June 10th, 2009

Mercedes has introduced its first Experimental SafetyVehicle since 1974 called the ESF 2009, which is based on an S400 Hybrid to show that “green” and “safe” can co-exist, and is equipped also with a bunch of new airbag.

The ESF 2009 features more than a dozen safety innovations, which clearly illustrates the comprehensive approach of Mercedes-Benz, and all these innovations for more passive and active safety are expected to become a commonplace on mainstream cars someday.

Among the most attractive systems is an auxiliary brake that is fitted into the floor of the car. The braking bag inflates when the car senses an imminent crash, creating friction and increasing deceleration. It also lifts the font of the car by up to 80mm to compensate for dive.

Mercedes engineers have also developed “inflatable metal structures”, which save space and increase crash protection. Existing features such as side impact bars could be inflated by pressures of between 10 and 20 bar, saving weight when they are deflated and allowing for other safety measures to be fitted in the saved space.

Inside the car, special seat bolsters are designed to move the occupants up to 50mm into the centre of the cabin if the vehicle detects that a side impact is imminent. Other safety features include reflective tyres, full emergency braking and an airbag fitted into the seatbelt.

Besides, there is a new curtain airbag in between the seats, airbags in the seatbelts themselves, and perhaps the most innovative feature, a giant airbag underneath the vehicle that inflates in the case of an imminent crash, adding friction to help the car decelerate and lifting the front of the car a bit to compensate for brake dive.

That last part worries us a little, as it strikes us that it could hinder any attempt to steer away from the crash, but for the time being we’ll trust that Mercedes knows what it’s doing. There are also seat bolsters that can move the occupants a couple of inches away from the doors in case of a side impact, metal beams that can actually inflate - thereby cutting weight and saving space on impact beams - and reflective tires.

SmartPhones have developed rapidly from merely being a gadget to a necessity as sales of BlackBerrys, iPhones and other smartphones are increasing sharply and pedicted to rise by 25% in 2009 based on a survey by a research firm recently.

At the same time, total cellular lphone sales are expected to step down while new models like the Palm Pre, which have been long awaited by many and have been launched to the market since last week will help trigger the increase.

It seems that the sharp increase in smartphone sales is a matter of a trading-up trend in technology that is running strong enough to withstand the decline. It is so often true when adopting new technology, and this time  the case of smartphones is as much about consumer sociology and psychology as in the acse of chips, bytes and bandwidth.

Analysts say smartphones are the instrument of connectedness and worth the cost, both as a communications tool and as a status symbol because the social norm today is that we should respond within a couple of hours, if not immediately.

The stretch of those social assumptions may indicate a technological crisscross that calls out repeatedly the proliferation of e-mail itself more than a decade ago. At some point in the early 1990s, it became socially unacceptable, at least for many people, to not have an e-mail address.

Smartphones are fairly expensive, mainly in a difficult economic situation today, as the prices of the phones, even after regular discounts from wireless operators, are normally US$100-300, while the data and calling service plans are typically US$80-100 per  month.

Yet, recent smartphone lovers are often those who count pennies including many from the growing ranks of job seekers. The smartphone wave, industry analysts say, should continue to build. The room for gains is ample because, though rising, smartphone sales will still account for only a quarter of total cellphone shipments in the United States this year.

In tandem with the Palm Pre, a horde of new smartphone handset and software offerings will be launched coming this year from Apple, R.I.M., Nokia, Microsoft, Google and others.

All Lexus hybrids strived to go 25 miles on a gallon of gas and such middling economy hardly justified prices US$5,000-20,000 above the conventional versions including the Toyota Prius.

Lexus hybrids’ fans can breathe easier around the new RX 450H, and for more than its lowest-in-class emissions, including 20% less carbon dioxide output than a 4-cylinder Honda Accord. This is the first Lexus hybrid that lives up to the hype and puts up big numbers, that is an impressive 35 miles a gallon in town and 31 on the highway, for a combined average of 32 m.p.g. over a week of driving a pre-production model.

Where many hybrids have fallen short of their government mileage ratings, the Lexus exceeded them: A driver crushed the estimates of 30/28 m.p.g. in city/highway driving for the all-wheel-drive model I tested. (The front-drive model has a 2 m.p.g. edge in town, at 32/28 mpg).

So why did the new RX - which is bigger, heavier and more powerful - do so well? The answer is that the previous hybrid’s 3.3-liter, 208-horsepower engine was the last survivor of an engine family that dates to 1998. The modernized 3.5-liter V-6 is more powerful at 245 horsepower, yet much more efficient. (The combined horsepower from gas and electricity jumps to 295 from 245.)

Like the Prius’s engine, the RX hybrid’s runs on the Atkinson cycle, notable for a low compression ratio, yet a relatively high expansion ratio inside the cylinders. In simple terms, it wastes less energy to squeeze fuel and air together, and makes relatively more when that mixture explodes.

The engine itself runs on an extremely free-flowing oil, 0W-20. In modern engines, lighter oils are an important economy factor, with less energy lost to friction. For the Lexus, less friction allows an oil pump that operates on less power.

The RX introduces the sixth generation of Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive, the best yet at squeezing maximum current through the electric motor-generators - whether they’re powering the car or capturing energy from braking - without the heat getting out of control.

Toyota says its high-current transistors are the world’s first auto application with liquid cooling on both sides - the transistors are sandwiched between cooling layers of heat exchangers. In sports terms, it means more playing time for the electric motors, with the engine allowed to rest on the bench.

Starting at $42,955, the front-wheel-drive hybrid features dual electric motors up front; the $44,355 all-wheel-drive model adds a third electric motor that runs the rear wheels when the front tires slip or the driver floors the throttle. Both models still cost about $5,000 more than their gas-only counterparts.