SMS Racing, a free downloadable video game, can help get the point across to your teen about texting while driving. Teens text – a lot! In fact, statistics show that 87 percent of American teens age 14-17 own a cell phone. Sixty-eight percent of them send at least 21 texts per day and 18 percent send more than 200 in a day’s time. Unfortunately, an awful lot of that teen texting gets done behind the wheel. In 2011, at least 23 percent – 1.3 million – car crashes involved cell phones. Texting takes away a minimum of five seconds of your time while you’re texting and driving. While that figure may sound miniscule to your kids, consider that if he’s driving 55 miles per hour, he’ll travel the length of a football field in that measly five...

Audi Shuttle Fleet Quattro created for the new “Ender’s Game” film. The trailer for the new Ender’s Game movie is out. And if you’re a car buff, there’s no doubt what caught your eye – that sleek, sexy virtual car they’re calling the Fleet Shuttle Quattro. Ender’s Game is a science fiction futuristic movie with a storyline based on author Orson Scott Card’s mid-1990s worldwide bestseller. In the film, Earth has been battling an alien race it discovered when finally being able to send astronauts into interstellar space. Two waves of invasions have severely threatened human survival, so the planet now trains children in a Spartan-type battle school in space to fend off the next invasion expected. While the storyline has a...

Hey hot rod fans – E3 Spark Plugs, the official spark plug of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is revved up to go to the 2013 NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, NV. And we’d like to take you along for the wild ride. That’s right! We’re giving away a dream trip for a hot rod racing fanatic and a friend. Here’s how it works… The promotional contest kicks off Monday, August 26. To enter, log onto Facebook and become a fan of E3 Spark Plugs. Then, click the “Win a Trip!” tab to register and submit a photo of yourself and the person you would take with you on the trip – your spouse or significant other, Mom or Pop, best buddy from college – whomever you wish. Initially,...

The street-legal, Tron-inspired NeuTron Bike starts at $55,000. When the first Tron movie came out back in 1982, the light bike scene caught people’s attention. Kids couldn’t get enough of the graphics and the idea of fast-moving motorcycles creating walls to block each other off. Arcade games were quickly created and became quite popular for a year or so afterward. Then the second Tron movie remake came out and took the light bike idea all the way to a new level. With computer movie graphics having had 30 plus years to get better, the cinema results were amazing, and the new light bikes on screen blew everyone’s minds away again. Now Parker Brothers Concepts has taken life and imitated art. They have created a real time, functional Tron-style motorcycle that works,...

A New Zealand man is building a replica 1961 Aston Martin with parts created by a 3D printer. Your first question is probably whether anyone could possibly build an Aston Martin using a 3D printer. The answer is, for the most part, yes. Now you really want to know how this is done so you can build one yourself. To answer the first question fully, you cannot build the entire car with a 3D printer and plastic. The suspension, frame, transmission, engine and many components will need to be a bit more durable. However, you can build the body and interior and have a replica that is significantly less than the $150,000 plus price tag of a factory Aston Martin. To build your car, you obviously need a 3D printer and a lot of plastic. You also need a considerable amount of time and patience....

Chevrolet has recalled 300,000 Cruze cars over a braking issue. Occasionally, even the most careful of drivers have to slam on the brakes in order to avoid a serious auto accident. And the next one could be you if you happen to drive a Chevrolet Cruze. E3 Spark Plugs just got word of a recall of nearly 300,000 Chevrolet Cruze cars over and issue with the vehicles’ brakes. General Motors, which owns Chevrolet, recalled Chevy Cruze cars from model years 2011 and 2012, citing multiple reports of a problem with the cars’ brake assist systems. In Cruzes with six-speed automatic transmissions and 1.4-liter turbo engines, there exists a potential for “intermittent loss of brake assist,” GM Spokesman Alan Adler told reporters. As a result, drivers are forced to lay...

342,000 Toyota Tacoma trucks have been recalled over a faulty seat belt issue. If you drive a Toyota Tacoma truck, take note. Torrance, CA-based Toyota Motor North America recently announced a voluntary recall of 342,000 Tacoma Access Cab vehicles made between 2004 and 2011 and sold at Toyota dealerships across the United States. The reason: Faulty seatbelts. Trucks affected in the recall have screws that attach the seat belt pre-tensioner to the seat belt retractor within the seat belt assembly for the driver and front passenger. Over time and after extended periods of repeated and forceful closing of the access door, these screws can become loose. If they loosen completely, the seat belt pre-tensioner and the retractor spring cover could detach from the seat belt retractor, which...

The Breaking Bad crew had a tough time locating multiple 20-year-old Fleetwood Bounder motorhomes for the hit show lauded as one of the best TV dramas of all time. It seems everyone is talking about the new season of the AMC original hit series Breaking Bad. The only show that could ever make us root for the local meth dealer (only on TV, of course) premiered the first episode of its final season earlier this month. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad follows the story of Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston), a sappy high school chemistry teacher-turned-ruthless international drug lord. After being diagnosed with an inoperable lung cancer, White decides he wants to leave his family with more than a public high school teacher’s pension. So, he hooks up...

Which do you think saves more gas – rolling your windows down or blasting the AC? You might be surprised! The economy’s still lagging and gas prices are changing more often than Taylor Swift’s romantic status. Chances are your wallet is feeling it. So, if you’re like most drivers, you’re up for anything that will help you save money on fuel costs and still get you from point A to point B safely, if not particularly comfortably. One way to accomplish that is to turn off your gas-guzzling car air conditioner and roll down the windows instead. It’s not like you couldn’t use a little fresh air anyway, right? And that highway breeze will help you save a fistful of cash at the pump. Win-win, right? Too bad it’s bunk. Oak Ridge National...

There are film festivals focusing on a full range of subjects from extreme sports to zombies to, believe it or not, mustaches. Now, there’s one just for car buffs and gearheads. If you’ll be in Monterey, California next week, E3 Spark Plugs highly recommends hitting the inaugural World Class Automotive Film & Arts Festival. Debuting August 15, the three-day festival features screenings of multiple automotive-themed films and documentaries at the beautiful Golden State Theatre. Films on the marquis include: 32 Hours 7 Minutes – A documentary film chronicling the story of the U.S. Express – once known as the Cannonball Run – and the controversy shrouding the incredible secret behind the record time set on the last such illegal race nearly a quarter...