Daddy-O

Ford, Union Announce Agreement
Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers union said late last night
that they had reached a tentative agreement on a four-year labor
contract. The deal was modeled on the one the UAW reached Sunday with
DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, marking an unusually fast
turnaround as workers and carmakers strive to show cooperation in the
face of withering competition from overseas manufacturers. Ford Chairman
William Clay Ford Jr. and UAW President Ronald A. Gettelfinger announced
the agreement after 11 p.m. at Ford's headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. No
details were released; the agreement must be ratified by about 93,000
active Ford employees and 105,000 retirees represented by the UAW. The
union continued negotiating yesterday with General Motors Corp., and
officials said they were near an agreement. "UAW negotiators have made a
great deal of progress over the past several days, and we are close to
reaching a tentative agreement with General Motors," union negotiator
Clyde Sims said in a recorded message to members. Gettelfinger had tried
to get a tentative contract with all three companies simultaneously --
something that had never been done. Last-minute snags apparently kept
that from happening, but the negotiating process has been unusually
smooth.
(Source: The Washington Post)

Cleaner Cars Take Toll on Automakers’ Costs
Seven car companies have begun selling low-polluting cars in California,
where they are called PZEVs, for partial zero-emission vehicles. They're
all normal vehicles — Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, BMW 325 — that look
and perform just like their non-PZEV counterparts sold in other states.
California car buyers might not even have known they bought
low-pollution models, so innocuous are they. California, because of its
smog, requires the biggest automakers to sell PZEVs and other
low-pollution vehicles to help the state meet federal clean-air
standards. The extra cost of PZEV (pronounced PEE-zev) hardware is
estimated at $500 a car by automakers and consultants. Whatever the
amount, most car companies say it is enough to discourage them from
offering PZEVs nationwide. Ford and Toyota are going nationwide,
nonetheless, to spread the extra cost of California PZEV hardware over
more cars and to earn public relations points for showing environmental
concern. Even if other automakers don't follow suit promptly, they'll
have to move in that direction as U.S. auto-pollution regulations get
progressively stricter starting with '04 models and begin to converge
with California's pollution restrictions the next few years. It's only a
matter of time before essentially all gasoline-fueled passenger cars and
light trucks are PZEVs," says Tom Austin of Sierra Research in
Sacramento, which studies clean-air issues for government and industry.
(Source: USA Today)


Computer Devices Aim to Make Vehicles Safer
Computer-driven systems that steer out of skids, wake dozing drivers and
soften collisions with pedestrians were among the safety innovations
highlighted last week at the Frankfurt International Auto Show. These
improvements will soon be appearing in cars as sophisticated
microprocessors are harnessed to protect people. The new systems, to
appear in the next two or three model years, are testimony to the
increasing role computers are taking in today's vehicles. The designers
of the computerized safety systems are now seeking to exploit that trend
and extend the gains made with air bags and antilock brakes.
"Electronics have just opened up degrees of freedom in what you can do,"
said John Nurse, advanced engineering manager at Delphi's Wuppertal,
Germany technology center. "We want to devise systems that let people
drive without accidents. That's the end goal." But, he said, "that's
not going to happen next year." For now, the systems seek to stop some
of the common causes of accidents, such as inattention on straight
roads, following too closely, and oversteering in skids.
(Source: The Associated Press)