With Ford’s SYNC technology you can use your voice to control apps on your smartphone. With SYNC AppLink, this program lets you use your favorite apps like Pandora from your supported smartphone with voice commands and buttons on your steering wheel. AppLink with voice control is available now as a downloadable software update for the SYNC-equipped 2011 Ford Fiesta and comes factory-installed in the 2012 Fusion and Mustang. Supported phones include Android 2.1+, iPhone 3GS with OS 4.1, iPhone 4 with iOS 4.2 and BlackBerry with latest available BlackBerry OS.

You all have experienced it, the estimate gap. You had a fender bender and you want some body work done on your car. You go to a big National Chain, with a big location and you get a price, more like a second mortgage though. Then you go to the little one man shop working out of a small garage in your neighborhood and you get a price so cheap you wonder if he understood all the work you wanted done on your car. But when does the highest repair estimate make sense and when is it time to turn down that low ball offer?

The answer is It Depends. It depends on a few things that you should look into when you are deciding where to take your car for body work. Sometimes a large well known national body shop can be carrying some extra staff that you surely will be paying for. Are there too many people in the front office answering phones and pushing around paperwork? You might be paying for their salary by way of a higher hourly labor rate. So you think that the small local shop is a better place to go because he will be less expensive. He might be less expensive, but he also might just be cheaper, and you all know that cheaper is not always better. In this case, go by word of mouth. Who is saying what about this business? Are they recommending them because they do a good job at a fair price?

Another very good basic rule is to shop around. Get several estimates. This will help you get an idea of what the price range for the job should be and who is outrageously overpriced. Oh, and ask questions. Ask questions about the work being done, you actually can get an education in the process and you will be better prepared when you go to the next place for you an estimate. Ask about the warranty. I am a firm believer that a company should stand behind their work, not just try to sell you a warranty to back up their work. Last piece of advice; go with your gut feeling. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Ford is a leader in cutting edge automotive technology, and safety technology is a top priority. One available features is what Ford calls Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). This technology takes you a major step beyond the cruise control feature you’ve been accustomed to using. Activate ACC by selecting a cruising speed and the distance you want to maintain from the vehicle in front of you. When ACC detects traffic slowing down, your vehicle automatically slows to maintain the distance you’ve set. When traffic clears, your vehicle resumes at the pre-set speed. Included with ACC is Collision Warning with Brake Support. This feature is designed to alert you if it senses a potential collision with the vehicle in front of you. A “heads-up” display, simulating brake lights, flashes on the windshield. If you don’t react in time, the brakes will pre-charge and increase brake assist sensitivity, providing full responsiveness when you brake. Adaptive Cruise Control is optional on many 2011 Ford models.

MyFord Touch is a revolutionary new in-car technology, and it is featured in the 2011 Ford Edge. The available MyFord Touch redesigns the in-car interface, mirroring how consumers interact with most devices in their lives by using touch-sensitive buttons, touch screens and voice recognition. MyFord Touch displays information using two 4.2-inch full-color LCD screens flanking an analog speedometer and an 8-inch touch-screen LCD at the top of the center stack. A five-way switch on each side of the steering wheel crossbar – similar to the one found on most mobile phones and MP3 players – controls the information displayed on the corresponding instrument panel screens.

The EcoBoost engine provides abundant power on demand to accelerate on the highway. It also has a flat torque curve to easily get the vehicle and trailer (Flex only) started from a dead stop and pulled up a hill. Direct injection (DI) precisely delivers a fine mist of fuel directly into each cylinder compared to the port fuel injection that sprays into the intake system. EcoBoost uses DI for more precise control, compared to port fuel injection. This can help reduce fuel consumption, which can help lower your fuel cost. The EcoBoost engine can use standard octane fuels, excluding E85 and diesel. High-octane fuel delivers optimal engine performance. Lower octane fuels are the choice for the budget conscious.

Engines equipped with EcoBoost technology are designed to deliver power and torque consistent with larger displacement, naturally aspirated engines while achieving approximately 20% better fuel efficiency and 15% reduced greenhouse emissions than these same engines. Relative to the power output and fuel efficiency of hybrid and diesel technologies, Ford sees EcoBoost as an affordable and versatile alternative and intends on using it extensively in future vehicle applications. The Eco-Boost debuted on Ford models in 2010, including the Taurus SHO and the Ford Flex. For 2011, the Ford Flex, the Taurus SHO, the 2011 Ford F-150, and the all new Ford Explorer all recieve the V-6 Ecoboost.

is starting to release its Software Development Kit (SDK) to a new set of interested smartphone app developers so they can modify existing apps to work hands-free using voice recognition through Ford SYNC for safer command and control while driving. The SDK release marks the latest move by Ford to forge a more open collaborative bond with the wireless, consumer electronics and app developer communities to create a safer and smarter in-car connectivity experience that leverages the mobile devices customers own and love.

Understanding the potential of the SYNC application programming interface (API), app developers have been clamoring for the Ford SDK since the company announced the launch of the SYNC Developer website.  Since then, Ford has received and is reviewing more than 1,000 submissions from interested parties looking to modify existing apps or create all-new apps that can successfully interface with Ford SYNC through AppLink. As the software that leverages the SYNC API, AppLink can access mobile apps stored on a user’s smartphone, and allows them to be controlled through the SYNC voice recognition system.

Pandora Internet radio, Stitcher smart radio and Orangatame’s OpenBeak are the first apps to incorporate the SYNC API, with more on the way in coming months. To keep the user experience seamless, Ford will leverage existing app stores for distribution of updated SYNC-enabled versions of apps. Owners of SYNC AppLink-equipped cars simply download the enabled app through the appropriate app store for their smartphone’s operating system.

Ford Motor Co. has announced it will use more diesel engine technology to develop the second generation of the EcoBoost  engine. The result will be improved power and better fuel economy compared with the first-generation engines. Ford wants to get close to the same driving characteristics from the EcoBoost engine as it can from a diesel engine, such as strong low-end torque and good fuel economy. By borrowing from diesel technology, the result also will be a cleaner running EcoBoost engine that generates more power and delivers about a 5 percent gain in fuel economy over the current EcoBoost engines.

EcoBoost technology combines direct fuel injection, variable cam timing and turbocharging to reduce fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and vehicle weight. But it gives drivers the performance of a bigger engine. Ford said its current generation of 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder and 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 engines deliver between 10 and 20 percent better fuel economy than comparable normally aspirated V-6 and V-8 engines, respectively. Ford said it will launch three new EcoBoost engines by year end. Those are: A 1.6-liter four-cylinder for the European C-Max microvan, a 2.0-liter four-cylinder for the next-generation Ford Explorer SUV and Edge crossover, and the 3.5-liter V-6 for the F-150 pickup. The EcoBoost F-150 will deliver best-in-class fuel economy with the power and towing capability of a V-8, Ford said. The three new EcoBoost engines will increase the number of Ford’s global nameplates offering EcoBoost to 11. EcoBoost is available now in the Ford Flex crossover, Ford Taurus sedan, Lincoln MKS sedan and MKT crossover.

Two vehicles selected as the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year feature a number of lightweight, advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) technologies. The Ford Fusion hybrid and Ford Transit Connect won the awards for top car and top truck of the year respectively. The Ford Fusion hybrid – an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s “Top Safety Pick” and rated as the most fuel-efficient mid-size car in North America – features a lightweight high-strength steel body structure for added side and frontal impact protection and tailor-welded B-pillars between the front and rear doorframes. The Fusion body contains 55 percent high-strength steel. The Ford Transit Connect was developed to be durable and includes steel wheels, high-strength steel front crossmember, a high-strength steel reinforced body shell, and twin-side cross members and side-impact protection.

“Ford’s innovative use of carefully selected lightweight, high-strength steel grades in the Fusion Hybrid and Transit Connect confirms that steel is the material of choice when it comes to fuel efficiency, strength, durability, cost and design,” said Ron Krupitzer, vice president of automotive applications for AISI’s Steel Market Development Institute. “Both vehicles earn top fuel efficiency marks in their class and feature clean, unique designs at an affordable price, making them ideal for consumers.”

The awards are judged and given by 49 veteran automotive journalists in the United States and Canada who represent magazines, television, radio, newspapers and Web sites. The awards are designed to recognize the most outstanding vehicles of the year based on factors that include innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar. To be eligible, vehicles must be “all-new” or “substantially changed” from the previous model.