Ask Patty is back for another week around the auto world! Oscars are lighting up the scene and little girls are crying out "give us some Hot Wheels!" Thank you to all of our submitters this week as always! Click those seat belts!

Car seat safety clinics are part of educational programs and campaigns of various groups around the country. According to a study conducted by Safe Kids Worldwide, the results proved that such events do help out a lot in letting people know just how important it is to have child car safety seats installed properly in vehicles. Check out some of the statistics and helpful facts on the Auto Parts Info blog.

Are you a bit scared to tell your kids about “stranger danger”? Don’t want to freak them out right? Wander Wear blog says “Often parents will tell me that they are concerned about scaring their children by talking to them about predators, getting lost and other related topics. I support their concerns as a mom but I also know that these are important topics to talk about with your kids.” She provides some excellent tips on talking with your child. Check out her other posts as well!

Fifty years after entering the U.S. market, Japan's Toyota has set its sights on the last stronghold of its struggling American competitors: the full-sized pickup truck market and NASCAR stock-car racing. The challenge comes at a delicate time. Chrysler joined General Motors and Ford last week in plans to shutter plants and slash thousands of jobs amid massive financial losses. Check out the full news story on Yahoo.

Okay, we found the CUTEST site EVER today! Check out the Chevron Cars blog! They even have a brand new game at the ChevronCars.com website. It's a fun little Flash game. It seems like a simple game, but the more you play, the more you'll want to play. The game is called Pearl Hunt, and basically you have to go underwater and hunt for pearls, then get them through a maze into your underwater treasure chest. Of course there are obstacles and little tricks along the way!

Maybe you have played the famed game of “red light green light” when you were a kid or just reminiscing the good old days with Limp Bizkit’s own “red light green light” version with Snoop Dogg. Whatever the case, playtime is still best when done with the 2008 Saturn Vue Red Line and Green Line, according to the Auto Parts Dealer’s blog. Learn the mystery behind the colors!

Edmunds Driving Woman focuses on the Oscars and the “green” topic. Global Green USA has over thirty cars to drive green- conscious celebs, including Leo DiCaprio and Davis Guggenheim, director of An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary about Al Gore's global warming campaign. Global Green started driving stars to the Oscars five years ago, as a stunt to raise consciousness about alternative fuel cars and global warming solutions. Apparently it worked.

They're small, fast and made for racing. But they are also pink or purple and sparkly, and come with a tiny doll. Girls are getting their own line of $3 toy race cars this year from the maker of Matchbox — half a century after that brand, now owned by Mattel Inc., introduced its classic die-cast toy for boys. The company recently introduced its initial collection of 25 Polly Wheels — cars driven by its Polly Pocket dolls — at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

Okay, Fox News Lisa Wiehl asks these questions in her latest article, “The 51% Minority”: Who are the most Googled women in America at the moment? What word has become a term of endearment amongst an increasing number of teen-age girls? What has the 5'10, 161-pound former supermodel Tyra Banks recently been labeled? If you guessed the late Anna Nicole Smith and former pop princess Britney Spears, you would sadly be right …check out the article to learn the rest of the answers!

Mary Morrongiello-Amos has created a public car mart - a sort of vehicle flea market, with no sales people or pressure - held weekends at Vallejo's Solano County Fairgrounds. Car sellers pay a flat $30 fee per car, into which are placed informational signs. The cars are parked and guarded for the weekend, while shoppers can browse the vehicular offerings. If a potential buyer finds something they're interested in, they can call the posted phone number and arrange to meet the seller for a test drive, on the fairgrounds. Sounds pretty Female Friendly!

Most of us grew up thinking our fathers had encyclopedic knowledge. But as we learn from experience, we realize that much of what we thought was gospel when Dad spoke was wrong. Not only were some of his nuggets based on misinformation, the automotive technology he was talking about has changed tremendously over the years. Well Rismedia debunks some of those Dad-isms once and for all!

Northwood University was listed in U.S. News as one of America’s Best Colleges of 2007! The University emphasizes experiential learning and innovation at graduate and undergraduate levels for both traditional and non-traditional students. Northwood offers many great programs for those looking to get education and experience for careers in the automotive industry.

That’s it for this week! Thank you for all of your submissions! Make sure to submit next week! Please remember to submit your article using the online form or by emailing Breanne at Breanne@askpatty.com.

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