hybrid and is finished with high-quality composite body panels that given the SL-C a LeMans racecar-like look. The Superlight offers three Chevrolet-derived engine choices, all of which can be transplanted underneath a clamshell hood behind the passenger compartment: the base 6.2-liter 480-hp LS376 V-8, the 7.0-liter 505-hp LS7 V-8, or the 6.2-liter supercharged 638-hp LS9 V-8.

The engines drive the rear wheels through a six-speed Ricardo manual transmission. With a curb weight of only 2,375 lbs.—nearly 1,000 pounds less than the Corvette ZR1—performance is nothing short of extraordinary. With the 505-hp LS7, zero-to-60 mph takes 3.2 seconds, the quarter mile will pass in 10.6 seconds, and the top speed is a staggering 222 mph.

To slow the car back to legal speeds, the SL-C uses 13-inch rotors in the front and 11.8-inch rotors in the back, both of which are pinched by six-piston calipers.
The majority of the Rapier Superlight is hand-built around the dimensions of the buyer; floor level, headroom clearance, steeling and pedal position, even the seat size… the entire car is built to the owners’ unique specifications. Many of the components start as a bare block of aluminum and spend the first 50-60 hours coming to life on a CNC (computed numerically controled) machine. The suspension is by Indy-style pushrod actuated coil-over shock units, of which the rear ones are arranged longitudinally.

Rapier Automotive has incorporated superior components from around the globe to finish off the Superlight; a complete Aeromotive Fuel System, QA1 Aluminum Double Adjustable Shocks, CCW Wheels and Alpine, Pioneer, & Beltronics entertainment electronics.

The Rapier, is only sold through by the manufacturer.  A test drive can be arranged out of Boston with one of two show cars, chassis number one and chassis number two. If after the test drive a buyer wishes to place an order, a 50 percent deposit towards the purchase of a SL-C, which starts at the comparatively reasonable price of $141,000, Rapier will pay for the entire trip to Boston. Rapier Automotive offers a very competitive payment plan that allows its customers to have the car completely paid off by the time the car is ready for delivery, approximately nine months later.
Besides the fourteen diverse exterior colors and hand-stitched leather and optional carbon fiber inserts for the interior, the Rapier also offers a plethora of sound system interfaces and wheel options that come in chrome, gloss, satin black or painted to match to the rest of the car. The DigiDash display puts all the pertinent information in the driver’s face and keeps track of an assortment of vital statistics and analytics; allowing the owner to do everything from optimizing the engine tuning to simply keeping track of his or her lap times.