Ski Lifting Eye With Mounting Bracket on 2040-parts.com

Keyless ignition trends toward standardization

A federal plan to require automakers to standardize keyless ignition systems in the wake of Toyota's unintended acceleration problems is likely to mirror industry guidelines issued in January, an automaker group said. Large automakers except Toyota said they already comply with the guidelines crafted by SAE International or plan to do so. These "recommended practices'' seek to counter the variation, driver confusion and safety problems that have ensued since automakers started installing push-button ignition in luxury models.

Geely at Shanghai 2011: Geely MINI Cooper & Geely London Taxi

Geely's take on the London Cab & MINI Cooper Regular readers – in fact anyone who takes notice of car news – will probably recognise Geely as being the Chinese car maker who bought Volvo in 2010. Proper car anoraks may also remember the ‘Chinese Rolls Royce‘, a Phantom ‘Homage’ from Geely that came equipped with a ‘Throne’ in the back to transport a lone plutocrat. It looked a lot like a Russian cold war ZIL meets cartoon Phantom and there was no mistaking it was a Chinese car for a Chinese market.

Driven: Chevrolet Volt

Meeting the Chevrolet Volt could easily have been an anti-climax. This is a design that ‘feels' nearly four years old — the concept first seen in Detroit in 2007. Together with the online hype surrounding it, and the part it plays in GM's renaissance, the weight of expectation is alarmingly high.