1949 Buick Steering Wheel Horn Ring on 2040-parts.com

Toyota to unlock secrets of black-box recorders

Reacting to criticism that data from black-box crash recorders in its vehicles can be accessed only by the company, Toyota Motor Corp. is moving to ship hundreds of data-decoding machines to the United States and make them commercially available to help diagnose vehicle problems. The devices, known as event data recorders, are similar to the black boxes on airliners and record information such as vehicle and engine speed in the seconds before a crash.

Used cars 'getting cheaper'

CONSUMERS holding on to their motor for longer are driving down the cost of used cars, according to new research. The average price for a second-hand car in July-September 2011 was £8,870 - a 2.4% decline compared with the same period a year ago, according to the Auto Trader company. It is the first time the price has dipped below £9,000 since the company started tracking the market in January 2010.

Mini Clubvan concept

The 2012 Geneva motor show will see Mini further expand its brand with a new commercial model. The Clubvan concept is essentially a panel van variant of the Clubman wagon, pitched at premium small business as an up-market alternative to the traditional city van. The Clubvan retains the Clubman's asymmetrical body shell, complete with double rear doors and the small 'club door' on the right-hand side of the car.