Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut

DEADLY SCHOOL BUS CRASH IN LOS ANGELES; WHY NO SEAT BELTS?

Many of you have kids riding school buses and a crash Monday n Los Angeles involving a fatality (a man walking in a crosswalk) raised many of the important issues facing communities with the big yellow buses and how to keep them safe as possible.

Here's how the LOS ANGELES TIMES reported the sad event which injured many students and the bus driver:

(Start LA Times) Criminal homicide charges are being weighed in connection with a hit-and-run accident that killed one person and injured nearly two dozen students aboard a school bus in Boyle Heights on Monday, authorities said.

The driver of a black BMW ran a red light, knocked down a pedestrian and broadsided a school bus that was returning students to Roosevelt High School, according to Miguel Luevano, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

The BMW’s driver and a passenger jumped out of the car and ran, but both were quickly apprehended by a construction worker who had seen the crash, Luevano said. (A third suspect tried to get medical treatment at a local hospital later that evening and was turned over to police).
 This horrific crash occured Monday, October 25th, 2010, in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles; a pedestrian was killed, the bus driver was hospitalized and more than 20 high school kids, passengers on the bus, were also taken to local area hospitals for obvious injuries, including a broken bone, and as a precaution

Authorities said they are investigating whether drunk driving might be involved in the 3:22 p.m. collision at 1st and Soto streets. The BMW driver and passenger are juveniles.

Marco Valdez, 17, a passenger on the bus, told The Times the bus had been coming from the East Los Angeles Skills Center when the car hit a pedestrian and then swerved into the bus. The bus overturned and slid onto a Metrolink platform.

Authorities said 21 people -- all but one students -- were taken to hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries. The bus driver was hospitalized in serious condition. (End LA TIMES)

The bus driver was initially reported in serious condition; on KTTV/11 FOX News that night, his fiancé' reported she had seem him and he was in good condition, and showed photos of him she had just taken and he appeared in reasonably fine fettle.

TOYOTA AND HONDA CAUGHT IN SIMILAR EMBARRASSING POSITIONS; WHY AND HOW?

This past week, as the sun came out after several rain-plagued days, the areas around my Southern California neighborhood were filled again with the usual suspects. They were the runners from all over the city (I'm near one of those "domestic canyons") including walkers, joggers and their pets, all planning to revel in the welcome early-morning warmth - and poop on my lawn - but soon we were all knocked back into the realities of daily life.

Knocked back by, of all things, Honda and Toyota.

Why, we So Cal-types love Honda and Toyota! It's in the handbook and the contract you sign when you head west across the 405 Freeway! How could this happen - yet again?

New vehicle sales in California, both import and domestic, are not booming yet, but have been on a solidly upward trend in the midst of this "recovery."

That dancing should have been found, especially, at the national headquarters of both Toyota and American Honda, barely a quarter-mile away from each other. Easy walking distance.

  
2005's Toyota Highlander; many will visit their birth dealerships over the next month or so

As you read this, it may be the weekend: so for those of you near the 110 and 405 Freeways, start the eggs, play with the kids, take Fido and Fluffy for a stroll... and warm-up the engines.

Specifically, the engine in the Honda and/or Toyota minivan/crossover you've been driving faithfully since you bought it between 2004 and 2007 (depending on the model). Why? Because you're going back to your dealer.

You see, there's been another, uh, recall.

Pack the little ones, too, because you're probably going to stop at some fast food place. Heck, the dealer might even have fast food in his store! You know how eager they are to please these days!

But, yes, you've guessed it. Some of the people who engineer our massively complicated cars and trucks seem to have blown it... again.

Both Toyota and Honda consider their respective situations serious enough that they are instituting "voluntary recalls," which are basically what a smart car company does right before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decides to do it for you.

And here are the recall totals (announced so far): about 1.5 million worldwide for Toyota (728,544 in the US). Honda? They're saying about a half-million total Odyssey minivans and Acura RL sedans will get caught-up in the excitement.

There are a bunch of other vehicles from these two which might be involved as well. Here's the Miami Herald list (as of October 21) of the affected cars sold by Toyota (including Lexus) and Honda and Acura in the U.S. (the number of cars on either list might shrink or grow).

What might happen this time out for two of the world's top auto companies? We got a preview earlier this year, as their piles of cash and their public image both greatly shrank. And their customers? Your brakes could fail; and who knows what else after that.

The All-American Soap Box derby is held late Spring every year all over the country and is one of the few great – and completely active –relics of the days of automotive lore still running accurately. Take part in it – build a car and race it! -- with your favorite young person! Not making any comparisons to Soap Box cars and those cars mentioned in this post, but it's a good time to promote this great event!

From the Department of Irony: last recall time, on the Toyotas, the cars would not stop accelerating. Now, the accelerator works fine, but the braking could be seriously, even dangerously, degraded.

So why all the hubbub for something which seems (and is, in reality) a list of very simple symptoms, fast diagnosis and fix? Any 17-year-old high school auto shop student should have been able to spot this one coming down the road (even smell it coming -- no joking).

Brian Lyons, Toyota's Director of Safety and Quality Communications, told me that both the Toyota and Honda problem, as similar as they seem, could be related to the same parts coming from the same supplier. This weekend is only the most recent of 16 recalls for Toyota garnering worldwide attention.

And while nothing has been officially announced, don't be surprised if a company called "Advics" in Aichi Prefecture (state), Japan, becomes water cooler talk over the next few weeks (then just magically goes away); they might supply both Honda and Toyota with the same offending parts.

2011 GMC SIERRA 2500HD CARRIES EVEN MORE SWAGGER THAN BEFORE

The biggest rivalry in the world is not between the Yankees and the Red Sox nor the Dodgers and the Giants, but between Ford and General Motors (with Dodge thrown-in to add a little spice to the mix; I was going to write "spicy meat balls" but only media savvy folks of a certain age would understand the reference to Fiat/Chrysler ... get it now?).

And nowhere is that mad dog, go-for-broke enmity more powerful in the auto business than between the full-size pickups built by all three of those companies. In markets which are traditionally friendly towards Asian imports (Southern California, Florida, Texas and etc.) one might see a few more Toyota/Nissan Tundras and Titans on the street, but a lot of them seem too pretty to be heading back and forth from a work site; more likely Nordstrom's.

American workers and business owners like, nee love, their American trucks. That's all there is to it. And when companies have been developing their products for around a century-or-so, buyers can't be blamed for opting for experience rather than what might seem the flash-in-the-pan "pretty boy" import.
Silverado brings a friend to the party

GMC's Sierra 2500HD 4WD Regular Cab SLE pickup for 2011 is not all-new this time out (as are some pickups from some main competitors), but sometimes, for customers, experience and high-refinement can make for a sort-of "ultimate" expression in sheetmetal, mechanicals and capabilities just before a new model hits the streets.

Also, GMC has done updates are in some important 2500 areas: A completely new fully boxed frame for added rigidity and strength and new suspension components for a more comfortable ride.

And the big news for work truck buyers: 2011 GMC Sierra 2500HD can haul over 3,700 pounds of payload and tow up to 13,000 pounds, standard (16,500 pounds with a fifth-wheel connection).

This new Sierra can be had with either a Vortec 6.0 Liter gasoline engine (which you oldtimers ... like me ... will remember used to be expressed as "389 cubic inches" as it was in the original Pontiac GTO) manufacturing 360 horsepower and 280 foot pounds of torque or a Duramax 6.6 Liter V8 diesel. That oil-burner churns out 397 horses and ... get this ... a massive 765 pounds of torque, quite literally enough to tear pavement off the street when hitting one of those tar-based expansion joints. And when not even trying! Honest!

That heavy-duty engine and six-speed automatic transmission (and it's a real transmission, also marketed as HD, or heavy-duty, and not one of those CVT jobs, thankfully) play well together and the 3.73 ratio in the rear axle allows full use of engine power, no matter which powerplant.