Automedia.com - DriveSmart - Technology Articles

Nitrogen for Tires

Today, you’ll notice green nitrogen “filling stations” at tire shops across the continent. Typically, filling a tire with nitrogen costs in the range of $10 per tire (although a few shops include it for free when they sell you a new set of tires). Using compressed nitrogen instead of compressed air isn’t really new. The military, commercial airplanes, racecars and even the space shuttle have used it for years...

Trouble with Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems

The most idiotic of all “idiot lights” in your car may be the Tire-Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). The problem isn’t with the TPMS itself. Rather, it’s that the TPMS light doesn’t illuminate until your tires are severely or, possibly, dangerously underinflated. Imagine a burglar alarm that doesn’t go off until the bad guys have already carried out the TiVo...

New Auto Technology Trends

Las Vegas inspires a weird kind of awe. Ogle at spectacles like the mega-story Coke bottle, the Luxor's pyramid or the Treasure Island pirate ship, and you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Are we a brilliantly playful civilization or is Armageddon nigh?..

GPS Buying Guide

High-tech companies have a way of cramming more user-friendly features into smaller and smaller packages. And portable GPS (Global Positioning System) units are a prime example of this trend. A popular alternative to in-dash systems, the latest GPS devices not only aid travelers, they travel well themselves...

ABS and Stability Control

If only vehicles had a time machine and a credit card reader...

Accident Prevention Technology

With highway fatality statistics refusing to budge, the government is developing technology that can help drivers avoid accidents. Drivers are distracted, fatigued and overstressed—and their driving habits account for 90 percent of all accidents. Researchers are looking at technology to help cut down on tailgating, poor decisions navigating intersections, and rollover and run-off-the-road accidents...

Cutting the Cord with Bluetooth

More than ever, the world around us is rapidly evolving into a perpetual 24/7 barrage of information. For many, the time we spend away from the office is by no means time away from work. We sit in our cars on traffic-jammed freeways talking on our wireless phones while scrolling through PDAs that contain the most intimate details of our lives. The availability of these electronic tools has made our lives easier, but with this convenience comes some new frustrations and even dangers...

Diesel Advancements

Despite the fact that diesel engines are currently found mostly in full-size trucks and commercial rigs, that may soon change due to some recent developments in technology and fuel emission standards. While many people think of diesel-powered vehicles as noisy, smelly and slow, the latest generation of diesel engines is changing that perception...

Diesel and the Aftermarket

Given the building demand for diesel power, there's another side of the coin to consider. What sort of aftermarket upgrades can be added to improve performance, so an oil burner is more akin to the gasoline-powered vehicles we're used to driving?..

Dual-Dyno Brake Testing

So your car or truck needs brakes. Maybe just new pads or shoes. Maybe rotors, drums or more. Where do you go? Who do you trust? Your new car dealer may be a good choice, depending on your vehicle and past experience. Brake specialty shop? General mechanic? Corner gas station? Or maybe you do it yourself?..

Ford Wants to Sync Your Ride

Ford wants to entice the "millennias"—the 30 and under crowd, born with digital music and text messaging in their DNA—into the Ford family. Collaborating with Microsoft, Ford is introducing its Sync system on the $14,695 2008 Ford Focus offering voice-activated communication and entertainment that allows tech savvy young buyers to keep their eyes on the road while they shuffle through iPod tunes or text message their pals. The bottom up introduction of the system reflects the biggest user pool—young, first time owners who are tech savvy and tech driven...

Future Tire is a Tweel

Having enough air in our tires is a safety check American's just don't seem to be able to handle. Now, Michelin may take air out of the safety equation with their revolutionary new "Tweel," a combination of tire and wheel that rides on rubber permanently attached to flexible spokes fused with a flexible wheel that deforms to absorb shock. Checking tire pressure, fixing flats, highway blowouts and balancing between traction and comfort could all fade into memory—if the Tweel becomes real...

How Continuously Variable Transmissions Work

First there were manual gearboxes, then automatic transmissions. Now here comes the latest—the CVT...

How Cruise Control Works

Driving is not always the delightful and entertaining treat we'd like it to be. Sometimes it's downright boring. When the road stretches on to the horizon and traffic is nil, cruise control is one of those little luxuries that helps the miles melt away more comfortably...

How OnStar Works

You've probably seen or heard the advertisements for OnStar—the General Motors communication system that alerts emergency services if you've broken down or had an accident. Not only that, it can unlock your vehicle's doors, provide, real-time driving navigation and even deliver stock market price updates (we're not kidding here). But who among us can explain how it works? How does that reassuring voice know your vehicle's airbags have inflated and you need help? We'll give you the easy version...

Hybrid Innovations

There are many ways to blend the internal combustion (IC) engine and electric power. These technologies have much in common—and many points of differentiation. In addition to Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) system, other manufacturers have devised alternative means of propelling cars and trucks with a blend of fossil fuel and electricity...

Making Cars Safer

Safety is key on almost every new-car buyer's list today. Why has it been elevated? Simple. In 2004 there were 42,636 traffic fatalities in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That's more than twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden when the Knicks take center court...

MINI Factory, Monster Mechanics

OXFORD, England—When BMW decided to revive the MINI in modern form, after buying the old Rover company, they needed a factory that could handle the task. What better choice than the facility on the outskirts of Oxford, where original Minis were produced from 1959 into the beginning of the 21st century...

Modern Diesel Engines

Since the advent of the automotive age, diesel-powered vehicles have been considered by many to be noisy, dirty and underpowered. While Americans have viewed the diesel engine as the redheaded stepchild of the powertrain community and perceived diesel fuel as a "strange type of gas," Europe and Asia have long embraced diesel as a powerful and efficient fuel source. Here in the U.S., this alternative to gasoline has persevered by carving a popular niche among commercial trucking and weekend tow vehicles. Now, new developments in diesel engine technologies are creating cleaner, quieter choices for smaller cars, SUVs and luxury sedans without sacrificing performance...

Monotracer Dry Motorcycle

Is a cabin motorcycle the sports cars of the future? They are fast like a Porsche, economical like a Smart Car and offer fun like a Super bike—without the hassle of getting wet. A small company in Winterthur manufactures them...

Nanotechnology

Scientists, using new processes and equipment, are now able to get right down to the molecular level of a material and manipulate the atoms and molecules to make better, stronger or entirely new materials. The new science, nanotechnology, gets its name from the Greek word 'nanos' which means dwarf. But to scientists, nano means one-billionth of something. A human hair for instance is 50,000 nanometers across. Working on this tiny scale enables scientists to manipulate the characteristics of a material, like paint, to get a tougher, shinier and easier to clean surface. Nanotechnology is already producing better materials in today's automobiles...

Navigation System Basics

Some people have the wait-til-it's-perfected gene. These are folks who may have been on the verge of getting a VCR when DVDs came out, so they're on hold again. These are also the people with glove compartments jam-packed with maps that, if still up-to-date, are seriously frayed around the folds. They're patiently waiting for navigation systems to be perfected. The wait may be over...

New-Age Diesel Developments

Even though hybrid gas/electric cars are getting a lot of press these days, with some used models selling for more than when new, the consensus of auto-industry watchers focuses on the diesel as the immediate future for both fuel economy and emissions standards. Of course, the diesel won't solve long-term fossil fuel problems, but recent developments indicate that it represents an interim step in the right direction while the world waits for hybrids and alternative fuel technologies to meet U.S. market demands...

Smart Card Keyless Entry Systems

In an age when convenience is king, automakers are working harder than ever to capitalize on potential buyers' lust for new technologies that offer valuable time-savings and increased functionality. As a result, luxury car brands like Mercedes and Acura are ushering out the traditional keyless entry system in exchange for the next generation in remote automotive security and access. Strangely, though, the evolution of keyless entry is not to a new and cutting-edge technology, but rather a system that was developed more than 30 years ago—the smart card...

Sound Suspension

Doctor Amar Bose is a quiet man. Yet, when you listen to the tone of his voice as he explains the newest direction his ultra-premium sound company is turning, you see intensity in his eyes. This same intensity is what makes "The Mountain," the hill on which the company headquarters sits, continually buzz with excitement. The excitement that exudes from Dr. Bose is the passion that has molded the company into what it is today...

The Evolution of Fuel Cell Vehicles

Not so long ago, automakers and analysts were predicting fuel-cell cars that run on hydrogen as a viable choice in the coming-soon years. Lately, that launch date has moved further and further into the distance: not before 2010, and possibly as late as 2020...

Transportation Progression

Japan may have inadvertently sounded a cautionary end to the General Motors highway model system from the 1939 World's Fair, which spawned broad infrastructure to grow the world's automotive business into the late 21st century. It now seems odd that none of the pole position cars in the top automotive ranks are any longer American, when the United States was once home base with the likes of Henry Ford and others...

Travel and Car Care Tech

Traveling by automobile in the not so distant past meant leaving it all behind. A pic-a-nic basket full of sandwiches, a thermos full of lemonade, and maybe a beach ball—and travel was go! A full tank of gas and paper map that never folded back the way it was before it got opened meant usually arriving at an intended destination. Sometimes this traveling strategy resulted in taking an unintended scenic route, and ending up getting lost. Carefree motoring indeed...

Variable Displacement

We've all heard the phrase "not hitting on all cylinders." That used to be almost as bad as "being a bubble off plumb," or "not all his oars in the water." But in today's automotive lexicon, not hitting on all cylinders represents an innovative yet intrinsically simple concept for improving fuel economy with no compromise in performance...

Variable Valve Timing

In an internal combustion engine, optimizing the airflow in and out of each combustion chamber is a key to just about every aspect of performance. Power, emissions, fuel economy and other critical parameters are all dependent upon how good the engine flows air in and out...