According to the latest Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence survey concerning gas prices, the current economic situation coupled with concern over the potential rise in gas prices has caused new and used car shoppers to change their vehicle consideration criteria. Nearly three-quarters (70 percent) of car shoppers say that gas prices have influenced vehicle considerations, or the type of vehicle they are considering. Almost half (43 percent) of car shoppers report delaying the purchase of a vehicle due to economic concerns and gas prices, and more than half (51 percent) report reducing or stopping entirely behaviors such as vacationing, going out to eat, shopping and engaging in activities for entertainment, among other things.
Moreover, 75 percent of kbb.com survey respondents said they expect gas prices to rise in the next 30 days, and data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration reveals that gas prices are projected to rise throughout 2011 and into 2012.
In addition, 61 percent of kbb.com survey respondents say that they have changed their driving habits as a result of rising gas prices, and many indicate they are considering making trade-offs on their next vehicle choice to save money on fuel. Nearly half of car shoppers (48 percent) said they would be willing to change engine size (i.e. choosing a four-cylinder versus a V6 or V8), 36 percent said they would change vehicle size (i.e. mid- size sedan versus large sedan), and 31 percent said they would change vehicle category (i.e. sedan versus SUV).
Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence employed the Van Westendorf pricing model as a research strategy to understand consumers' price sensitivity toward gas prices and discovered that the current optimum price point for gasoline per gallon is $3.00 (with the acceptable range of pricing from $2.75 - $3.25), meaning that if prices remain around $3.00 per gallon, car shoppers likely will not make major changes in vehicle consideration criteria. However, at the $3.50 per gallon price point, more than half of consumers feel that gas is so expensive that it will affect their vehicle consideration, and at $4.00 per gallon, 80 percent of consumers say their vehicle consideration will be affected. At a price point of $5.00 per gallon, almost all car shoppers (95 percent) reveal that gas prices will affect vehicle consideration.
In addition, Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence performed an analysis of trended data from its EcoWatch(tm) study and discovered a clear relationship between gas prices and alternative-fuel vehicle consideration, revealing that as gas prices increase, consideration of alternative-fuel vehicles also increases. Conversely, as gas prices decrease, consideration of alternative-fuel vehicles also decreases. When gas prices remain relatively stable, interest in alternative-fuel vehicles is unaffected. The analysis also determined that consumers can become acclimated to semi-static price points over time, but the speed and amount by which gas prices increase also affects the changes in interest of alternative-fuel vehicles. Given that the current national price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States is $3.12 (according to AAA), kbb.com's analysis reveals that if gas prices were to reach $4.00 per gallon by Summer 2011, interest in alternative-fuel vehicles would double in that timeframe.
"The uncertainty of gas prices combined with the government- mandated increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) have most automakers preparing both small and fuel-efficient vehicles for their future lineups," said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com. "It is clear from the latest Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence data that gas prices have a definite impact on the vehicle choices made by new-car shoppers in the United States, and it seems that the price of gas also will help determine the success or failure of many new alternative-fuel vehicles now set for production."
The latest Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence survey about gas prices was fielded to 1,127 in-market new- and used-car shoppers on Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com from January 8-11, 2011.
Ryan Chevrolet Hattiesburg
Ryan Chevrolet Hattiesburg
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Ford To Recall Nearly 281,000 F-150 Trucks.
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 an accidents related to the matter.”
Sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles not an electronic issue, U.S. study finds
Sudden acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles is caused by mechanical rather than electronic systems, a federal study found, but regulators said they are considering requiring automakers to install a trio of safety systems designed to reduce the risk on future vehicles.
Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood asserted that a 10-month probe conducted primarily by NASA engineers found no evidence that electronic defects or software code errors could account for the thousands of reported cases of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles over the last decade.
The study concluded the only defects that could cause sudden acceleration involved floor mats that could jam the gas pedal and accelerator pedals that could become stuck. Toyota has already recalled 8 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix those problems.
Even so, consumer complaints of sudden acceleration affect vehicles from all manufacturers and as a result, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun taking steps to write new standards that could improve safety, LaHood said at a news conference Tuesday.
The auto safety regulator will begin consideration of a rule to require so-called brake override systems, which cut off engine power when a motorist puts a foot on the brake pedal. It is designed to stop a car, even if the gas pedal is jammed.
The agency also will consider standardizing push-button start systems, which can confuse motorists trying to shut off a runaway engine. In other cases, vehicle owners have accidently let engines with push-button starts continue to run after parking.
Finally, the agency wants to require all new cars to be sold with event data recorders, or black boxes, which could help determine the cause of many crashes.
Separately, the agency also is beginning research to determine whether certain pedal designs and placements can reduce the tendency of drivers to hit the wrong pedal.
NHTSA senior officials said the NASA study closely examined 58 cases of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles and found about two-thirds appeared to involve a driver accidently hitting the wrong pedal.
The results of the study, which was assisted by a team of engineers from NASA Langley Research Center, is good news for Toyota, which has contended for more than year that there is no defect in the design or performance of engine systems that have for the last decade relied on a high degree of electronic control.
"We believe this rigorous scientific analysis by some of America's foremost engineers should further reinforce confidence in the safety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, " said Steve St. Angelo, Toyota's chief quality officer for North America.
The $1.5-million study, launched last March, examined nine vehicles that Toyota repurchased from owners after sudden acceleration reports. They were inspected and later subjected to electromagnetic radiation at a special Chrysler testing chamber. The NASA team reviewed 280,000 lines of software code, looking for glitches that could trigger the engine to unexpectedly go to full power.
"The jury is back, the verdict is in: There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas, period," LaHood declared.
Nonetheless, the sudden acceleration problems have blemished Toyota's once-sterling reputation for quality. Along with floor mats and gas pedals, the Japanese automaker has been plagued by defects in steering components, structural parts, brakes and engine control circuit boards, leading to recalls of millions of other vehicles.
The company has also been slapped by regulators for not disclosing problems when it became aware of them. In December, Toyota agreed to pay $32.4 million in fines for failing to promptly notify regulators and issue a recall when it knew of defects involving the potential for floor mats to entrap pedals and for another defect that could cause a total loss of steering.
And last April, the company agreed to a record $16.4-million fine for delaying notification to regulators about the sticky pedal problem. The fines were the largest ever levied against an automaker.
Complaints about sudden acceleration from Toyota and Lexus owners surged after the automaker adopted the so-called drive-by-wire system starting in 2001. For some Toyota models, reports of unintended acceleration increased more than fivefold after drive-by-wire systems were adopted, according to a Times review of thousands of consumer complaints filed with regulators. Transportation Department officials attributed the surge to publicity, even though it wasn't until 2009 that sudden acceleration became a buzzword.
Toyota said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit dropped 39%, mostly because of the strong value of the Japanese yen, though company officials also acknowledged they have not fully recovered from a string of recalls and regulatory fines in the U.S. market. Toyota was the only major automaker to report a U.S. sales decline in 2010.
Some Toyota drivers who had reported experiencing sudden unintended acceleration said they had not changed their minds about the possibility of a hidden defect, rejecting LaHood's assertion that only floor mats, sticky pedals or driver error could cause the problem.
"It doesn't resolve my concerns," said Jeffrey Pepski, a suburban Minneapolis financial consultant who complained to NHTSA after his Lexus ES suddenly accelerated on a Twin Cities freeway. During the 2007 incident, which occurred long before sudden acceleration became a national buzzword, Pepski said he put his foot under the gas pedal and attempted to lift it, eliminating the possibility of pedal entrapment or a sticky pedal.
"Just because they couldn't reproduce the problem doesn't mean it didn't happen," Pepski said. "All it means is that they couldn't reproduce it. I stand by my story."
Rhonda Smith, who testified before Congress last year that her Lexus ES accelerated on its own and almost killed her, called the NASA report "very upsetting" and said she still believes the vehicles have some other defect.
"There's still something else out there," said Smith who claimed that during her acceleration event she was able to look at her feet and see that they were correctly placed and that the floor mat was not interfering with the gas pedal.
NASA engineers were somewhat more guarded in describing their findings than LaHood. "Our detailed study can't say it's impossible, but based on the testing and analysis performed, we find that the malfunctions in electronics are an unlikely cause of large and unintended acceleration," said Michael T. Kirsch, the leader of the NASA study. The formal language of the report was even more equivocal, acknowledging that it is "not realistic" to prove that Toyota's electronics can not cause sudden acceleration and that "the absence of proof … does not vindicate the system."
The consideration of new regulations announced by LaHood is a victory for those who have argued that today's high-tech autos need electronic safeguards. When an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and his family were killed in August 2009, Toyota acknowledged the Lexus ES did not have a brake override system that many other manufacturers had adopted.
Shutting down the engine with the vehicle's push-button start system was considered potentially confusing. And Toyota, unlike other manufacturers, long refused to provide tools for outsiders to download the information on its event data recorders.
Don Slavik, a Milwaukee lawyer representing a sudden acceleration victim, has been coordinating the work of plaintiff attorneys preparing to argue that there is in fact an electronic problem in Toyota vehicles. He and other attorneys have hired a team of engineers and scientists to conduct their own investigation into Toyota electronics, and believe they have found significant problems in the throttle system.
"The fact that NASA didn't find anything doesn't mean there's nothing there," Slavik said. "Toyota is going to walk in the courtroom and say 'we've been exonerated' and we'll say 'no you haven't." The NASA report won't be the last word on the subject. The National Research Council is conducting a larger and more comprehensive study of sudden acceleration involving the auto industry, and is expected to release its findings in July.
The study concluded the only defects that could cause sudden acceleration involved floor mats that could jam the gas pedal and accelerator pedals that could become stuck. Toyota has already recalled 8 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix those problems.
Even so, consumer complaints of sudden acceleration affect vehicles from all manufacturers and as a result, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun taking steps to write new standards that could improve safety, LaHood said at a news conference Tuesday.
The auto safety regulator will begin consideration of a rule to require so-called brake override systems, which cut off engine power when a motorist puts a foot on the brake pedal. It is designed to stop a car, even if the gas pedal is jammed.
The agency also will consider standardizing push-button start systems, which can confuse motorists trying to shut off a runaway engine. In other cases, vehicle owners have accidently let engines with push-button starts continue to run after parking.
Finally, the agency wants to require all new cars to be sold with event data recorders, or black boxes, which could help determine the cause of many crashes.
Separately, the agency also is beginning research to determine whether certain pedal designs and placements can reduce the tendency of drivers to hit the wrong pedal.
NHTSA senior officials said the NASA study closely examined 58 cases of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles and found about two-thirds appeared to involve a driver accidently hitting the wrong pedal.
The results of the study, which was assisted by a team of engineers from NASA Langley Research Center, is good news for Toyota, which has contended for more than year that there is no defect in the design or performance of engine systems that have for the last decade relied on a high degree of electronic control.
"We believe this rigorous scientific analysis by some of America's foremost engineers should further reinforce confidence in the safety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, " said Steve St. Angelo, Toyota's chief quality officer for North America.
The $1.5-million study, launched last March, examined nine vehicles that Toyota repurchased from owners after sudden acceleration reports. They were inspected and later subjected to electromagnetic radiation at a special Chrysler testing chamber. The NASA team reviewed 280,000 lines of software code, looking for glitches that could trigger the engine to unexpectedly go to full power.
"The jury is back, the verdict is in: There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas, period," LaHood declared.
Nonetheless, the sudden acceleration problems have blemished Toyota's once-sterling reputation for quality. Along with floor mats and gas pedals, the Japanese automaker has been plagued by defects in steering components, structural parts, brakes and engine control circuit boards, leading to recalls of millions of other vehicles.
The company has also been slapped by regulators for not disclosing problems when it became aware of them. In December, Toyota agreed to pay $32.4 million in fines for failing to promptly notify regulators and issue a recall when it knew of defects involving the potential for floor mats to entrap pedals and for another defect that could cause a total loss of steering.
And last April, the company agreed to a record $16.4-million fine for delaying notification to regulators about the sticky pedal problem. The fines were the largest ever levied against an automaker.
Complaints about sudden acceleration from Toyota and Lexus owners surged after the automaker adopted the so-called drive-by-wire system starting in 2001. For some Toyota models, reports of unintended acceleration increased more than fivefold after drive-by-wire systems were adopted, according to a Times review of thousands of consumer complaints filed with regulators. Transportation Department officials attributed the surge to publicity, even though it wasn't until 2009 that sudden acceleration became a buzzword.
Toyota said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit dropped 39%, mostly because of the strong value of the Japanese yen, though company officials also acknowledged they have not fully recovered from a string of recalls and regulatory fines in the U.S. market. Toyota was the only major automaker to report a U.S. sales decline in 2010.
Some Toyota drivers who had reported experiencing sudden unintended acceleration said they had not changed their minds about the possibility of a hidden defect, rejecting LaHood's assertion that only floor mats, sticky pedals or driver error could cause the problem.
"It doesn't resolve my concerns," said Jeffrey Pepski, a suburban Minneapolis financial consultant who complained to NHTSA after his Lexus ES suddenly accelerated on a Twin Cities freeway. During the 2007 incident, which occurred long before sudden acceleration became a national buzzword, Pepski said he put his foot under the gas pedal and attempted to lift it, eliminating the possibility of pedal entrapment or a sticky pedal.
"Just because they couldn't reproduce the problem doesn't mean it didn't happen," Pepski said. "All it means is that they couldn't reproduce it. I stand by my story."
Rhonda Smith, who testified before Congress last year that her Lexus ES accelerated on its own and almost killed her, called the NASA report "very upsetting" and said she still believes the vehicles have some other defect.
"There's still something else out there," said Smith who claimed that during her acceleration event she was able to look at her feet and see that they were correctly placed and that the floor mat was not interfering with the gas pedal.
NASA engineers were somewhat more guarded in describing their findings than LaHood. "Our detailed study can't say it's impossible, but based on the testing and analysis performed, we find that the malfunctions in electronics are an unlikely cause of large and unintended acceleration," said Michael T. Kirsch, the leader of the NASA study. The formal language of the report was even more equivocal, acknowledging that it is "not realistic" to prove that Toyota's electronics can not cause sudden acceleration and that "the absence of proof … does not vindicate the system."
The consideration of new regulations announced by LaHood is a victory for those who have argued that today's high-tech autos need electronic safeguards. When an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and his family were killed in August 2009, Toyota acknowledged the Lexus ES did not have a brake override system that many other manufacturers had adopted.
Shutting down the engine with the vehicle's push-button start system was considered potentially confusing. And Toyota, unlike other manufacturers, long refused to provide tools for outsiders to download the information on its event data recorders.
Don Slavik, a Milwaukee lawyer representing a sudden acceleration victim, has been coordinating the work of plaintiff attorneys preparing to argue that there is in fact an electronic problem in Toyota vehicles. He and other attorneys have hired a team of engineers and scientists to conduct their own investigation into Toyota electronics, and believe they have found significant problems in the throttle system.
"The fact that NASA didn't find anything doesn't mean there's nothing there," Slavik said. "Toyota is going to walk in the courtroom and say 'we've been exonerated' and we'll say 'no you haven't." The NASA report won't be the last word on the subject. The National Research Council is conducting a larger and more comprehensive study of sudden acceleration involving the auto industry, and is expected to release its findings in July.
Ferrari vs Ford in the F150 name war. One can only imagine...
Situation
Ferrari will use full name of "Ferrari F150th Italia" Formula One car from now on after Ford sued Italian automaker over use of abbreviation "F150". Ferrari's F150 logo was too similar to Ford's F-150 pickup truck, Ford said in complaint filed at US District Court in Detroit. Ferrari has misappropriated F-150 trademark in naming new racing vehicle in order to capitalize on and profit. From substantial goodwill Ford has developed in F-150 trademark, Ford said in complaint. Ford is asking the court to bar Ferrari from using name and is also seeking unspecified damages. Including damages of $100K under Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act Significant Points. Ferrari hit back saying very difficult to understand Ford's viewpoint. Because car for this season's F1 world championship was given name to celebrate 150 years of Italian unity and is not commercially available. Ferrari believes its own contender in forthcoming F1 championship cannot be confused w/ other types of commercially available vehicle of any sort whatsoever. Nor can it give impression that there is link to another brand of road-going vehicle. To further prove acting in good faith, Ferrari has decided abbreviated version will be replaced at all times w/ full version, Ferrari F150th Italia. Ford's rival Fiat SpA has 85% stake in Ferrari, and management control of Chrysler Group, in which it has 25% stake.
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