| According to a study conducted by the suburban | | | | hand, Mercury Milan scored 910 and that is the |
| Detroit RDA Group market-research firm, the | | | | lowest score for any Ford product, RDA revealed. |
| quality of Nissan Motors Co., Inc. is equal to the | | | | The Nissan turn signal is flashing positive vibes. |
| Ford Motor Co. and the Toyota Motors Corp. Ford | | | | Lately, the Japanese automaker has been busy |
| and Toyota have already etched a trusted | | | | testing new strategies and coming up with |
| reputation in the global automotive industry for | | | | fascinating innovations. At present, Nissan is |
| several decades now. | | | | testing a pedestrian-detecting system which is |
| The study conducted for Ford revealed that the | | | | designed to warn drivers if someone is about to |
| Honda Motor Co. turned out the best overall | | | | walk into the road. |
| results. Still, 'It's a big improvement for us,' said | | | | The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is |
| Ford global quality Vice President Bennie Fowler. In | | | | equipped with mobile phone technology and GPS |
| the said study, RDA asked 31,000 new-vehicle | | | | (global positioning satellites) to send data to the |
| owners to write down any problems they | | | | car on the pedestrian's location. Nissan is currently |
| encountered in the first 90 days of ownership of | | | | concentrating on researching which type of data is |
| their 2007-model cars and trucks from all major | | | | most useful to prevent road accidents, including |
| automakers. | | | | the direction of travel of the pedestrian relative |
| Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brand vehicles had 1,456 | | | | to the vehicle, and corresponding speeds and |
| problems per 1,000 vehicles, as compared with | | | | distances. It is also studying whether to visual |
| 1,457 for Nissan and 1,453 for Toyota, RDA said. | | | | alerts or audible warnings. The most appropriate |
| Honda was found to be the best in new-car | | | | alerts are expected to be integrated to the car. |
| quality, with 1,313 'things gone wrong' per 1,000 | | | | Nissan has also announced its partnership with the |
| vehicles, RDA noted. Ford's quality improved 8 | | | | NEC Corporation to make latest-generation |
| percent, compared with the overall industry's two | | | | lithium-ion batteries. These batteries are believed |
| percent improvement. | | | | to be more efficient and environment-friendly |
| The Ford Fusion beat the Toyota Camry and the | | | | than some of the present power sources. They |
| Honda Accord with 1,066 problems per 1,000 | | | | will be used to enable a new series of electric |
| vehicles in the midsize-car segment. On the other | | | | cars and hybrids. |