Smart and Sustainable Electric Mobility
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Continue reading What is torque? (And while we're at it, what is horsepower?)
What is torque? (And while we're at it, what is horsepower?) originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 3 Jul 2024 10:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue reading How to get a replacement car title
How to get a replacement car title originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Feb 2024 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue reading EVs vs Hybrids vs Plug-in Hybrids: What's the difference?
EVs vs Hybrids vs Plug-in Hybrids: What's the difference? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 17 Feb 2024 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Don't end up causing a game of padiddle. Make sure your headlights are always functioning properly. Luckily, it's pretty easy to change them. Here's how!
Watch all of our Autoblog Wrenched videos for more tips on how to diagnose, fix, and modify cars from professional detailer Larry Kosilla. While you're at it, check out Larry's other car cleaning and maintenance video series Autoblog Details!
[00 :00:00] [Narrator] Driving around with a headlight out is not just unsafe, it's illegal. Replacing a headlight bulb is easier than you think. Here are the tools you'll need. Replacement bulbs, flathead screwdriver, and gloves. I'm Larry Kosilla, pro-detailer and trainer for the last 15 years, but when it comes to what's under the hood, I'm the student. Follow me as experts teach me how to diagnose, fix, and modify cars on Autoblog's Wrenched. There are different types of headlights and headlight bulbs.
[00 :00:30] Type one are called single beam, meaning one bulb handles both the high and low beams. Type two uses two separate bulbs for the low beam and the high beam. Type three are called the Bi-Xenon HIDs, which are focused, super bright, and self leveling. The newest technology is LED, which are expensive, but have practically unlimited life spans. - I remember my dad changing his headlights on his old pickup truck. Remove a few screws, and the whole thing would pop out. - Those were called seal beams, Larry.
[00 :01:00] Back before 1984, all US spec cars had a seal beam. You replace the entire glass unit with a new one, but modern headlights, most of them, you just replace a little bulb. It's really easy. - [Narrator] On modern cars today, with daytime running lights and automatic headlights, your low beams tend to get used more often, which means a shorter life span. So knowing how to change your headlights is essential. Prior to starting, check your owner's manual for the correct spec replacement bulbs for your make, model, and year car.
[00 :01:30] Visit your auto parts store and manually look up the part number in the book located in the light bulb aisle or ask an employee to search their computer database. Before you pick out the correct bulb, make sure the package is not bent or damaged, as there's a good chance the bulb might've been dropped or squished beforehand. Either way, find a crisp, clean package to minimize the chances of a bad bulb. Open the hood and secure the hood stand, as you'll be working on the backside of the headlight assembly.
[00 :02:00] Some headlight connectors have metal clips. If you have clips, you might need a screwdriver to pop them open. Others may have a moisture cover, like this one here. Twist the cover by hand and completely remove it. Some moisture covers are a flexible rubber that may require a flathead screwdriver to start the corner, and the rest you can get by hand. Next, remove the bulb and connector assembly from the housing by twisting and pulling outwards. Now remove the bulb from the connector, but don't pull or twist the glass.
[00 :02:30] Pull from the base or the lower housing. You might need to wiggle it a bit to unplug it from the connector. Likewise, when removing the new bulb from the package, avoid touching the glass. Oils from your finger can trap the high heat discharge and can cause the bulb to burn out prematurely. Only touch the plastic base or use gloves. If you happen to accidentally touch the bulb, use isopropyl alcohol to clean the oils prior to installation. Next, insert the new bulb into the connector, but do it gently to avoid bending the connector prongs. Once it seats itself smoothly, give it a good push.
[00 :03:00] Carefully install the new bulb into the headlight housing while trying to avoid bumping the sides of the plastic. Once in, twist the connector to lock it in to the light assembly. Then, reinstall the moisture cover and check to make sure the light is working properly. It's a good idea to replace bulbs in pairs. If one side blew out, there's a good chance the other side is not far behind. Driving around with only one headlight is not smart, but replacing your bulbs is pretty easy
[00 :03:30] and if you upgrade to brighter bulbs, it'll help you see better for your nighttime drives. For more how-to car repair videos, visit autoblog.com/wrenched. I'm Larry Kosilla from ammonyc.com. As always, thanks for watching.
James Riswick
There’s good reason why Apple CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto are putting the nail in the coffin of automakers’ own smartphone platforms: They work. Prior to the platforms’ rollouts, automakers struggled to marry their in-car touchscreens and knob-and-display infotainment systems with smartphones. Such media player interfaces were and continue to be confusing, frustrating or glitchy.
Enter CarPlay and Android Auto, which use software to largely mirror what’s on a driver’s device – in a streamlined and relatively safe auto-centric way – on a car’s infotainment screen. They include the apps and interfaces owners of the devices already know and appear the same on every in-dash display – whether in a Bentley or a Buick.
CarPlay is compatible with the iPhone 5 going forward, without needing a separate app. Android Auto, on the other hand, requires downloading an app for devices with Android 9 or below, while devices with Android 10 and later don’t require a separate app.
Both platforms include native apps for familiar features such as phoning, messaging, music, maps, audiobooks and podcasts, and leverage their parent company’s voice assistant for hands-free functionality. They also integrate popular third-party apps for music streaming, messaging services, navigation, parking, shopping, sports and even EV charging.
More than 600 vehicle models now offer CarPlay, and more than 500 are now compatible with Android Auto. The platforms are also available in aftermarket head units, and in 2018, Mazda added CarPlay support to vehicles from 2014 model-year vehicle forward by way of a dealer-installed upgrade for vehicles equipped with the Mazda Connect system.
Some automakers were initially, and until recently, reluctant to allow Apple and Google into their dashboards – Toyota in particular objected to owners’ usage data being shared automatically with Apple and Google. At the time of this writing, Tesla is the only major automaker that has shunned the platforms and stuck with a proprietary system.
In most cases, a device needs to be connected to a car’s smartphone-integration USB port. (This port might be labeled as such in your car or designated by a white outline.) But with the introduction of iOS 9 in September 2015, more than 20 automakers now offer wireless CarPlay, while Android had already cut the cord in March 2015. (A handful of automakers offer wireless CarPlay only.)
Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto can’t use a Bluetooth connection, and instead require connecting to a vehicle via Wi-Fi. No, this doesn’t mean they chew through the data allowance for an in-car Wi-Fi hot spot. Since the platforms are data-intensive, they need this more robust connection to the car’s infotainment system.
One downside of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is a Wi-Fi connection more quickly drains a device’s battery. Of course, you can always plug the device into a USB charge-only port, and if your car has wireless device charging and wireless CarPlay and Android Auto you get the best of both worlds.
In addition to their simplicity and familiarity, one of the biggest advantages of CarPlay and Android Auto over automakers’ smartphone-integration platforms is they’re routinely refreshed through software updates. While a handful of automakers offer over-the-air software updates for their infotainment systems, for all but Tesla it’s not as easy and seamless and having your smartphone update while you sleep, and getting new and enhanced features.
For example, along with adding wireless capability, the iOS 9 update allowed car companies to develop apps that let car occupants operate vehicle-specific features such as climate controls. Subsequent updates added features such as support for third-party navigation apps like Waze and for food ordering and parking services apps.
With the release of iOS 13 in 2019 came one of the biggest changes to CarPlay: a Dashboard feature with a split-screen option that can simultaneously show maps, media info and calendar items. It also added a Settings app that lets users switch between light and dark modes, adjust album art in the Now Playing screen and enable a Do Not Disturb feature.
Last year CarPlay added the availability to unlock a car and start the engine with an iPhone for certain 2021 models. The feature also allows sharing digital “keys” with family or friends and will even work for up to five hours after an iPhone’s battery is dead.
Android Auto has also been consistently updated. Google initially didn’t allow third parties to integrate mapping apps with Android Auto, reserving the platform for its own Google Maps and Waze. But now third-party mapping apps such as Sygic and TomTom AmiGO are available.
In late 2016 Google added the option to run Android Auto as an app on an Android device. In this case, that means via an embedded Android Automotive OS, which so far only a few vehicles run, notably Polestar EVs.
At the beginning of 2018, Google announced the addition of Google Assistant to Android Auto, while in July 2019 the platform got a UI overhaul. Last summer, Android Auto got a major upgrade that added being able to personalize the launch screen directly from your phone, a A-Z quick scrolling feature for lengthy catalogs of songs and contacts list and integration of EV charging, parking and navigation apps.
Neither system is a complete replacement for a car’s “native” infotainment system. If you want to listen to the radio, be it terrestrial or SiriusXM, you need the car’s interface. Same if you want to change various vehicle functions. Navigation apps such as Google Maps are also reliant on data to be able to search for a new destination and map a route – if you’re in an area without service and haven’t pre-downloaded map data (most people don’t even know you can do that), you won’t have a navigation system. That’s one reason why carmakers continue to offer native navigation systems, although some, such as new systems by Mercedes, offer augmented reality directions in the central screen or head-up display that you definitely won’t get with Google Maps.
What Apple CarPlay can do, or can’t do, also depends on the car. Some lock out CarPlay’s ability to look through Playlists in the music app while the car is in motion, for example, requiring you to select something using Siri. Others, however, keep everything available to you at all times.
We've already described Android Auto, but you're going to increasingly see the term Android Automotive, which is not the same thing. Instead of providing just an interface to control your smartphone through the car's infotainment system, Android Automotive is in fact the entire infotainment system. It is effectively an operating system created by Google that car brands can customize with their specific designs or "skins" that can control everything a car's native system normally would. So, think changing a radio station or customizing drive mode settings. Android Auto is still needed to communicate and control smartphone apps, and although CarPlay was not yet compatible at the time of this writing, it will in the future. You can see more about Android Automotive and its early adoption in the 2022 GMC Yukon below.
