CarTech

According to a press release, Volkswagen now offers new integrated child seats in the Passat and Passat Estate. The seats for children between three and twelve years old (weight class II to III) offer excellent protection for frontal, rear and side-on crashes. They are operated with minimum effort and are fully collapsible in the rear seat bench.

The advantages of the integrated seats are:
- less chance of not being installed and fitted properly, which is a major cause for injuries in accidents
- the seat can be stowed in the back of the rear bench without infering with the comfort of the rear passengers and no need to occupy your boot space with 3rd party child seats.

Nissan has announced that they have developed the world’s first paint that repairs itself when scratched.

TOKYO (Dec. 2, 2005)– Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., has developed the world’s first clear paint that repairs scratches on painted car surfaces, including scratches from car-washing machines, off-road driving and fingernails.

“Scratch Guard Coat” contains a newly developed high elastic resin that helps prevent scratches from affecting the inner layers of a car’s painted surface. With “Scratch Guard Coat” a car’s scratched surface will return to its original state anywhere from one day to a week, depending on temperature and the depth of the scratch.

The water-repellant paint also has a higher resistance to scratches compared with conventional clear paints. A vehicle painted with “Scratch Guard Coat” will have only one-fifth the abrasions caused by a car-washing machine compared with a car covered with conventional clear paint. Scratches from car-washing machines account for the majority of scratches to painted car surfaces.

“Scratch Guard Coat” is effective for about three years.

“Scratch Guard Coat” will be applied for the first time on an SUV model that is scheduled for a partial makeover in the near future. The paint will be applied to the car’s chassis, bumpers, door mirrors, among other parts.

The following has been announced on the Nissan website:

TOKYO (Nov. 16, 2005) — NTT DATA Corporation, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., its communications Inc., Tokyu Security Co., Ltd., and TRENDY Corporation today announced that they have developed an expanded IC tag i-safety® Service that is expected to help reduce traffic accidents involving children, in addition to help protect them from crime.

The expanded service, which is still in the experimental stage, alerts drivers to the presence of children in the vicinity thanks to a voice-recording from an electronic information device in the car that warns: “Children nearby. Please be careful.” Signals from the child’s IC tag and the driver’s IC tag are picked up by “lookout spots” on the street, such as electricity poles and schoolyard gates, which are affixed with receivers to pick up such signals. The information is then transmitted back to the car’s information device, triggering the voice-recording. The new system is expected to be especially useful for drivers in residential city areas where visibility is low due to blind intersections caused by hills, house walls, etc.

Newsnet5 reports that angry car owners have filed a lawsuit against Toyota and Dunlop, because they are unhappy with the rapid wear of run flat tires.
Run flat tires can be driven for up to 100 kilometers after the tires has suffered a puncture. These tires come at around twice the price as regular tires and are supposed to last 30.000 miles.
The lawsuit claims that the tires only last between 10.000 to 20.000 miles.

Letlanenews reports rumors that new U.S. emission regulations could mean the end of diesel powered cars by 2007 as it would be uneconomical to adapt current cars to comply with the new regulations.

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