Category Archives: BMW

News about BMW automobile manufacturer. News about BMW recalls, technical service bulletins (TSB), and problems regarding BMW vehicles.

The History OF Unintended Acceleration

Posted on by

Toyota’s unintended acceleration problem has been flooding the media lately causing fear in anyone who drives on the roads. You hear stories of how someone’s car started speeding uncontrollably and the deaths and injuries that resulted. Drivers of these vehicles said they pressed the brakes, but the vehicle just didn’t respond.

You may be surprised to learn that this is a problem that has been around for quite a while, and is not limited to only Toyota vehicles. ConsumerAffairs.com has received sudden acceleration complaints over the years from a wide range of makes, including Kia, Jaguar, BMW and Ford. Ford coming in second after Toyota. In fact, during the 80’s, Audi went through the same legal and media problems that Toyota experiences now for unintended acceleration.

In 2005 there was an estimated 20,000 consumers who complained to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of sudden unintended acceleration. Some complaints as far back as the late 1980’s when vehicle first started to be controlled with electronic controls. The problem is difficult to recreate without tampering with the vehicles electronics, so in most cases there is no indication that the vehicle has malfunctioned.

According to engineers familiar with electronic technology any electronic interference could cause the accelerator to surge out of control. In these type of systems there are fail-safes that will reset the computer and will store an error code which can be read by a technician when brought in for repairs. So far, any vehicle that has experienced unintended acceleration has not brought up an error code indicating anything went wrong.

What About The Hydrogen Car?

Posted on by

We have been hearing about electric cars lately and how auto companies are pushing to get them on the roads, but what ever happaned to the hydrogen car. Beyond the test market, hydrogen-powered cars seemed to be nothing more than research and development, but with new hydrogen technology it is no longer the dangerous fuel we were reluctant to put on the roads.

At last month’s Los Angeles auto show Honda introduced the Honda FCX Clarity, the world’s first production fuel-cell car. Befor this, BMW was leading the way in hydrogen development with their Hydrogen 7, a V12 internal combustion engine that can be powered by gasoline as well as liquid hydrogen. With a price tag of at least $250 000 only 100 celebrities and politicians have received a loaner car for evaluation and to provide feedback. The honda fuel cell car would also be quite expensive to buy, but once it goes into production for the public, the price would significantly go down.

Like the electic car, there is the problem of “fueling up”. According to H2stations.org, a website that tracks hydrogen refilling stations, there are only 10 certified filling stations in Canada (and those are used for industrial purposes), 38 in Europe and 49 in the U.S. (with more than half in California).

Honda tried to address the infrastructure problem with its experimental Home Energy Station, a self-contained unit that converts natural gas into hydrogen, but burning natural gas to produce hydrogen seems to just defeat the purpose.

Cars That Run on Sunshine

Posted on by

The electric car has been around for a long time. In the late 1930’s Robert Anderson (A Scottish inventor) built the first crude electric carriage. Over the years the car has been improved to a point where it could be a practical mode of transportation for many people. One of the main reasons we don’t see many on the roads is because charging a large number of electric cars will require huge upgrades to the nation’s infrastructure

SolarCity and Tesla Motors hope to change the amount of electric cars on the road by installing solar-powered car charging stations in Rabobank locations along California Route 101. These quick charging “gas stations” delivers up to 70 amps (240 volts) of electricity which would charge a Telsa Roadster in about 3.5 hours. SolarCity has also installed over 100 in home-charging stations throughout the state.

The Beautiful Earth Group, a solar and wind farms company started last year, has paired up with BMW and the mini, to build solar charging stations in the Red Hook, Brooklyn area. These stations are truly “green”. Built out of recycled shipping containers the station can provide enough energy to charge the Mini E in three hours. Lex Heslin, chief executive of Beautiful Earth, claims two firsts: He got the keys to the first electric version of the Mini Cooper in New York and his company is operating the city’s first solar E.V. charging station.

Silicon Valley based company, Coulomb Technologies, have been building charging stations around the world since 2007. Their recent partnership with Envision Solar has allowed them to integrate their ChargePoint technology into a “solar grove” at Dell headquarters in Round Rock, Tex. This system provided 131,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, and doubles as shade for 56 parking spaces.

With the environmental issues we face today, solar charging could become big business. Ideally, solar charging stations will be connected to the grid so they can feed electricity back when the power is not needed for car-charging. When the sun isn’t shining, cars can be charged on grid power.

Cars and Trucks Currently Built in the U.S.A.

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Approximately 8.5 million vehicles were assembled in the United States in 2008, but only 5 million of those were made by Big Three auto makers. More than 3 million of the assembled vehicles in U.S. plants were built by autoworkers employed by brands such as BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota. American vehicles assembled in the United States, built by American union workers, and made with engines and transmissions manufactured in the U.S.are the following:

Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger, Dodge Nitro, Jeep Liberty, Ford Expedition, Ford F150, Ford F-250, Ford Taurus, Lincoln MKS, Lincoln Navigator, Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Express, Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Savana, GMC Yukon XL, Hummer H2, Dodge Caliber (manual transmission only), Dodge Dakota (automatic only), Jeep Compass (manual transmission only), Jeep Patriot (manual transmission only), Jeep Wrangler (automatic transmission only), Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (automatic transmission only).

If you are having problems with your vehicle and think you may be driving a lemon, call the California Lemon Law Firm of Delsack and Associates. Call toll free 888-Ex-Lemon (888-395-3666) for a free consultation.

Hybrid Car List

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Hybrid cars today are typically a combination of gasoline and a battery powered engine. The following is a list of some of the current hybrid cars plus some that will become available in 2010 and 2011.

Currently available Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Insight, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid, Lexus HS 250h, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Ford Escape Hybrid, Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Lexus RX 450h, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Lexus RX 400h, Lexus GS 450h, Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid, Lexus LS 600h L, GMC Sierra Hybrid, GMC Yukon Hybrid, Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, Chrysler Aspen Hybrid, and Dodge Durango Hybrid.

Those that will become available in 2010 or 2011 are Mercedes ML 450 Hybrid, Honda Global Subcompact Hybrid, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, Saturn Vue Green Line Two Mode, Hyundai Accent Hybrid, BMW X6 Hybrid, Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid, Honda Fit Hybrid, Mercedes S400 BlueHybrid, Dodge Ram Hybrid, Honda CR-Z, Volkswagen and Touareg Hybrid.

If you think your hybrid is a lemon, call the California Lemon Law Firm, Delsack and Associates for a free consultation. The toll free number is 1-888-Ex-Lemon (1-888-395-3666).

Buying American? Or Are You?

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Although 8.5 million cars and light trucks were assembled in the United States last year, the traditional Big Three automakers, Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors, only accounted for about 5 million of those. The remaining 3 million were built in the United States in American plants for manufacturers such as Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Honda, and BMW. Making it more confusing is that the Big Three also have assembly plants in Canada and Mexico. Thus, American car buyers are faced with the question of whether a car manufactured by a company with its headquarters in Japan, but which has been built in Ohio, as is the Honda Accord, is more American than is a car from an American company headquartered in Michigan selling cars manufactured in Mexico, as is, for example, the Ford Fusion.

Toyota is the leading producer of vehicles built in the United States beating out Chrysler last year by a slight margin. In fact, Honda has been building its vehicles in the United States since as early as 1982 in its plant in Marysville Ohio. And in the 80s and 90s Canadian and Mexican plants were already turning out cars for the Big Three American manufacturers.

Therefore, what is euphemistically called “domestic content,” may not be domestic at all. Domestic content may include parts made in Canada and Mexico. However, while American auto workers are assembling vehicles in American plants for foreign manufacturers, labor is excluded from the determination of what is American-built. Thus, foreign auto manufacturers with assembly plants in the United States cannot factor in the value of American labor, nor be credited for it.

To further confuse matters while, for example, Honda builds its engines in its plant in Ohio for the Acura RTX, the country of origin is still listed as Japan. The reason is that one expensive part, the turbocharger, is actually manufactured and imported from Japan although installed by workers in the Ohio plant.

Clearly, determining whether a car is American-built is confusing and oftentimes misleading.