Most popular Automotive DesignLine stories of 2012

What caught your interest in 2012?

Stories about electric vehicles, Toyota, teardowns and safety standards, as it turns out! These were the among the most-read by Automotive DesignLine viewers in the past 12 months.

Here's the complete list of the top 10 most popular stories this year:

1. Slideshow: Paris auto show drives electric
In a climate of economic austerity in which European car sales have declined over the past few years, the renewable and other emerging technologies on display during the recent 2012 Paris Motor Show offered a glimmer of hope.

2. How hybrid electric vehicles can pay off
As in previous years, several news reports have questioned and examined the value and future of HEVs. Now, as the U.S. enters the second decade of HEV sales, the question is still examined: “Why do people buy a hybrid vehicle?”

3. Special Issue: Inside the Toyota Prius: Part 5 - Inverter/converter
The inverter/converter unit (ICU) is the ringmaster of all of the electrical conversion in the Prius.

4. We tear down a Chevy Volt (exclusive videos)
One of the highlights of the year-long Drive for Innovation was tearing apart a brand-new Volt down to the board level.

5. Toyota accelerations revisited—hanging by a (tin) whisker
A NASA paper delivered at the International Tin Whisker Symposium last year reported on tin whisker growth in Toyota accelerator pedal position sensors that, depending on pedal rate of movement, could lead to unintended acceleration.

6. Teardown Report: Chevy Volt's electronic secrets
Sometimes engineers get an assignment that's not only a challenge and a learning experience but just plain fun as well.

7. Fuel injection, ECUs and the pressure of NASCAR racing
NASCAR this season embraced one of the most significant engine-performance changes in the past 50 years: It mandated fuel-injection, throwing over 50 years of carburetor use fondly remembered by engineers and mechanics.

8. How to select effective ESD protection diodes
New generations of portable products are increasingly sensitive to damage from Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) voltage as newer integrated circuit (IC) technologies employ smaller geometries and lower working voltages.

9. How Bluetooth, UWB, and 802.11 stack up on power consumption
Wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, Ultra-wideband (UWB) and WLAN, all make this wireless data transfer viable today, yet each has its own obstacles which makes its use in the mobile market challenging.

10. Functional safety implementations in modern MCUs
Today’s automobiles run various safety critical applications like ABS, electronic power steering, air bag sensors, Radar sensing, and other chassis related applications.