CAR-LOG
Sunday, November 30, 2003
By ANk
Perhaps or rather certainly I'm late this week and apologise for the delay. This week, I'd like to talk about car safety measures. At the time that cars were created, they were considered to be "monsters" or "horseless-carts". Anyone who did not know how to drive a car could end up doing a lot of damage to himself/herself as well as others around him if that person were to sit behind the wheel. Car safety has thus always been an important issue. One of the most common thing used in car safety is the seat belt. The seat belt has now become a compulsory safety feature in cars and here in the US, it is required by law to be worn at least by the all passengers sitting in the front seats. A lot of research has been done on car safety and another tool used for protection from injuries during an accident is the air-bag. There have been various different crash tests and these have proved the importance and usefulness of air bags. Here are a few links to crash test videos and one can see for oneself how useful these videos are in evaluating the safety of a car -
1. Crash Tests Conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
2. Crash Test Video Vault
3. Exponent- Multimedia Crash Test Video
Note: some of the images may be disturbing so watch with caution.
Perhaps or rather certainly I'm late this week and apologise for the delay. This week, I'd like to talk about car safety measures. At the time that cars were created, they were considered to be "monsters" or "horseless-carts". Anyone who did not know how to drive a car could end up doing a lot of damage to himself/herself as well as others around him if that person were to sit behind the wheel. Car safety has thus always been an important issue. One of the most common thing used in car safety is the seat belt. The seat belt has now become a compulsory safety feature in cars and here in the US, it is required by law to be worn at least by the all passengers sitting in the front seats. A lot of research has been done on car safety and another tool used for protection from injuries during an accident is the air-bag. There have been various different crash tests and these have proved the importance and usefulness of air bags. Here are a few links to crash test videos and one can see for oneself how useful these videos are in evaluating the safety of a car -
1. Crash Tests Conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
2. Crash Test Video Vault
3. Exponent- Multimedia Crash Test Video
Note: some of the images may be disturbing so watch with caution.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
By ANk
As promised, this week, I will be talking about the "evolution" of cars. Cars these days are a lot different from what they used to be. This is not only from the exterior, but the engine as well has undergone several changes. Keeping in mind that some of the readers may not be knowing about the technical mumbo jumbo about cars (don't worry, I'm right there at the top of the list), I will not go into the details about these changes. Car's have become more fuel efficient and important factors for this change is the world wide awareness about energy conservation, value for money and concern for the environment. Todays cars give for mileage and cause less to the environment at the same time, than cars that were built in the early 19th century.
A new concept of virtually no pollution cars is coming up. Cars are being designed to run on things like solar energy, electricity, natural gases (like hydrogen fuel cells, liquid nitrogen) and believe it or not, even water! How cool would it be to have a car that runs on water! Cheap, practically av ailable almost everywhere (except probably the Sahara desert!) and the only pollution given off would be oxygen and hydrogen! However, these cars are extremely expensive and do not have the so called charisma to attract customers. The acceleration, horsepower and I guess the most important factor, top speed, not to mention mantainence. That is why, they haven't been so popular with the market.
For this reason, car manufacturers are at present working on the concept of a hybrid car. A hybrid car, popularly called hybrid, operates on two types of fuels; one is generally conventional fuel or gasoline, the other is a "no-pollution" fuel such as electricity, natural gas or solar energy. However, this concept is popular mainly with Japanese manufacturers. I feel that this concept is very important if we are to conserve our natural resources and protect our environment. We do not want a "Matrix" like scenario in our real world! Thus, I feel that this concept should be promoted by the public and adopted as a norm by car manufacturers until we find a way to harvest energy from a better, long lasting and environment friendly energy source.
As promised, this week, I will be talking about the "evolution" of cars. Cars these days are a lot different from what they used to be. This is not only from the exterior, but the engine as well has undergone several changes. Keeping in mind that some of the readers may not be knowing about the technical mumbo jumbo about cars (don't worry, I'm right there at the top of the list), I will not go into the details about these changes. Car's have become more fuel efficient and important factors for this change is the world wide awareness about energy conservation, value for money and concern for the environment. Todays cars give for mileage and cause less to the environment at the same time, than cars that were built in the early 19th century.
A new concept of virtually no pollution cars is coming up. Cars are being designed to run on things like solar energy, electricity, natural gases (like hydrogen fuel cells, liquid nitrogen) and believe it or not, even water! How cool would it be to have a car that runs on water! Cheap, practically av ailable almost everywhere (except probably the Sahara desert!) and the only pollution given off would be oxygen and hydrogen! However, these cars are extremely expensive and do not have the so called charisma to attract customers. The acceleration, horsepower and I guess the most important factor, top speed, not to mention mantainence. That is why, they haven't been so popular with the market.
For this reason, car manufacturers are at present working on the concept of a hybrid car. A hybrid car, popularly called hybrid, operates on two types of fuels; one is generally conventional fuel or gasoline, the other is a "no-pollution" fuel such as electricity, natural gas or solar energy. However, this concept is popular mainly with Japanese manufacturers. I feel that this concept is very important if we are to conserve our natural resources and protect our environment. We do not want a "Matrix" like scenario in our real world! Thus, I feel that this concept should be promoted by the public and adopted as a norm by car manufacturers until we find a way to harvest energy from a better, long lasting and environment friendly energy source.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
By ANk
Automobiles are a huge boon to mankind. One cannot think about a world without automobiles. That is why, we have decided to discuss automobiles (cars more specifically) in our group blog.
Although I am almost a total zero when it comes to cars, engines etc, I will still try my best to discuss and comment as much as I can. The "buzz" word about today's cars is how they are evolving. How alternate fuels operated cars are now comnig on the front; how it will affect the energy and pollution scene.
Another thing about them is how they are getting better, faster, cheaper and more fuel efficient with lots of accessories. To write about the technical stuff would be beyond my capacity, but I can more easily describe in layman terms about cars. Thus in the weeks ahead, I will be focussing on evolution of cars, the ecological point of view about cars and also the social aspect and value of cars.
Automobiles are a huge boon to mankind. One cannot think about a world without automobiles. That is why, we have decided to discuss automobiles (cars more specifically) in our group blog.
Although I am almost a total zero when it comes to cars, engines etc, I will still try my best to discuss and comment as much as I can. The "buzz" word about today's cars is how they are evolving. How alternate fuels operated cars are now comnig on the front; how it will affect the energy and pollution scene.
Another thing about them is how they are getting better, faster, cheaper and more fuel efficient with lots of accessories. To write about the technical stuff would be beyond my capacity, but I can more easily describe in layman terms about cars. Thus in the weeks ahead, I will be focussing on evolution of cars, the ecological point of view about cars and also the social aspect and value of cars.
