Wheels: Volvo Steering Toward a Safer Future
Traffic-safety advocates have long regarded Volvo as the gold standard of driver and passenger safety in automobiles. The reason can be found in the company’s guiding mantra: “Cars are driven by people.” That being the case, the corporate thinking goes, it is best to make people as safe as possible within the womb of a Volvo automobile. That mission, a hallmark of the Volvo car company since its inception in 1927, continues under...
Mercedes Van Might Carry the Future
Frankfurt, Germany — It was a tale of two Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans — one, a bare-bones commuter I drove in the Northern Virginia suburbs of the District of Columbia. The other was simply stupendous — no other way to put it. It was outfitted with rich, two-toned leather and pretty wood veneers; fixed with soft ambient lighting that eased my mood; equipped with reliable wireless WiFi service, far more reliable and accessible than the...
What’s Not to Like? Not a Thing
Lake Placid, n.y. — Rare is the vehicle that makes perfect sense. The 2016 Honda HR-V EX-L Navi with all-wheel drive is that rarity. It meets all criteria — pricing, perfect size for urban use, accommodating comfort for highway travel, flexible utility, advanced safety, good fuel economy, and more-than-adequate road performance for people not suffering from Walter Mitty racetrack fantasies. None of that means everyone will like it —...
Unsolved Mysteries, Airbag Edition
Detroit — After months of testing by air bag maker Takata and an independent panel of engineers, there’s still no clear answer why some air bags are blamed for killing drivers after being triggered and spraying metal shrapnel. “This may not be something as simple as just one root cause,” said former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator David Kelly, who has been hired by the industry to investigate the problem....
