The device, made by...
The device, made by specialist sound system giant Harman/Kardon, is called the Drive+Play, and it comes in three parts. There"s a "brain" that"s hidden under the dashboard which connects the car"s stereo to the iPod, a display unit and a compact control stick.
Barriers fitted to a...
Barriers fitted to a truck"s rear end are supposed to stop vehicles smashing under the trailer on impact. But new crash tests by German breakdown organisation ADAC show stricter EU laws, due in March, don"t go far enough.
The regulations currently dictate the impact the barrier can withstand without breaking. This is set to increase, but when ADAC tested the new standard rear underrun protection at 56mph, the bar snapped "like a matchstick". As these pictures show, the Ford Focus test vehicle was left wedged under the HGV, and the trailer smashed through the windscreen into the cabin.
ADAC says the risk of fatalities in a car-to-truck collision is three times greater than when a car hits another car. "To stop serious injuries in a rear end crash, underrun protection must be far stronger than the new laws state," explained a spokesman.
But Geoff Day of the Freight Transport Association said: "The protection offered by the barrier depends on the speed you"re driving at. Any more solid and it will be like hitting a brick wall."