Safely Podcasting With Fewer Deaths and Recycled Parts

The holidays are upon us and that means people are hitting road. Please stay safe out there, and the IIHS just came out with the list of 66 cars that you will be the safest in. No big surprises except for the fact that only one minivan is on the list.

Driving deaths have decreased in recent years and while safer cars are part of the reason, WSJ's Joe White point out that many factors are behind increased safety numbers.

Fewer people on the road is one of the reasons for fewer deaths, and it is contributing to lower gasoline usage in the U.S. That trend is likely to continue and fossil fuel usage is expected to continue to decline.

GM will make Volt parts out of oil booms

Hybrids and electric cars are fostering that trend, and the Nissan Leaf, an all-electric vehicle, is just reaching the driveways and garages of the first buyers. Fox Business decided to use one of these initial buyers as a tee for a feisty discussion about unions and electric-vehicle incentives. You stay classy Fox.

Speaking of classy, Toyota got hit with yet another set of fines by the government, boosting its overall tab to about $49 million. A record fine for any car maker.

On the other end of the spectrum, Chevrolet is going to make some auto parts out of the oil-soaking booms used to clean up the BP oil spill in the gulf, proving that you can grind up just about anything and recycle it.

Ford is doing a little recycling with the Explorer name, introducing a new design that is more fuel efficient and more refined. But will it be enough to bring back buyers to big SUVs? Probably not.

Finally, Chrysler is refreshing its high-style 300 sedan for the Detroit auto show. Photos were released this week of the new design, which is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. What do you think?

GetThisShowOnTheRoad, December 22, 2010.mp3

Ford's Facebook Launch May Be More Efficient Than Podcasting With a Glass of Water

GM's Chevrolet is all set to let the cat out of the bag with the pricing for the Volt extended-electric vehicle. We'll update the site with the details as soon as possible.

Mike Rowe and Alan Mulally launch the Ford Explorer

But can they trump the big news from Ford, which virtually pulled the wrapper off it's 2011 Explorer via Facebook this week. And garnered some big coverage and big kudos for trying something new. We're still absorbing the news and critiquing the design, but Mathew may put it on his list.

In looking for ways to get people to improve their fuel economy even more, Toyota has launched a site that encourages drivers to hit the streets as if they had a glass of water on their dashboard. Not a real glass of water, but they do have an iPhone app that we will test out.

We are also going to test out the Nation of Go, a new Web community designed to get drivers to share their favorite routes.

GM may have hit a speed bump with its plan to buy a portion of lender AmeriCredit and get back into the auto-lending business. But one senator is wondering whether GM should have paid back the U.S. Treasury first.

Finally, Audi unveiled its A7 Sportback, a gorgrous new design that slot below the big A8 sedan and has the look of some much higher-end sport sedans from Jaguar and Porsche.

GetThisShowOnTheRoad July 28, 2010.mp3