Many of the cars now on America's roads get no better gas mileage than the ones we were driving twenty years ago. Meanwhile, other country's cars are leaving ours in the dust in terms of fuel efficiency. How did this happen, and what are American auto manufacturers doing about it? Former GM engineer and NOW correspondent Jonathan Silvers goes under the hood of the U.S. car industry to look at what's being called a colossal failure of American engineering. Does Detroit have a secret weapon waiting in the wings?

NOW also profiles an organization that hopes to move kids out of poverty with - of all things - bicycles. Part of NOW's "Ideas That Work"series.

The NOW Web site at www.pbs.org/now will provide additional coverage starting Friday, May 18, 2007, including an extended interview with Car and Driver magazine's editor-in-chief. The site recently launched a NOW on the News audio interview with an influential military blogger about the army's decision to restrict soldier blogs: http://www.pbs.org/now/news/319.html