Welcome to our Blog Carnival this week. Thank you to all who submit
week after week! This week we have some blogs about car seat safety
(always important), some pregnant Ford engineers (male ones), and
holiday fun! Grab yourself an eggnog and settle in for this one. Just
make sure you don’t drink and drive!
At Automotive.com,
we learned that researchers in New Zealand determined that sleeping
babies suffer lower oxygen intake. The cause is due to the child’s head
falling forward and their lower jaw touching their chest—called head
flexion—which narrowed their airways. This is obviously a dangerous
situation. The main tip is to keep an eye on the kiddies while you are
driving.
In other baby safety news,
a new study shows airbags are a danger to children up to 13 years of
age. Studies have been conducted on airbag safety for years, but this
study indicates that children are exposed to tinnitus and breathing
problems if struck by an airbag during a vehicle collision. Make sure
you know about the safety regulations of airbags for your particular
vehicle.
Some designers
at Ford are donning pregnancy suits and “elderly” suits in order to
design better cars for their consumers. The pregnancy suit for example
simulates 22 “symptoms” of pregnancy, and these feelings of shortness
of breath and extra weight around the middle helped engineers to make
certain functions of the new Ford Edge much easier to operate. Now, if
only we could get our husbands, bosses, and other kids to wear one!
You’ve seen those commercials where someone gets a Lexus for Christmas
and they walk outside and there it is: white and gleaming and topped
with an enormous shiny red bow.
If life were like commercials it would be an easy world. Well now it
can be that much closer. King Size Bows offers huge bows big enough for
that perfect gas-guzzling gift.
Speaking of cars as gifts, I hope these women got big red bows on their
cars! The Benevolence Car Program put together two very deserving single mothers,
Collex Collision Experts and the Traffic Safety Association of Macomb
County in Michigan, and the result was a free 2002 Kia Rio for each mom
and thousands of dollars worth of gifts and services.
A nonprofit group called Bonnie CLAC
that helps low-income workers buy reliable cars while teaching them
useful financial skills. Over the years the founder, Robert Chambers,
had many doors slammed in his face before finding a bank partner for
his business. Now he is helping low-income families buy the car they
need!
If you were given a vehicle and told you could do anything you want to it, would you make it a piece of art?
Emily Duff glued 250 bras onto the hood of her Honda Odyssey, as well
as decorated it with women’s curlers and paintings of women. The “Grass
Man” of Columbus, Ohio, wears a green grass suit and drives a car
planted from top to bottom and side to side with living, growing grass.
An art car museum is trying to open in Douglas, Ariz.
Honda will likely be the first automaker with a full-production fuel cell vehicle available to consumers. They are testing the concept FCX
and letting customers drive the vehicle around (including a family in
California, who is leasing one of the only models). Honda has said it
will put a fuel-cell vehicle into limited production in 2008.
In
other green news, Automotive.com says General Motors announced that it
will be introducing a plug-in version of its Saturn Vue Green Line
hybrid in 2008 for the 2009 model year which will achieve 70 mpg.
We love to hear about women making a difference in the automotive
industry and the women at C.P. Diver Inc., a towing company in
Delaware, are just the kind of gals we adore! Vickey Sukar and Aimee
Dutton are trained to service vehicles and handle towing vehicles.
Check out their story at Delmarvanow.com. Inspiring, ladies!
At GM's Saturn group, someone who possesses the true spirit of
leadership is Jill Lajdziak, a woman who has taken on the tough times
at GM and pushed her division and company ahead in the process. The
Women’s Automotive Association International will honor Jill Lajdziak
with a ‘Spirit of Leadership’
award on Feb. 3, 2007, during the NADA convention, for her inspiring
role model to those women reaching for positions in the top ranks of
the automotive industry.
Join us next week for more of the carnival! Please remember to submit your article using the online form or by emailing Breanne at Breanne@askpatty.com.
