Advance Auto Zone

It is September once again and it is the time to celebrate and spruce up the campaign towards informing everybody about child passenger safety. That is why September is actually referred to as the National Child Passenger Safety Month. This month-long campaign is actually a program that is sponsored by the National Automobile Dealers Association, or NADA. It has been developed and cultivated with the NHTSA which is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is an arm of the government.

And for this month, car dealerships, new or old, anywhere in and around the United States would be showing off their support for this month-long campaign. Their job is to actually host child safety seat inspections all throughout the month of September.

According to this month-long program’s organizers, the National Child Passenger Safety Month has been placed in this critical period for this is the same period when children start going back to school. With that thought, it also means that many children would be with their parents and grown ups on the road.

William Bradshaw is the NADA chairman and is currently one of the newest car dealers in the South Carolina region. He states, “Parents will do the right thing if they have the right information. Unfortunately, many parents don’t have the right information when it comes to child safety seats – and dealers want to change that.”

Though the right amount of Saab car parts [

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Many people would love to have a wind powered car or wind-powered assisted hybrid car (WPAH) in their driveway, especially considering the current costs of $3.00 per gallon gasoline. But all that might not be too far away. In fact you may find your self not only purchasing such a futuristic car but also getting a huge tax credit for doing so, due to the Bush Administrations new “Alternative Energy Initiatives” and Hybrid Car Tax Credit Programs. But there are more than just consumer benefits to the wind-powered or the wind-powered assisted hybrid cars (WPAH) because consider the benefits to our Earth. Recently this subject came up in our online think tank when a reporter asked;

“What are the benefits? Are they just as effective as a petrol/diesel car?”

Well for starters wind-powered or the wind-powered assisted hybrid cars (WPAH) will run cleaner and “Pure” wind-powered cars can run with no pollution of course. But considering the “Pure” wind-powered cars there would be absolutely no cost for fuel and in the eventuality of WPAH or wind-powered hybrids there would be more efficiency and thus a drastic reduction in fuel usage. For aftermarket add-on kits for your current car well that would also lower you current fuel requirements of the vehicle. This could be a revolution in our modern automobiles and an incredible step for mankind you see? Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/

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With more and more vehicles shifting to rear wheel drive, is it better than front
wheel drive? Let’s take a look.

Front Wheel Drive

Around since the 1920’s, front wheel drive didn’t catch on with American consumers
until the gas crisis in the 1970’s. As Americans struggled against high fuel prices,
automakers began to seek new ways to increase fuel efficiency. The best way of
course was to reduce the size (and thus the weight) of most vehicles. As Detroit
aimed to make cars smaller, they needed a more efficient layout that would yield
more interior room in a smaller package. Front wheel drive was the solution. By
placing the engine and transaxle in the front, there is no large transmission housing
or driveshaft tunnel running through the passenger compartment. In addition,
engines were positioned transversely to reduce the size of the engine bay. And there
was another advantage as well. With 60% of its weight at the front, 40% at the back,
fwd holds an advantage in slippery conditions such as ice or snow as more weight is
over the drive wheels reducing slip during acceleration. But most of the advantages
end there. As most of the weight in up front, a fwd car is not as well balanced
therefore it doesn’t handle quite as well. Also, as vehicles continue to become more
powerful, front wheel drive becomes more of a liability. Torque steer (when the
steering wheel pulls to one side during acceleration) is a serious issue with many
front wheel drive cars that exceed 250hp. As such, we’ve seen a resurgence in the
popularity of rear wheel drive in more powerful vehicles.

Rear Wheel Drive

Prior to the fuel crises in the 1970’s, rear wheel drive was king. Just about every
vehicle, from economy to luxury, came with rear wheel drive. The shift from rear
wheel drive to front took about a decade. Since the mid eighties, just about every
economy car, family sedan, minivan and even many sport coupes came with front
wheel drive. Luxury marks such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz continued on with rear
wheel drive but Cadillac eventually moved every vehicle to front wheel drive. Once
again, times have changed. Over the last few years we’ve seen more and more
vehicles (re) introduce rear wheel drive. Why? Well, it simple. As cars become more
powerful it is difficult to have one set of wheels doing the steering and the
accelerating. By having the front wheels do the steering, and the rear wheels driving
the car, you get a better-balanced vehicle. This eliminates torque steer and
improves acceleration. Rear wheel drive offers better weight distribution (much
closer to 50/50 than fwd), which in turn offers more predictable handling. Finally,
with the advent of traction control and stability management systems, the front
wheel drive advantage in slippery conditions has been significantly reduced. More
and more rwd vehicles have the option of AWD as well. If nothing else, this is a
great way for automakers to hedge their bets. Still, some consumers are skeptical of
rear wheel drive. Perhaps they are the victims of clever marketing by Madison Ave.
that tried to get people to accept fwd and forget all about the virtues rear wheel
drive. They did a great job. Perhaps too good.

Today cars are more powerful yet yield better fuel economy. As such, we can look at
fwd and rwd more objectively. Is one better than the other? Fwd still holds an
advantage in terms of packaging efficiency, offering greater interior room in a
smaller package. Rear wheel drive provides better handling and acceleration and
with the addition of traction control, virtually eliminates the fwd advantage in the
snow. In the end, it depends on what you want from your car. If it’s performance,
you’re looking at rwd. If you’re indifferent, perhaps looking for a small car with
greater interior volume, it’s front wheel drive for you. Over the last 20 years,
technology has improved both layouts, reducing the advantages of fwd to a point
where rwd is a viable option for most people. Ultimately, you’ve got more choice,
and when more choice is offered we all win.

Peter Johnson is the chief writer for all-about-car-selection.com all-about-car-selection.com

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