Young women are more likely to die in traffic accidents than men

Paul A. Eisenstein the Detroit Office 30 may 2013 to 1:00 PM ET

Young women are more likely die in a car crash as a man her age, because they are much more fragile according to a report this month by Federal safety regulators. That changed when both age, but when men reach less robust and less likely to survive a crash.

The study, authored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was not intended, to determine, what sex is more like text or speed - risky behaviours that lead to crashes, even though research has found that young men more likely to accelerate. Instead, NHTSA is trying, compare how men and women fare, if otherwise similar crashes occur.

Total women were the most vulnerable, 17 percent more likely to be killed.

Between 21 and 30 years, female drivers are 25.9 percent more are killed, based on a study of 50 years to US women who are passengers 29.2 percent even more likely rather die in a plane crash than male individuals - crashes.

349 Pages study it, that young men tend to be brawnier and their bodies are more likely to forces of a potentially fatal accident. The study also says that younger women, to wear seat belts, rather be thrown out of a car, one of the biggest causes of serious injuries.

35 Are women and men even more in terms of the probability of dying in a car accident. Female drivers have retired to a better chance of surviving than men aged 65 to 74 years.

Older female passengers are however still 11.2 percent more likely than men, killed the NHTSA found.

This is not to say that older women of less likely that die in a crash than younger women are: youth has its advantages for both sexes.

Each year by a person life, male or female, 21 years increases the risk of death about 3 percent. Other studies have found that an elderly woman died four times more likely in a crash as a 21-year-old woman.

For men, the increase is even more extreme, that could explain why the gap between men and women later in life. A 70-year-old male driver risk of death increases five-fold.

Proposed federal agency, perhaps simply reflects the fact, that "healthier seniors pursue further, while less healthy senior citizens only as passengers can ride."

The increased risk for older people has caused, auto manufacturers and regulators are looking for solutions. There were proposals for the creation of a separate crash-system of of rating to indicate how seniors in individual vehicles tariff.

Ford Motor Co. has expanded the use of a new system, combines the airbags and seat belts in a unit. The device is now offered on various Ford models including the Flex "People mover". There is an option for the middle row of the seven car, where older passengers are more likely to sit, the company says.

Tesla plans to repay fed loans a decade early

Regardless of age, deaths have fallen car dramatically in the last fifty years. Dipped after NHTSA highway deaths to 32.367 during 2011. This was minus 1.9 per cent compared with the previous year and was the lowest number since 1949 there was a slight upturn in the last year, although why remains unclear. Experts suspect that SMS might reasons during driving and mild weather.

Copyright © 2009-2013, the Detroit Bureau

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Sandy likely to hit car buyers in the wallet

With much of the Eastern Seaboard still digging out and drying out from Superstorm Sandy estimates now put the damage at anywhere up to $50 billion, perhaps more. But in the weeks to come, even consumers as far away as the West Coast could feel the pinch.

That is likely to be especially true for car buyers. Early estimates suggest that tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of vehicles were damaged to the point they will need to be replaced. And that is likely to drive up prices for both new and used vehicles in the weeks and months ahead, experts warn.

If there’s a positive side for consumers it could mean better prices for those looking to trade in a car. For the industry, it’s likely to add even more momentum to the U.S. automotive market’s ongoing recovery.

The extent of the damage from the superstorm remains to be seen. But experts are already trying to make some comparisons to the trio of hurricanes that slashed through the Gulf Coast region in 2005, destroying an estimated 640,000 vehicles.

“The damage from this storm was more widespread across a more populous area than was hit by Katrina, so the number of vehicles that will need to be replaced will likely be much bigger,” warns Ricky Beggs, vice president of the Black Book, a major source of pricing information on used, as well as new, vehicles.

In fact, the impact will have a “ripple effect in other parts of the country” as dealers and customers in storm-damaged regions race to find replacement vehicles.

The first measure of the impact, suggests Beggs, will likely become apparent at the 62 wholesale automotive auctions covered by the Black Book each week. He anticipates that dealers on the East Coast will significantly increase their bidding and likely grab vehicles that would have otherwise gone to the Midwest, South or even to the Pacific Coast.

Complicating matters, used vehicles already were in short supply because of declining sales of new vehicles during the Great Recession of the last four years. Prices had already been nudging record levels for much of 2012 and Beggs predicts there will be another “bump” in the months ahead.

“We may be seeing anything from $200 to $600 depending on how much the need is,” he says, adding that there could be especially strong demand for pickups and full-size vans used by contractors and repair crews – not only to replace vehicles damaged by the storm but “because there’ll be demand for services to repair the damages from the storm, so someone who might have had one truck may now need two.”

New car prices may also be heading up, the Black Book editor cautions, especially in markets with high lease penetration, such as the Boston area. Those customers, he anticipates, will be more likely to replace damaged vehicles with new ones. How many other motorists buy new vehicles could depend on whether they’re covered by insurance – and how much they get in a settlement, experts caution.

But automakers could also face demand for more vehicles from new car dealers whose lots were damaged. So, while the storm resulted in a short-term sales dip in much of the Eastern third of the U.S., the mid-term focus is much more upbeat.

And the story isn’t entirely bad for consumers, says Beggs. -“It might be a good time,” he adds, “even this week,” for getting maximum value for a trade-in as dealers scramble to line up used vehicles to replace those destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.

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GM likely to spend $500M on worker bonuses

DETROIT — General Motors is likely to spend more than $500 million on employee bonuses and profit-sharing based on the company's performance last year.

GM, which made a record profit in 2011, will pay bonuses of at least $182 million to white-collar workers such as engineers, car designers and managers on Wednesday, according to a formula obtained by The Associated Press. That's on top of $332.5 million in profit-sharing it already agreed to pay factory workers.

In the past, such payments have drawn criticism from those who believe the government shouldn't have bailed out GM and Chrysler. But GM, which made a record $7.6 billion last year, says the payments are needed to hold on to skilled employees. It's also keeping fixed costs down by giving bonuses instead of annual pay raises.

The bonuses will go to most of the company's 26,000 salaried employees, many of whom make more than $100,000 a year. The bonuses will range from 8 percent of base pay to 14 percent, according to the formula.

The company would not release the percentages, nor would it say how much it will spend on the bonuses. But it's likely the average bonus for salaried employees will be more than the $7,000 that each of GM's 47,500 factory workers will get in March.

The white-collar bonuses are determined by a worker's pay grade, individual performance and company metrics that measure whether GM met goals including pretax earnings, market share, cash flow and quality. This year's salaried bonuses will be smaller than last year's, when the company met all of its goals. A small number of top performers will get pay raises or larger bonuses, the company has said.

"It's a pay-for-performance type approach that really drives accountability in the organization and helps employees connect their compensation with performance," says GM spokeswoman Lynda Messina.

GM must reward employees because the labor market is starting to become competitive again, especially for computer experts, engineers and other skilled jobs, says James Stoeckmann, senior compensation specialist for World at Work, an organization of human resources executives who specialize in pay issues.

"Companies are having a hard time finding all those critical skills they need," he says. At almost every company, white-collar bonuses are higher than those given to blue-collar workers, he says.

The U.S. spent nearly $50 billion to save GM three years ago, and some Republicans think the government should get its money back before bonuses are paid. The company nearly ran out of cash when auto sales dried up in the middle of the financial crisis. With little or no private loans available, GM needed a bailout to make it through bankruptcy protection.

The government agreed to take stock in GM in exchange for most of the debt. So far it has recouped more than $22 billion. Taxpayers still own 500 million shares of GM, or 26.5 percent of the company. If the government sold those shares at the current price of around $26, it would get about $13.2 billion. But it's waiting for the stock price to rise before selling. Shares would have to sell for more than $53 each for the government to get all its money back, which is unlikely.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a critic of the bailout, said the Obama administration needs to figure out a way to get the money back.

"As the company gives out bonuses, the Treasury Department needs to have an exit strategy for getting GM to repay the taxpayers for helping the company survive," he said in a statement. "Without an exit strategy, GM can expect more questions and scrutiny regarding employee bonuses."

The formula to calculate the bonus percentages was given to the Associated Press by a person familiar with GM's compensation. The person didn't want to be identified because the company did not make the formula public.

The company announced earlier this month that it plans to freeze its U.S. pension plan for white-collar workers and move to a 401 (k)-type plan. GM also gave salaried employees five more vacation days.

White-collar workers fared better at crosstown rival Ford Motor Co. Ford said last month that 20,000 salaried workers will get 2.7 percent pay raises on April 1, plus bonuses based on individual performance.

In addition, Ford will make profit-sharing payments of around $6,200 each to its 41,600 U.S. factory employees in March.

GM CEO Daniel Akerson has been against giving annual raises, saying the added costs limit the company's flexibility in an economic downturn.

But that could hurt GM over time, if Ford workers get pay raises and their salaries grow far larger than those at GM, says David Whiston, auto equity analyst for Morningstar.

Ford, which borrowed billions from banks but avoided a government bailout, said the raises are needed to stay competitive with other big companies. The automaker made a $20 billion profit last year

Salaried workers at Chrysler Group LLC, which made far less money than GM or Ford, also will get profit-sharing checks. The company, which is not publicly traded, would not disclose the amounts. About 26,000 union workers at Chrysler, which also took a government bailout, will get checks of about $1,500. Chrysler made $183 million last year.

GM, Chrysler and Ford agreed to the profit-sharing for factory workers in contract talks last year with the United Auto Workers union. Most of the workers won't get pay raises.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Toyota: N. American plant closures likely in April

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - Toyota Motor Corp said Monday, that it is inevitable, that the company is forced to temporarily all shut down its North American factories because of parts shortages due to the earthquake, the Japan made.

The temporary shutdown are expected to take place later in the month relate to 25,000 workers, but no layoffs are expected, said Mike Goss spokesman. Only the planned shutdown last or whether all 13 of the Toyota will be affected the same factories, is unknown and depends on if parts production in Japan can start, he said how long.

So far that presented used parts in your inventory or relying on those who have the North American plants have been delivered to the earthquake, Goss. But these were low run.

"We where up to a point this month get this gap in the pipeline begins to show." So we have to suspend production for a while, "he said."

A March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged auto parts plants in the north-eastern Japan, cause bottlenecks that hit the most car production of the nation. Japan's car daily output of more than 500,000 vehicles since the disaster, has fallen, Scotiabank senior says economist Carlos Gomes. Some manufacturers market plants back on line, but only at low speeds due to missing parts.

Manufacturers outside the country are the lack of parts from Japan. Just last week, several North American plants for part of this month, Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. said closed out, and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said that his company can expect to see errors.

Toyota only gets about 15 percent of its parts from Japan for cars and trucks built in North America, "but still have them all, to build the vehicles", said Goss.

Poured Kentucky said Monday before a show in Louisville, from Toyota's head of North American operations. Toyota has about 500 company provides parts in North America might, but many of them get components from Japan, which is not available, he said. During the planned shutdown, workers focuses on training and review the operations for ways to improve. You can take off even holiday or time without pay.

The planned shutdown all Toyota and Lexus models produced in the United States will have, he said. Several large car dealership chain predictions lack models of Japanese automakers in the spring and summer.

Goss would not estimate how long the Assembly lines would be shut down. "It depends on how quickly we can help these suppliers up and running again to get into Japan," he said. "Things change every day and we try hard to minimize any interruption of our production in North America."

Toyota runs behind the several parts, mainly electronics and paint pigments, said Yoshimi Inaba, Chief Operating Officer for North American operations. The company is looking for alternative parts supplier. He also said it is too early to predict the impact on the Toyota sales and their efforts to from a string of safety recalls last year, which have hurt sales.

"We have some inventory." So if the interruption of the production is short enough, then it would have any major impact, "he told reporters to at an event of literacy in Louisville." "It is too early to predict how big is the influence."

Toyota warned last month that production cuts in some North American factories were possible, but said it knew when or how long.

Copyright 2011, the associated press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

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