2005 Honda Accord Coupe,2.4 4 Cylinder V-tech,automatic,limited Edition on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Who can really claim first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle delivery in US?

Last month, Hyundai said that the initial deliveries of the Tucson Fuel Cell vehicles in California meant that, "For the first time, retail consumers can now put a mass-produced, federally-certified hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in their driveways." But try telling that to Jon Spallino. In 2005, Honda leased a hydrogen fuel cell FCX, a small hatchback, to the Spallino family (as far as we know, he parked it in his driveway). The company did the same thing again in 2008 with the FCX Clarity, a sleek new design based on the FCX Concept, and others signed for the H2 ride as well, including celebrities. No matter how you slice it, Honda has been in the fuel cell delivery market for almost a decade now. Just look at this. Or this. Or this. Oh, and other automakers (General Motors in Project Driveway in 2006 and Mercdes-Benz with the F-Cell in 2010, for example) have delivered fuel cell vehicles in the US as part of short-term test programs. But let's get back to Hyundai's claim. There's little question that the first delivery of a "fuel cell vehicle for the US market" has already taken place (and they were federally certified, too), which means that the debate revolves around the definition of mass-produced and whether "mass production" is about a number or about the process? Let's investigate below. First, lets review Honda's bona fides. We can start with the official version of Honda's fuel cell history, which is missing the pertinent detail that Honda build the Clarity on a dedicated assembly line and established a small network of three dealerships to lease the FCX Clarity in 2008. All of the FCX Clarity vehicles in customer hands in the US were leased through these dealerships. Sure, Honda started with hand-built stacks in its hydrogen vehicles, but went to automated control of some parts and components with series production. "It is good to see others doing today what we've been doing since 2008" – Steve Ellis, Honda Or, as Honda's Steve Elllis put it to AutoblogGreen regarding Hyundai's fuel cell deliveries: "This was exactly as prescribed by the creation of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. It's the very essence of 'co-op-itition.' We at Honda, as do many others, continue to push forward on many technologies, both the battery and the fuel cell. And society is the beneficiary." Then he added, "It is good to see others doing today what we've been doing since 2008." Now, how does Hyundai compare?

New Honda smart cruise control predicts other motorists' future idiocy

It's not quite "Open the pod bay doors, Hal," but we're getting there: Honda is offering a predictive cruise control system on the Exectuve Grade Honda CR-V in Europe starting this year. Advancing the capabilities of the present adaptive cruise control, the Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control (i-ACC) will be able to foresee and automatically react to other vehicles cutting in ahead of you up to five seconds ahead of it happening. A research team developed the system after studying European driving patterns for years. The i-ACC keeps track of surrounding cars with a camera and radar, "evaluating relations between multiple vehicles" and running the data through an algorithm to figure out who's going to do what. If it detects another car about to move into your lane, the CR-V brakes softly and a dash light illuminates to let the driver know what's about to happen, then it brakes a little more firmly to keep the proper distance after the other car moves in. Honda says it works in the UK and on The Continent because it knows which side of the road you're driving on. That means it could work here, but our guess is that it will take a while for that happen, our driving patterns being a little more erratic - and that's putting it kindly - than those of our Euro brethren. There's a press release below with more information. Honda to Introduce World's First Predictive Safety Cruise Control System 08.01.2015 - Honda is to introduce the world's first predictive cruise control system known as Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control (i-ACC), capable of foreseeing and automatically reacting to other vehicles 'cutting-in' to the equipped vehicle's lane. Based on extensive real-world research of typical European driving styles, Honda's Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control (i-ACC) uses a camera and radar to sense the position of other vehicles on the road. It then applies an algorithm to predict the likelihood of vehicles in neighbouring lanes cutting-in by evaluating relations between multiple vehicles, enabling the equipped vehicle to react quickly, safely and comfortably. i-ACC will make its debut this year on the new European CR-V*, building upon the traditional Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system. Traditional ACC systems keep a preselected longitudinal velocity, which is only reduced for maintaining a safe distance to a car in front. However, if a vehicle cuts-in from a neighboring lane, the traditional ACC system reacts later thus requiring stronger braking.

Acura already planning NSX Type R?

Acura just took the wraps off the production version of its long-awaited new NSX, but rumors are already circulating of an even hotter version to follow. Meeting up at the Detroit Auto Show this week, Auto Express asked the NSX's chief engineer Ted Klaus about the prospect of a Type R version in the future, to which he reportedly answered: "I think everyone who loves cars wants to see a version that we say is pure red. The NSX has always been silver first, moving towards red later. Someone asked me, 'when will you be satisfied?' Probably never. What you do today, you can improve on tomorrow." That doesn't mean that tomorrow will actually come tomorrow, but it does speak to a spirit of improvement on the NSX team that could stand to keep the American-made Japanese supercar on the knife's edge and out in front of the competition, which Klaus identified as including the Ferrari 458, Audi R8 V10 and Porsche 911 Turbo. The previous model bred the NSX-R two years after its release (in the Japanese domestic market anyway), benefiting from a 265-pound weight reduction, a stiffer suspension, and though never officially confirmed, a long-suspected bump in output. Related Video: