1973 Buick Apollo (430 Bick Block 700r4, 79 Trans Am Sub Frame) on 2040-cars

Auto blog

How to hack a Buick Regal with CarKnow

If you own an Apple iPhone or Android device, perhaps you've been tempted to jailbreak or root it. This process gives you access to the the software's code, and can be used to make minor or drastic changes to its operating system. CarKnow, a company in Boston, is working applying a similar concept to the automobile.
Translogic recently took a look inside CarKnow to see just how it can tweak the computers inside a car and what sort of things can be done. As our transportation tech sister site explains, CarKnow basically created a digital duplicate of their Buick Regal in the cloud, while harvesting data generated to create custom apps and infiltrate the deepest function of their test car.
And before you freak out about people maliciously taking over your car, CarKnow's founder, Josh Siegel, stresses that it isn't quite so easy as driving up alongside someone. Take a look at the full video below to see just what it's like to jailbreak a car.

GM claims it's first to sell million 30+ mpg vehicles

As we continue to put together all the data for the year-end edition of By The Numbers, General Motors has announced that it sold more than a million vehicles in the US last year that achieved at least 30 miles per gallon on the highway. More impressively, GM managed this feat using multiple strategies including small vehicle size, turbocharged engines and hybrid or plug-in technologies across four brands (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC) accounting for 13 separate models. This number will grow even more in 2013 thanks to cars like the all-electric Spark, the diesel Cruze, the range-extended Cadillac ELR and the Buick Encore compact CUV.
GM's small car sales were up 39 percent last year helping to attain this million-sales mark for 30-mpg models, and almost 40 percent of all GM sales consisted of cars with fuel-efficient I4 engines. In regards to more advanced means of improving fuel economy, GM says that it plans on having 500,000 vehicles with "some form of electrification" on the road by 2017.
Scroll down for the full list of GM's million 30+ mpg cars as well as an informative press release.

J.D. Power study sees new car dependability problems increase for first time since 1998

For the first time since 1998, J.D. Power and Associates says its data shows that the average number of problems per 100 cars has increased. The finding is the result of the firm's much-touted annual Vehicle Dependability Study, which charts incidents of problems in new vehicle purchases over three years from 41,000 respondents.
Looking at first-owner cars from the 2011 model year, the study found an average of 133 problems per 100 cars (PP100, for short), up 6 percent from 126 PP100 in last year's study, which covered 2010 model-year vehicles. Disturbingly, the bulk of the increase is being attributed to engine and transmission problems, with a 6 PP100 boost.
Interestingly, JDP notes that "the decline in quality is particularly acute for vehicles with four-cylinder engines, where problem levels increase by nearly 10 PP100." Its findings also noticed that large diesel engines also tended to be more problematic than most five- and six-cylinder engines.