Short Lines (August 01, 2001)

General Motors has revealed plans to make the firm’s Oil Life System standard on most new North American vehicles by the 2003 model year. The Oil Life System monitors driving conditions and determines remaining oil life by decision-making software. GM claims that the system can double or triple the oil change interval for a typical GM vehicle.

Auto parts giant Delphi has developed a mobile TV receiver that offers in-home quality in the car. The compact unit uses in-glass or composite body structure antennas, switching among four antennas to find the best reception automatically. The receiver is capable of tuning all worldwide TV standards and has audio/video inputs for DVD’s and VCR’s. North American introduction of the new system will follow Delphi’s European product launch later this year.

In other telematics news, General Motors’ OnStar wireless service has teamed with the Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) to bring ESPN.com, Disney.com and ABCNEWS.com to OnStar subscribers. OnStar will deliver the content over Virtual Advisor, a news service that operates by voice command with no screens or displays. Virtual Advisor is currently available in limited U.S. market on 2001 model year OnStar equipped GM vehicles.

Hyundai Auto Canada has announced the winners of its 2000 Service Excellence Program. The top 7 service managers and their support staff are recognized with the “President’s Inner Circle” Award. All eligible Service Managers and their staff are judged on 11 different categories, which represent CSI, Warranty and Technical Service Training. A 7-Day Trip to Korea was awarded to each of the winning service managers. The winners of the “President’s Inner Circle” Service Manager Award are:

Harry Kohli: Hyundai of Mississauga, (Mississauga, Ontario)

Ray Mostat: Langley Hyundai, (Langley, British Columbia)

Glenn Batchelor: Guelph Hyundai, (Guelph, Ontario)

Dave Glazier: Hyundai South, (London, Ontario) .

Donny Foster: Peterborough Hyundai, (Peterborough, Ontario)

Ken Foster: Carmax Hyundai (Lindsay, Ontario)

Kevin Schutle: Precision Hyundai (Calgary, Alberta)

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment has announced that starting next year, refrigerants that contain CFC’s (such as R-12) will be banned. An estimated one to five percent of Ontario’s five and a half million cars are still using the older refrigerant. Vehicle manufacturers stopped using CFC-containing refrigerants in 1994.