Vehicle Equipment

A coalition of automobile trade groups has sued the California Air Resources Board over a new regulation that extends warranties on some vehicle emissions equipment, claiming it could cost its members billions of dollars. The suit was filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court by 11 organizations that represent the aftermarket car parts and service industry. At issue is a rule, approved Jan.

I remember a time when if a vehicle with dark tinted windows rolled by, you'd figure the passengers were celebrities, gangsters or politicians. Today, tinted car windows are so in vogue, you never know if behind those smoky windows is a rapper or a soccer mom. They are called "privacy windows," says Steve Mazor of the Auto Club of Southern California. The question is: "Privacy to do what?"

Rockwell International Corp. has been sued by rival Eaton Corp. over alleged patent infringement. Like Rockwell, Cleveland-based Eaton makes automotive and industrial equipment. The suit, filed Thursday in federal court in Delaware, alleges that Rockwell's soon-to-be-independent automotive group in Michigan is producing a gear shift control system that copies an Eaton patent. The patent is for a shift control that provides the benefits of both manual and automatic shifts, according to the suit.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday recommended that all Boeing B-737 airplanes be fitted with a redesigned rudder part, manufactured in Irvine, because the part has been found to malfunction and could cause flight problems. The board said the rudder part is not known to have resulted in any injuries to passengers or damage to airplanes. The malfunction was discovered during a routine preflight check by a pilot, the board said.

Safety features developed decades ago by the tire industry to keep treads from peeling off have not been used in most standard lines of tires, including models implicated in recent fatal accidents. Safety advocates say that many of those deadly crashes might have been prevented had tire makers used these simple and inexpensive devices.

A Van Nuys man has become the first person in Los Angeles to be sentenced under a new state law requiring twice-convicted drunk drivers to equip their vehicles with a device that prevents the engine from being started if the driver has been drinking, prosecutors said Tuesday. Murray J. Greenfield, 48, pleaded no contest Monday to drunk driving in an incident Sunday in which he nearly collided with a police car at Sherman Way and Rubio Avenue in Van Nuys, said Deputy City Atty. Harvey Crespy.

At first glance, it might appear that the most valuable cargo in Mark E. Gassei's white Toyota truck are the long rolls of wall covering he carries to show clients. But inside the cab, Gassei--who heads his own home improvement company in Granada Hills--has more than $4,000 in fancy electronic accessories, including an elaborate stereo, a mobile telephone and an alarm to protect the equipment from thieves. "I'm sure all of this stuff would intimidate my mother," Gassei quipped.

Aided by motorists' seeming insatiable appetite for electronic devices that blink, blare and warn, automotive gadgets have come a long way since the days of curb feelers and cruise control. But the market is a turbulent one, due to changing consumer tastes and styles.

American motorists spent almost $20 billion last year to improve the appearance, power and performance of the vehicles that inhabit their garages, a new study reports. Fueled in part by a growing number of new enthusiasts whose loyalties lie with imported cars, the boom in so-called specialty automotive aftermarket spending has outpaced inflation for most of the last decade.

The AAA is collecting old batteries nationwide as part of its campaign to protect public health and the environment from potentially dangerous injuries and contamination from used batteries. Last year AAA clubs collected more than 15,000 batteries. The current AAA Great Battery Roundup has been extended through Saturday at 65 drop-off sites in Southern California. A list of locations can be found on the club's Web site, www.aaa-calif.com, or call (800) 400-4222 for more information.