Pico 5536pt Toggle Switch (red) Each On/off on 2040-parts.com

Vauxhall launches speed limit detectors on Insignia (2008)

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 June 2008 07:53 Vauxhall's new Insignia will be the first of a wave of cars to have a forward-facing camera that can read road signs. The optional kit will detect speed limit and no overtaking signs – and flash up a reminder to the driver on the dashboard.GM calls the tech, which will be launched in early 2009, Traffic Sign Recognition and it uses a small, wide-angled camera system supplied by Hella. It sits at the top of the windscreen near the rain sensors and rear-view mirror, scanning the road ahead taking 30 photos per second.It's 1984 all over again...With a range of 100 metres, the camera focuses on circular patterns and then interprets the numbers inside by contour comparison; if a match is found on the software's database, that road sign will be flashed up in the driver's binnacle.The front-facing camera is also used as a lane departure warning system, alerting the driver if they unintentionally swerve out of their lane on a motorway.Cars with cameras: a growing trendMore and more manufacturers are fitting cameras to their cars nowadays and you can expect a flood of systems like the Insignia's to be launched in 2009, including the new BMW 5-series.CAR tried out these new systems on Bosch prototypes in 2007.

Audi TT Coupe and Roadster facelift (2010) first pictures

This is Audi's facelifted TT Coupé and Roadster, though rather than referring to the tweaks as full-blown changes (which they're not), Ingolstadt is taking a more subtle approach and merely calling the revisions '2011 Model Year' tweaks.   Well it’s an Audi, so all TTs now come with a set of LED daytime running lights. As for the rest of the car, come on, can’t you see the changes? Oh, well Audi says the interior and exterior have been 'revised with great attention to detail'.

Richard Madeley – Guest Car Reviewer

Richard Madeley joins Cars UK as a guest reviewer So we thought it might be fun to get some well-known faces to spend a bit of time with an interesting car and get their feedback. A sort of ‘Stars Test Cars’ occasional feature. So we set to work – pulled some strings and begged some favours – and the first of our ‘Stars Test Cars’ writers is broadcaster and journalist Richard Madeley.