The Detroit Bureau

Honda will have to repair nearly 600,000 Accords due to the latest fire-related recall.

Honda appears to be well on its way to again leading the market in terms of the number of recalled vehicles.  The maker has confirmed more than 625,000 of its Accord and Acura TL sedans will be impacted by the latest service action due to a potential fire hazard.

The new development actually expands on an earlier recall involving 52,613 of the Acura models sold during the 2007 and 2008 model-years.  The maker has now added another 573,147 Accords equipped with V-6 engines marketed during the 2003 through 2007 model-years.

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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the power steering hoses in those vehicles could deteriorate prematurely and lead to a leakage of fluid. If that comes into contact with hot engine parts, such as the catalytic converter, the fluid could catch fire.

So far, federal regulators say they have received one report of an actual vehicle fire – which did not result in injuries.

The midsize Accord and the Acura TL share many common components – a practice widespread in the auto industry and one that often leads to recalls involving numerous different nameplates.  The Accord itself is the second-best-selling passenger car nameplate in the U.S.  An all-new model was recently introduced for the 2013 model-year.

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Honda intends to notify owners of the latest recall this month and will make repairs at no cost to consumers. However, the maker has cautioned that due to a need to produce replacement parts in such large volume the repairs might not be completed until sometime in early 2013.

Owners can find out more about the recall by contacting Honda at 800-999-1009 or NHTSA through its vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236.

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While Honda has built a significant reputation for quality over the years, the maker has experienced a spurt of safety-related recalls in recent years and led the list among all manufacturers in the U.S. market last year.  At the current pace it is on track to top that list again in 2012.

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Mark Duncan / AP

Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper Bryan Dail records times for speeders on Ohio Route 2 near Vermilion, Ohio. While Ohio still aggressively uses aircraft to catch speeders, many states have cut back or eliminated aerial enforcement due to budget concerns.

NEW YORK -- Highway signs throughout New York warn that when it comes to catching speeders, the long arm of the law extends even into the sky. "State Police aircraft used in speed enforcement," they say.

Actually, lead-footed drivers hitting the interstates for the Independence Day holiday can keep their eyes on the road. The New York State Police, who once routinely used planes to clock motorists, haven't written a single ticket in that manner since at least 2005.

"It hasn't been entirely eliminated," Sgt. Kern Swoboda, a state police spokesman, said of the signs. "We still have the airplanes."

But in these budget-conscious times, he said, launching aircraft to catch speeders just isn't fiscally prudent.

New York is one of several states to scale back the use of aircraft for traffic enforcement in recent years because of budget cuts or concerns about cost-effectiveness.

Typically, aerial enforcement programs involve a plane, a pilot, a spotter to time vehicles as they travel between lines painted on the road and several cruisers to pull people over and issue tickets.

"That ain't cheap," Swoboda said. He added that updated laser technology now allows a trooper on the ground to get speed readings over long distances and in heavy traffic — two situations where aircraft used to be superior.

"So what better way to do it than have three guys at a U-turn?" Swoboda said. "We found that it was far more efficient, and a lot less expensive."

A full accounting of which law enforcement agencies have curtailed the use of aircraft for speed enforcement was unavailable, but the list includes some states that had previously made robust use of the tactic.

The California Highway Patrol still has 15 planes used to catch speeders, but spokeswoman Fran Clader said that as the department's annual air operations budget has dropped from about $12 million to $8 million, aircraft became more focused on supporting searches and pursuits.

"We still enforce speed with the fixed-wing aircraft but in a much-reduced capacity," she said.

The Virginia State Police launched an aggressive aerial speed enforcement program in 2000 but largely abandoned regular patrols after 2007. Last year, it flew only one such mission, which resulted in tickets being given to 20 drivers, the department said. It flew four missions the year before, none in 2009 and only one in 2008.

"Due to economic conditions and mandated budget cuts ... we've had to look at cost savings," said department spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

She said it cost about $150 per hour to operate the planes — a figure that includes fuel and maintenance but not manpower. In the past, she said, the speed enforcement flights were paid for with federal grants. But with less federal money coming in lately, resources have been focused on keeping troopers on the road.

The Washington State Patrol's aviation section, which had been participating in roughly 13,500 traffic stops per year, had to scale back after suffering a $1.4 million budget cut over a two-year period that began in 2009, according to unit commander Lt. Jim Nobach. It lost three pilots, who had to return to road duties. Flight hours were slashed by 39 percent. As a result, aircraft are now stopping 5,000 fewer drivers per year.

Planes are still getting a big workout spotting speeders in Ohio and Florida.

Last year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said it issued more than 16,000 speeding tickets based on aircraft observations, down only a little from a five-year high of 18,000 written in 2009. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the start of the busy summer travel season, the agency had 10 aircraft in the air doing traffic enforcement, according to Lt. Randy Boggs, the unit's commander.

Florida's Highway Patrol has eight aircraft and eight pilots, who issue approximately 30,000 citations per year, said the patrol's chief pilot, Capt. Matthew Walker. He said he hadn't suffered budget cuts.

When done right, air patrols have distinct advantages, Boggs and Walker insisted. From the air, it's easier to see the ultra-aggressive drivers who change lanes erratically, follow too close, and pose the greatest hazard on the road. Officers on the ground don't have to race around for miles to spot violations.

"It's very efficient," Boggs said.

Ohio tries to keep the cost of flights down by flying smaller planes and having the pilot clock drivers, rather than use a second spotter. Boggs pegged the fuel and maintenance cost of flying at $111 per hour.

The Pennsylvania State Police have continued to use aircraft to catch speeders too, issuing 560 citations last year, but now the program faces new limitations.

This year, in a cost-cutting move, the department stopped using two of the three airports where its six fixed-wing aircraft had been based. The force is also operating with just three airplane pilots, down from as many as 10 in previous years, said Sgt. Joseph Joynes, supervisor of the aviation patrol's fixed-wing unit. That means the state now has twice as many planes as people capable of flying them.

Additionally, fewer spots in Pennsylvania have the necessary road markings used for enforcement, as the old lines have been covered over by new pavement and never replaced, said Joynes.

It isn't clear yet whether the changes will lead to fewer citations. Joynes said aircraft are still flying traffic enforcement missions two to three times a week.

"If you are just looking at cost, obviously, the trooper on the ground with a radar gun is way cheaper," he said. But he added that he thought the program was still worthwhile, given the ability of aircraft to spot reckless drivers in areas where traditional speed traps aren't feasible.

Other states have come to the opposite conclusion.

Alabama lawmakers instituted aerial speed enforcement in 1990, and the Alabama Highway Patrol still touts the program on its website. But aviation unit Cpl. Kent Smith said the tactic hasn't actually been used for years.

"It's just not cost-effective," he said.

In many places where speed enforcement by aircraft has tapered off, law enforcement air wings have remained busy conducting surveillance, tracking crime suspects, searching for missing people, and spotting marijuana farms from the air.

Police officials in Virginia, California and New York were unable to provide an estimate of how much money had been saved by the shift away from aerial speed enforcement.

In the meantime, workers have been gradually removing the aircraft speed enforcement warning signs along the New York State Thruway. About 11 still remained in June, a Thruway spokesman said. 

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A United Auto Workers member wears a shirt proclaiming "United We Stand' during a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the "Battle of the Overpass."

Late last month, the United Auto Workers quietly celebrated the 75^th anniversary of its historic confrontation with goons from the Ford Motor Co. The event, which came to be known as the “Battle of the Overpass,” ended years of resistance to the union’s organizing drive, effectively entrenching one of the most powerful entities in the modern labor movement.

But now, weakened by a sharp decline in membership, a generally hostile national mood and years of forced concessions, the UAW is facing what some believe is an equally significant and perhaps even tougher battle. One that could determine the future of not just the UAW, but the American auto industry, and perhaps even the American labor movement itself.

While the UAW continues to represent Detroit’s Big Three manufacturers, it has all but completely failed to gain representation rights for the so-called transplant lines now run by virtually all the major foreign-owned automakers, from BMW to Toyota to Volkswagen. Observers consider it critical for the union’s long-term survival to win over workers at those transplants, and UAW leaders apparently believe their best opportunity may come at the big Nissan plant in Canton, Miss., where the union is in the midst of a major organizing drive.

“I think you’ll see an unprecedented effort” to organize the transplants, said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor with the University of California, Berkeley, during a recent interview.

Indeed, UAW President Bob King has made the organizing drive his top priority since assuming that post in 2010.  He has bluntly warned that failure could threaten the UAW’s very survival. Since membership peaked at just over 1.5 million in 1979, the UAW rolls have tumbled to barely 400,000 — even with a push to sign up clerical and health care workers and others outside the automotive industry. 

Despite severe cost-cutting, the UAW is now running an operating deficit and tapping into its financial reserves, notes analyst and broadcaster John McElroy, host of "AutoLine: Detroit." 

“They have to give it a try because they don’t have a choice,” said McElroy. “But it’s hard to see how they might be successful this time.  They’re trying to organize in a right-to-work state where there’s a generally anti-union attitude.”

When the UAW hit its peak a third of a century ago, Detroit-based auto manufacturers overwhelmingly dominated the American marketplace.  But there were ominous signs that a change was in the works.  Emerging from the second of the 1970s Mideast oil shocks, motorists by the thousands, then millions, began shifting to Japanese imports. 

Facing heavy political pressure, Honda opened a small motorcycle plant in Marysville, Ohio, and in November 1982 added its first North American assembly plant.  Today, virtually every major foreign maker from Europe, Japan and South Korea has followed.  Honda, in particular, now produces about 90 percent of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. at factories in the North American Free Trade Agreement region.  Nissan and Toyota aren’t far behind and, if anything, the foreign-owned makers continue to expand their presence due to lopsided exchange rates. Volkswagen opened a factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., last year, and is already adding additional shifts and is talking about adding a mirror-image facility within a couple years.

So far, only three transplant facilities have been organized — and then, only facilities launched as joint ventures between U.S. and Japanese makers.  Worse for the union, the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. joint venture between Toyota and General Motors in Fremont, Calif., has closed, and Mazda is abandoning its joint venture with Ford in suburban Detroit.  Only the Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Ill., originally a joint venture with Chrysler, remains unionized.

Organizing the rest of the transplants has been a goal of every UAW leader since the mid-1980s, and the union got as far as holding a vote twice at Nissan’s mile-long assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn. Twice, in fact. Although it was rejected by more than two-to-one in 1989 and again in 2001.  Efforts elsewhere haven’t even reached the voting level.

UAW organizers believe they may have found a crack at Nissan’s other U.S. plant; workers at Canton are being paid an estimated $1.50 an hour less than the reported $26.50 earned in Smyrna.  Then again, the Mississippi plant also pays an average $10 more than the prevailing wage in that state, and workers get extensive benefits that include sharply discounted prices for new cars and auto insurance.  Meanwhile, the UAW has taken pains to remind workers Nissan hasn’t laid off a single hourly employee since setting up shop in the U.S.

In a statement, UAW President King complained that the carmaker isn’t just trying to make its point but has subjected workers to extensive “interrogations” and daily meetings designed to reinforce its anti-union message — charges the company denies.

If there’s anything that might work in the union’s favor it’s the bone-wearying schedule workers are being subjected to, especially as both Nissan workers in Canton and Smyrna ramp up production of the all-new 2013 Altima — which the company believes it can use to capture the high-profile lead in the large midsize sedan segment and topple longtime leader the Toyota Camry.

During the launch of production at the Smyrna plant last month, Bill Krueger, vice chairman of Nissan Americas, alluded to the strain when talking about the addition of a new third shift.   “It allows us to (no longer) burden our work force (in Smyrna) with 11- and 12-hour shifts,” something he noted results “in the fatigue factor when you get into extensive overtime for a sustained time.”

In the early part of the 20^th Century, labor leaders often had to shed blood in their effort to organize.  The UAW’s first president, Walter Reuther, was severely injured during a battle with Ford thugs on an overpass leading to the maker’s huge River Rouge complex.

There’s little likelihood of a similar confrontation with the transplants.  But union organizers can expect to shed plenty of sweat and tears, if not their blood, in their drive to save the UAW.

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The Detroit Bureau

Emergency crews struggle to save teens involved in a nighttime accident.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, according to government statistics, but a new insurance industry report suggests the numbers could fall sharply by tightening restrictions on teen driver laws.

Among teens, auto crashes are responsible for one in three deaths each year, reports the Centers for Disease Control, but the new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety projects that at least 500 lives could be saved annually by the use of more restrictive licenses.  In some states, the IIHS said, it expects the fatality rate among teen drivers to fall by as much as 50%.

The new study points out what it calls best-practice policies enacted by various states, including a ban on carrying teen passengers, limited night driving and a requirement for supervised driving.

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“Even the best states can do better,” says Anne McCartt, the senior vice president for research at IIHS. “There’s room for improvement across the board, and states could see immediate reductions in fatal crashes and collision claims as soon as the beefed-up provisions are in force.”

States with the toughest restrictions have reported the sharpest drop in teen road fatalities compared to those with less restrictive policies, the IIHS reported.  The Institute isolated five specific policies that appear to be helping:

• Later driving age, 17 in New Jersey;
• Later permit ages, 16 in the District of Columbia, New York, Massachusetts, Delaware and five other states;
• A minimum 65 hours of supervised driving in Pennsylvania;
• Night driving restrictions in Idaho and South Carolina; and
• A ban on carrying teen passengers in 15 states and Washington, D.C.

The IIHS report notes that all but nine states now have so-called graduated drivers licenses, or GDLs, which are designed to let teens build up experience and maturity behind the wheel.  There are three stages: a period of supervised driving under a learner’s permit, an intermediate licensing period that maintains certain restrictions, followed by a license providing full privileges.

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Since 2000, the IIHS has rated the various states according to the effectiveness of their teen driving regulations.  Initially, only six states and D.C. rated “Good.”  Today, however, that’s up to 36 states and the District.  Another seven now earn “Fair” ratings, with seven others rated “Marginal.”

But the IIHS says that the move to tougher restrictions has run out of steam and to nudge state legislators to act it is shifting to a new strategy that will let the public get a sense of how many lives could be saved with stricter rules.  Click Here to access the calculator at the IIHS website.

“States don’t have to adopt the toughest laws in the nation to realize safety gains. Strengthening one or two components pays off. To maximize all of the benefits of graduated licensing, however, we would encourage lawmakers to consider the strongest provisions,” McCartt says.

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South Dakota, for example, could see a full 63% drop in fatal crashes, the IIHS projects, and a 37% decline in collision claims.

Even states that have enacted many of the proposed restrictions could do better, says McCartt.  By further raising its minimum license age, increasing supervised driving hours and adding a night driving restriction, the insurance trade group projects Connecticut would see a 17% drop in fatal crashes and a 13% reduction in collision claims.

McCartt acknowledges that while the evidence supports further restrictions it may be difficult to get lawmakers to act considering the proposals are always “politically popular.”

U.S. traffic fatalities continue to plunge, reaching their lowest level since 1949, well before the creation of the American interstate highway system.

According to estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 32,310 people died in traffic accidents in 2011, a 1.7% year-over-year decline. That marks the seventh consecutive year that the death rate has declined.

Since just 2005, traffic fatalities have fallen by more than 25% — and when measured in terms of deaths per mile driven the figure has reached its lowest level since record-keeping began in 1921, according to NHTSA. 

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While federal officials declined to point to specific factors, experts suggest there are several reasons behind the sharp drop.  These include a crackdown on drunk driving – which some once linked to as many as half of all highway deaths – increased use of seatbelts and improved vehicle design complying with stricter federal safety requirements.  In just the last several years, NHTSA has mandated the installation of electronic stability control systems on all new vehicles, along with tougher roof crush standards.

But some experts also point to the economic downturn which has been credited – or blamed – for a sharp drop in the number of miles the average American has been driving in recent years.  The preliminary NHTSA study shows U.S. motorists collectively drove 35.7 billion vehicle miles fewer in 2011 than the year before – a 1.2% decline.  As the economy recovers, some observers warn, fatalities could rise as people again drive more. 

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But even when adjusted to an apples-to-apples, the death rate is down, reaching a low of 1.09 for every 100 million miles driven compared to 1.11 deaths in 2010.  At its peak, that was closer to 7 per 100 million vehicle miles.

As recently as 2005, traffic accidents were responsible for 43,510 deaths in the United States – a figure that includes pedestrian fatalities.

The decline varied by region, and New England experienced the biggest drop, fatalities down by 7.2% last year.  In the American heartland, including Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, the death toll dipped 5.3%. But the three-state region including Hawaii, California and Arizona bucked the trend, with fatalities actually increasing by 3.3% last year. 

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Despite the overall decline, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has repeatedly said the traffic fatality rate is still too high and is pressing for further efforts to bring it down.  The agency is in the preliminary stages of preparing new rules to address what LaHood has described as an “epidemic” of distracted driving deaths.

NHTSA, meanwhile, is proposing new rules that would mandate a brake-throttle override, a system that would cut engine power if a motorist were to inadvertently hit both the brake and throttle at the same time.  Such driver error has been blamed, in many cases, for reports of so-called unintended acceleration. 

Switching to a battery-powered vehicle will yield measurable savings in a motorist’s energy bills, according to a new study, while also reducing global warming emissions.

But the report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, or UCS, finds that the advantages vary widely depending upon where you live.  In the best regions, savings on energy can add up to more than $1,000 annually – with battery cars cleaner than anything else on the road.  But even in the worst regions, those heavily dependent upon coal to generate electricity, the UCS report says battery vehicles retain a significant advantage over traditional automotive powertrain technology.

“No matter where you live in the United States, electric vehicles are good choice for reducing global warming emissions and saving moneyon fueling up,” said Don Anair, the report’s author and senior engineer for UCS’s Clean Vehicles Program.

The organization bills the new study as a first-of-its-kind, and unlike some more limited reports, it tracked total energy use on a wells-to-wheels basis.  In other words, it measures everything from the energy actually used to pump and then refine oil to the energy used to run an internal combustion engine.  For electric vehicles, the study also considered such things as the energy used and pollution created while mining coal.

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But the advantage, reports the UCS, is clearly in favor of pure battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, as well as plug-in hybrids.

The study shows that 45% of Americans live in what are categorized as “Best” regions, where battery vehicles result in reduced energy costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions than even the best hybrids or internal combustion-powered automobiles – those now getting at least 50 miles per gallon.

In fact, in California and New York State, a hybrid or conventional gas vehicle would need to yield at least 80 mpg to keep up with the likes of a Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt (the latter operating two-thirds of the time on battery power).

About 37% of Americans live in “Better” regions, according to the new study, where a battery car still is likely to meet or exceed the emissions performance of a 40 mpg hybrid.  And in “Good” regions, like Midwest states heavily dependent upon coal power, battery car emissions are equal to the best non-hybrids, such as a Ford Fiesta or Chevrolet Cruze, Anair said.

• States in the “Best” category are located primarily along the East and West Coasts and include: California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Arizona, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia;
• “Better” states include Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee;
• “Good” states are largely concentrated in the Midwest and Plains states and include Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Kansas and Minnesota.

“No matter where you live,” he added, “electric vehicles save you on fuel costs.”  With the Chevy Volt, for example, the annual savings are likely to range between $580 and $890 annually.  The fully electric Nissan Leaf should bump that to anywhere from $770 to $1220 annually, according to the UCS.

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The UCS study acknowledged significant differences in the nationwide electric grid that need be addressed, said Anair, but he added that with such efforts already underway, “The good news is that as the nation’s electric grids get cleaner, consumers who buy an EV today can expect to see their car’s emissions go down over the lifetime of the vehicle.”

Consumers have a fair degree of control over how much they save on energy by choosing rate plans – as well as when they actually charge up their vehicles, noted the UCS.  Many utilities now have or are planning to offer interruptible or time-sensitive rates.  And early adopters appear to be taking advantage of these.  The study found the majority of current electric vehicle owners charge up overnight.

That not only means lower-cost power but also reduces the strain on the electric grid as there is less overall demand.  This could permit a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles on the road without forcing the addition of more generators, the UCS report suggested.

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Whether that will continue to be the case is far from clear.  Some industry analysts warn that as more battery cars get on the road – and as the number of public charging stations increases – it will become more common for vehicles to power up during daytime.  This could be especially true with the addition of high-speed “Level III” charging systems that could permit a vehicle like the Leaf to get an 80% recharge in as little as 15 to 20 minutes.

That, experts are betting, will enhance the appeal of battery technology beyond the relatively marginal audience now turning to the technology.  So far, plug-ins and battery-electric vehicles are capturing barely a tenth of a percent of overall U.S. new vehicle sales.

But Anair said the UCS is betting that demand will also increase as new models roll out, giving consumers greater choice.  Before the end of this year, a wide variety of makers will enter the market, including Toyota, with its RAV4-EV and Plius Plug-in; Ford with its C-Max plug-in and Focus Electric, and Honda, with its first battery-electric vehicle since the early 1990s, a version of the subcompact Fit.

Remember “sticker shock”?  After several years of heavily discounting their products in a desperate bid to keep assembly lines rolling, automakers are finding themselves back in the driver’s seat again – pushing prices to record levels.

And it’s “not a blip,” warns one senior analyst, who expects the trend to continue for several years. The good news for shoppers is that trade-ins are also yielding better prices – and while that new car, truck or crossover may command more money than ever before it’s also likely to include significantly more features and markedly better fuel economy than the vehicle it replaces.

The average new vehicle sold in the U.S. in March cost $30,748, according to data tracking service TrueCar.com.  That was up 6.9 percent from $28,771 a year earlier and marks an all-time record.

“It’s not a blip. It’s a trend we’ve been seeing for months,” said Jesse Toprak, TrueCar’s chief automotive analyst.  That’s despite the fact, he says, that “this might seem counterintuitive at a time you might expect to see people buying cheaper cars because fuel costs are rising so fast.”

But there have been a number of counterintuitive trends in the industry in recent months. One is the surge in overall car sales, which have been rebounding faster than the U.S. economy – despite the fuel price spike that, in decades past, might have been expected to result in a sharp downturn in demand.

There are a number of reasons why new car prices are spiking.  A key reason is “There’s a better equilibrium between supply and demand,” noted Toprak, “which means discounting isn’t needed as much.”

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While March saw vehicle sales surge to an annualized rate of around 14.5 million, that’s a long way from the decade-old industry peak of around 17.1 million.  In years past, makers would’ve been tacking on massive rebates and other incentives to boost sales. But in a significant move during the recent recession, many makers slashed production capacity, especially Detroit’s Big Three.

And so, with the remaining plants operating at, near and sometimes above their rated capacity, carmakers don’t need to be so generous. March incentives, according to TrueCar, slipped 1.8 percent, year-over-year, to an average $2,440 per vehicle.

There’s another reason why the run-up in pricing might seem unlikely. There’s been a significant upturn in the small car market with motorists trading big SUVs for compact crossovers and full-size sedans for subcompacts.  Nearly one in four vehicles sold in March fell into the small car category, up from barely one in six as recently as December, according to industry data.

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But don’t think of them as the classic “econoboxes” that proved so popular – briefly – in the wake of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s. Products like the 2012 Ford Focus and the latest-generation Hyundai Accent are far more stylish and well-equipped.

Consumers, meanwhile, “are upgrading the vehicles they’re buying,” no matter what class they fall into, noted Art Spinella, lead researcher at CNW Marketing.

In the decades that CNW has tracked automotive buying patterns, the typical vehicle will fall into the 50^th percentile — almost exactly halfway between the base price of a specific nameplate and the most heavily loaded version. In other words, if the entry model was $20,000 and a fully loaded version was $40,000, the typical buyer would spend $30,000.

But now, said Spinella, the average vehicle is falling into the 82^nd percentile.  Using the same example, the typical shopper now drives off in a vehicle costing $36,400.

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“People are trying to stuff all the bells and whistles they can in a car” in part, Spinella explained, because “they plan to keep it longer.”  Prior to the Great Recession, buyers told CNW they plan to hold onto a new vehicle, on average, about 42 months. That’s now up to 57 months.

The good news is that buyers aren’t necessarily spending a lot more out-of-pocket. That’s because used car prices have also surged over the last several years.  During the first quarter of 2012, the price of the average previously owned vehicle sold through a franchised new car dealer rose 12.5 percent, or about $1,400.  For the consumer, that meant a bigger trade-in allowance to apply to a new vehicle.

The upward trend in pricing is almost certain to continue, at least barring a sharp setback to the economy, industry analysts agree.

“The long-term trend is gradual price increases continuing for several more years as sales recover to 15 million and even 16 million,” forecast TrueCar’s Toprak.  “But the pace (of the increase) we’ve seen over the last several years isn’t sustainable.”

He anticipates prices will start to level off as they reach an average $31,000.

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Slideshow: NYC taxi cab's wild ride

Nissan has unveiled New York City's "Taxi of Tomorrow" - featuring sliding doors, anitbacterial seats and outlets to charge your phone. Take a ride through taxi cab history, including the original Electrobat, horse-drawn cabs and the iconic Checker. 

Launch slideshow

Like most New York taxi drivers, Hakan Karakas has a ready opinion on everything – especially when you ask him about the “Taxi of Tomorrow.”

“It’s like the communists have taken over,” he laments.  “This is a free market, and I should be able to choose what I drive.”

But the fact is Hakkan and the rest of the Big Apple’s independent and fleet taxi owners won’t have a choice. This week they’re getting a first look at the vehicles that will replace the aging Ford Crown Victoria sedans that have long served as the majority of New York’s yellow cabs.

Slideshow: A brief history of NYC taxi cabs

The winner of a city-sponsored shoot-out for the contract was Nissan, which will begin supplying a specially modified version of its NV200 commercial van to New York hacks next year. By sometime in 2018, New York taxi regulators expect the Taxi of Tomorrow to replace all 13,000 vehicles plying the city's concrete canyons today.

At a price of $29,700 the Nissan yellow cab won’t come cheap, prompting some grumbling by operators.  But at a news conference this week to reveal the final design, Mayor Michael Bloomberg insisted the new model “was designed for those who matter most: the passengers and the hard-working drivers.”

Among the many advantages: Nissan conducted extensive safety testing with all the taxi hardware – including the glass partition between driver and passengers – in place.  It has developed special airbag systems to further enhance safety.

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

Marvin Wasserman (R) and Jean Ryan (L) of the Taxis for All campaign protest outside the unveiling of the Nissan NV200.

The NV200 will be powered by a modest and reasonably fuel-efficient four-cylinder engine, rather than the big V-8 in the Crown Vic. That might frustrate drivers jockeying for position on crowded streets but will save plenty of money on fuel considering the time the typical yellow cab spends stuck in midtown traffic or crawling along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on the way to LaGuardia Airport.

The new model also will be “the most comfortable taxi ever to hit our streets,” said Bloomberg, pointing to amenities including better interior lighting, USB and 12-volt power ports for cellphones and iPads, and even carbon ceiling covers and anti-microbial floor mats to keep things cleaner and minimize odors.

The Taxi of Tomorrow will offer 10 more inches of legroom than current cabs and there will be no hump down the middle of the floor that makes it so unpleasant, today, to get stuck with the center seat.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, left, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg enjoy the roomy back seat of the new taxi prototype.

“Sounds great to me,” said Robin Milstein, a Manhattan bank clerk, as she struggled to exit gracefully from an old Crown Victoria on her way home to city's SoHo neighborhood.  “It’s such a pain getting in and out, especially when you get one of the smaller cabs they have these days.”

Not everyone is pleased.  A small group of protestors gathered outside the news conference holding hand-lettered signs criticizing Nissan for not making the NV200 handicap accessible. Nissan says it has designed the new taxi to include a rear ramp for wheelchairs, though it is unclear whether that will be a requirement or just one of the options for taxi owners to choose from.

The debut of the Taxi of Tomorrow coincides with the opening of the 2012 New York Auto Show.  For many city residents, it may be as close as they get to an automobile in day-to-day life. The Big Apple –- and Manhattan, in particular -- has the lowest per capita car ownership rate in the country. The yellow cab is the automobile for people who have no interest in cars.

Since the days when motorized hacks took over from horse-drawn carriages, the yellow cab has become an integral part of the city fabric, says New York-based writer Kate McLeod, and not just for locals.

“For many people who come to New York, riding in a yellow cab is a part of their to-do list,” she says.

That experience will be just a bit different – and notably more sightseer-friendly – starting in 2013.

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Hail to the new NYC taxi 

Slideshow: A brief history of NYC taxi cabs 

A blind guy driving a car? That was the latest step in Google's two-year-old program to develop a self-driving car.

A video released last week on YouTube shows Steve Mahan, who is almost totally blind, behind the wheel of a Toyota Prius, running errands to Taco Bell and the dry cleaners.

"Look Ma, no hands, and no feet!" Mahan says as the car steers autonomously along a carefully planned route. "This is some of the best driving I've ever done."

Google announced its self-driving car project in 2010, building on research started by a Stanford University that won a $2 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency challenge.

Although the Google demonstration followed a preplanned route, it shows the potential for such cars to work without extensive preparation, said spokesman Jay Nancarrow. But he said the company was not prepared to detail the vehicle's capabilities and limitations.

Autonomous cars outfitted with radar and laser sensors like the Prius would be liberating to people such as Mahan, who cannot drive on his own. “Where this would change my life would be to give me the independence and the flexibility to go to the places I both want to go and need to go, when I need to do those things,” Mahan said after his day in the car, which took place in January.

Even those without vision loss could benefit from the automation of driving because  computer-controlled cars would be able to drive in close formation to increase the traffic capacity of existing roads, said Google project leader Sebastian Thrun. This would save Americans 4 billion hours of wasted time and 2.4 billion gallons of gasoline, he estimated.

Thrun spoke at the TED conference last year about his personal motivation to develop a self-driving car. “As a boy I loved cars,” he said.  “When I turned 18 I lost my best friend to a car accident. Then I decided I would dedicate my life to saving 1 million people every year."

Tangi Quemener / AFP/Getty Images

Junior, a 2006 Volkswagen Passat, heavily modified and robotized by a team of Stanford University, crosses the finish line in first place of the DARPA Grand Challenge on Nov. 3, 2007, in Victorville, Calif.

His effort started with Stanley, a Volkwagen station wagon outfitted with sensors, which in 2005 was the first vehicle to complete DARPA’s challenge course.

“Since then our work has focused on building cars that can drive anywhere by themselves,” he said.

“Our cars have sensors with which they magically can see everything around them and make decisions about every aspect of driving. It is the perfect driving mechanism. We’ve driven in cities, like in San Francisco here. We’ve driven from San Francisco to Los Angeles on Highway 1.  And even crooked Lombard Street in San Francisco.”

Another video shows the Google autonomous Prius ripping through a snaking course of orange cones in a parking lot. This capability suggests the autonomous car need not proceed at the pace of a driver's ed student. 

Finally drivers would be able to focus on things they’ve already shown are more important to them than watching the road, like talking on the phone, texting friends, checking Facebook, eating and personal grooming. Maybe they could watch the YouTube video of the blind guy in the driver's seat.