Volvo Cars is making its groundbreaking, industry-first connected safety technology available across Europe as another step in its ambitions to improve traffic safety.

THE technology allows Volvo cars to communicate with each other and alert drivers of nearby slippery road conditions and hazards via a cloud based network.

Hazard Light Alert and Slippery Road Alert were first introduced in 2016 on Volvo’s 90 Series cars in Sweden and Norway. Next week the features become available to Volvo drivers across Europe. They come as standard on all new model year 2020 Volvos and can be retrofitted on selected earlier models*.

“Sharing real-time safety data between cars can help avoid accidents,” said Malin Ekholm, head of Volvo Cars Safety Centre. “Volvo owners directly contribute to making roads safer for other drivers that enable the feature, while they also benefit from early warnings to potentially dangerous conditions ahead.”

Safety research by Volvo shows that adjusting speeds to the actual traffic situation can radically reduce the risk for accidents. By alerting people to dangers ahead in a timely manner and allowing them to adapt with time to spare, connected safety technologies can support better driver behaviour and boost traffic safety.

With the launch of these features across Europe, Volvo Cars also reiterates its invitation to the car industry to join it in sharing anonymised data related to traffic safety across car brands.

Sharing such data in real time can provide a strong boost to overall traffic safety and becomes more influential the more cars are connected. Since last year, Volvo Cars and Volvo Trucks have shared data to alert drivers of nearby hazards in Sweden and Norway.

“The more vehicles we have sharing safety data in real time, the safer our roads become. We hope to establish more collaborations with partners who share our commitment to safety,” said Malin Ekholm.

On introduction, Volvo Cars’ systems were the first of their kind in the automotive industry. As soon as any equipped Volvo switches on its hazard lights, the Hazard Light Alert sends a signal to all nearby Volvo cars connected to the cloud service, warning drivers to help avoid potential accidents. This is particularly useful on blind corners and over the crest of hills in the road.

Meanwhile, Slippery Road Alert increases the driver’s awareness of both current road conditions and those on the road ahead, by anonymously collecting road surface information from cars further ahead on the road and warning drivers approaching a slippery road section in advance.

Last month Volvo Cars made a number of announcements aimed at supporting better driver behaviour and safer driving. From 2020, all Volvos will be speed-limited at 180 kph. Starting in the early 2020s, the company will also install in-car cameras and other sensors that monitor the driver and allow the car to intervene if a clearly intoxicated or distracted driver is risking an accident involving serious injury or death.

Finally, the company announced that for the first time, it is making its safety knowledge easily accessible in a central digital library, which it urges the car industry to use in the interest of safer roads for all.

* Hazard Light Alert and Slippery Road Alert is available on all Volvos based on the company’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) or Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) from model year 2016 and onwards.

Honda Malaysia announced a recall of 9,998 units of Accord (2.0L) 2003 – 2007 Year Model for a second replacement of the Takata driver front airbag inflator as a preventive measure.

HONDA Malaysia deeply regrets to inform that this affected Accord (2.0L) 2003 – 2007 Year Model was one of the models involved in the previous Takata airbag inflator recalls.

Honda Malaysia truly apologises for the inconvenience caused to customers once again. As customer safety is always Honda’s top priority, the company believes this second recall is necessary as a precautionary action and urges affected customers to replace the defective driver front airbag inflator as soon as possible.

The second replacement of the defective Takata driver front airbag inflator is free of charge and the cost of the replacement will be borne by the company. Honda Malaysia would like to emphasise that all its current selling models are not affected and they will continue to uphold transparency and stringent controls to ensure customer safety.

As of today, there are no crashes or injuries related to the Takata driver front airbag inflator in the Accord (2.0L) 2003 – 2007 Year Model reported in Malaysia.

Affected customers will receive notification letters from Honda Malaysia with the details of this product recall and stock availability. Honda Malaysia strongly encourages customers who receive these letters to send their vehicles to any of the 95 Honda authorised dealers for inspection and replacement.

The second replacement airbag inflator stock for these 9,998 units of Accord (2.0L) 2003 – 2007 Year Model will be available in stages and Honda Malaysia is doing its utmost best to ensure 100% stock availability in the shortest period of time.

As at 21 April 2019, Honda Malaysia has completed more than 243,720 units of Takata driver front airbag inflator replacements, which translates to 92% completion ratio. The total number of Takata driver and passenger front airbag inflator replacements completed is at more than 527,480 units or 89% completion ratio.

Honda Malaysia also appeals to affected Honda customers who have yet to have their affected Takata front airbag inflators replaced to do so urgently as it may deploy with excessive internal pressure when activated.

The defective airbag inflator casing might rupture which may result in injury or fatality of the driver and passenger.

Vehicle owners can check their vehicles’ recall status either by logging on to www.honda.com.my or www.productrecall.honda.com.my or by calling Honda Toll Free number at 1-800-88-2020.

More than 110 talented future software engineers from schools in 14 countries gathered at Coventry for the Land Rover 4×4 in Schools Technology Challenge world finals.

THE bright engineers, aged 13 to 19, used computer coding to programme miniature remote-controlled four-wheel-drive vehicles they designed and built for a two-day competition at the University of Warwick.

The vehicles negotiated a demanding course that wound its way over and through a Range Rover Evoque, replicating the off-road challenges facing a full-size all-terrain vehicle.

The teams were asked to optimise an existing set of code so a model SUV could follow a pre-set course in the fastest possible time.

They were scored on track performance and also presented their work and knowledge of vehicle design and engineering to a panel of judges.

The coding competition gave students a preview to the new £150m National Automotive Innovation Centre at the University of Warwick, which will be the driving force behind the future of the UK’s automotive sector.

Officially opening later this year, NAIC is one of the largest automotive research and development facilities in Europe and is a long-term partnership between Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technical Centre PLC and Warwick Manufacturing Group.

NewGen Motors from Greece were crowned 2019 champions; with Vincera from Malaysia and Xtreme-K from Portugal in second and third places respectively.

Nick Rogers, Executive Director of Product Engineering at Jaguar Land Rover, said: “The Land Rover 4×4 in Schools Challenge is a fantastic way to bring together the top technically curious students from around the world.

Competitions like this help to inspire innovation and technical excellence in the next
generation of engineers, which will help us fill exciting future roles in software systems, connected cars, data science and autonomous driving. As engineers, it’s our duty to solve problems and find ways to make people’s lives better, and software and digital skills will help us to do more of this in the future.

The coding and ‘ACES’ challenges in the competition demonstrate the importance of software innovation in our pioneering technology business.”

Vasilis Mesimeris, team manager of NextGen Motors, said: “The challenge has been an amazing experience and we’ve all strengthened our team working, coding and engineering skills.

Our vehicle features a cantilever suspension system which kept the centre of gravity low and helped us perform well. We’ve all gained confidence and have been really inspired and would love to be engineers innovating and creating vehicles in the future.”

Teams qualify for the world finals through a series of regional and national events. The winning team came first in the Greece national finals.

The official Ferrari distributors in three countries, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand jointly celebrated their 10th anniversary here with an activity-packed weekend of track and road drives, a gala dinner and the unveiling of the new Ferrari F8 Tributo.

NAZA Italia, Ital Auto Pte Ltd and Cavallino Motors Co. Ltd are the official importers and distributors of the Ferrari brand in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand respectively.

On April 19, over 100 Ferrari owners and their cars from the three countries made their way to the 10th Anniversary Celebration Gala Dinner at the St. Regis Hotel, where the new Ferrari F8 Tributo was launched. The launch marks the first time the new Ferrari has been seen in Southeast Asia following its unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show on March 5.

The two-seater mid-rear engined Berlinetta is an homage to both the model’s uncompromising layout and to the engine that powers it – with a massive 720 cv and a record specific power output of 185 cv/l, it is the most powerful V8 in the Prancing Horse’s history for a non-special series car and sets the benchmark not just for turbos, but for engines across the board.

The 3902 cc V8 won “Best Engine” in the International Engine of the Year awards for three years running in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and, in addition, in 2018, was awarded the title of the best engine of the last two decades.

More excitement ensued on April 20 with a lifestyle drive to the Sultan of Selangor’s palace for a visit to His Royal Highness Car Museum followed by a drive to Putrajaya, which saw a huge convoy of 100 Ferraris.

Ferrari owners paraded through Persiaran Putrajaya, showcasing a spectacular exhibition of various Ferrari cars from 3 different countries before adjourning to lunch at the Putrajaya Convention Centre.

A special night track event at the Sepang International Circuit was also held for the Ferrari clients. A Time Attack Challenge, sponsored by Shell V-Power Racing was organized, where prizes were given to the top 3 fastest lap times in the GT and Sportscar categories. There was also a prize given for the fastest overall lap time during the Time Attack Challenge.

On April 21, the Ferrari convoy drove to the Sepang International Circuit to catch the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Asia Pacific 2019 race. The Ferrari Challenge was established as a one-make series in 1993, bringing together complete track novices and drivers with prior competition experience. The series spans three regions: North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

“Naza Italia is proud to have hosted the 10th Anniversary celebrations for Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The last 10 years have been wonderful and rewarding for the Ferrari brand here in Malaysia and we would like to thank our clients for their tremendous support,” said SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, Group Executive Chairman & Group Chief Executive Officer, Naza Corporation Holdings Sdn Bhd.

“It is with immense pride that Ital Auto celebrates a decade of representing Ferrari and there is a double cause for joy as we were named the Best Dealer of the Year for 2018. All that is possible through the Ferrari Singapore family, who have propelled us to this achievement in this milestone year.

The Prancing Horse is recognised worldwide as a symbol of dreams, emotions and excellence and Ital Auto is proud to share these values with our clients for the years to come,” commented Dato Teo Hock Seng, Executive Chairman of Komoco Holdings.

“We would like to thank our Thai Ferrari clients, the Ferrari Owners Club Thailand and guests for coming from Thailand to join the Southeast Asia drive and 10th anniversary celebrations for the first time.

Thank you also for all the years of loyalty to Ferrari and continuous support for Cavallino Motors. We look forward to an exciting year ahead with Ferrari and to be of service to our clients,” said Nandhamalee Bhirombhakdi, Managing Director, Cavallino Motors Co. Ltd.