Hasta La Gadget!

Auto-stop systems, which cut the engine while idling at a traffic light in order to save fuel, are beginning to hit mainstream vehicles across the globe. A Ford executive said at the Detroit auto show last week that over the next several years, all Ford vehicles will get auto-stop capability, according to AutoblogGreen. Today, only Ford hybrids, including the Escape and Fusion (along with their Mercury counterparts, the Mariner and Milan), can do it.

The report said that automakers are adding the systems to manual transmission cars first, since the driver always sends a clear signal—shifting back into first—before he or she wants to begin moving again. But in the U.S., automatic transmission cars represent 95 percent of the market. In the case of an automatic, “an electro hydraulic pump must be added to shift the transmission back to first gear before restarting.” Look for auto-stop systems to appear on dual-clutch and other “auto-manual” style combination transmissions first, before they eventually appear on regular automatics.

Toyota has announced that it is planning its own version of GM’s OnStar telematics system that will be an option on some Lexus and Toyota cars later this year, Automotive News reports.

The automaker said at CES in Las Vegas that the Lexus version of the system will be called Enform, while the Toyota system will be called Safety Connect. Each one will have a different feature set, with some basic commonalities between the two. Like OnStar, both new systems will trigger an operator phone call in the event of an accident with airbag deployment; the operator will call 911 and report the car’s location if there’s no response. Both systems will feature Emergency buttons as well as cellular and GPS radios built into any model so equipped.

The Lexus version of the system, Enform, will add luxury-based features such as weather reports, voice guidance, and the ability to transmit data over the Internet, but will share all the same safety features with Safety Connect on Toyotas. The company plans to give customers a one year free trial of each system with the purchase of a new car.

Electric cars highlighted the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit with a half-dozen introductions, including the Cadillac Converj concept car, an upscale version of the Chevrolet Volt. For automakers, electric cars are a roll of the dice: They cost a lot more, even more than the $2,000-$3,000 a hybrid commands over a non-hybrid. A hybrid mostly runs on gasoline or diesel; the electrics being shown have much larger battery packs so they can go 30 to 40 miles. Where a laptop battery ($100-$200) has six to nine cells, an electric car might have the equivalent of 5,000. Some of the introductions at NAIAS:

Audiovox this week announced a partnership with Sony that will bring the Japanese electronics manufacturer’s popular PlayStation 2 console to cars everywhere.

Audiovox plans three models, which so far lack an official product name, price, or ship date. It appears that the company will offer these as aftermarket options to car manufacturers, and possibly to retail stores as well.

The flagship model looks a bit like standard in-car DVD player — and it should, because that’s essentially what it is. Inside the unit, however, are the guts of a PlayStation 2 player. It also incorporates a full-color 16:9 10-inch screen, 16-channel FM modulator, two game controllers, headphones, and a DVD remote.

The first day of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas wrapped up today with a keynote delivered by Ford Motor Company president and CEO, Alan Mulally. Keeping with the larger theme of the convention, the key word was “convergence,” uttered a plethora of times by both Mulally himself and the three other Ford executives who took the stage after him.

The economy, on the other hand–a hot topic among both CES attendees and anyone following the recent congressional bailout of the American auto industry–was hardly a focus on the evening’s presentation, save for a few brief mentions of Ford’s focus on low prices, and an off-handed remark by CEA Gary Shapiro. “As everyone knows, car companies have been in the news a lot, these days,” said Shapiro, before bringing Mulally on stage.

For Mulally and his team, the focus was on much more positive topics, including the success and future of the Ford Sync. “At 2007 CES, Microsoft and Ford unveiled Sync,” explained Mulally. “In just two years, it has become a big success.” Mulally backed up the statement with some impressive numbers. “By this fall more than one million Sync equipped vehicles on the road. These vehicles are selling twice as fast as non-Sync equipped vehicles on dealer lots.”