Two senators introduced legislation last week to revamp the nation's surface transportation system, aiming to cut traffic deaths by 50 percent by 2030.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., chairman of the surface transportation subcommittee, introduced a bill to set sweeping policy goals for the nation's transportation system.

"The United States' population is projected to increase by 50 percent between now and 2050," Rockefeller said. "What's needed is a sound, national blueprint for a 21st century system that's safe, efficient, and improves the mobility of people and American-made goods."

Rockefeller and Lautenberg want to reduce national motor vehicle-related fatalities by 50 percent by 2030.

The bills would have required NHTSA to act to upgrade numerous auto safety standards and would have given NHTSA more power to get dangerous vehicles off the roads and higher fines to deter automakers.

The senators also want to reduce national per capita motor vehicle miles traveled on an annual basis and cut greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that the administration will work with Congress to properly fund transit construction projects. But he said the administration will not propose a gas tax increase or other mechanism to fund additional spending.

The surface transportation programs authorized under a 2005 law expired at the end of 2009. The Obama administration and Senate transportation leaders want a six-year extension of transportation policy.

[via The Detroit News]

Photo courtesy of Beatrice Murch and re-used under the Creative Commons license.

Here’s another Automotive Fleet safety tip to pass on to your drivers.  This time they’re looking at what to do when you know a collision is about to occur:

In most cases, a driver can turn the vehicle quicker than he or she can stop it. Consider whether turning will help avoid the collision. Make sure you have a good grip with both hands on the steering wheel. Once you have turned away or changed lanes, you must be ready to keep the vehicle under control. Some drivers steer away from one collision only to end up in another. Always steer in the direction you want the vehicle to go. 

With ABS: A valuable feature of ABS is that you can turn your vehicle while braking with less or no skidding. But do not "jerk" the steering wheel (steer violently) while braking if you have ABS. Doing so may send you farther to the side than intended, because the vehicle will continue to respond to steering input while ABS is working. Practice using ABS in an empty parking lot so you know how the vehicle will respond. 

Without ABS: If you do not have ABS, you must use a different procedure to turn quickly. You should step on the brake pedal, then let up and turn the steering wheel. Braking will slow the vehicle, put more weight on the front tires, and allow for a quicker turn. Do not lock up the front wheels while braking or turn so sharply that the vehicle can only plow ahead. 

Remember, generally it is better to run off the road than to crash head-on into another vehicle. Don't swerve into the opposing lane; turn to the right, going off the roadway if necessary.

The Obama administration's investigation into Toyota safety problems found no electronic flaws to account for reports of sudden, unintentional acceleration and other safety problems. Government investigators said Tuesday the only known cause of the problems are mechanical defects that were fixed in previous recalls.

The Transportation Department, assisted by engineers with NASA, said its 10-month study of Toyota vehicles concluded there was no electronic cause of unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas. The study, which was launched at the request of Congress, responded to consumer complaints that flawed electronics could be the culprit behind Toyota's spate of recalls.

"We feel that Toyota vehicles are safe to drive," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Toyota said in a statement that the report should "further reinforce confidence in the safety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles" and "put to rest unsupported speculation" about the company's electronic throttle control systems, which it said are "well-designed and well-tested to ensure that a real world, un-commanded acceleration of the vehicle cannot occur."

NHTSA Deputy Administrator Ron Medford said that in many cases when a driver complained that the brakes were ineffective, the most likely cause was "pedal misapplication," in which the driver stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

LaHood said NASA engineers "rigorously examined" nine Toyotas driven by consumers who complained of unintended acceleration. NASA reviewed 280,000 lines of software code to look for flaws that could cause the acceleration. Investigators tested mechanical components in Toyotas that could lead to the problem and bombarded vehicles with electro-magnetic radiation to see whether it could make the electronics cause the cars to speed up.

The National Academy of Sciences is conducting a separate study of unintended acceleration in cars and trucks across the auto industry. The panel is expected to release its findings this fall.

[via The New York Times]

Photo courtesy of danielctw and re-used under the Creative Commons license.

One of the challenges facing the widespread adoption of electric vehicles for consumer and commercial purposes is a lack of widespread infrastructure to keep those vehicles powered day in and day out.  But now some everyday businesses are starting to take notice of this need:

Sunshine Restaurant Corp., developer of Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants and sports bars, recently joined Progress Energy Florida and NovaCharge to celebrate the installation of a ChargePoint electric vehicle charging station at the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Kissimmee. 

Buffalo Wild Wings also unveiled plans to install additional ChargePoint stations at a new restaurant in Daytona Beach and at all future Central Florida locations. Guests of the restaurant looking for a charge can find the station locations, check availability and get directions by using the ChargePoint network "find stations" live map. 

"While electric vehicles are great for environmental reasons, we believe there is a strong business case for providing charging stations for our customers," said Andrew L. Gross, president and CEO of Sunshine Restaurant Corp. "As the number of electric vehicles grows over the coming years, we know customers will choose Buffalo Wild Wings over our competitors because of the ability to charge their vehicle for free while enjoying their favorite sporting event." 

"As the ways our customers use electricity evolve, it's important that we, as a utility, adapt to their changing energy needs," said David Maxon, regional vice president of Progress Energy Florida. "We're taking steps to support the adoption of this exciting, environmentally friendly technology today while determining how we can best support electric vehicles in the long term." 

[via Automotive Fleet]

Photo courtesy of mcsquishee and re-used under the Creative Commons license.

Domestic automakers -- on the cusp of emerging from nearly a decade of job cuts and market-share losses -- are scrambling to fill thousands of engineering positions after shedding thousands over the last 10 years through job cuts and early-retirement offers.

GM, Ford and Chrysler are working with colleges and universities to develop courses to train and retrain the engineers who will be expected to develop tomorrow's electric and hybrid cars and are trying to recruit from other industries.

This year, U.S. auto industry sales are expected to increase about 10% to 12.5 million. But that's still a far cry from the 16 million or more sold annually for most of the last decade.

"I have confidence that the auto industry will come back," said Rihong Mo, 50, who left General Electric's locomotive division in November after more than 11 years with the company to lead a team of engineers at Ford. "This is the frontier of electric motors."

"There are a lot of companies looking for people with certain skill sets," said David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "It's creating a dilemma and it is just the start."

Despite the current hiring spree, engineers who lost their jobs over recent years may find it difficult to get jobs without additional training in electric vehicles.

Ten years ago, when Ann Marie Sastry, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan, started teaching courses in advanced batteries, fewer than 20 would sign up. Several years later, it was drawing more than 100 per class.

Still, Sastry, who also is CEO of lithium-ion battery startup Sakti 3, said universities must strike a balance between curricula that train students for the future without getting ahead of the industry.

"There is no major automaker without a serious play in hybrid and electric vehicles," she said. "But these vehicles, in the aggregate, comprise well under 10% of the consumer vehicle portfolio."

[via Detroit Free Press]

Photo courtesy of paul (dex) and re-used under the Creative Commons license.

Monitoring the way your drivers are using fuel is an important part of managing a fleet.  A data collecting tool such as the recently introduced CarCheckup can help you better understand your drivers’ habits.

The CarCheckup Device is contained in a plastic case that fits in the palm of your hand. It can be plugged into the OBD II port (usually located just beneath the dashboard) of any vehicle produced since 1996. The device monitors basic information such as miles per hour, rpm, distance traveled, top speed, how much time the car spent at various speeds and how often there was hard acceleration or extreme braking; it can also monitor for trouble codes to alert you to repair needs and monitor more advanced data such as intake manifold pressure, throttle position and ignition timing advance.

Once the data has been collected, a fleet operator can simply remove the device, pop out a USB port, and read a report of that data on any home or office computer.

The CarCheckup Device costs $149.97, which includes a one-year subscription to the product’s website and charts and graphs for one vehicle. Other vehicles can be added to the service for $25 per vehicle per year.

For more information on CarCheckup, visit http://www.carcheckup.com.

Photo courtesy of Terence Jones and re-used under the Creative Commons license.

Kumho Tire U.S.A. Inc. will raise prices on all passenger, light truck, and medium truck tires effective March 1.

Kumho stated that the details of this increase will be provided to its customers in the near future. Kumho last raised its consumer and truck tire prices, up to 6.5 percent, on Nov. 1, 2010. Kumho is the latest tire manufacturer to announce an upcoming price increase.

"The unprecedented increase in raw material costs over the past few months have made it absolutely essential for Kumho to implement this increase," the company stated.

Modern Tire Dealer magazine also listed a number of other tire manufacturers that have announced price increases, including when these price hikes will go, or have gone, into effect.

For a full list of the changes, click here.

Photo courtesy of Adam Pniak and re-used under the Creative Commons license.

A popular fleet vehicle will soon be facing a safety recall that could affect your business:

Ford is recalling certain model-year 2009 and 2010 F-150 pickup trucks to fix or replace their interior door-handle assemblies.

The recall affects trucks with chrome interior door handles that were built from Jan. 18, 2008, through Nov. 30, 2009. The recall affects 280,946 vehicles.

The company says a part called the housing embossment that retains the door-handle spring can break during everyday use. If that happens there will not be enough spring force to return the door handle to its normal stowed position. Because of this condition, the door latch could open during a side-impact crash.

Owners will be told to take their vehicles to a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealer if any interior door handle is loose or fails to return to the stowed position after use. A second notification will instruct owners who haven’t noticed any problems to bring their vehicles in to have the handle’s checked and possibly replaced.

In a statement Ford said it is ”committed to safety and is quickly working to address this matter with our customers. We are not aware of any accidents related to the matter.”

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Photo courtesy of The Marmot and re-used under the Creative Commons license.

Car and light truck sales are projected to increase 12% worldwide to 12.9 million units this year, according to a National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) research brief.

Analysts are predicting that gasoline prices will exceed an average of $3.50 per gallon in the U.S. this year – mirroring the all-time high achieved in the summer of 2008, when gasoline prices rose above $4 a gallon in some places.

Paul Taylor, NADA chief economist, pointed out that higher gasoline prices would also increase demand for the more expensive hybrids that typically languish on dealer lots when gasoline prices are lower, with sales of diesel cars and trucks expected to rise as well.

The shortage in used vehicles is working in some consumers' favor, too, he added, because it has improved trade-in equity on their one- to five-year-old vehicles. That trend is paying dividends for dealers, too, because used-vehicle inventories are now more valuable.

 “The shortage of used cars is one more pillar of strength for the new-car market,” Taylor explained.

Credit availability also remains a positive, with very low interest rates helping drive new-vehicle sales this year, he noted. The Federal Reserve Board at its last meeting indicated that the performance of the economy is likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period, putting automaker finance companies and other lenders in a position to offer very attractive financing rates on new-car loans, according to Taylor.

Are you more likely to buy new fleet vehicles this year? Let us know in the comments below.

[via FleetOwner]

A new Carnegie Mellon University study released at the Washington Auto Show, reveals that diesel-engine vehicles are a better value compared to vehicles with gasoline engines due to lower operating costs and higher resale value over time.  

"It's been generally known that diesel vehicles typically post lower operating costs because of their increased fuel economy," said Lester Lave, University Professor and Higgins Professor of Economics at CMU's Tepper School of Business. "But that's only one element of the equation. Our study considered a vehicle's initial price and resale value along with other operating and maintenance costs."

The study, titled "Comparing Resale Prices and Total Cost of Ownership for Gasoline, Hybrid and Diesel Passenger Cars and Trucks," also found that the price differential between a clean diesel passenger car and a traditional PFI gasoline-powered vehicle could be recouped in less than 18 months of driving. In addition, clean diesels deliver on average of 30 percent better fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts. All of this translates into savings for the consumer, Lave said.

Lave pointed out that Bosch, which manufactures clean diesel fuel injection systems for passenger cars, light-duty trucks and commercial vehicles, underwrote the cost of the study because they wanted real-world independent research conducted in this area.  

"This study is unique because it compares actual auction prices of alternative power trains such as clean diesel and (PFI) gasoline engines," said Lars Ullrich, director of marketing for Bosch Diesel Systems North America. "As past studies only highlighted projected costs from resale values, this research provides a more robust set of data to support the conclusion that clean diesel vehicles provide a comparatively lower cost of ownership.”

Does increased efficiency justify paying more for a vehicle in the short term for your fleet?