Late Model Cars Research Articles

Cultural Heritage Preservation in Modern China: Problems, Perspectives, and Potentials

Beijing, motivated by the 2008 Olympics, has impressively modernizedin the past decade, replacing crumbling infrastructure and architecture, missingstreet lights, grey dirt, and weeds with wide boulevards crowded with late modelcars, ultra-modern bridges, subways, and skyscrapers. Yet, experts say, everythingin China is a trade-off. My focus is on one form of trade-off, the degradation of historicChina. Traveling in China exactly ten years after my first visit gave me opportunitiesto meet with representatives from media, education, and government, andask: how well has China maintained its cultural heritage in the face of rapid modernization?And how important is it for citizens and government to do so? Today’sChina, where “everything new is better,” must be rendered “livable” for growingnumbers of citizens who are part of an ongoing mass internal migration involvingrelocation from rural areas to rapidly burgeoning cities, increasing pressures torepurpose spaces occupied by old structures. This paper presents current problemsrelating to historic preservation, and some perspectives for the future.

Electrostatic discharge issues in electric vehicles

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is an important issue in any motor vehicle. Anecdotal reports abound of cars with spark ignition hazards because of fuel tank designs, and even toll collectors reluctant to collect money by hand from certain late model cars. As electric vehicles move from the laboratory and test track to the production floor and showroom, ESD concerns take on a new context and become more critical. In this paper, the attributes of electric vehicles that give rise to concerns about ESD are introduced. When the concerns are taken into account, certain basic design constraints become evident. A candidate design is analyzed for its ESD properties. Some common design practices, especially the practice of isolating the battery bus, can create reliability problems because of ESD.

Driver experience with antilock brake systems

Antilock brakes provide the capability for shorter stopping distances and the ability to steer and maintain control during hard braking, especially on wet and slippery surfaces. Owners of late model cars equipped with antilock brakes were surveyed in North Carolina and Wisconsin regarding their experiences with antilocks. The survey results indicated that more than 50% of the drivers in North Carolina and 40% in Wisconsin incorrectly indicated how to brake a car in an emergency situation on wet and slippery pavements in a way that will effectively activate the antilock feature. More drivers in Wisconsin than in North Carolina reported that their cars' antilock feature had been used, but more than 33% of the Wisconsin drivers and 62% of North Carolina drivers said they had never used the antilock feature of their cars' brakes.

On-Road Emission Performance of Late-Model TWC-Cars as Measured by Remote Sensing

During three days in September 1991, the Denver University remote sensor (FEAT) was used to measure the CO and HC emissions from 10,000 gasoline passenger cars on a freeway ramp in Goteborg, Sweden. The data have been used to study the emission performance of late-model three-way catalyst (TWC) cars as a function of age and as compared with earlier model years of non-catalyst cars. Regulations requiring the use of TWCs on all new gasoline passenger cars were adopted in Sweden beginning with model year 1989. Due to sales encouragement, a major fraction of model years 1987 and 1988 are also TWC-cars. The results show that the average volume %CO emissions were approximately 90 percent lower for the model years with exclusively TWC-cars compared to the pre-1987 (non-catalyst) model years. The figure deduced from the remote sensing readings for the corresponding reduction of average volume %HC emissions is uncertain due to liquid water occasionally present in the exhaust of some late-model cars, and interfering with the HC measurements. In the high emission region, no major differences in emission performance were observed between model years with exclusively TWC-cars. 16 refs., 10 figs., 1 tab.

Seat belt use in air-bag-equipped cars: 1986–92 models

Concerns have been raised that occupants of vehicles equipped with both air bags and seat belts would be less likely to use the manual lap/shoulder belt than occupants of cars equipped only with such belts. An earlier survey, based primarily on 1986–1989 model-year cars with air bags, indicated that seat-belt-use rates were about the same in cars with and without air bags. Drivers of 1986–1992 model cars with air bags were observed in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC during the Summer of 1991. The survey data indicate that seat belt use among occupants of late-model cars with air bags (primarily 1990 and 1991 models) is very high and about the same as among drivers of late-model cars with manual belts only, despite the increasing diversity of cars with air bags.

Usage patterns and misuse rates of automatic seat belts by system type

This study examined seat belt usage in North Carolina by drivers of 4,151 late model cars equipped with a variety of restraint system types. We measured usage by restraint type (automatic belt, air bag, manual belt), by make/model and by driver characteristics (age, sex, and race). Usage ranged from a high of 94.2% for motorized shoulder belts (but with only 28.6% lap belt usage in these cars) to 73.9% usage of manual lap/shoulder belts in cars equipped with air bags. Various types of misuse of the shoulder belt (e.g. excessive slack, detachment from the door, placement under the arm) were observed in nearly 6% of the sample.

Observed use of automatic seat belts in 1987 cars

Usage of the automatic belt systems supplied by six large-volume automobile manufacturers to meet the federal requirements for automatic restraints were observed in suburban Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. The different belt systems studied were: Ford and Toyota (motorized, nondetachable automatic shoulder belt), Nissan (motorized, detachable shoulder belt), VW and Chrysler (nonmotorized, detachable shoulder belt), and GM (nonmotorized detachable lap and shoulder belt). Use of automatic belts was significantly greater than manual belt use in otherwise comparable late-model cars for all manufacturers except Chrysler; in Chrysler cars, automatic belt use was significantly lower than manual belt use. The automatic shoulder belts provided by Ford, Nissan. Toyota, and VW increased use rates to about 90%. Because use rates were lower in Ford cars with manual belts, their increase was greater. GM cars had the smallest increase in use rates; however, lap belt use was highest in GM cars. The other manufacturers supply knee bolsters to supplement shoulder belt protection; all—except VW—also provide manual lap belts, which were used by about half of those who used the automatic shoulder belt. The results indicate that some manufacturers have been more successful than others in providing automatic belt systems that result in high use that, in turn, will mean fewer deaths and injuries in those cars.

Trace Element Analysis of Steel Sections on Either Side of an Oxygen Cut in a Vehicle Suspected of Being Stolen

Abstract There is an increasing number of criminal offenses that involve the cutting up or destruction of steel components. The most common of these is the oxygen cutting of steel safes. Also on the increase is the theft of late model cars and trucks. These vehicles are taken to isolated sites and dismantled for the resale of expensive parts. With car and truck parts becoming increasingly more expensive this form of theft is likely to continue.

The Joyless Economy: An Inquiry into Human Satisfaction and Consumer Dissatisfaction

When this classic work was first published in 1976, its central tenet--more is not necessarily better--placed it in direct conflict with mainstream thought in economics. Within a few years, however, this apparently paradoxical claim was gaining wide acceptance. Scitovsky's ground-breaking book was the first to apply theories of behaviorist psychology to questions of consumer behavior and to do so in accessible, non-technical language. Setting out to analyze the failures of our consumerist lifestyle, Scitovsky concluded that people's need for stimulation is so vital that it can lead to violence if not satisfied by novelty--whether in challenging work, art, fashion, gadgets, late-model cars, or scandal. Though much of the book stands as a record of American post-war prosperity and its problems, the revised edition also takes into account recent social and economic changes. A new preface and a foreword by economist Robert Frank cover some of these issues. Two revised chapters discuss the assimilation of counter-cultural ideas throughout American society, especially ideas concerning the quality of life. Scitovsky draws fascinating connections between the new elite of college-educated consumers and the emergence of a growing underclass plagued by drugs and violence, perceptively tracing the reactions of these disparate groups to the problems of leisure and boredom. In the wake of the the so-called decade of greed and amidst calls for a kinder, gentler society, The Joyless Economy seems more timely than ever.

Effects of Gasoline Volatility on Warm-up of Automobiles

The effect of mid-range volatility of motor gasoline on warm-up performance of modern Japanese cars was investigated in an all weather chassis dynamometer room, using six late model cars and twelve fuels of different volatility. The warm-up performance of cars and fuels was evaluated in terms of the time required to completely warm-up (warm-up time), the carknock disappearing time and the numerical driveability demerit rating.The warm-up performance was considerably different with different cars tested. Car with a rotary engine performed best. The warm-up performance correlated well with the 30% and 50% evaporated temperatures of a fuel. Also, the warm-up time was best correlated with 50% evaporated temperature, and the carknock disappearing time and driveability demerit were related best to 30% evaporated temperature.

Methanol as a Gasoline Extender: A Critique

The tests conducted with the three vehicles at different emission control levels suggest that, in the area of fuel economy and emissions, potential benefits with methanol blends are related to carburetion and are only significant in the case of the rich-operating cars built before emission control standards were imposed. Theoretical considerations related to methanol's leaning effect on carburetion support this conclusion. Potential advantages for methanol in these areas are therefore continuously diminishing as the older cars leave the roads. At present, these older cars use only about one-fourth of the totalc motor gasoline consumed and, before methanol could be used on a large scale, this fraction would be much smaller. The use of methanol in gasoline would almost certainly create severe product quality problems. Water contamination could lead to phase separation in the distribution system and possibly in the car tank as well, and this would require additional investment in fuel handling and blending equipment. Excess fuel volatility in hot weather may also have adverse effects on car performance if the methanol blends include typical concentrations of butanes and pentanes. Removal of these light hydrocarbon components would detract from methanol's role as a gasoline extender and if current fuel volatility specifications were maintained, its use could lead to a net loss in the total available energy for use in motor fuels. Car performance problems associated with excessively lean operation would also be expected in the case of a significant proportion of late-model cars which are adjusted to operate on lean fuel-air mixtures. If methanol does become available in large quantities, these factors suggest that it would be more practical to use it for purposes other than those related to the extending of motor gasoline, such as for gas turbines used for electric power generation. In this case, the "pure" methanol would act as a cleanburning fuel, having none of the potentially severe product quality problems associated with its use in motor gasoline, while the fuel oil or natural gas cLirrently burned in these tuLrbines CotLild be diverted to other ulses.

Fatally Injured Drivers

In the current issue of Archives of General Psychiatry (30:508-511, 1974), Shaffer and his colleagues cite other reports that indicate variations of opinion about accident-proneness as a factor in serious automobile accidents. At the same time, increasing emphasis has been given to the drinking as a major factor in causing traffic accidents. Accordingly, the authors conducted a psychological autopsy in all cases of male driver fatalities that occurred in Baltimore County between August 1968 and May 1972. In effect, the authors were seeking to validate the results of an earlier study in which they demonstrated that 25 driver fatality victims exhibited significantly more belligerence, negativism, general psychopathology, and hyperactivity than a normative population of men. 1 The present study, again numbering 25 men, differed from the first in two respects: only drivers of late-model cars (not more than three years old) were included, and there was somewhat less success

Visibility and soiling: a comparison of the effects of leaded and unleaded gasolines.

The emissions from a fleet of late-model cars fueled with commercial, high-aromatic, unleaded gasoline caused nearly twice as much atmospheric light extinction as those from a matched fleet fueled with commercial, low-aromatic, leaded gasoline, when both were driven according to a consumer operating cycle in an idle traffic tunnel. The increased extinction and greater soiling potential result mainly from greater light absorption by the air-suspended particles from the unleaded fleet.