2008 Blue Se Handicap Wheelchair Mobility! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Amazon opens contest for The Grand Tour tickets in the US

British enthusiasts already had the opportunity to win tickets to the first taping of The Grand Tour, and now Amazon has opened up a similar chance for customers in the US. In celebration of Prime Day, which starts today, customers in the US can enter The Grand Tour Prime Day Prize Draw. The prize includes travel, $200 to spend, accommodation, and a meet and greet with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. Customers that are interested fulfilling a childhood dream should visit Amazon's website and fill out the entry form soon as the draw closes on July 12. The Grand Tour will launch this fall as an exclusive for Amazon Prime members with the exact city locations for studio records set to be revealed later this summer. Amazon, however, did reveal that the trio will host shows in the UK, US, and Germany. So there's no need to get too upset if you don't win the draw. With Top Gear getting a major shakeup with the departure of Chris Evans, we're itching to see Clarkson, Hammond, and May behind the wheel of cars again. The trio, it seems, is also excited to get the new show rolling as Clarkson posted a drifty video on his Facebook page. The trio are currently in Italy filming a comparison between an Aston Martin DB11, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, and Rolls-Royce Dawn. The five-second clip has the Challenger Hellcat and DB11 drifting head-on into the camera crew, which is behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo. News Source: Amazon, FacebookImage Credit: The Grand Tour TV/Movies Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Dodge the grand tour

Ram to go on a Rampage with new small pickup?

When people look back at today's automotive industry, what do you think they'll remember us for? The emergence of hybrids? Ever more expensive and exotic supercars? The dawn of the self-driving car? All likely scenarios, but so is the blurring of lines between one bodystyle and another, giving rise to hardtop convertible coupes and crossovers of every shape and size. But one bodystyle the North American auto industry has stayed largely away from in the past couple of decades is a car nose and chassis with a pickup bed.
It's a bodystyle immortalized by the Chevrolet El Camino, but with few exceptions, we haven't seen too many of these automotive platypuses in recent years on our turf. Subaru tried with the Baja and the low-volume Honda Ridgeline soldiers along largely unchanged, but the genre's biggest adherents are still Down Under, where ute versions of the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon live. With a few other examples scattered to the four corners of the earth, that's really about it. But if these spy shots are anything to go by, it looks like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could be working to bring it back.
Spied undergoing testing in Michigan, what we appear to be looking at is a heavily disguised Fiat Strada being prepared - like the Fiat Ducato-based Ram ProMaster and the smaller Doblo-based ProMaster City - for Stateside duty as a Ram product. The Strada, for those unfamiliar, is a product of Fiat Automóveis in Brazil and is based on the Palio economy car. The nameplate has been around South America since 1996 and was originally designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro (long before Volkswagen monopolized his talents), and takes a more rugged approach in the form of the Strada Adventure.

2.1 million vehicles recalled again over faulty airbags

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Honda and Toyota will recall 2.1 million vehicles to fix faulty airbag modules "after the manufacturers' original attempts to fix the defects proved ineffective in some vehicles." These vehicles had all previously been recalled, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that the airbags could still potentially malfunction. This recall will cover Acura MDX, Dodge Viper, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda Odyssey, Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix and Toyota Avalon models made in the early 2000s. NHTSA has reportedly received about 40 reports of airbag deployment in such vehicles, even though the vehicle had not been involved in a crash. Roughly one million of these same vehicles, all from Honda and Toyota, are also subject to recalls due to faulty Takata airbag modules, though this particular recall is for "an electronic component manufactured by TRW" that is separate from the actual airbags from Takata. According to NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind: "This is unfortunately a complicated issue for consumers, who may have to return to their dealer more than once. But this is an urgent safety issue, and all consumers with vehicles covered by the previous recalls should have that remedy installed. Even though it's a temporary solution until the new remedy is available, they and their families will be safer if they take the time to learn if their vehicle is covered and follow their manufacturers' instructions. A hassle is much better than a family tragedy." If you're the owner of an affected car, expect to hear more from the official automaker and government channels in short order. In the meantime, we'd suggest getting your car checked and fixed at your local dealer. The official statement and recall information can be found below. Previously Recalled Vehicle Remedies Not Working as Designed; NHTSA Announces Follow up Recall of 2.12 Million Cars and SUVs Saturday, January 31, 2015 Contact: Gordon Trowbridge, 202-366-9550, Public.Affairs@dot.gov WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced today the recall of more than 2.12 million Acura, Dodge, Jeep, Honda, Pontiac, and Toyota vehicles for a defect that may cause airbags to deploy inadvertently. The recalls will provide vehicle owners with a new remedy after the manufacturers' original attempts to fix the defects proved ineffective in some vehicles.