'Share the Love' with Rimrock Subaru!

From the Billings Gazette:

During the holiday season, Rimrock Subaru is donating up to one-third of its daily advertising space to 30 local nonprofits to highlight the work the organizations do for the community.
General manager Ernie Lee said the nonprofit organizations deserve support to help maintain this great environment we live in.? The donation to spotlight the charities is just one way to give back to the community, he said.
Lee said the charities can also promote their work on Rimrock's Facebook page, facebook.com/rimrocksubarukia. Supporters can vote for their favorite charity, with the most popular charity being added to the list of those receiving donations from the dealership. Supporters can also suggest their favorite charity by calling 651-5200.
Rimrock Subaru also participates in a national Subaru program that designates five charities for donations each year. The dealership aims to raise at least $12,000 to donate to the five charities participating in the program this year: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Big Brothers Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, Meals On Wheels Association of America and Ocean Conservancy.

If you'd like to help us support our local charities, please vote for your favorite on our Facebook page; http://www.facebook.com/rimrocksubarukia.  Also, visit our website at RimrockSubaru.com

A Subaru Forester Flies!

I'm sure you weren't aware of this option that Subarus come equipped with standard... flight! Actually, don't do this at home. But definitely enjoy the video!



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Subaru Comments on Travis Pastrana

Dominick Infante of Subaru of North America speaks a few words about Travis Pastrana leaving the Subaru Rally Team for NASCAR.

"Due Date" Gives Subaru a Little Love

And Subaru loves them back. In this day and age of product placement, last-week's new release "Due Date" featuring Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr was no exception. However, unlike appearance of iphone, Macbooks and Range Rovers that were prevalent in the script, the casting of the characters' Subaru rental car was not a monetary agreement. A Subaru spokesman confirmed that while the use of the 2011 Impreza was a result of Subaru's direct involvement, no money changed hands. This is typical of Subaru as they do not usually pay for placements (for example, the use of a Subaru Outback in NBC's "The Office").

Many companies that allow their products to appear in film have stringent limitations on how they can be used; for example, in the James Bond movie "The World is Not Enough", BMW would not allow their Z8 to be used in crashes or other 'negative' scenes. However, it seems that this was not the case with Subaru; the car is featured in a spectacular crash, along with several 'lewd' scenes. A Subaru spokesman actually took the crash in a positive light, citing their long history of being a IIHS Top Safety pick with all of their vehicle lineup.


All in all, even without the Subaru love, "Due Date" is certainly a must-see movie... though we're happy that they were driving a Subaru when they got in their accident. Otherwise, the credits would have been rolling far too soon.

The "Chewbaru"

People will do lots of things to make their vehicle unique, and Rex Rosenberg of Great Bend, Kansas is no exception.  However, while many people just go in for stickers or fuzzy dice, Rex went a completely different direction with his Subaru.  He glued over 70lbs of dentures to his car, along with another 70lbs of empty toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes and dental tools.  So why the fascination with all-things-dental?  We're actually not sure, though I'll admit; we approve of the canvas he chose!

Photo By Karen La Pierre, AP

 

 

Do you like our articles? Please take a minute and check out RimrockSubaru.com for the latest Subaru news, media, information, and of course cars!

Subaru Finally Announces Their STi Tuned Forester; the tS

...and unfortunately we in the American market aren't going to get it. At least not yet. Even for the JDM market though, production is going to be limited to only 300 units. This latest machine will be offered with a 2.5l DOHC AVCS equipped boxer engine; Subaru's classic powerhouse. They'll only be offered with an automatic transmission, but promises to pack 263hp, along with a substantial low-end torque curve. STi went over the suspension as well, adding tuned dampers and springs to compliment it along with adding additional rigidity to the frame.

Of course the new Forester tS comes with STi-appointed interior as well; from bolstered seats with STi badging and red stitching, to drill aluminum pedals, stitched steering wheel, paddle shifters and even a push-button start. The car itself will be offered in Obsidian Black, Pearl White, Platinum Silver Metallic, and World Rally Blue, and with a $46k price tag, they're expected to sell out very quickly.

Unfortunately, we in the USDM market are still hanging in the hopes that Subaru will release this car in America, but that certainly doesn't mean we can't drool over it until then.

Images from Fuji Heavy Industries

Billings Enacts Cell Phone Ban, Starting Today

For those of you who may have not yet heard, or didn't remember, this is just a reminder that starting today, Billings is implementing a ban on use of mobile devices while driving in city limits.  The Billings Gazette has more on this:

Law enforcement today begins enforcing a citywide ban on cell phone use while driving, a move that city officials hope will improve safety on Billings’ streets.

Similar bans in other cities have had mixed results, and some national studies say such action may not be as effective as intended.

Nationwide, nearly 5,500 people died last year in crashes related to distracted driving, and about one-fifth of those involved cell phone use, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Distracted-driving crashes also injured almost 450,000 more people.

According to the NHTSA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers using cell phones are four times as likely to be involved in an injury crash.

Thirty states and Washington, D.C., have passed texting bans and eight states and D.C. have passed bans on handheld devices while driving. Twenty-eight states and D.C. have banned any cell phone use by novice drivers.

Billings’ distracted-driving ordinance — passed this summer by a 7-2 City Council vote — went into effect this morning.

It prohibits motorists and bicyclists from holding or touching a handheld electronic communication device while driving, unless they are using a hands-free setup, such as a Bluetooth, that lets them talk on the phone while keeping both hands on the wheel.

“Talking on the phone is illegal; texting is illegal,” Billings Police Lt. RD Harper said. “Using a hands-free is not illegal.”

Billings Police Chief Rich St. John acknowledges that enforcing the ordinance presents challenges.

If an officer sees somebody violating the ordinance, they will be pulled over, St. John said. But it could be tough for officers to determine if somebody is breaking the law.

“I think the challenge in some cases is where we don’t have a clear and definitive — where they’re using a communications device,” he said. “But hopefully that will be taken care of if our officers exercise common sense and judgment to solve a lot of those problems.”

He said that includes the officers setting an example. The Police Department has purchased hands-free devices for every department-issued cell phone, 45 in total. They will be used mostly by the command staff and detectives.

He said patrol officers often have their personal phones with them and are “highly encouraged” to follow the ordinance, even though they’re exempt while on duty.

“I don’t expect to see them on their phones all the time,” St. John said. “I expect them to exercise common sense and good judgment and stay off the phones unless it’s an emergency situation or they’re pulled over on the side of the road.”

Officials expect people to follow the law right away. St. John said information on the ordinance has been out in the community long enough — through media, public-service announcements and advertising — that there will be no grace period. Officers will begin pulling people over immediately.

“But our goal isn’t to write tickets for this,” said Harper, who sat on the committee that researched and drafted the law. “It’s to improve safety in Billings.”

For the time being, a ticket for using a cell phone while behind the wheel most likely won’t go on insurance or driving records.

“It won’t be a reportable offense until there’s action in other areas than on the local level,” said City Councilwoman Peggie Gaghen, who helped write and promote the new law. “It’s got to be done at a statewide level.”

Officials who designed and promoted the law said that most of the public reaction has been positive, but as with any new law or ordinance, there are detractors.

One of the most common complaints about the distracted-driving ordinance has been that it is a government intrusion on people’s day-to-day lives, an argument city officials and law enforcement officers say doesn’t hold water.

Gaghen said “driving is a privilege, not a right” and that the ordinance is more of a safety issue.

St. John agrees.

“This is designed solely to keep people’s heads up and their eyes on the road,” he said.

Despite mounting evidence that talking or texting on a cell phone while driving is dangerous, a pair of studies from the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, indicate that handheld and texting bans don’t work.

A study released in late 2009 used insurance claims to compare phone-use-related crash rates before and after handheld bans went into effect in New York, California, Connecticut and D.C. The crash numbers decreased only in New York — the study said that trend was happening before the ban as well — and stayed about the same in the other jurisdictions.

A second claims-based study from the Highway Loss Data Institute released in September — covering California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington — indicated that crashes increased slightly in three of the four states. However, that study also said that “noncompliance is a likely reason texting bans aren’t reducing crashes.”

Gaghen said she is skeptical of the studies and pointed to the previous Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study that said drivers are four times as likely to crash while using a phone, as well as the distracted-driving crash statistics provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

St. John said he hadn’t seen the studies but that the intent of the new law, along with sound enforcement by officers, is the important part.

“The intent is to deter and prohibit those blatant cell phone and texting things that we’re talking about,” he said. “The intent is the blatant distracted driving, the both hands over the top of the wheel with a phone, the double-pump, head down texting. If we prevent one accident or one person getting hurt then that’s a positive thing and we can say we’ve had some success with it.”

Ray LaHood, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, has described the studies as “misleading” because they don’t merge with previous finding by the group and don’t match other studies that show distracted driving crashes on the decline in cities with bans.

“Tough laws are the first step, and enforcement must be next,” LaHood said in a written response to the texting study. “We know that anti-distracted driving laws can be enforced effectively because two DOT pilot enforcement programs in Hartford (Conn.) and Syracuse (N.Y.) prove it. In the last six months alone, handheld cell phone use has dropped 56 percent in Hartford and 38 percent in Syracuse, and texting while driving has declined 68 percent in Hartford and 42 percent in Syracuse.”

In November 2009, the Montana State Senate rejected legislation that would have banned the use of handheld communication devices while driving by a vote of 32-17. Gaghen said that, despite the bill’s failure, other towns could look to Billings as a benchmark for such bans.

“I think what we do in Billings will be used as an example in communities across the state,” she said.

As of Oct. 22, there were no complete bill proposals for a statewide ban for the upcoming Legislature. The closest thing to such a bill is a bill proposal from Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, for 2011, which is in the process of being drafted, to include distracted driving in other driving offenses.

A statewide ban on texting while driving in Wyoming went into effect in July, but the number of citations issued under that law was not available.

Cheyenne, Wyo., enacted a ban similar to Billings’ in fall 2009. From November 2009 to Oct. 15 of this year, Cheyenne police issued 361 tickets under the ordinance, and Sgt. Rob Dafoe said they’ve issued two to three times as many warnings.

“It’s not that there’s difficulty enforcing it,” he said. “The challenge that we see is there’s still plenty of violators.”

The problem, he said, is that other police calls often take priority and that the time it’s easiest to spot somebody breaking the law, the daylight hours, is also their busiest time of the day.

“If we had the budget and the means to have a dedicated cell phone police, we could probably write 40 to 50 tickets a day,” Dafoe said.

Missoula passed a ban on texting last summer, and as of Oct. 19, the Missoula Police Department had issued four tickets for the ban. The number of warnings was not available.

Missoula Police Capt. Chris Odlin said his city’s ban has been difficult to enforce because it’s tough for officers to tell if somebody is texting, making a call, searching their contact list or fiddling with an MP3 player.

People also could be more likely to try to hide their phone while texting, he said.

Read the original story on the Billings Gazette website, here.