The 2019 Jeep Wrangler undergoing Euro NCAP crash testingHandout / Euro NCAP In recent years, auto manufacturers have been steadily ratcheting up their safety game for vehicle occupants, spurred on by ever-tougher crash tests cooked up by the NHTSA and IIHS. In particular, the new small- and medium-overlap tests put a big push on redesigning some vehicle components so front seat occupants are less likely to be injured in such a crash. But what about those who are sitting in the back seat? According to a recent story in the New York Times, that rear seat area might not be the safest spot in a car anymore. This is contrary to what most of us have been taught for years, that the back seat is definitely the safest place for certain passengers (read: children) in a crash. This likely stems from the days when dashboards were made of metal and the only thing between you and that enormous steering wheel was your face. Advancements for front seat passengers may have started to tip the balance. Those up front generally benefit from the likes of seat belt pre-tensioners and a raft of airbags, not all of which show up in rear passenger compartments of cars and SUVs. The Times reports safety professionals now have new recommendations about what to buy and where to sit, highlighting vehicles whose rear seats have similar safety gear as the ones up front. If seatbelts with pre-tensioning and load-limiting technology aren’t available in the back seat, the NHTSA recommends people aged 55 and older should sit up front. No more relegating grandpa to the back seat, so be prepared to hear more stories about the Pony Express in the name of safety. To be clear, the seatbelts in question meet federal safety standards. Perhaps it’s time for the standards to evolve. Help is on the way for new-car buyers who like to do their research. Within the next three years, the IIHS hopes to have developed a back-seat crash test, allowing buyers to compare new models on this measure. Stay safe out there,
Origin: Next-gen safety to focus on rear seat safety
Seat
YouTuber videos himself using Tesla’s Autopilot from the back seat
2018 Tesla Model 3Peter Bleakney In a truly stupid video recently posted to Instagram, YouTuber Alex Choi attempted to make himself look cool by sitting in the back seat of a semi-autonomous Tesla Model 3 with nobody behind the wheel. Choi posted the eight-second clip to his Instagram Stories, clearly showing himself taking a video from the back seat of the car as it self-navigated heavy traffic, a friend in the front passenger seat and the driver’s seat completely empty, just like the part of his brain where the common sense is supposed to be. Needless to say, if something were to go wrong with the system, or even if it were turned off suddenly – it deactivates when someone turns the wheel or touches the brakes – he would have been totally screwed, and likely would’ve hurt somebody else on the road. meanwhile, YouTuber and new #TeslaModel3 Performance owner, Alex Choi is posted this video to his Instagram story last night. Its probably the most reckless thing that hes done and thats saying something. pic.twitter.com/TK5zwgRohX Det Ansinn (@detansinn) June 4, 2019 This isn’t the first time Choi has done something stupid that endangers other people’s lives. A video was posted a while back with him making an extremely ill-timed merge in a Lamborghini that almost ended a motorcycle rider’s life. Honestly, if you’re going to do something for the gram, at least make it cool or interesting; this is just stupid, and doesn’t help the reputation of the Autopilot system. Once again, Tesla’s Autopilot system is not some stupid toy to be played with. It’s a driver assistance aid aimed at making driving more comfortable, so quit pretending it’s your own personal chauffeur. It isn’t. Tesla is also partly to blame for this kind of behavior, since the automaker still uses language like “full self-driving capability” to describe Autopilot’s advantages, when that’s something it really doesn’t
Origin: YouTuber videos himself using Tesla’s Autopilot from the back seat
Seat Mii electric unveiled
Seat Mii electric unveiled Seat launches EV plans with EV version of Mii citycar Seat has launched its Mii electric, a pure-EV version of the Spanish firm’s citycar, with a range of more than 160 miles on a charge. As the Mii electric is unveiled, Seat has also announced that the model will be electric-only, with production of versions with internal combustion engines stopping in July. The Mii electric will be Seat’s first production pure-EV, and leads the charge for a number of EVs and PHEVs due in the near future, including the el-Born electric hatch, and PHEV versions of the Leon, Cupra Formentor, and Cupra Leon. Based on the same platform as the recently launched Skoda CITIGO-e, and the VW e-up! – which is expected to be significantly updated soon – the Seat Mii electric has a long range for such a small EV, calculated by VW at 161.5 miles (260km). This is subject to homologation, but should be pretty accurate. A 7.2 kW on-board charger is expected, and rapid charging on CCS will accept up to 40 kW, for top-up times to 80% of around four hours, and an hour respectively. The Mii electric has a 61 kW (83 hp) electric motor with 212 Nm of torque, powered by a 36.8 kWh battery. The battery has almost no effect on interior space, with boot space when the rear seats are in place identical to the current petrol-powered Mii, and reduced only by 36 litres when the seats are down. Pricing will be announced in the autumn in time for order books opening, and production will begin in Q4 2019. Seat has said that, when the Mii electric goes on sale, it will be one of the most affordable electric vehicles on the market.
Origin: Seat Mii electric unveiled
Autocar confidential: five-digit EV sales still a way off for Jaguar, Seat finds a more premium audience and more
This week’s selection of snippets from the automotive sphere brings news of Seat’s continuing rise towards premium status, a bright future for McLaren and Nissan’s worries that governments could be doing more for autonomy. London longing for electric Jaguars UK sales of the Jaguar I-Pace will double to around 3000 units in the next 12 months, according to UK boss Rawdon Glover, though he predicted that five-digit sales of the EV would be at least five years away. More than 40% of I-Pace sales are within the M25. Seat not so simple any more The Seat Tarraco and stand-alone Cupra brand are pushing buyers into higher, hitherto unseen price points for the firm, much to boss Luca de Meo’s delight. “We’ve been on a journey, first to get people to consider our cars for more than £20,000 and now more than £30,000. It is working. There was no future in selling our cars for 15% less than similar ones,” he says. McLaren gives customers what they want McLaren’s Special Operations department has tripled its business in the past two years, and CEO Mike Flewitt sees no reason why that trajectory won’t continue. “We’re seeing it again with Speedtail that people who buy exclusive cars want to make them individual,” he said. “Our bespoke content offering is hitting new heights.” Governments make autonomy a no-go? Peter Bedrosian, Nissan Europe’s product planning chief, says it’s government legislation, and not technology, that is slowing the advancement of autonomous vehicles. “It’s not the know-how holding us back – a lot of policy needs to change before we introduce level-three autonomy and above,” he said. “It requires a big change in legislation and infrastructure, because it profoundly changes cars. We’ll be ready for level three by 2019 and, depending on policies, 2020 for level four and above.”
Origin: Autocar confidential: five-digit EV sales still a way off for Jaguar, Seat finds a more premium audience and more
Cupra Leon ditches Seat badge and goes hybrid for 2020
The first hot Leon to ditch the Seat badge for Cupra branding has been spotted at the Nürburgring for the first time ahead of the car’s debut in 2020. Telltale signs that this isn’t just another prototype for the standard Leon include a lower stance, enlarged front air intakes, bigger wheels covering enlarged brakes and twin exhaust tailpipes jutting out from the back bumper. Set to arrive less than a year after the standard Mk4 Seat Leon makes its debut – likely at September’s Frankfurt motor show – the Cupra Leon is also set to receive a plug-in hybrid powertrain option. Seat CEO Luca de Meo confirmed this at the brand’s annual press conference last month. “In 2020, the new generation of Leon will come to market in five-door and ST versions. It will feature a plug-in hybrid powertrain that will produce up to 245bhp and less than 50g/km of CO2 emissions,” said de Meo. “Just before the end of 2020, the Cupra Leon and Cupra Leon ST, both with plug-in hybrid versions, will arrive.” It wasn’t made clear whether the power output de Meo referenced did in fact apply to the Cupra, although given the figure is less than today’s hot hatchback and a PHEV version is likely to weigh significantly more, we’d expect a greater output to be extracted for a Cupra model. Also unclear is whether or not the fast Leon will adopt all-wheel drive, by using either the conventional Haldex clutch system of today’s model or an electrically powered rear axle. Last year, de Meo told Autocar that Cupra as a brand would be used “as a gate to bring technology that will cascade to the rest of the Seat range”. A fully electric Cupra is also under serious
Origin: Cupra Leon ditches Seat badge and goes hybrid for 2020
Woman crashes car after finding spider on passenger seat
A car crashed in Cairo, New York, caused by the drivers reaction to a spider in the vehicleCairo, New York Police via Facebook A woman in Cairo, New York ran her vehicle off the road after she was surprised to find a spider in the passenger seat, according to a police report. After investigating today’s crash on Silver Spur Road we feel it necessary to bring up a contributing factor that is not covered too often, wrote the Town of Cairo, New York Police Department on its Facebook page April 10. It is believed that the operator of the vehicle noticed a SPIDER in the drivers area with her as she was driving. The operator panicked and crashed suffering a leg injury from the crash. While it’s hard for those with arachnophobia or any sort of fear of insects to fathom, the police department suggested training new drivers to try to stay calm and pull over if they notice a six- or eight-legged passenger in their car. Reactions on the post, which netted more than 250 comments, seemed a mix of witty remarks; and outpourings of sympathy for the driver, with the ratio tilted in favour of the
Origin: Woman crashes car after finding spider on passenger seat
Seat launches electric car push
Seat launches electric car push Six new EVs and PHEVs part of plans until the beginning of 2021 Seat has revealed that six electric and plug-in hybrid models will be launched in the next two years, with a pure-electric version of the Mii city car, and the el-Born going into production first. The next generation Leon and the Tarraco SUV will both feature a plug-in hybrid option, and Seat’s performance brand Cupra will also be electrified, with PHEV variants of the Cupra Leon and Formentor. Both the el-Born and Formentor were displayed at the recent Geneva Motor Show in concept form, but both will go into production with plug-in powertrains available. The Mii shares many components with the VW up! – which is already available as an EV – and electric versions have been trialled in Spain. Seat will base the el-Born and a number of other electric models on the VW Group’s MEB modular electric vehicle architecture, but it will also develop a smaller version of the platform for the group. The VW Group grew largely off the back of platform sharing between its main brands, with the MQB found underpinning a great many models from VW, Audi, Seat, and Skoda. A larger version of the MEB has been developed by Audi and Porsche for larger electric models, and Seat is set to work on a version for compact models too. The aim of the new electric platform is to provide electric vehicles below the 20,000 euro mark. Announced during the company’s financial results presentation, CEO Luca de Meo said: “Seat now has a clearer role in the Volkswagen Group, and thanks to the results obtained, we have earned the new electric vehicle platform. For the first time, the Seat Technical Centre will be developing a platform that may be used by more brands around the globe”
Origin: Seat launches electric car push
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