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Hyundai crashes two Sonatas in public to prove a point about safety

According to The Korean Car Blog, Hyundai has a quality perception gap in the minds of its domestic customers, but it's not with another brand: some South Koreans think US-market Hyundai products are safer than those sold in South Korea. For example, home-market consumers think the US gets more advanced airbag systems than they do. Hyundai decided that the best way to combat that idea was to ram two 2015 Sonata 2.0 Turbos into one another, each one traveling at 34 miles per hour, in front of a live audience. From what we can glean from a Google-translated version of the backstory, the company had a local university professor secure two vehicles, a Lakeside Blue model from South Korea and a Venetian Red model manufactured in the company's US plant and flown over. It invited buyers of the 30th Anniversary Sonata and members of the local media to a drive-in movie premiere on August 22, the show actually being the crash test. In addition to the two Sonatas that would autonomously throw themselves at one another, the company had a Tucson Fuel Cell use its hydrogen fuel cell stack to make popcorn and 119 various emergency vehicles emergency services on standby in case anything went wrong. When guests were asked which car they thought would fare better, 74 percent of the crowd said the US-spec car. In interviews conducted on the street, 81 percent of respondents said they believe the US car is safer. The video above is in Korean, but car crashes are a universal language. Check it out to see which car comes out better.

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla Electric Road Trip, Google autonomous cars vs. cyclists

Tesla is inviting owners on "Electric Road Trip" events on four continents. To celebrate the 2.5 billion electric miles Tesla owners have logged, the automaker is hosting a series of open house events at Destination Charger locations (think hotels and resorts) in various cities across North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. Attendees will "have the opportunity to swap stories and share your favorite road trip experiences with fellow Tesla owners and like-minded fans," according to Tesla, as well as enjoy local food and drinks. Owners have received email invitations to the series of events, but those interested can also RSVP online. Learn more about the events at Tesla's website, and read more at Teslarati. Google has published its most recent autonomous vehicle testing results, this time with regard to sharing the road with cyclists. The system is programmed to predict when a cyclist will swerve around an open car door, leave room for cyclists during passing and other situations, recognize and remember cyclist had signals, and recognize a variety of bike styles – even unicycles. The report also lists two minor collisions with other vehicles in June, both occurring in Austin, Texas. In one instance, another car swerved into the Google car's lane. In the other, the Google car was rear-ended. Read more at Green Car Congress. Hyundai is expanding its fuel cell program in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE) beyond Southern California. For the second phase of the fuel cell confirmation program, Hyundai will provide the DOE with a number of its Tucson Fuel Cell crossovers for daily use in Northern California, Washington, D.C., Denver, and Michigan. The partners are looking to expand the use of fuel cell vehicles to the rest of the country in the near future. Read more in the press release below. Hyundai And U.S. Department Of Energy Extend Fuel Cell Vehicle Loan Partnership In Concert With New D.C.-Based Hydrogen Fueling Station Latest, Phase II of current program prepares for rollout of fuel cell vehicles nationwide in near future WASHINGTON, July 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are extending their fuel cell vehicle confirmation program, originally from 2013 through 2015, to its second phase, from 2016 through 2017. The program involves Hyundai providing a number of Tucson Fuel Cell CUVs for daily use and confirmation by the DOE using existing hydrogen infrastructure.

Hyundai, Kia and U of M studying 'highway hypnosis'

Next up on the hot-button list of things that can kill you behind the wheel: "highway hypnosis." That's the zombie-like, autopilot phase you get into on a long highway drive when there isn't much to distract you, like curves or traffic. Digging further into what it is and how to combat it, Hyundai-Kia engineers and the University of Michigan are commencing a study that will measure brainwave activity in order to track the body's slide into highway hypnosis.
We're not sure how much overlap this has with Mercedes-Benz's Attention Assist, which tracks more than 70 in-car parameters to determine when you're not focused on the road anymore. That system is billed as an alarm against fatigue, in our experience it does more than that - if you use your phone while driving, for instance, it will chirp.
They don't know what form a warning system will take yet, but Hyundai-Kia plans to develop a method for warning drivers when they being to zone out. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than three thousand deaths and nearly 400,000 injuries due to distracted driving in 2011.