News & Events

In President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night brought the current state of the American automobile manufacturing industry to center stage. All of Detroit's Big Three received prominent mentions by President Obama. "General Motors," he said, "is back on top as the world's number one automaker… Tonight, the American auto industry is back."

Is it though? Based on the numbers, it appears that the American auto industry is indeed once again healthy and growing. The Sacramento Bee reported that J.D. Power is projecting January 2012 U.S. auto sales to finish up the month at 681,000 units, representing a 6% increase over the figures from January 2010. Furthermore, light-vehicle production in North America finished 2011 up 10% over 2010.

Antifreeze/ engine coolant maintenance is one of the basic engine care tasks that most car owners can handle by themselves. It is more complicated, however, than just topping off the coolant overflow reservoir with water when it runs low.

We've all seen cars sitting by the side of the road, hood open, with steam billowing out from the engine. This means that the car has overheated and the engine coolant is boiling away. Continuing to operate a vehicle that is overheating or in which the there is insufficient coolant left in the system can result in many thousands of dollars of damage to your engine, including break-down of your engine oil viscosity, bent piston rods, cracked heads, and even melting plastic components inside the engine compartment.

Every so often, emails go around explaining how someone's cousin installed some device in his car engine and is now getting noticeably better gas mileage. These might be a device that alters the fuel or air intake systems of the car, using water for gas, or in some cases magnets or exotic metals placed outside of the fuel line to chemically change fuel passing within.

Sometimes, the explanations given by the companies peddling these products seems to make sense and at, other times, they are clearly nothing but double-talk designed to confuse the facts. Some reliable third party organizations have voiced their opinions and they all agree. Based on EPA testing of more than 100 such fuel economy improving devices, the Better Business Bureau, the EPA, and the Federal Trade Commission all agree: don't waste your money. None of the aftermarket products tested by the EPA have resulted in substantially improved gas mileage.

On January 6, General Motors held a live web chat for Chevy Volt owners to answer any questions Chevy Volt owners may have about the retrofits being conducted to resolve the potential risk of delayed battery fire after severe side impact accidents. To date, said Chevy Volt Marketing Director Christi Landy, 7997 Chevy Volts have been sold and have racked up more than 20 million real world road miles. In all that time, there has been not a single incidence of the type of battery failure that resulted in a fire during the severe side impact test conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last year. However, out of an abundance of caution, GM recommends that all current Chevy Volt owners have the modifications to the battery support and cooling systems done at their Chevy dealer.