We know rural Midwestern folks sometimes do things a little differently than their urban cousins. If you want to get a tan in the reedy areas of The Corn Belt you don’t need a booth, you just lie down in your own yard. One thing you don’t do when bronzing, however – even in the Midwest – is lie down in the street. That is what two unlucky girls did in Economy, Pennsylvania and when they fell asleep during their sunlight session they got run over by a car.
From what we can gather, after the girls had lain down on Donald Avenue they fell asleep, and did so not far from an intersection. When a car turned onto Donald Ave from the crossroad, it ran over the girls. Turns out that car contained three cousins of one of the injured girls, with one of them, a 19-year-old male, driving.
The good news is that the girls were airlifted to the hospital and are in stable condition. The bad news is what their parents have in store for them when they’re recovered and home. on WTAE Pittsburgh for the full report.
We record Episode #280 of the Autoblog Podcast tonight, and you can drop us your questions via our Q&A module below, and chime in to direct our conversation. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast if you haven’t already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
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“I’m not a doctor, but I play one on television.” So went the script for countless television commercials of yore, featuring the stars of medical dramas capitalizing on their on-air personae to shill for pills, HMOs and what-have-you. But one television doctor didn’t hesitate to jump into action when duty called – medical training be damned.
That actor is one Patrick Dempsey, who most might recognize for his role as Dr. McDreamy on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. He’s also a consummate race car driver – arguably today’s Steve McQueen or Paul Newman – competing in such events as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Baja 1000 rally raid. These seemingly disparate aspects of Dempsey’s life, however, converged when a kid flipped his in front of the actor’s house in Malibu last week.
Having rolled the three times, 17-year-old Weston Massett was trapped inside the wreckage when McDreamy came to the rescue, crowbar in hand, to get the kid out of the car, nursing him until the airlift arrived and following him to the hospital. Massett is expected to make a full recovery from the concussion and stretched optic nerve that were his only injuries to speak of. for the television report.
Edmunds has taken the time to sort through the March 2012 sales data to find which were the quickest selling models of the month. According to the site’s research, the took the top nod by sitting on dealer lots just eight days before whirring off to a new home. Manufacturers routinely use “days to turn” to evaluate consumer demand, though pesky variables like production capacity can easily tweak the number north or south. That’s likely why the took just 11 days to turn and its smaller sibling, the , took just 13. is having a hard time keeping production in pace with consumer demand.
Other stars of last month’s show include the . With an average of 14 days on dealer lots, the model finds itself tied with hardware like the and for being quick to turn. You can check out the full list of quickest-sellers by heading over to .
There could not be a more bland teaser for the upcoming all-electric “all new” EV than the one just released: silver sheetmetal with a badge that simply reads “Electric.” To see the rest of the vehicle, we will have to wait until the Electric Vehicle Symposium () gets started in Los Angeles next week. Luckily, we will be in LA with a camera or two and will bring you the full details from the show Monday, May 7. For now, all we know is what we’ve learned about the prototype that Toyota and have been showing for a while. For example, it will likely . .
Speaking of EVS, what’s kind of surprising is that this year is the 26th edition of the show. Yes, even as we’re just seeing the dawn of the modern EV era, some groups have been working on these vehicles for decades. It’s a long road to get off of gasoline.
Is the driver of this driving under the influence? From the looks of this four-minute-long video where he or she pinballs repeatedly between ditch and center line and narrowly misses oncoming traffic, it certainly looks like the wheelman is soggy drunk.
This four-minute+ video catches all the stupidity from the first off-road foray at about 40 seconds all the way to an expertly executed nosedive into a ditch. The impromptu videographers do a a fine job commentating on every jerky move as they attempt to warn oncoming drivers.
There’s high drama at various points throughout the video, and in the end, the driver is lucky that the conclusion isn’t worse.
Before you ask, from the audio, it sounds like the videographers called the cops before starting his camera. We assume the authorities showed up soon after the truck’s violent sudden stop, and presumably hauled the driver off to either jail, hospital or morgue. Either way, watching the video is a sobering reminder of the stupidity of driving under the influence. Watch the video by , but bear in mind there is some foul language.
Automotive News reports plans to bring its recently unveiled Mirage to the Canadian market, and that the five-door hatch has a 50-percent chance of making it to U.S. buyers as well. Mitsubishi pulled the Mirage nameplate from the U.S. in 2002, but unveiled of the car in Thailand just last month. At a smidge over 146 inches long, the tiny hatch would be a suitable competitor for the likes of the Chevrolet Spark and give dealers a much-needed product infusion. The company the , Eclipse Spyder and the just recently and Mitsubishi showrooms are starting to look decidedly emaciated.
But Mitsubishi says it may not be as simple as dropping the new Mirage on U.S. soil and hoping for the best. The automaker has a reworked coming down the pike, and launching two models in close succession may make already scarce marketing dollars even harder to come by.
Then there’s the fact that the new Mirage is a no-nonsense, bare-bones creation designed to appeal to the budget-minded buyers of South Asia. Mitsubishi has some reservations about unleashing the model on content-hungry Americans. Even so, Mitsubishi says the company has yet to reach an official decision about a U.S. launch.
It takes a lot to stand apart at an exposition as jam-packed with glitzy treasure as the and impress the hordes of automotive journalists there assembled, but we were suitably impressed when we laid eyes upon the at the Messe this past September. The Croatian upstart put together a supercar of (figurative, if not literal) proportions, but instead of building it around a fossil-guzzling conventional powerplant, Rimac designed its hypercar with the equivalent of 1,088-horsepower worth of electric motors.
With a 92kW battery powering the electric motors at each wheel, the Rimac is said to be capable of rocketing to 62 from a standstill in just 2.8 seconds while traveling as far as 372 miles on a single charge. The team of former Pininfarina designers penned an attractive shape to go with it, the Bulgarian leathercrafters extraordinaires at Vilner were brought in to craft the interior, HRE developed a unique set of monoblock alloys and Vredestein debuted its new Ultrac Vorti tires designed by Giugiaro all for the Concept_One.
Impressive specs, all, but what’s most impressive is that the Concept_One is no mere concept – you can actually buy it, assuming you’ve got the scratch. Upon showcasing the electric supercar at Top Marques in Monaco, Rimac announced a limited run of 88 examples will be built, each fetching $980,000 – a price as princely as the regent who was on hand to check it out in Monte Carlo. Which only goes to prove that you can, indeed, have your cake and eat it too, but it’ll cost you dearly.
Take a closer look at the fresh crop of high-resolution images added to the gallery above and check out the bonus video of the car moving under its own power by .
has managed an impressive turnaround since the dark days of 2009. After carpet-bombing the market with a spate of new or refreshed models, the automaker saw its retail sales jump a whopping 43 percent in 2011, helping it report in the process. Chrysler even managed to pay out profit-sharing checks for the first time . According to Richard Cox, director of the Dodge brand, that trend hasn’t slacked up in 2012. Year-to-date in the neighborhood of 40 percent.
But those gains were made largely by fluffing the pillows on old platforms. New engines, new interiors and reworked sheetmetal aside, we’ve yet to see what “the new Chrysler” can pull off with a completely fresh model. At least, that was the case.
Behold the : the first serious small-car effort from the automaker since the Neon rolled off into the sunset in 2005. As the first completely new machine from Chrysler since the automaker’s bankruptcy and subsequent takeover by , there’s plenty riding on the new compact.
While technically based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, American engineers have drawn and quartered the chassis while also reworking the suspension to suit domestic tastes. With eye-catching styling, an à la carte option system and a range of fuel-efficient and powerful engines, the 2013 Dart isn’t just a step forward for , it might just be a step forward for the compact class.
If you want a top-of-the-line SUV with serious performance capabilities, look no further than the Group. Its unit has had tremendous success with the , a vehicle that has doubled its sales all on its own – and that’s not even accounting for the or that share some of its underpinnings. Keen to capitalize on that success, the German auto giant is overseeing the application of the same formula to two of its other divisions: , which just unveiled its new Urus concept, and , which is working on an SUV of its own.
The British marque has been showcasing the EXP 9 F concept to preview what it has in store. It only hinted at powertrain possibilities upon its unveiling at the , but at the , it got ever so slightly more specific. Like the range, the production version of the Bentley sport-ute would pack a 600-horsepower, 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12, but offer the (relatively) more sensible 500hp, 4.0L twin-turbo V8 as well. The bigger news, however, is the V6 plug-in hybrid option which Bentley is planning for its SUV, enabling it to travel up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) on electric-only mode, while rocketing to 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than five seconds.
Bentley projects the variety of powertrain options will help it sell 3,000 units of the vehicle once it enters production in 2015 – the same figures sister-company Lamborghini is projecting for the Urus. To put that into context, consider that Bentley sold just over 7,000 vehicles (from its current and lines) around the world last year. That’s still a far cry from the number of Cayennes that Porsche churns out – it delivered nearly 13,000 of them in the United States alone last year – but then the EXP 9 F is expected to carry a price tag north of $200,000 (double the price of even the most expensive Cayenne Turbo) while sharing common components to make its first entrance into SUV market a lucrative one for the Flying B brand.
Scope out the fresh high-resolution images we’ve added to the gallery above for another look at the EXP 9 F (which is still expected to look different by the time it comes to production), and for the press release containing powertrain information.
A had three goals for his first Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway: to finish, to do it on the lead lap, and to do it . He achieved one of them, crossing the line in 22nd place – two laps down on winner Kurt Busch. His only real incident was getting busted for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped him further down the order.
Pastrana plans on and nine races in NASCAR’s lower-tier K&N Pro Series East. This one at Richmond will have been the hardest Nationwide event because it was the first, but having brought the car home at all will be a boost and should get him cleared by series officials to run the high-speed track at Charlotte on May 26.
This was Pastrana’s overdue intro to NASCAR after he broke his ankle at the X Games last year and had to abort his 2011 schedule. He pledged to stay off the bikes for two years to give stock car racing a real shot and said he wants to be in the top 20 this year, top ten next year, and fighting for wins the year after. As for that target he put on Danica Patrick’s back in Richmond, no doubt he got a good look at it since she finished a spot ahead of him in 21st. He’ll get another shot at the Nationwide race at Darlington on May 11th.
It happens every time traffic gets too heavy and starts to slow: One inattentive driver panics and slams on his brakes, triggering a chain reaction that leads to a complete traffic stoppage a few dozen cars behind. If everyone could just slow down, pay attention, and maintain an even speed, we could all get where we’re going. hopes to deploy a new system to help make that a reality.
The Japanese automaker has developed the first-ever vehicle communications system geared to cut both traffic jams and fuel use by monitoring a driver’s acceleration and braking habits and providing information that Honda says will encourage smoother driving.
Honda, along with the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, has developed on-board terminals that connect to cloud-based computing systems to allow communications between cars on the same road that can help drivers maintain a relatively constant driving distance between vehicles. Tailgating is bad for both traffic and fuel economy, and Honda’s system discourages it.
The system differs from traffic monitoring systems that have been part of other vehicle communication systems in that it provides color-coded displays to indicate whether the driver needs to drive smoother and make acceleration and deceleration more gradual. The system can also work with adaptive cruise control to automatically regulate speed among a group of vehicles. The first public road tests will occur in Italy and Indonesia starting in May of 2012. Honda says the system can boost average speed by 23 percent and increase fuel economy by eight percent. Not bad for some cloud computing.
A Japanese motoring show, complete with titles in comic fonts, put three racing pilots behind the wheels of the , and (Toyota 86, in this case) for three laps of the 2.1-mile East Road Course at Twin Ring Motegi. Of course the segment producers know that putting the 167-horsepower roadster against the 200-hp coupes isn’t exactly fair, so they gave the Mazda a small head start of about three grid positions.
Ex-sports car racer Takayuki Kinoshita handles the Mazda, former open-wheel pilot Naoki Hattori drives the BRZ, and former Le Mans-class winner Keiichi Tsuchiya gets fast and loose in the FR-S. The drivers offer copious on-track commentary, but it’s in Japanese. That said, watching the MX-5 try to stay in front and watching Tsuchiya start drifting are universal gearhead languages. You’ll find the action .
Any time a parent’s poor judgment results in harm or injury to a child, it’s a sad case. This story, however, seems particularly tragic. According to The Telegraph, a British woman whose daughter was seriously injured in a car crash was found negligent and partially responsible for her daughter’s injuries because the girl was riding in an inappropriate child safety seat.
While the accident was judged to be entirely the fault of the other driver, according to the report, his insurance company insisted that part of the responsibility for the girl’s injuries fell on her mother. Despite having an appropriate car seat with a five-point harness in the vehicle, the three-year-old girl was riding in a booster seat designed for older children. The judge agreed with the insurer and ruled that the mother was 25 percent liable for her child’s head, spinal and internal injuries, which the report said will affect her for the rest of her life. The decision means the woman will receive less financial compensation from the insurance company.
While we’re sure that the woman – who was described by the judge as “an excellent and caring mother,” according to the report – feels no small measure of guilt, her case reinforces the necessity of proper seatbelt and child safety seat use. For more information about keeping kids safe in and around cars, please visit , provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
This is the #33 Volkswagen GLI driven by in the Touring Car class. This weekend, the series is in Utah, racing at Miller Motorsports Park, and in his race this afternoon.
While noteworthy, Herbert’s victory itself is not the news item here. It’s the circumstances behind the win that appear to be pretty awesome. to see the tweet from the Pirelli World Challenge folks that adds some immensely cool context.
Life can be tough for U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Post traumatic stress disorder must make everyday tasks hell to deal with.
Not the least of which is re-adjusting to American road rules. In Iraq, the goal of the morning commute is to reach the destination alive. The more speed the better, and anything not moving out of the way quickly enough gets plowed into the pavement.
Many returning military personnel find it difficult to forget the lessons they’ve learned on hostile foreign roads. Over there, smart drivers follow the center line to avoid IEDs on the shoulders. Turn signals only give the enemy advance notice of your next move, and stopping at intersections makes you an easy target. When back in the states, those tactics are still effective for negotiating traffic, but aren’t appreciated so much by fellow drivers.
A new study by insurer (which serves members of the military and their families) shows that on average, returning troops had 13 percent more at-fault accidents than before they left. U.S. Army personnel showed the largest change at 23 percent, with Marines showing 12.3 percent increase.
Fortunately, USAA says it has no plans to raise rates in response to the study’s results. It’s also sharing the data with researchers and traffic safety experts in hopes of finding a solution.
We love action movies as much as the next guy, but sometimes the car stunts just look too ridiculous. Like when a cop car goes airborne during a chase scene after rear-ending a parked car. Or how about when a vehicle flips end over end upon impact. That never happens, right?
Well it apparently does in Russia, where, thanks to seemingly everyone in the country having a dash cam, you can watch video of a Land Rover Freelander 2 driving over a manhole cover and going Bourne Ultimatum.
What caused the cover to blow the way it did is not evident, though it’s interesting to note that in the aftermath (in the second video especially), you see that it’s not a plain, flat manhole cover that comes to rest near the car. It’s a cylindrical object with a square grate across the top. Lending credence to the whole thing not being a fake is that a second static security camera (or similar setup) pointed at the street also caught the whole episode.
Ah, Catrinel Menghia. knows a good thing when it finds one, and so it’s no surprise to see a trio of new advertisements staring the Romanian-born and Italian-speaking model alongside the .
First up is a minute-long montage showing the Scorpion-addled Abarth flung around the desert while Catrinel… well, stands around looking beautiful. Next, the turbocharged 500 drives down the Las Vegas Strip while Ms. Menghia walks around looking beautiful. Notice a trend?
In the third video of this new series, Catrinel finally gets to drive the Abarth in a race against a lucky cameraman. Well, sort of. The two cars are actually piloted by “professional drivers on a closed course” – as you can see, they are wearing helmets. Catrinel and the cameraman, on the other hand, emerge from their black and white 500s with hair blowing in the wind.
No matter. Clearly these videos are meant to build upon the first extremely successful tie-up between the model and the Italian hatchback. We’ve gone ahead and included that initial commercial, along with the three new ones, . Enjoy!
If you are still stuck driving a prematurely rusty 2004 Ford Freestar or Mercury Monterey minivan, you have our deepest sympathies. But for all your suffering, you might still gain some small measure of satisfaction from .
Remember launched by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year? Well, the good news is that NHTSA has upgraded the issue to a full-fledged engineering analysis, according to The Detroit News. Specifically, the Feds are trying to figure out whether there’s any difference between the 2004 models, vehicles that have engendered 22 reports concerning rust in the rear wheel wells, and 2005-2007 models, for which there are no registered complaints. (A 2006 model is pictured above.)
More than 82,000 vehicles are potentially affected by the rust problems, according to the report, with symptoms including difficulty latching the rear seats and anchor plates that have detached from the vehicle.
It’s almost DLC time again at – Tuesday, May 1 will bring with it the Top Gear pack, a true goulash of automobilia. At one end you have the 2012 Hennessey Venom GT, a car that automotive historians will look back on and say “Wow.” At the other end you have the 1977 AMC Pacer X, a car that we look back on and say “Wow.” In ‘between’ are the: 2011 SuperSportVan, 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII, , 1966 Lotus Cortina, 1992 Galant VR-4, , 1990 RS and .
The bad news is that the TG pack won’t be part of the Season Pass, so you’ll need 560 MS points, or $7, to make it yours. But if you throw down the fresh amounts you’ll be able to enter the new Community Rivals Mode with the Hennessey Venom GT. Set a leaderboard time with it and you could win one of the 100 unicorn cars Forza will be handing out every week.
to check out the video and have a look at the wares in the gallery of high-res screenshots.
