We are extremely excited to announce that our very first book drive for BookSpring will happen during the month of June! From June 1^st through June 30^th, we’ll be collecting new and gently used children’s books at Howdy. All books will be donated to BookSpring who will put them in hands of children who may not have access to them at home. Since this is our very first book drive, our goal is to collect 100 books.

BookSpring, a local non-profit organization that promotes childhood literacy efforts throughout the Austin area, is always looking for donated books to use in their many outreach efforts. Children from low-income families receive these books through programs like Reading is Fundamental (RIF), Reach Out and Read (ROR), ReBook program and book exchanges. BookSpring works in schools, medical clinics, children’s centers, libraries and participate in community events to ensure children are exposed to books since early infancy, especially those who are less likely to have books at home and don’t get read to often.

The following are guidelines and criteria for book donations.

Gently Used Books: (Gently used donated books are given to medical clinics for low-income families, community outreach events, children’s centers, libraries in economically disadvantaged areas, and other partner non-profit organizations.)

• - English, Spanish or Bilingual (English/Spanish)
• - Ages: 0-12 years; or Reading Levels: Infant – 6^th grade
• - Board books, story books, picture books, chapter books, and age-appropriate non-fiction books such as science readers and history books.
• - Covers and pages intact, clean and unmarked
• - No textbooks, used coloring or activity books, cookbooks, used touch and feel books, broken or soiled book, religious or holiday books, or books about death,   divorce, or abuse.

New Books:

• - English, Spanish or Bilingual (English/Spanish)
• - Board books with simple pictures, no text, pictures of babies, colors, shapes
• - Touch and Feel books
• - Interactive books (Lift the Flap, Books with Sound, Lace-up Books)
• - Story books by popular authors: Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle, Bill Martin, Jr., etc.
• - Popular characters such as: Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, Curious George, Clifford, Disney characters, etc.
• - Chapter books with popular titles such as: Baby Mouse, Bone, Diary of a Wimpy Kids, Geronimo Stilton, Judy Moody, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Stink, etc.
• - No books about death, religion, holidays, divorce or abuse.

You will find book donation boxes around Howdy; please ask an employee to show you where to find one. If you are not able to make it into Howdy, but would like to help, please consider making a monetary donation here.

The 2013 Honda Civic sedan achieved the top 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score from the NHTSA for their New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). The sedan and coupe also earned a Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS, including the top GOOD score in their new small overlap frontal collision test, making the Civic the first and only small car to receive this distinction.

“Car shoppers cannot find a small car with higher overall safety ratings than the 2013 Honda Civic,” said Art St. Cyr, vice president of product planning and logistics at American Honda. “Safety ratings leadership across product lines is a fundamental part of not only our strategic business plan, but also out philosophy as a company.”

This recent achievement puts Honda in an incredible place in the automotive marketplace. It is the only auto manufacturer with every single one of its tested model year 2013 vehicles earning a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ rating from the IIHS.

Source:How We Use Our Cars

Why would a group of people (we’re assuming it’s a group of people because the theft was too big for one person to do alone) steal the wheels and tires from 48 new cars? Well, we know there’s a big market for “cheap” wheels and the price of tires has risen dramatically with the increase of petroleum price. But the more important question is HOW did these people achieve this? And, if they were able to do this to 48 cars in a few hours without anyone noticing, how vulnerable am I that this could happen to me?

Although there’s no app for that, there is a solution: wheel locks. Wheel locks protect your wheels and tires from getting stolen. As you know, wheels don’t have alarm systems and they can’t be tracked – once they’re gone, there’s no way of recovering them. Wheel locks prevent this from happening by locking your wheels and tires in place and serving as a security sign (like security system signs on front yards). It also protects you from having to spend $600 on a new set of tires.

At Howdy Honda, we put wheel locks on every vehicle – we want to protect you from having to spend a significant amount of money on new tires and protect ourselves from being in a situation like the dealer in Georgetown. So while wheel locks might seem like added “stuff;” there is a real, useful and smart reason why we do it: safety. It’s much better to spend a little bit extra now, than have to unnecessarily spend 5x, 6x, 7x more on a new set of tires later.

And just like any other Honda accessory, the factory wheel locks are made with a superior quality alloy (which is better than what you’ll find in Pep Boys or any other automotive shop) and they are covered for 3-years/36k miles.

Honda factory wheel locks cost about $60 here at Howdy and you can stop by the dealership to buy them or order Honda parts online.

Do:

Stay calm

Turn the headlights and hazard lights on

Unbuckle your seatbelt

Unlock your doors

Take outer clothing off

Lower your window slowly. Climb out of your car. Reach a higher ground. Call 911

If you can’t lower your window, use the door. The door won’t open until the water pressure has equalized inside and outside of the car, so don’t try to force the door to open. Once the door is open, swim to safety and call 911.

Don’t:

Try to cross or drive on a flooded road. A couple of feet of water is enough to sweep your car.

Don’t try to drive across flowing water.

Don’t panic

Don’t try to save your possessions.

Don’t try to break the window (glass will explode inward of the vehicle)

Don’t stay with your car

Don’t stand on the roof of your car.

Don’t try to return to your car even if it looks like the water is receding

Brake Squeal and Wear Indicator

On Honda cars, all four brakes have audible brake wear indicators. So when your brake pads need replacing, you will hear a distinctive metallic “screeching” sound when you apply the brakes. If you do not have the brake pads replaced, they will begin screeching all the time. Do note that your brakes may sometimes squeak or squeal when you apply them lightly; don’t confuse this with the brake wear indicators. The brakes will make a very audible “screeching” noise.

Low Brake Fluid & Flushing the Brake Fluid

If your brake fluid is low, it may be leaking or brakes could be worn.

Brake fluid is hygroscopic, which means that it absorbs moisture. When that moisture finds its way into the braking system, it can corrode metal and seals. Flushing the system with new fluid removes the condensation before extensive damage occurs.

When you’re flushing the system, always use Honda Heavy Brake Fluid DOT 3. If this specific fluid is unavailable, only use DOT 3 or DOT 4 from a sealed container. However, only use these as a temporary solution. The use of any non-Honda brake fluid can cause corrosion and may decrease the life of your brakes.

Honda Genuine Brake Pads

Honda Genuine Brake Rotors function the best with Honda Genuine Brake Pads. Particularly since Honda brake pads are tested extensively on Honda vehicles in the most extreme situations and environments.

Now, it’s not only for this reason that Genuine Honda Brake Pads effectively help prevent premature disc wear and minimize noise. They’re also precisely engineered with state-of-the-art materials that produce superior performance, proper wear, long life, and are specifically designed to dampen noise and reduce vibrations.

Honda Genuine Brake Rotors

Brake rotors are vital to dissipating the heat that comes from the pads every time you use the brakes. Genuine Honda Brake Rotors are built to take that heat time for lasting performance and reliability. They’re made with the optimum mix of materials and compounds to safely withstand long periods of wear and to help prevent overheating and warping.

If your brakes show any of these signs, please contact our Honda Service Center in Austin by calling 512-443-4300.

2013 Honda Insight

USAA released its 2013 Best Value vehicles last month, naming the top automobiles that offer affordability, reliability, and safety. The 2013 Honda CR-Z and Honda Insight were both rated by USAA as a Best Value. The former was named in the Best Value List for the Coupe category and the Best Value for Teens. The later was named a Best Value for Teens.

The Best Value List presents vehicles that offer the, you guessed it, best overall value among all the vehicles that USAA evaluates as part of its USAA Preferred system. Their proprietary statistical model uses quantitative data to analyze vehicle’s cost, safety and reliability of over 70 automobiles. USAA Preferred vehicles rank in the top 40% of each vehicle category AND are an IIHS’s Top Safety Pick. The top vehicles for each category are included in the Best Value List.

As for the Top 10 for Teens list, USAA also selects USAA Preferred vehicles, but they have to cost less than $25,500 and rank highest in safety, reliability, and insurance costs – important factors for parents of teen drivers.

“This year we raised the bar on the importance of safety standards. Vehicles must earn a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tp qualify as USAA Preferred,” said Steve Thompson, vice president for USAA Car Buying Service. “A USAA Preferred vehicle is a great value financially, and is among the safest vehicles on the road.”

Honda Smart Home Rendering

While we were trying to be more eco-friendly by banning the use of plastic bags and buying hybrid cars, Honda was developing a project that will make our efforts seem like child’s play. The Honda Smart Home US concept home is at the vanguard of energy efficiency and environmental consciousness, and gives us a glimpse as to what the future might hold for homeowners.

This past week Honda announced the creation of the Honda Smart Home US (HSH) at the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction site on the campus of University of California, Davis, marking the beginning of the building process. The HSH is a “showcase for environmental innovation and renewable energy enabling technologies that demonstrates Honda’s vision for sustainable, zero-carbon living and personal mobility, including the use of solar power to charge a Honda Fit EV battery,” says a Honda press release.

This sustainable home will feature an array of technologies that will greatly reduce the energy consumed by individual households while fully providing for the needs of an electric vehicle. The home will also offer its occupants control over all the systems in the house, allowing residents to remotely and continually monitor and adjust all aspects of energy use in real time.

So how will the HSH achieve “zero net energy”?

1. A solar power system will be installed to provide the energy for the home and electric vehicle.

2. A Honda Energy Management System will actively manage energy use, allowing the home to maximize its energy efficiency while responding to the needs of the electrical grid. This will minimize the impacts of solar energy generation and electric vehicle charging on the utility grid.

3. UC Davis energy research centers will design efficient, cost effective solutions to major home energy loads like heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems.

4. The electric vehicle charging will be connected directly to the solar system to avoid the CO2 emitted by grid electricity production.

5. The home will feature passive design elements and novel material to further reduce the CO2 emissions from the production of building materials and the construction and operation of the home.

Honda expects the home to be completed by the end of 2013. You can follow the building process through the HSH website.

Although this is years away from being remotely available, I can’t wait to have this type of Honda in Austin!

Although we’ve had live chat for a while now and it’s pretty self-explanatory, we just started implementing text chat less than a month ago. So, how does it work? When you click on the “Text chat” button, you will be prompted to add your name, phone number and question. When you do, we receive an alert to address your inquiry. Then, you will receive a text with the answer to your question. You can continue chatting with us via text for as long as you need.

If the conversation ends and you have another question later, you can just reply back to the last text sent and we will receive a notification of your chat request. Text chat, as well as live chat, support is available during normal business hours: Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 9:00pm, and Saturdays from 8:30am to 7:00pm. If you request to chat via text outside of those hours, we will text you back with an answer as soon as we open again. We manually handle chat at Howdy so, while we may not be able to answer your question right away when we’re closed, you know you’re talking directly with somebody at Howdy.

Talk to you soon!

Honda’s app monitors the driver’s acceleration and deceleration pattern over time to predict if a certain pattern (like heavy breaking) could cause a traffic jam. It then coaches the driver to decrease the abrupt acceleration and breaking.

Honda tested the app between September and February on both a single car and as a connected network of cars using the app. On both tests, the app helped delay traffic congestion by an average of three to four minutes and reduce changes in average speed by 60 to 70 percent. An even better result was that fuel economy improved by 20 to 22 percent.

Although the app can’t eliminate traffic altogether, it has the potential to help alleviate and improve traffic flow. The app is not yet available, but Honda said it will eventually embed the system on Honda models.