Honda Walking Assist devices (2009) CAR review


If you thought yesterday’s CAR test of Honda’s U3-X electric unicycle was weird, wait until you here about these two ‘walking assist’ devices. Since 1999 Honda has been researching and developing walking assist devices for people with leg problems, and CAR has just tested two such contraptions. Read on for our full review.

So what are these new Honda walking assist systems?
The first – and more simplistic – device is (to use its full name) Honda’s Walking Assist Device with Stride Management System. (Let’s call it Stride Assist.) It’s designed to help people with leg problems, mainly Japan’s OAP 65+ population – which will make up a fifth of the populace next year, and 35% by 2050 – but it can also help those rehabilitating after accidents.

There are three parts to the device. The first is a belt, with adjustable straps at the front, and a solid section at the rear that runs from one hip, around your back, to the other hip. The solid section also houses the battery pack and computer control, which nestles in the small of your back, while a small motor hangs down from the belt on either hip. And to accommodate big Westerners, and those with childbearing hips, Honda has also developed three different size belts, with either 312, 342 or 372mm of space between the motors.

Once the belt is in place, a thin frame is then clipped into the bottom of each motor. At the bottom of each frame are two pads, which hang just above your knee. One is placed on your hamstring and the other on your quad, and then they’re secured in place.

Being strapped in by Honda’s engineers makes you feel like Iron Man getting dressed, but once you’ve actually adjusted all the straps for yourself, it takes less than 10 seconds to put the Stride Assist system on. The whole thing, at least in 342mm size, weighs just 2.8kg, and with the lithium-ion batteries fully charged, there’s two hours’ charge if you walk at around 3mph.

And then?
Then you press the ‘on’ button on each motor and set off. The torque of the electric motor is sent through the thigh frames to your legs, so when you take a step forward your leg is helped from behind, and on the second part of the stride the pad on your quad pushes your leg back. Sensors on the inside of the motors detect the angle of your hips and decide how the timing and how much assistance you need.

At first you walk a little like Robocop, awkwardly stepping forward, but you soon start to adjust to the motor’s inputs. It helps you up stairs too, but not down - so you don’t fall, in theory. But the biggest difference you notice is when you take Stride Assist off and suddenly feel how heavy your legs are, and what an effort it takes to walk.

So far Honda has trialled Stride Assist in care homes, rehabilitation centres and hospitals. Honda found that when its patients (average age 78) used the device twice a week for three months it lengthened their stride and thus walking speed. And when test subjects were made to walk up hills, their heart rate was on average 20bpm lower with Stride Assist.

By Ben Pulman
fr.www.carmagazine.co.uk

Volkswagen Launches Special-Edition Jetta TDI, New Beetle Coupe, and CC


Volkswagen has announced three more special editions for the 2010 model year. All three models are available now at VW dealerships.




The first model under the knife is the slinky CC, which emerges as the CC R-Line. As with the European version, the R-Line changes are mostly cosmetic: a new body kit and front spoiler, 18-inch wheels, tinted taillights, brushed-aluminum door sills, and a couple of R-Line badges. The package can be had on CCs powered by the 2.0T engine with either manual or DSG transmissions, for a cost of $29,590.






The Jetta TDI Cup Street Edition (pictured above) is as close as the average driver can get to the cars in VW’s diesel race series. The Jetta receives the Cup car’s body kit, stiffer suspension and grabbier brakes from the Jetta GLI, and 18-inch wheels with performance tires. Sportier seats and VW’s lovable TDI engine, coupled to either a DSG or three-pedal transmission, rounds out the package. The pseudo-racer can be yours for $24,990.



Finally, there’s the New Beetle Red Rock Edition. Volkswagen will make just 750 of these bugs, decked out in Red Rock paint with a black-painted roof—a color scheme that reminds us of a ladybug, actually. You also get an all-black interior, 17-inch wheels, and “sport suspension” for $20,390.


by Jake Holmes
fr.www.caranddriver

2012 Hyundai Veloster - Spied


Caught in the open for the first time is the upcoming Hyundai Veloster, the small, front-drive sports coupe first introduced—to much laud—as the Veloster concept at the 2007 Seoul auto show. Though most of the prototype seen here is covered in black camouflage, we can tell that in order to fulfill Hyundai’s promise of 2+2 seating, the Veloster has grown considerably compared with the eensy concept car we saw before.




The side windows, for example, now stretch past the B-pillar, and the taillamps, which previously sat atop the rear fenders, are now situated back on the rear plane. Tallish sides and a long roof mean that the fat fenders have been toned down, and with them the concept’s dramatic road stance. Darn. Here we were hoping that this would be the next Honda CRX.



But all hope for fun is not lost. The Elantra-based, front-wheel-drive Veloster will probably not be more than a few inches longer than a Mini Cooper, and indeed looks small enough that its expected 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine would get it by in a spirited way. (We expect the motor to offer somewhat more than the 138 hp and 136 lb-ft of torque that it currently produces in the Elantra.) A choice of manual and automatic transmissions is pretty much guaranteed. And if, say, the 2.0-liter motor is offered in 210-hp turbocharged form, as seen in the Genesis coupe, that might really put the “velocity” in Veloster.



When will it appear? Well, as we reported last summer, Hyundai product PR chief Miles Johnson confirmed that the Veloster will launch some time during the 24/7 2.0 program, a two-year period during which the company will launch seven new products. The Genesis coupe kicked off the introductions about a year ago, meaning the Veloster should appear within a year at the latest. Expect prices to start in the $18K range.


fr.www.caranddriver
BY STEVE SILER, PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRENDA PRIDDY & CO. AND THE MANUFACTURER

 
 
 

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