Toyota Prius owners are complaining that the nature of the car’s traction control system causes the engine to die just when you need it most - in snow and ice. Many feel that this is potentially dangerous and have stopped using their Prius whenever it snows.

An increasing number of complaints have been sent to Toyota but the company remains adamant - that is the way the system has been designed and it is working as intended, apparently - so it will not be re-designed or adjusted.

It seems to me that the hybrid Prius has found the best way of all to save the planet; after all, when the motor isn’t running, it’s not pumping out any greenhouse gases…

Read more at Consumer Affairs dot com.

As we saw with the GM Hy-Wire, hydrogen is the best alternative fuel. The big problem with it is its bad press - thanks to the Hindenberg and other airship disasters, it has an aura of danger about it and people imagine giant fireballs where once there was a car. The fact that hydrogen is less flammable than gasoline stands little chance against such images unless a public re-education program is instituted.

That is exactly what BMW intends with its introduction of the hybrid H7, a normal-looking saloon that runs on both gasoline and hydrogen. The company intends to import 25 H7s this year for loan to people who can advance the cause of hydrogen as a fuel.

For more than fifty years there have been cars that run on hydrogen - but early ones depended upon containing the gas within a pressurized fuel tank, thus allowing us to fear leaks and explosions (although neither has ever happened, as far as I know). BMW have chosen to cool the gas to a liquid, making it easier to handle and allaying our fears.

Hydrogen has so many obvious advantages as an alternative fuel that we cannot afford to ignore it. It has almost the same power to volume ratio as gasoline and the product of burning it is as innocuous as water. In fact, it is water. Rather than considering turning our farms over to ethanol-producing corn and starving ourselves in the process, we should be getting used to the idea of hydrogen as a fuel.

One warning, however: if you want to build an airship, use helium, not hydrogen…

While most of the world’s car manufacturers plan smaller, more fuel-efficient and hybrid models in their bid to “save the planet”, Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo refuses to consider that route. He assured journalists at the Geneva Motor Show that Ferrari would never build a smaller car.

This follows the success of the GTB Fiorano model which has a two year waiting list for buyers. And the next Ferrari will be based upon its highest seller, the F430, which is powered by a V8.

Clearly there is a market for such cars, with Ferrari enjoying good sales and big profits over the last year and buyers lining up to spend their money. It seems that the rich don’t take too much notice of the global warming scare.

Or could it be that they know the whole business is a politically-motivated scare story without scientific foundation…?