It can’t be said enough: winter tires and careful driving are the only way to stay safe while travelling on snow and ice.

Even the best driver will ultimately fail to predict obstacles in some scenarios on the road, which is exactly what happened here. A Russian motorist, or at least a motorist who speaks Russian, catches footage of his own crash after swerving to avoid a couple of hitchhikers.

He is presumably trying to correct a skid that starts after the initial reaction, but ends up sliding right off the road. We hear him swearing in Russian just before the car rolls over and sustains significant damage including a smashed windshield. It doesn’t seem like anyone was seriously injured based on the footage.

Watch the video after the jump.

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If you had twelve children every year, would you love them all the same? It might be hard to keep track, but as is true with any parent, seeing one of your babies hurt would be tragic.

While it’s a bit much to think of cars as children, and some people do, the Pagani Zonda is a rarity in the luxury supercar market because the company only produced one every month starting in 1999 and stopped production last year. That is enough to tug on enthusiast heart strings and evoke a passionate response when one of these rare birds gets its wings clipped.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what seems to have happened in Hong Kong. Pictures started floating around a forum, showcasing a wrecked Zonda in the middle of an intersection. There aren’t many other details to report on the wreck, but it’s clear from the picture that the car was on a tight city street. You can see that the driver hit a pole, but beyond that it’s tough to speculate on the incident. Click here to see the forum for yourself.

GALLERY: Pagani Zonda F Roadster

Some cars handle better than others in snow and as high-performance beasts go, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII is certainly among the best.

The Evo, as it is commonly called by enthusiasts, is a lot like the Subaru WRX STi. They’re both beefed up rally versions of their manufacturer’s humdrum sedans. Stiff suspension, power-a-plenty and a rigorous all-wheel drive systems make these the go-to for off road racers.

That really doesn’t mean anything, though, if you’re caught in a snowy pile up on the highway like the driver in the video below was. Thankfully for him and his car, he understood that driving on an embankment and dinging up his ride was better than stomping on the brakes and sliding out of control. According to the West Virginia Metro News, about 30 vehicles were involved in the crash.

Unfortunately for so many others around him, winter defensive driving is an easily forgotten skill that can save you money and your life. Just remember that front- rear- or all-wheel drive cars cant do diddly without a driver’s due diligence. Stay calm, dress warm and keep a kit in your car in case you get stuck.

That said, there’s a reason our review of the 2011 Evo MR features us hooning around in the snow: it’s damn fun. You don’t buy this car for comfort, you buy it because road gripping, lane churning performance and precision are an enthusiast’s bread and butter.

You can watch the video below, and as always— drive safe. Warning: there is a lot of swearing in the video.

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General Motors is targeting a safety issue with new equipment that until now has been unaddressed.

They plan to release a front-seat center-airbag (pictured above) that deploys between the driver and passenger seats. The new feature is supposed to improve safety in the event of far-side impact crashes, which statistics show to be responsible for 11 percent of all crash-related deaths.

When such a crash occurs, the bag deploys in 26 milliseconds using a combination of pressurized argon and pyrotechnic gas. It forms a hard barrier between the passenger and driver sides of the vehicle, protecting against the possibility of two people damaging each other during a collision. The bag is also angled away from the passenger seat to keep the driver from smashing against the center console and is sturdy enough to help protect against a poll during such a crash.

GM developed the device in partnership with Takata, which stays rigidly inflated for several minutes after impact. Expect to see it in the 2013 Buick Enclave as standard equipment and as an option in the GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Traverse. According to MotorTrend, GM chose the crossovers because they are the most likely to carry extra passengers. Despite being an option, the new airbags should appear on about 90 percent of these models.

The safety blitz isn’t stopping there, though, GM is also offering a low-cost safety system that offers both front crash detection and lane departure warning systems for only $295. That’s a bargain compared to the thousands it costs for similar features on Mercedes or BMW cars.

The difference is that GM’s technology takes advantage of a high-definition camera capable of processing 14 images per second through the car’s computer. In doing so, it recognizes pedestrians, motorcycles, cars and trucks while calculating your risk of hitting them. That risk is determined by how quickly the object in question is moving. The camera is mounted on the passenger side of the rear-view mirror, behind the windshield.

The system can be toggled to chirp at near, medium or far settings and can even be shut off completely. It also remembers what distance you set it to last when restarted. The notification system combines a red warning light on the dashboard with a series of eight beeps through the front stereo speakers. The system activates if the driver fails to signal a lane change and lower warning tones come from on the speakers on the corresponding side.

There might be plans in the future for GM to employ more safety features like high beam assist and traffic signal recognition but those features are more expensive because they use radar instead of the camera.

Expect the camera-based features to appear first on the 2012 GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Equinox.

[Source: MotorTrend]

General Motors is moving closer to a solution for the fires that occurred in Volts after crash testing earlier this year.

Fox News reported yesterday that, according to an unnamed source, fires sparking inside Chevrolet‘s lauded green car might be caused by coolant crystallizing on the car’s battery after a crash, leading to a short circuit.

Since then, Reuters reported that GM is moving towards a set of dealership-implemented fixes to ensure post-crash safety in the cars, though the solution isn’t finalized.

“To the best of my knowledge, we’re not discussing exact solutions at this point,” GM spokesman Rob Peterson said.

Despite that, rumored solutions continue to surface by unnamed sources. Among those unofficial fixes, it seems that GM might laminate the 400-pound battery pack as well as strengthen the casing around it. They may also take steps to better protect against coolant leakage after a crash.

While those possibilities aren’t certain, GM senior management expects a solution by the end of the week. Barring demand by U.S. safety regulators for a deeper-reaching solution, the fix is expected to cost less than $1 million, or roughly $1000 per car.

GM is also offering current Volt owners loaner cars to drive until their vehicle is bolstered against the potential disaster. The aggressive repair policy signals how serious GM is about making the Volt their symbol of future progress.

As far as the EV market is concerned, others are on the way, but for now the Volt’s sole competitor is the Nissan Leaf. The key difference between the two is that the Leaf runs solely on battery power, whereas the Volt has a 1.4-liter gasoline engine that extends driving range. The Leaf didn’t experience the same problems after crash tests, possibly because it doesn’t a use liquid-cooled battery.

Last week GM CEO, Dan Akerson told the Associated Press that GM plans to buy back Volts from any customers concerned about the cars catching fire. He also maintained that they are safe to drive and that owners shouldn’t worry about the issue.

“I think it behooves everyone including General Motors and all of our competition, but more importantly our customers, that we get it right,” Akerson said.

Getting it right definitely involves fixing hazardous issues, but how right is it that GM knew about the problem as early as May without making the public aware? In an earlier story, we reported that it’s possible both GM and the NHTSA knew about the problem but failed to disclose it until last November.

For now, Akerson seems confident in GM’s solution, citing that Lexus had quality issues when they started, but that Toyota dealt swiftly with the issues and pushed the brand on to be a success.

[Sources:  Reuters]

“Reclaimed” is one of those buzzwords that’s come along in the last year or two to described mundane things like dead wood that’s been turned into a high priced consumer good. Think of a tabletop made from “reclaimed wood” and sold at a premium in a bougie furniture store and you get the idea.

French artist Charly Molinelli has taken the “reclaimed” idea to a new level with this (admittedly awesome) Ferrari coffee table made from a vehicle so mangled that we have no idea what kind of Ferrari it started life as.  The piece was (obviously) comissioned by a wealthy patron of Molinelli’s and is said to have cost well into the 5-figures. Special wood was also procured to “stay with the concept of recycling.” That strikes us as a bit rich when dealing with a piece like this, but we’re not going to lie and say we don’t want one of these for our living room.

[Source: Autoblog UK]

Believe it or not, hybrids are safer in a crash than their gasoline-only counterparts, according to a new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute.

“Hybrids on average are 10 percent heavier than their standard counterparts,” Moore said in a statement today. “This extra mass gives them an advantage in crashes that their conventional twins don’t have,” said Matt Moore, Data Institute President and author of the study.

The study didn’t include cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, which are only available as a hybrid. The study also counted other factors like who drives hybrids and how they generally behave on the road.

While the drivers and hybrids themselves may be contributing to improved safety inside the car, a separate study also conducted by Highway Loss Data Institute suggests that these cars are 20 percent more likely to hit a pedestrian.

The reason, they say, is that while running in electric-only mode they are too quiet, making them less noticeable to someone crossing the street.

Earlier this year, Congress gave the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration three years to decide on a standard for equipping hybrids and electric vehicles with a sound device to alert pedestrians.

Japan is the only country to currently enforce such a standard, according to a CNN article Moore sighted.

Despite that, it seems Nissan has already equipped their Leaf with a system to catch pedestrian attention. Toyota started including the feature on the 2010 Prius in Japan, and will add it to the 2012 North American Prius V.

[Source: Automotive News]

Gas, tires and insurance probably don’t matter much if you’re in the market for a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro or Ford Mustang, but safety does.

The  Camaro and Mustang GT come with more-or-less comparable horsepower and grunt off the line.  What the test drive won’t show you is that the Camaro is the first car to earn a perfect rating from the  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

NHTSA uses front, side and rollover tests to determine a vehicle’s safety during a crash and have strengthened their standards since 2011. The Camaro earned a perfect score in all categories, where the Mustang only earned four of five stars in the front and side crash tests.

The front-end tests are conducted at 35 mph and the side crash at 38.5 mph, as well as a slower 20 mph side-impact test against a narrow pole. Finally the NHTSA uses a mathematical calculation to determine how likely a rollover is.

To be fair,  most muscle car fanatics would call this story incomplete. The Dodge Challenger among many other cars have yet to be tested for 2012.

The next best-rated were the Honda Accord and Kia Optima, earning a five-star rating in each category except the side-impact tests where they only got four.

[Source:  NHTSA]

Would you trust new technology with your life? One Chevy Volt owner did, and walked away from a rather serious smash-up mostly unharmed.

A forum user on GM-Volt.com posted pictures recently of his totaled Volt on the New Jersey Turnpike. The car (number 187) became a martyr after a nasty highway collision.

“Except for some back and neck pain for my wife and I, it was a miracle that there wasn’t any more injuries. The car is rock solid, that’s for sure. I’m going to miss that car,” the owner said on the thread.

According to the driver, a Ford Taurus veered into their lane and caused them to hit an oncoming school bus. Contents from the trunk flew into the back seat where the driver’s three-year-old and 15-month-old children were sitting.

This might be the first reported write-off of the new Volt, which garnered the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s top safety pick and a five-star rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Safety features on the car include front, side, knee and ceiling mounted airbags as well as electronic stability control. Volt owners also get a 3-year subscription to OnStar’s Directions and Connections Plan including Automatic Crash Response, stolen vehicle assistance and connected navigation.

GALLERY: Chevy Volt Wreck

[Source GM-Volt.com]

British racing driver Jackie Stewart called the Nurburgring Nordschleife (Northern loop) the “Green Hell,” and this past week, the track lived up to its nick name due to an eight car pile up that included a rented Chevrolet Corvette, a BMW M3 “Ring Taxi”, two rare Vauxhall VX220′s an E36, E30 and E92 BMW 3-series, an old Porsche 911.

The accident took place on a public lapping day at the “Bergwerk” section, where a construction company was doing some repair work, which is not a great idea especially when novices are out on the track. According to reports, four cars were racing as they approached the construction zone, which according to some was not clearly marked.

These four cars slammed on their brakes upon seeing the construction zone and the carnage ensued. This chain of accidents took out eight cars in total and sent one man to the hospital with serious injuries.

This accident caused around $200,000 worth of damage to cars and property. Usually all damages to the track are paid by those involved in the accidents, but there could be a strong case made against the track for its untimely construction on a open lapping day and then not marking the construction zone clearly. We reckon this story is far from over. We’ll keep you posted on this developing story.

[Source: GT Spirit]