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I've been closely following recent technology advances in automobiles for the last 2-3 years. Some very interesting technologies are beginning to make it into regular production vehicles that ordinary people can buy. The first is direct injection for gasoline engines. The second "big deal" is the dual-clutch transmission. These are cutting edge technologies for cars right now. Guess what? There is no Japanese brand car available with both of these technologies. In fact, both Honda and Toyota seem to be ignoring dual clutch transmission entirely. It appears to me Toyota is coasting on its reputation right now and isn't doing...

No automaker keeps quite as many strange side projects afloat as Honda, which has everything from jet planes to walking robots underway in its engineering studios. On Tuesday, Honda revealed its plans for another company invention, a rolling stool it now calls the Uni-Cub which users steer by the seat of their pants. One can only hope for a racing version. Designed to mimic the speed and height of walking, the Uni-Cub's lithium batteries power a trick wheel that can move any direction. Using sensors on the seats, riders simply shift their weight in the direction they wish to travel...

I have an 03 Honda Accord EX with about 155K miles on it which I've purchased recently which has had no problems until this morning: it will miss and then seems to go into a protect mode of some sort and will not run over 2500 rpm until I turn the key off and on again, then it's good for another mile or so until it does it again. Has anybody else ever seen or heard of this problem? It may actually be a problem with the on-board computer, you'd think if it was a plug or bad gas it...

Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime ad break is still almost a week away, but you can get a sneak peek at Honda’s new Ferris Bueller-inspired spot by clicking below. In fact, you’ll get a whole lot more than a peek: This is the full two-and-a-half minute version of Matthew Broderick reprising his role in an homage to the iconic 1986 John Hughes comedy. The clip that will be broadcast during halftime — where ad time costs $3.5 million for 30 seconds — will be only one minute long.

A woman who expected her Civic Hybrid to be her dream car wants Honda to pay for not delivering the 50 mpg it promised. But rather than joining other owners in a class-action lawsuit, Heather Peters is going solo against the automaker in small-claims court, an unusual move that could offer a bigger payout. And if successful, it could open the door to a flood of similar lawsuits. A trial was set for Tuesday in Torrance, where American Honda has its West Coast headquarters. Peters, a former lawyer, says that as her vehicle's battery deteriorated, it got only 30 mpg....

This is great, if you haven't seen it... A few years back a television commercial was produced by Honda's UK ad agency, working in concert with company engineers who painstakingly took apart two special hand-assembled Accords to create this incredible Rube Goldberg-style contraption... This (real/no effects) two-minute spot actually required 606 takes- the first few hundred didn't go all to plan. They therefore had to re-install the set-up repeatedly over several weeks, working shifts day-and-night to achieve this effect. In the end,  it took three full months and $6M to capture a perfect run. All you see in the sequence...

Snips from Excerpt only Website: Honda said the plant will open in 2014, with the capacity to produce 200,000 vehicles annually. It will employ 3,200 workers in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the same region where Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) plans to build a new assembly plant. "There are still a lot of vehicles being sold (in the United States) and obviously some of the cheapest places to make parts or assemble vehicles is south of the border," he said.

The all-new Honda Civic debuts at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show next month – here are the first details of the diesel version. With an evolution of the award-winning 2.2-litre i-DTEC turbodiesel engine and a 12.6 per cent improvement in aerodynamics, the 2012 Honda Civic is promising to be both more powerful and more efficient. That’s a familiar tune these days, but in this particular case the new Civic appears to be offering quite the combo. A 10hp boost might not sound like much to shout about, but the resulting 150hp total output is combined with CO2 emissions of just...

This guy goes to the doctor and says to him, "Doctor, I don't know what's wrong with me but every time I fart it sounds like the word 'Honda'." "That's interesting. Never heard of anything like that before. Do you think you could fart for me?" says the doctor. The guy says, "Sure." He farts and sure enough the doctor hears, "Honda." After several attempts to figure out what's wrong with this guy the doctor runs out of ideas. He sends him to all sorts of stomach specialists and none of them can figure out why this guy's farts say,...

A lot of words have been written in the past few post-tsunami weeks about the negative impact of the disastrous tragedy on the short-term future of Japanese cars in the U.S. market. In parallel, many articles proclaim this to be a “historical window of opportunity” for the “Detroit Three,” now able to deliver to waiting customers an abundant supply of new vehicles while, at Toyota, Honda and Nissan, the cupboard is bare.

The Tournament of Roses Parade is changing its name. As part of a sponsorship deal with American Honda Motor Co., the 2011 procession through Pasadena will be officially known as the 122nd Rose Parade, Presented by Honda. The Jan. 1 parade theme is “Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories.” Tournament of Roses president Jeffrey Throop notes Honda has worked with parade organizers for five decades. A new trademark composite logo incorporating the Honda brand will be released soon.

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Corp. said Wednesday they stopped production at some of their car assembly plants in southern China after parts suppliers were hit by more labor unrest. The fresh walkouts at the Japanese car makers are slowing output and adding to costs at a time when both companies have been ramping up production to meet strong demand. Chinese migrant workers, the backbone of the country's industrial sector, are becoming increasingly vocal in demands for higher wages. Several auto-related labor disputes have erupted recently in the Guangzhou region, where both Toyota and Honda have...

See YouTube: Honda UX-3 Personal Mobility Device.

You're saying right now that this couldn't possibly be what it looks like, but yes, it is. A man -- David Morales Colon, from Puerto Rico -- was embalmed and mounted on his Honda CBR600F4i motorcycle for his wake. "With full Repsol colors," points out The Sidecar blog at Motorcycle.com, which leaves out the fact that he isn't wearing a helmet. Safety violation! The work was done by the Marin Funeral Home in San Juan.

We just had a chance to go hands... er, rear-on with Honda's latest R&D experiment, the U3-X Personal Mobility Device, and we've got the say -- it was a moving experience. If you'll recall, the tiny, uni-wheeled unit is built on the same balancing principles which the company's ASIMO uses, and utilizes the world's first omni-directional driving wheel system. What does all that mean? Well, it means that when you sit down on the thing, it moves in whatever direction you lean in, however slightly.

After a long romance with foreign rivals, America's love affair with the automobile is returning to its roots with a revived affection for U.S.-made cars. Slightly more Americans now say the United States makes better-quality vehicles than Asia does, with 38 percent saying U.S. cars are best and 33 percent preferring autos made by Asian companies, according to an Associated Press-GfK Poll.

Honda and Subaru were ranked the best overall car manufacturers in the new Consumer Reports auto survey released yesterday -- but recall-battered Toyota did surprising well, too, coming in a close third. Honda and Subaru tied for first place with a total score of 77 based on reliability, performance, comfort and utility -- while Toyota was next with a score of 74, the report said. Hyundai's Elantra SE, which lists for $18,695, was ranked the best small sedan. The automaker was then followed by Nissan, with an average score of 72. Its Altima, which sells for $23,970, was the family-sedan...

TOKYO (AP) -- Honda Motor Co. is adding 437,000 vehicles to its 15-month old global recall for faulty airbags in the latest quality problem to hit a Japanese automaker. The company will replace the driver's side air bag inflator on the cars because they can deploy with too much pressure, causing the inflator to rupture and injure or kill the driver. Japan's No. 2 automaker originally announced the recall to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in November 2008 and the total of number vehicles recalled since then is approaching 1 million. The latest expansion of the airbag recall...

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second- largest automaker, will recall 437,763 vehicles globally to repair air bags that can deploy with too much pressure, adding to previous U.S. recalls for the same defect. The expansion covers 378,758 vehicles in the U.S., Honda said in a statement late yesterday. The Tokyo-based carmaker will recall about 4,000 cars and minivans in Japan, it said in a filing to the nation’s Transport Ministry today. The recall expansion heightens safety scrutiny of Japan’s largest automakers. Honda’s biggest competitor, Toyota Motor Corp., is working to reassure customers after recalling more than 8 million vehicles worldwide to...

Honda Recalls Thousands Of Cars Amid Fire Fears Honda has become the latest car manufacturer to recall thousands of vehicles amid fears that one of its models could catch fire. By David Millward 05 Feb 2010 Despite no complaints in Britain, Honda is contacting all drivers as a precaution. The Japanese motor company has recalled 171,372 of its Jazz models in Britain, as part of a larger worldwide recall, after several accidents including one in which a South African child died. Honda's recall comes after Toyota called in at least 180,000 cars amid concerns over faulty accelerator pedals and means...