If only all EVs looked like this...

It seems that for every auto show we cover, most of the big headline-makers are hybrid or electric cars. Green cars are definitely the auto trend of the moment. But, the headlines and trends may not prove substantial enough to motivate great sales. A new J.D. Power & Associates report predicts that green cars like hybrids and EVs will only make up 7.3 percent of the global auto market by 2020. That’s up from 2.2 percent this year, a gain of only 5 percentage points in 10 years. Seems like a rather slow crawl for a market segment that’s earned so much lip service. Traditional factors like range anxiety, cost and performance helped to feed respondents’ reluctance to adopt green driving technologies.

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Why Not?

It’s late at night. The sun is long gone. Hours worth of open road lay ahead of you and your mind naturally gets to wandering. If you’re a young, virile man, your mind is naturally moving  in a risque direction. Legs, thighs, breasts, lips–whatever your pleasure, it can really be distracting on a long drive. So once in a while, you’ve got to take all that out of the driving equation. After all, you really only need one hand for driving.

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A new study has come out that has found a link between hyper-masculinity (macho douchiness) and aggressive, reckless driving. Go figure. The University of Montreal study had 22 men sit in a driver’s simulator and try to catch up with a car ahead. Those that were deemed more macho (we’ll get to that gem in a moment) were more likely to put on their meanest “Bro, let’s do this thing” face and catch the car with complete disregard for virtual regulations and driving safety.

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You don’t need an extensive study to tell you that texting and driving is a problem on our roadways. According to a new study, however, the solution may not be texting-while-driving bans.

The study conducted by the Highway Loss Data Institute found that the bans are not effective at lowering crash rates. It focused on rates for California, Connecticut, New York and Washington D.C.–places that all have bans in place. It found that the monthly crash rates were unaffected once the bans were enacted. The crash rates also didn’t decrease when compared with neighboring areas without bans. The study only looked at 100 insured vehicles, however– seemingly a tiny sample that would make its findings questionable.

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The fact that texting while driving is multiple times more dangerous than talking is pretty intuitive; we don’t really need a study to know it’s true. Texting requires you to take your hand off the wheel and eyes off the road and is a clear distraction.

However, people like studies and a recent study that investigated the dangers of texting while driving, as well as talking on a cell phone, made some revealing findings–or confirmations. The study was performed by a team of University of Utah psychologists and tested men and women between the ages of 19 and 23. It used a driving simulator rather than actual vehicles.

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In an all out battle for green supremacy, hybrid vehicle owners are hell-bent on tapping the pedal into the nearest pedestrian or cyclist. The latter two may have the eco-edge, but the former has the distinct advantage of a big, ugly, two-ton vehicle. Advantage hybrid owner.

Okay, perhaps that’s a bit skewed, but a recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found a higher incidence of pedestrian/bicycle crashes among hybrid owners. According to the study, pedestrian crashes were found to be .9 percent among hybrid drivers and .6 percent among drivers of gas vehicles. For cyclist accidents, the numbers were .6 (hybrid) to .3.

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New car buyers that intend to automatically eschew American cars in favor of imports may want to take a closer look. According to a new customer loyalty study conducted by Experian Automotive, many of the top 10 cars for brand loyalty are American-made. In fact, six of those  10 wear a Ford symbol. Those vehicles include the Ford Fusion, Edge, Five Hundred/Taurus and Freestyle. Ford owners are more likely than any other to replace their Ford with another Ford. The other vehicles ranking in the top 10 are the Toyota Prius, Chevy Impala, Toyota Camry and Toyota Corolla. GM, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well, as owners unhappy with the discontuation of Pontiac and Saturn expressed an intent on not returning to GM dealerships. Experian estimates that GM’s market share will fall by about 2.5 percent. [via AutoBlog]

NAVTEQ has recently released a study assessing the use of navigation systems and their impact on consumers. Key among the findings of the study is that systems that provide real-time traffic information save drivers 18 percent of time over those that don’t use navigation–this breaks down to a full four days over the course of a year. According to the study, traffic information also helps drivers to reduce travel distance and get drivers where they need to go faster, cutting emissions by 21 percent over drivers without nav systems. Of course, I’d be wary of any navigation-system study done by a company that provides maps and traffic data, but make of it what you will. [via egm CarTech ]