kbb.com Treats Shoppers by Naming 10 Trick New Car Features for Halloween

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Halloween is about trick-or-treating, and in the case of many 2011 cars the new "trick" features are real treats.  To honor these innovations, the expert editors from Kelley Blue Book http://www.kbb.com/?scid=3099, the leading provider of new car and used car information, today name the 10 Trick New Car Features that make a new car stand out for 2011.  The story profiles 10 innovative ("trick") features available on some 2011 models that proud new-car owners will be excited to bring up in conversation.  They're the kinds of features that, once consumers have them, they may wonder how they ever functioned without them.

Halloween may be about costumes, candy and things that go bump in the night, but behind the greasepaint and under the sheets, the revered October holiday really is all about innovation.  When it comes to Halloween, resourcefulness and originality are the prize-winning attributes.  When everyone else at the party shows up in their store-bought Snooki or Buzz Lightyear costumes, it could be the guy who sticks empty cereal boxes covered in fake blood on his shirt and calls himself the "cereal killer" that steals the show.  In this spirit, the 10 Trick New Car Features honors and applauds the most-helpful new-car features  the kbb.com editors have discovered as they review all 2011 model year vehicles.

"So many innovative new-car features available today would have seemed like technology out of a futuristic sci-fi movie only a few short years ago – like a car that can stop itself before hitting a pedestrian," said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com.  "We think it's likely that in the near-future, new-car owners who get used to having these 'trick' features will find it scary to remember a time without them."

Select Choices and Sample Commentary from kbb.com's 10 Trick New Car Features for Halloween

(Listed in no particular order)

Wi-Fi Hotspots

Feel like the Internet is following you around like a horde of zombies?  but surely, it's spreading everywhere....including your car.  A number of manufacturers -- among them Audi, Ford, Subaru, GM and Chrysler -- now offer systems that turn vehicles into mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, making use of a 3G cellular network...

Time-lapse Audio Playback

There you are listening to a great song or discussion on the radio, you arrive at your destination, and then realize that you'll have to stop listening at the most interesting part.  The horror!  Don't you wish you could chain that audio entertainment up in a virtual basement for a bit and revisit it when you're ready to dig into it? Thanks to a pause and play function found on several GM cars, this Saw-like scenario is a reality, minus the blood and the unnecessarily complex machinery...

MyFord Touch

Do you like the way your smartphone works?  Don't you wish your car was that easy to use?  Then you'll love Ford's new MyFord Touch in-car interface.  It's as user-friendly as a HAL 9000 computer without all the unpleasant killing...

Collision Mitigation/Pedestrian Safety

When we go out this Halloween, we hope to have a vehicle equipped with a safety feature that will prevent us from accidently remaking the horror movie classic, "The Car."  Volvo's Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake warns the driver and then stops the vehicle if you are about to collide with a pedestrian...

Advanced Parking Aids

Odd as it sounds, some of the scariest moments for a driver occur when parking their vehicle.  Infiniti and BMW hope to lessen parking fears with systems that use multiple wide-angle cameras to give the driver a virtual bird's-eye view of the car. If you prefer to leave parallel parking duties to someone else (well, technically something else), consider the latest-generation automatic parking technology offered by Ford and Audi...

For the remaining 10 Trick New Car Features  choices, including full editorial commentary about each of the editors' picks, visit the 10 Trick New Car Features story in kbb.com's Latest News section at http://kbb.us/10trickcarfeatures.

About Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com)

Since 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource®, has provided vehicle buyers and sellers with the new- and used-vehicle information they need to accomplish their goals with confidence.  The company's top-rated website, http://www.kbb.com/?scid=3099, provides the most up-to-date pricing and values, including the Fair Purchase Price, which reports what buyers are paying for new cars.  The company also reports vehicle pricing and values via products and services, including software products and the famous Blue Book® Official Guide.  According to the C.A. Walker Research Solutions, Inc. - 2009 Spring Automotive Website Usefulness Study, kbb.com is the most useful automotive information website among new- and used-vehicle shoppers, and half of online vehicle shoppers visit kbb.com.  Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com also is a W3 Silver Award winner, sanctioned by the International Academy of Visual Arts.  Kbb.com is a leading provider of new car prices, used car values, car reviews, new cars for sale, used cars for sale, and car dealer locations.

CONTACT: Robyn Eagles, +1-949-268-3049, reagles@kbb.com, or Joanna Pinkham, +1-949-268-3079, jpinkham@kbb.com, or Brenna Robinson, +1-949-267-4781, berobinson@kbb.com, all of Kelley Blue Book