Auto Trends

Car accident, originally uploaded by daveynin.

Police units have them, the FBI, some White House officials… so why not adapt personal video camera systems for any vehicle on the street. These would not be to quite the extend of the law enforcement and government versions which record non-stop, but they could offer just enough information (about a 20 second time frame) to help decipher an accident or other mishap between you and another driver or force of nature.

The company, Papparazi, located in Japan (hence the reason if you visit their website, you may not understand a cotton-picking thing it says) is offering such a device called, The Accident Logger, to consumers and it may be coming to your local electronics store sometime in the not-so-distant future. You can think of it as an el-cheapo version of the airplane “black box”.

First of all, it is only $350, rather than over $350,000, so don’t get your expectations set too high. If you get in a serious accident, natural disaster, or are part of a UFO sighting, there is a high probability that the unit will be destroyed along with the rest of your vehicle, as it simply features an inexpensive SD memory card.

Such an SD devices recordings would obviously not be recoverable in either of the cases of severe impact, fire, poor lighting, or water submersion. Also something to keep in mind, is if your accident is not severe enough, there is a chance that it won’t even record at all, as it is triggered by being jarred, such as in the case of hard braking or sudden impact.

Another problem with the unit, is if you are struck anywhere besides directly in front of the camera, you won’t be able to see anything. This is because the unit only features one camera that is designed to be mounted on the windshield, which leaves forward as about the only direction you will be covered, that is unless the impact sends you spinning in a 360 degree rotation, which we really hope for your sake would not be the case.

Besides these fairly obvious downfalls, this is actually a pretty exciting device… yes, almost as exciting as buying health insurance… NOT!

You can check out the video segment on the device here at Cars.com

Council Gritters!, originally uploaded by Lady Wulfrun.

The UK area has a line of computerized road gritters going into service this year that would practically make the NASA urine recycling machine like a popcorn popper. Okay, well not really, but it would at least make your popcorn machine look pretty darn ancient.

The new yellow trucks will guide the driver via a GPS unit which will tell the driver where he needs to be and then generate a custom salt mixture depending on the area and spread it on the road automatically. It will then record its actions and send all the information back to its headquarters for further processing. Geesh, your just spreading some salt on the road folks, not coordinating the production of a nuclear accelerator!

Anyway, where it will really come in handy, is in allowing the driver to focus on the road, while his GPS version of his mother-in-law tells him where he needs to be. If this thing has a recorded message for when they are traveling over the speed limit, we can already see the road rage potential of these road grit units.

At $100,000 a pop, we can all be glad that their local governments aren’t being wasteful and spending money on education, environment, or other silly things like that. Besides, this thing is probably a hoot to play with when they are cooped up in the cold station house for long periods of time.

Let’s see, what other good news do we have on this technology. The wet brine/salt mixture technology will be in full use with these machines, which will give the gritters the upper hand at melting stubborn ice and snow, while also accelerating the rust on their local citizen’s vehicles.

Volkswagen recently did a study on the salt/brine mixture in Austria and found that it was really doing a number on their vehicles and causing a lot of warranty claims. Yes, an oily gas mixture pumped in with salt would certainly be one of the last things you would want to spread on any type of metal, that is, unless your goal was to see just how fast you could corrode it to a pile of brown dust.

But technology and machines can be a beautiful thing. It is just a shame that they are often a bit too far ahead of the brains behind them!

Uploaded by rachaelms8.

If you have noticed the slump in car sales and realized the serious funk that the car market is in right now, there are only two things to understand. One, the fate of a lot of dealers and manufacturers is looking quite bleak. Two, the fate of a new car buyer looks so darn bright, you’re going to need shades once you get out on those lots!

U.S. News has opened their monthly report on the Best Car Deals and we are happy to say that just about everybody has a deal for you this month. Some a little better than others, but in general the idea of paying full price or an APR much over 0 % is going to be as likely as catching actor, Tom Hanks, in a full scale army Hummer with a license plate that reads, “EATME”.

Yes folks, they are that good. So roll up those stock market blues and dust off that bank account, you just may want to go shopping this weekend for a new set of wheels:

BMW
BMW has 09% APR offer this month through January 5, 2009. The deal covers “most” 2008 models, which means in other words, none of their really cool vehicles will be included in the offer. But hey, it’s BMW, what else did you expect.

Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Hummer, and GMC
This group of automobiles has opened up their annual “Red Tag Sale” a bit early this year. Just in time for Santa to bring that certain special someone a new car. This offer guarantees you a 10% off, no haggle price on most of their standard models… Corvette ZR-1, faggitaboutit. (Offer lasts through December 31, 2008)

Ford
Good old Ford is offering their standard 0 % APR through November 18, 2008, plus some money back.

Hyundai
Hyundai follows up with a 0 % APR, but does one up on Ford and holds the deal through December 1, 2008.

Jeep
Well, Jeep is being… Jeep, so don’t expect anything too grand on the Grand Cherokee, other than maybe a little money back.

Kia
Following the crowd with a 0 % APR and money back. (Offer through December 1, 2008)

Nissan
Well, they are offering incentives to unload their 2009 Versa’s, Sentra’s, Altima’s, Rogue’s and Murano’s, with a 0 % APR. You say you want a 350Z, well, you’re going to have to haggle! (Offer through January 5, 2009)

Mazda
The standard 0 % APR on most vehicles (Offer through December 1, 2008)

Toyota, Scion, and Lexus
Yup, you guessed it, 0 % APR, plus cash back on the current relatively unpopular SUV and pickup. (Offer through December 1, 2008)

Volkswagen
Volkswagen breaks the 0 % trait and instead goes for the no money down and first month free ploy. But you got to go with a 39 month lease to get the deal. (Offer through December 1, 2008)

What are you waiting for! Get out there and help boost our economy… if you can afford it that is!

Source:
U.S. News & World Report: Best Car Deals, November 2008 (http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Best-Car-Deals)