The forward sight-line issue is probably the biggest turn-off for me. Sure, staying out of the passing lane is one way around this, but what about left turns at intersections? Trying to see around stationary oncoming left-turners must be awful.
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’90s LUV? Read more

Upward-facing seats, like in an Apollo command module! Read more

Agreed, we do need some more definitive terminology here. “Sport Utility Vehicle” is awfully vague, as is “crossover”. I have much more appreciation for terms like “coupe”, which despite what BMW wants us to think, absolutely must be a two-door. Or “hatchback”, which literally requires the presence of a rear hatch. Read more

Instead of dimming a second or two before an oncoming car comes around the bend, they dim a good half second or so afterward, giving the other driver a nice eyeful of highbeam before the car wakes up and dims them. Read more

I bout ONE gallon of premixed coolant years ago. Partly for its contents, but also to have a clearly-marked jug to keep my own mix in. Still have it and still use it regularly. Sure, I could have used a marker to write “50/50” on any other jug, but I like having an unmistakable, easily-recognizable container that I’ll… Read more

Keeping the best posts of the day at the top is great and all, but a chronological feed is better. I’m not a fan of having to click an extra button to get there. Kinja’s already making me click way too many times just to expand the comment section. Read more

My brother’s 1991 Saab 900 has rear wheel parking brakes, but I’ve heard that earlier years had them up front. Read more

I’m with you; this is absolutely a landmark worth recognizing. Makes me wonder- what was the next major innovation to come after this? Windshield wipers? Read more

Agreed. All of those numbers (overall crashes, fatal crashes, injury/property damage crashes) need to be viewed in light of VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) before we can draw any meaningful conclusions. Read more

The National Safety Council released figures last week that show that, for the second year running, the United States has seen a decrease in traffic deaths. A small decrease, yes, but a decrease nonetheless. In 2019, there were 38,800 deaths. Read more

This is the “a car for every purse and purpose” company. It’s not Niche Motors. It’s General Motors. Read more

Access holes! I bet you could even change the fuel pump without dropping the tank or pulling the bed! Read more

A majestic crane feeds her young Read more

It makes sense that the Tesla would attempt to make an educated guess when the sign isn’t 100% legible. Demanding that all signs, road markings, and other traffic control devices be in pristine shape is a tall order. Of course the system should be equipped with algorithms to help decipher imperfect signs. Mistaking an… Read more

Ejecto engine-0, cuz! Read more

It’s likely that Miles’s death soon after Le Mans contributed to the belief that he deserved to win, since he’d never have another chance to do so. Had Miles lived, we might be telling a different story... Read more

Correction: I actually found some of the data I was looking for in a separate document. It’s titled “Summary of Motor Vehicle Crashes”. Looks like the most recent stats currently available are for 2017: 6.45 million total (police-reported) crashes, approximately 34k of which were fatal. If I’m doing the math right,… Read more

If we’re really going to compare human drivers against computerized alternatives, we need to be looking the number of crashes per Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). Read more

Honestly, if you think about the word itself, “automobile” would have been the perfect word to describe autonomous vehicles. It’s such a shame that it’s fallen into common usage to represent regular human-driven cars instead. We really should have been referring to our cars as “motor-mobiles” all along, reserving… Read more