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• Cameras mounted inside an instrumented car to track eye and head movement of drivers.
• A Detection-Response-Task device known as the “DRT” was used to record driver reaction time in response to triggers of red and green lights added to their field of vision.
• A special electroencephalographic (EEG)-configured skull cap was used to chart participants’ brain activity so that researchers could determine mental workload.

• Tasks such as listening to the radio ranked as a category “1” level of distraction or a minimal risk.
• Talking on a cell-phone, both handheld and hands-free, resulted in a “2” or a moderate risk.
• Listening and responding to in-vehicle, voice-activated email features increased mental workload and distraction levels of the drivers to a “3” rating or one of extensive risk.

• Limiting use of voice-activated technology to core driving-related activities such as climate control, windshield wipers and cruise control, and to ensure these applications do not lead to increased safety risk due to mental distraction while the car is moving.
• Disabling certain functionalities of voice-to-text technologies such as using social media or interacting with e-mail and text messages so that they are inoperable while the vehicle is in motion.
• Educating vehicle owners and mobile device users about the responsible use and safety risks for in-vehicle technologies.

Auto Aftermarket Industry Expected to Grow Through 2016

May 16, 2013—The U.S. automotive aftermarket industry is expected to grow 3.4 percent annually through 2016 to $263.8 billion, according to a channel forecast model sponsored by the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) and the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA).

This growth would add $32.6 billion to the economy.

According to AASA president and chief operating officer Bill Long, the forecast model shows that growth in population, employment and income will lead to an increase in the number of vehicles on the road and miles driven. In turn, this would result in long-term aftermarket growth.

"The forecast model demonstrates that despite strong new vehicle sales, historic high gas prices and a flattening of miles driven, our industry is poised for steady growth," said Kathleen Schmatz, president and CEO of AAIA. "Why? The average age of vehicles is 11.3 years, the oldest ever, and the age mix of vehicles continues to favor older vehicles, creating a robust sweet spot for service and repair."

IHS Global Insight created the forecast model using data collected from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Federal Reserve Board and U.S. Census Bureau, as well as IMR and Polka Data, and proprietary IHS economic analysis and forecasting models.

Automakers Targeting Ads to Internet Surfers

Environmental Protection Agency administrator nominee Gina McCarthy will likely face tough questions today about her responsibility for the EPA’s promotion of an automotive air conditioning refrigerant known to cause engine fires in Mercedes-Benz tests, according to the Daily Mail. A hearing on McCarthy’s nomination is set for Thursday.

McCarthy is currently the EPA’s air regulation chief.  She was primarily responsible for moving forward with a plan to reward US automakers who used a refrigerant known as “HFO-1234yf,” one EPA staffer said. The new refrigerant resulted in less emission of green-house gas into the atmosphere than other refrigerants such as FREON and the current industry standard R134A.

McCarthy said that the HOF-1234yf “helps fight climate change and ozone depletion.”  Yet, her office never mentioned the harmful consequences revealed in tests conducted by Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz.

During testing in December, Daimler engineers found that small leaks of HOF-1234yf turned a car’s engine compartment into a blaze.  The refrigerant combined with the air-conditioning compressor oil spraying across the engine block, produced a hot composition of toxic gas, easily resulting in flames.

The gas mixture included hydrogen fluoride, a corrosive compound known to cause blindness and skin deformity when humans are exposed. The industry’s standard refrigerant produces a nonflammable leak. The explosion also resulted in hydrofluoric acid, a deadly substance that is so corrosive that exposure to a a body part the size of one’s palm can result in death.

According to Professor Andreas Kornath, a chemistry researcher at the University of Munich, told the Daily Mail that “The chemical is, due to its flammability, too dangerous for use.”

The Society of Automotive Engineers disagrees.  Based on their tests, General Motors put the new refrigerant in 2013 Cadillac XTS and ATS models. Daimler, which had installed the refrigerant in hundreds of its 2013 SL-roadsters, recalled them after performing its own tests.  German automakers Volkswagen/Porsch and BMW also refuse to use the refrigerant.

Daimler’s report suggests that a head-on collision in which the refrigerant line is severed would produce an inferno. Daimler spokesman Matthias Brock told the Daily Mail that the EPA had spoken with Germany’s environmental agency about the tests.

Under McCarthy’s authority, the federal government provides special credits toward achieving the required Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.  The EPA made a provision accepting the new refrigerant as an acceptable partial substitute for cars with low fuel economy to increase their average numbers.

“Trading a refrigerant swap for fuel-economy credit would never have happened without [McCarthy],” tan EPA source is quoted as saying.

 At $9 an hour, Michael Nunez’s part-time job changing oil and aligning front ends at the Lexus of Louisville dealership off Blankenbaker Parkway doesn’t sound like the path to a middle-class career.

But when he goes full time at the dealership this month, fresh off completing a two-year training program at Jefferson Community and Technical College, Nunez expects to earn $17 an hour — about $35,360 a year. He could make up to $50,000, he said, depending on the volume of work coming into the dealership.

“I feel like I have things pretty well lined up,” said the 24-year-old Doss High School graduate, who also works part time as a UPS forklift driver to support his fiancee and 18-month-old son.

With almost a dozen industry certifications under his belt, Nunez is the kind of automotive technician — “mechanic” has fallen out of favor as the jobs require more expertise — that dealerships and repair shops increasingly are clamoring for.

With help from the Greater Louisville Automobile Dealers Association, JCTC is expanding its auto technician offerings with the goal of producing more highly skilled workers like Nunez. Within four to eight years, the community college hopes to have six times more space for auto programs in a new, $47.7 million center for auto technology and advanced manufacturing near Broadway and First Street.

“It seems like the technician base here in town is aging, and the slack is not being picked up by the younger generation,” said Greg Daunhauer, president of Byerly Ford and chairman of the Greater Louisville Automobile Dealers Association.

Nationally, the biggest demand is for advanced skills such as using computer diagnostic equipment, said Tony Molla, spokesman for National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, which administers the industry’s certification tests.

“It is easier to find a warm body to change oil than it is to find someone who can diagnose and repair a sophisticated automotive computerized control system,” he said.

As part of a 25-year-old partnership between JCTC and Toyota, students like Nunez get paid internships in the service departments of Toyota or Lexus dealerships while learning about cars in a garage/classroom at JCTC’s technical campus at Eighth and Chestnut streets.