Instrument Panel Light Bulb Front/rear Wagner Lighting Bp158 on 2040-parts.com

European Parliament: electric cars must make noise

The European Parliament has voted in favour of a European Commission proposal to decrease the maximum allowed noise for new cars, vans, trucks, buses and coaches, in an effort to reduce “vehicle noise nuisance” by 25%. At the same time, the EU has voted in favour of a proposal to force carmakers to fit electric and hybrid electric vehicles with a sound generating device, to improve low speed safety for pedestrians and the visually impaired. On Bing: see pictures of electric cars Find out how much a used electric car costs on Auto Trader The proposed changes, which are expected to become law, would see new car noise levels reduced by four decibels, commercial vehicle noise levels reduced by three decibels.

2012 Mercedes B-Class: Tease and Technical

It's the 2012 Mercedes B-Class in the dark When we get a tease for a new car it’s usually just a shadowy image of the new wonder with all the detail taken away, in case we use Photoshop to bring it to life. Just like the photo (above) we got in of the 2012 Mercedes B-Class. But this teaser photo of the new B-Class is not just a bit of PR frippery, as it comes with a proper raft of detail on how much effort Mercedes has put in to the new B-Class, and just how much is new.

CES: GM to open the dashboard to developers

At last year's Autoweek Design Forum, father of the iPod and Nest Labs co-founder Tony Fadell suggested that automakers concentrate on designing and building cars, leaving handset makers to handle infotainment. The latest announcements from Ford and GM -- in conjunction with the International CES -- suggest that automakers would rather treat the dashboard space as a handset. Yesterday, Dearborn, Mich., announced the Ford Developer Program, which opens up Sync to outside application development; now General Motors has announced a similar initiative.