8fa-w2197-12-00 on 2040-parts.com

Iowa distributes thumb bands imprinted with ‘TXTING KILLS'

Thumb bands that read “TXTNG KILLS” have been making their way around the state of Iowa, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bands--which are meant to serve as a reminder to avoid texting while driving--have been distributed at events such as the Iowa State Fair and the Iowa-Iowa State college football game. “A lot of people want them for their kids,” Courtney Greene, spokeswoman for Iowa's Department of Public Safety, told the Wall Street Journal.

17,000 solar panels to power Toyota’s Derbyshire plant

Toyota’s manufacturing plant at Burnaston in Derbyshire, where the Auris and Avensis are built, will install the biggest solar panel system yet seen in a UK car plant.  British Gas, which will stump up the £10 million cost of installing the solar panels, and Toyota are working together to save 2000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. Once the solar panels are installed, they claim it will save enough energy to build approximately 7000 cars a year.

2011 Audi A6 leaks

The 2011 Audi A6 leaks out The next Audi model due for a change is the Audi A6, amd Audi started out this last few days with a blurry teaser image of its new E-Class / 5-Series competitor. But we didn’t bother to run it - although we should have – as it just seemed a bit pointless. But now we get the first official photo leaking out courtesy of Autoblog.nl, so we get the real deal instead.