Automotive Digest

Studies: Teens More Likely to Crash When Driving With Their Peers

02/10/2012

New studies of teen drivers conducted by State Farm and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that more than 70% of male teens involved in serious crashes were distracted by their passengers before the accident occurred. Teen passengers can encourage unsafe driving. More states may feel pressure to adopt rules limiting the number of young passengers in a car with a just-recently licensed teen driver.

Are Hydrogen Vehicles Coming of Age?

02/10/2012

Peter Hoffman is an advocate and author of publications on hydrogen vehicles. A number of automakers have committed to building hydrogen cars by 2015, and Mr. Hoffman expects their production costs to decrease as technology matures. He also predicts more consumer acceptance of fuel-cell vehicles due to their built-in level of safety and the fact that they can travel up to 300 miles on a tank of hydrogen.

Used Car Pricing Going Up…Again

02/10/2012

Used car prices went up about 3 percent in 2011 and are expected to increase almost another 2 percent in 2012. Consumers are hanging onto their vehicles longer and many are opting for used vehicles when they do buy, coupled with reduced automaker production over the last few years, so that the limited field of used vehicles is drawing higher prices at the dealership.

New Stolen Equipment, Vehicle Recovery System from LoJack

02/10/2012

LoJack Corporation has introduced its new entirely self-contained Stolen Vehicle Recovery System for construction equipment and commercial vehicles. It is hidden in a piece of equipment and can be camouflaged to match the exact color of the machine. When Police Tracking Computers match the stolen equipment product ID number to the LoJack registration number, the system is automatically activated by police, causing the hidden transceiver to emit a silent signal that leads law enforcement agencies to the precise location of the stolen equipment.

AutoTrader Moves Co-op Online Advertising to Next Level

02/10/2012

Make-based new-car advertising packages from AutoTrader.com, part of compliance assistance for dealers using co-op funding for online advertising, just got easier as AutoTrader sets up a new "New Car Packaging" program, a new "Display Advertising" program and partners with dedicated "OEM Tier III Co-op Specialists" to help dealers use co-op money to double their advertising efforts on both new and used inventory.