Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

[Rope-Pusher]

For some reason, it seems that Costco has decided to be the low cost retailer for gasoline, at least in my area. I've been paying under $3.00 per gallon for a couple weeks now,...and there will be a 4% rebate coming back to me at the end of the year. I'm not complaining, just remarking that Costco seems to have changed their pricing strategy.

[potownrob]

For some reason, it seems that Costco has decided to be the low cost retailer for gasoline, at least in my area. I've been paying under $3.00 per gallon for a couple weeks now,...and there will be a 4% rebate coming back to me at the end of the year. I'm not complaining, just remarking that Costco seems to have changed their pricing strategy.

sew wish we had Costco around hier. we have sam’s and bj’s not too far away, but they’re not nearly as good as costco from what I understand.

[Rope-Pusher]

Idn it Sir Samuel Hagar who sings "I can't drive 25"?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz_nuqSxsHE[/youtube]

IIHS CALLS FOR LOWER SPEED LIMITS - Autoline Daily
This is crazy. The more safety equipment that goes onto cars, the more people are getting killed in traffic accidents. About 43,000 people were killed in the U.S. last year. So the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, is proposing that states take action. It wants them to lower speed limits. It wants better police enforcement of those limits including more cameras to catch speeders. It wants speed limiters on passenger vehicles like some commercial vehicle fleets have. And then it wants narrower lanes and more speed bumps. What do you think? Are these the kind of measures that will lead to fewer traffic accidents?
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/to-cre ... h-to-speed

[potownrob]

Idn it Sir Samuel Hagar who sings "I can't drive 25"?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz_nuqSxsHE[/youtube]

IIHS CALLS FOR LOWER SPEED LIMITS - Autoline Daily
This is crazy. The more safety equipment that goes onto cars, the more people are getting killed in traffic accidents. About 43,000 people were killed in the U.S. last year. So the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, is proposing that states take action. It wants them to lower speed limits. It wants better police enforcement of those limits including more cameras to catch speeders. It wants speed limiters on passenger vehicles like some commercial vehicle fleets have. And then it wants narrower lanes and more speed bumps. What do you think? Are these the kind of measures that will lead to fewer traffic accidents?
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/to-cre ... h-to-speed

yeah, at least half of those changes don't sit with me well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_rgBGcXtk0

[Rope-Pusher]

Idn it Sir Samuel Hagar who sings "I can't drive 25"?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz_nuqSxsHE[/youtube]

IIHS CALLS FOR LOWER SPEED LIMITS - Autoline Daily
This is crazy. The more safety equipment that goes onto cars, the more people are getting killed in traffic accidents. About 43,000 people were killed in the U.S. last year. So the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, is proposing that states take action. It wants them to lower speed limits. It wants better police enforcement of those limits including more cameras to catch speeders. It wants speed limiters on passenger vehicles like some commercial vehicle fleets have. And then it wants narrower lanes and more speed bumps. What do you think? Are these the kind of measures that will lead to fewer traffic accidents?
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/to-cre ... h-to-speed

yeah, at least half of those changes don't sit with me well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_rgBGcXtk0

I'm thinkin that the number of traffic fatalities as a function of speed is Zero (0) when a vehicle is parked (it's not really traffic when it's parked, right?) and for the most part rises with speed, due to severity of collisions resulting from high differential s of speed between the speeding vehicle and the tree or other vehicle it impacts, and also due to the reduced time available to react to road hazards, errant pedestrians, them fool bicyclists (think they own the road!) the afore-mentioned more slowly moving vehicles, limited vision range due to fog, rain, snow squalls, night time, etc.
I would also venture touche' that there is some blip in low speed deaths due to boredom, drivers falling asleep, being on the receiving end of a high speed-differential collision, etc.

Are increased vehicle speeds to blame for the increase in traffic deaths, Ida No, but it seams tummy that in these modern times we find ourselves in, I literally run across more pedestrians and drivers who are distracted by communications with people that aren't in their immediate vicinity, a.k.a. "Driving while Cell Phoned".

[Rope-Pusher]

Today is trashday in my neighborhood The lid blew off my can and sailed over the housetops at 50 MPH. Somebody called it in as a UFO and they scrambled the jets at nearby Selfridge Air National Guard base.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-tOTKLUzW0[/youtube]

[Rope-Pusher]

It's what's below that counts.

MANHEIM SCANS CARS FOR AUCTION - Autoline Daily
Not too long ago if car dealers and brokers wanted to buy used cars at auctions, they had to go walk the lanes at the auction house. Not anymore. Now online sales dominate that business. They account for 75% of Manheim’s auction volume, which is up from 50% before the pandemic. To ensure that online buyers really get a good sense of what they’re bidding on, Manheim acquired imaging technology from Synthetik Applied Technologies to take high-resolution images of vehicle underbodies. Manheim worked with Synthetik the past four years to develop the technology to make inspections faster and more convenient. The car drives over the device and it takes a high-res image in less than 10 seconds, which can be invaluable to a potential buyer. Before this an inspector would physically have to look under the vehicle to check its condition. In the business they call this representation. Does the description of the car the seller provides really represent the condition the car is in? So this technology really helps with representation and there’s another term you can add to your automotive vocabulary.



https://www.wardsauto.com/dealers/manhe ... nderbodies

[Rope-Pusher]

FEMA WANTS AM RADIO IN EVs - Autoline Daily
Is this the beginning of the end of AM radio in cars? Tesla was the first to drop AM radio. Last year, Ford followed. No AM radios in the F-150 Lightning. Automakers say that electromagnetic interference from EV motors distort AM radio signals. But automakers can use shielding to protect the AM signal. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, doesn’t like this trend because AM radio is used to broadcast emergency alerts and warnings during natural disasters. Seven ex-heads of FEMA sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and members of Congress urging them to force automakers to put AM radio in EVs. While drivers can use smartphones to stream radio stations, FEMA says the signals keeping them online aren’t as reliable as AM radio during an emergency.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-v ... _lead_pos6

https://www.circuitbasics.com/what-are-am-radios/

[Rope-Pusher]

CHRYSLER IS THE GOLDEN GOOSE AT STELLANTIS - Autoline Daily

GM and Ford are bigger than the Chrysler group in Stellantis. But when it comes to profits, Chrysler blows them away.

Last year General Motors sold a million more vehicles in North America than Chrysler. Ford sold almost half a million more. GM brought in $43 billion more in revenue than Chrysler did, and Ford brought in $23 billion more.

But when it comes to the bottom line, Chrysler blows them away. It made $1 billion more than GM and $4.8 billion more than Ford.

On a global basis, the Chrysler group accounts for 31% of all the vehicles that Stellantis sells, but it accounts for 56% of the profits. Stellantis is performing brilliantly well, probably better than anyone thought it would do. But Chrysler is the Golden Goose that makes Stellantis look as good as it does.

[watkins]

This is shocking, considering how terrible the current product line is. The WL Grand Cherokee and the Wagoneer line are horrendous products