New information for motorists

FOR motorists, here is new information gathered

through catch-up reading during the Holy Week

hiatus:

Latest anti-theft design. Design changes initiated in Europe in the early 1990s to

make cars harder to steal are now spreading to the United States, per an article by

Keith Bradsher of the New York Times Service. The main design change is the

placement of a tiny radio transponder inside the base of each key. When the key is

turned in the ignition, a weak electrical current from the car battery flows through the

lock and allows the key to broadcast a coded signal with a range of only two inches.

The signal is detected by a sensor in the steering column, which then permits the

engine to be turned on. Without the signal, even hot-wiring will not start the

engine. In the mid-1990s, when the first such keys had as few as a dozen

combinations for some models, thieves tried to transmit all of the available codes.

But the technology has advanced so rapidly since then that keys by Ford Motor Co.

now have 10 quadrillion combinations and engines will accept the correct

combination only if it is received within 0.0007 seconds after the electrical current

flows through the lock, says Bradsher. Although attempts to override this system

have failed, Ford plans to start encrypting the codes for the next generation of

Lincolns. Insurers claim that when auto manufacturers add these engine-immobilizers

to cars, the theft rate drops by as much as two-thirds from one model year to the

next. The problem is that criminals are resorting increasingly to carjackings or to the

use of tow trucks and flatbed trucks. Then they replace the immobilizing devices on

expensive stolen vehicles for export with $400 worth of replacement parts.

Taking curves at 160 kph. Can you throw a 1.3-liter Honda car into curves at 160

kph? Yes, if you take an $800 weekend course in race-car driving offered by Honda

Motor Co. at its new race track in Tochigi, Japan.

The car used for the racing course is a 1.3-liter Honda Logo subcompact, according

to an article in a recent issue of Business Week. Honda and other Japanese

automakers, aside from running racing clinics at company tracks, are producing

sporty, competitively priced cars with front-mounted engines and rear-wheel

drive_cars that are easier to handle at higher speeds.

They hope to perk up sluggish sales by attracting to a new market segment young

Japanese buyers tired of the recreational vehicles clogging the showrooms, and then

launch these new roadsters, luxury sports sedans and coupes overseas to cultivate

unrealized demand. For example, the Altezza sports sedan_Toyota's answer to

BMW's 3 Series and the Mercedes Benz C200_was successfully launched in Japan

last October and will be introduced in Europe in May. Toyota will follow this up by

launching its own MR-Spyder roadster next year. Honda's 240-horsepower, 2-liter

S2000 sports car is scheduled to debut in the United States and Europe this fall to

grab market share from the Mercedes SLK 230, BMW Z3, Porsche Boxster and

Mazda MX5. Nissan may take its Skyline GTR sports coupe to Europe and also

reintroduce its Z sports coupe in the US, Business Week reports.

Saturday traffic reduction scheme. This info is not exactly new, but the Philippine

Motor Association (PMA) offers it just the same to clear up confusion about the

streets covered by the Saturday traffic reduction scheme. You may recall that, despite

vehement opposition from the motoring public and the PMA, the Metro Manila

Development Authority (MMDA) imposed this scheme permanently starting last

Feb. 6. MMDA Regulation No. 99-001 bans vehicles with license plates ending in

odd numbers from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and those with plates ending in even

numbers from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays on four roads: Edsa from Pasong

Tamo, Makati to Kamias, Quezon City; Quezon Avenue from Edsa to Scout

Chuatoco, Quezon City and from Araneta Avenue to the Mabuhay Rotunda (formerly

Welcome Rotunda) at the end of Espa?a Boulevard, Manila; the entire stretch of

Aurora Boulevard and the entire stretch of Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard. Contrary to

popular misconception, Ortigas Avenue and Shaw Boulevard are not included.

Affected vehicles are allowed at all times to cross the selected thoroughfares at all

intersections and may use all other roads. The ban is suspended during the one-hour

"window" between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. The fine for violation is P300, to be paid at

accredited MMDA License Redemption Centers, never to the apprehending traffic

enforcer/s.