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At the Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan promised to offer self-driving functions in a few years that are already available in Tesla Motors' Model S. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Automobile writers are so bored with the old technology being hawked at dealers worldwide they go bananas over concept cars and other fantasies that may never hit the road. Take this week's reports from the Tokyo Motor Show, where Nissan showed an all-electric concept car that isn't likely to go into production for five years, if then. The Associated Press story on Nissan's IDS (intelligent driving system) noted that by 2018, vehicles equipped with self-drive would be able to change lanes on the highway. That's what owners of the Tesla Model S can do now, thanks to updated software downloaded to the all-electric cars this month. To change lanes, all owners have to do is put on their directional signal when Tesla's Autopilot and Autosteer are enabled. Volt or Dolt? Meanwhile, a new version of the p...

In the 1990s, hundreds of people died in accidents involving the Ford Expolrer and other vehicles equipped with Firestone tires, below. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR There is no way to know how many defective cars were produced when Bob Lutz was a senior leader at GM, Ford and Chrysler or how many people died as a result. Lutz is credited with bringing the first Ford Explorer SUV to market in 1990, leading to a series of fatal rollover accidents when the vehicles were equipped with defective Firestone tires. The auto executive also served, until 2010, as vice chairman of General Motors, where he was instrumental in the production of the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid the news media incorrectly calls an electric car. Now, in a column for Road & Track magazine, Lutz claims Tesla Motors is doomed to fail because the California company is losing money on every all-electric car it sells. Lutz apparently doesn't address why two of the successful auto companies he was involved with, Genera...

On Route 80 west in northern New Jersey on Saturday, I briefly engaged the autonomous-driving features of my Tesla Model S, allowing pedal-free and hands-free driving. But a recent New York Times article erred on how the system works. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR New York Times reporter Aaron M. Kessler made two big errors in reporting on high-speed autonomous driving in the Tesla Model S, and one of them could land owners off the road. In an Oct. 15 article in the paper's Wheels newsletter, Kessler said a software update gave owners Autopilot, "a semi-autonomous feature that allows hands-free, pedal-free driving on the highway under certain conditions." But the business-automotive writer made no mention of Autosteer, the other shoe that has to drop for the car to "drive us, rather than the other way around," as Kessler put it. I had the same incomplete understanding on Oct. 16, when I first tried Autopilot on Route 80 west, near my home in northern New Jersey. I ...

Tesla's Model S is a large, premium all-electric car, but it is dwarfed by some of the behemoths produced by General Motors and other U.S. automakers, such as this gas-guzzling Buick Roadmaster from the 1990s. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR The editors of the Consumer Reports have been knocking themselves out in recent years, urging food shoppers to buy chicken raised without harmful antibiotics. Consumers Union, the magazine's advocacy arm, has even tried to shame Trader Joe's into banishing from its shelves any meat or poultry raised on the growth promotant. But on other important global issues, such as climate change, and air and noise pollution, the editors of Consumers Reports have failed us completely. That's the only conclusion consumers can draw from the magazine's unexpected decision this week to drop its recommendation of the zero-emissions Tesla Model S. Consumer Reports surveyed 1,400 Model S owners -- perhaps 1 in 10 -- who listed "a range of problems...

When the driver of a Tesla Model S enables Autopilot and Autosteer, as I did today on Route 17 in northern New Jersey, the car drives itself, slows and accelerates, stays in lane, and follows curves in the road as well as lane shifts. The speedometer and steering wheel symbols flanking the digital speed display indicate the driver has turned on Autopilot and Autosteer by pulling back twice on the cruise-control stalk. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR No one can claim driving in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area is fun. But now Tesla Motors has introduced Autopilot and Autosteer, the ultimate cruise control. Just two quick movements of the cruise-control stalk in a Tesla Model S enables both auto-drive functions. In stop-and-go traffic on Route 17 south in Paramus today, I took my hands off of the steering wheel and my foot off of the accelerator, and let my Model S drive itself: The car slowed and accelerated, and followed a lane shift in a construction zone near the Garden State Par...

If you aren't a speed freak with the mentality of a high school student, you couldn't help but enjoy driving a Hyundai Sonata gas-electric hybrid over winding country roads draped in fall colors. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR In the wake of the Volkswagen scandal, automobile writers who gathered for their annual race-track ritual served to focus attention on the environmental damage caused by the antiquated internal-combustion engine. The emphasis at Test Days is speed, though members of the International Motor Press Association are warned repeatedly they are there to "test" the latest production models, not "race" them. I attended Wednesday's session at Monticello Motor Club, which bills itself as "North America's premier automotive country club and private race track" just 90 minutes from New York City.  TV commercials show cars being driven at 100 mph or more, appealing to the male race-car driver fantasy, and then the manufacturers bring t...

My Tesla Model S recharges overnight in my garage. Solar panels on the roof of my home generate credits I can sell to PSE&G, the public utility, through a middleman. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Last week, I deposited a check for $2,250 for 10 solar credits -- enough money to cover my home electric bill and recharging my Tesla Model S in 2015. I sold the credits, called Solar Renewable Energy Certificates, to PSE&G, the public utility in northern New Jersey, through a company called NJSREC.com. The utility can buy certificates from homeowners and businesses, and count them toward its obligation to generate clean, renewable energy. Two systems I have two solar-panel systems, the first installed in 2009 under a state rebate program, and a second from 2012 under a loan from the utility. I get to keep and sell the solar certificates from the first, and the proceeds aren't taxable.  The 10 I just sold represent about a year's generation -- one for every megawatt of energy prod...

These views of the 2016 Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid, from Consumer Reports, show the designers didn't completely abandon cues from the 2010-15 Prius, one of the most recognizable shapes on the road. This three-quarter rear view of the 2016 Prius is especially evocative of the old model. The 2016 Prius now bears a strong family resemblance to Toyota's Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. Many Prius owners are disappointed Toyota didn't develop an all-electric version of the world's best-selling hybrid or a completely new EV.  The 2010-15 Toyota Prius looks fresh six years after the wraps came off. We still have a red 2010 Prius, one of four Toyota hybrids we bought starting with a burgundy 2004.  The futuristic, second-generation 2004-09 Toyota Prius in silver, the most popular color. The 2004 model -- as groundbreaking as the air-cooled, rear-engine VW Beetle -- introduced the hatchback design that continues in the 2016 Prius.  Toyota brought the first Prius to the Un...