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--- transportation:autos [2025/06/22 22:31] – [Touchscreen / Infotainment] timb
+++ transportation:autos [2026/01/14 23:33] (current) – [Dashboard / Buttons] timb
@@ Line 492: / Line 492: @@
 https://thenewurbanorder.substack.com/p/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-private
+== Why the $25,000 car is going extinct ==
+Can’t find an affordable car anywhere? You’re not the only one.
+MARK DENT - Sunday, June 29, 2025
+In late 2021, Ford released the Maverick, a compact pickup truck. At roughly half the cost and half the weight of the popular F-150, it was meant to be an antidote for excess, and it worked.
+With a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $19,995 for the base level, the Maverick drew rave reviews from critics and a rush of interest from consumers who wanted a nice pickup without having to splurge (and who never hauled anything, like pretty much every truck buyer).
+The truck, however, was so popular that dealers sold them, on average, at ~25% above MSRP during the first few months after its release, leading Consumer Reports to name the Maverick as one of the worst deals for a new car. Since then, Ford has consistently hiked the retail price for new models of the Maverick: The 2025 base version retails for $28,145 — a 41% price hike from just four years ago.
+The Maverick is one example of a contradiction that’s become common in the auto industry: Cheap new vehicles, the type of entry-level car favored by young buyers and many in the middle class, have become vanishingly rare, allowing automakers to hike prices on the scarce number that remain.
+In February 2025, the share of overall new auto sales under $25k was 4.8%, according to the automotive pricing source Edmunds, down from 23% during the same month in 2019.
+https://media.hubspot.com/why-the-25000-car-is-going-extinct
+== Trump wants tiny Japanese-style cars for US even as he cuts mpg goals ==
+Even the first Trump administration had tougher fuel economy targets.
+Jonathan M. Gitlin – Dec 4, 2025 7:28 AM
+It’s been less than a year into the second Trump administration, and to many outside observers, US government policies appear confusing or incoherent. Yesterday provided a good example from the automotive sector. As has been widely expected, the White House is moving ahead with plans to significantly erode fuel economy standards, beyond even the permissive levels that were considered OK during the first Trump term.
+Yet at the very announcement of that rollback, surrounded by compliant US automotive executives, the president decided to go off piste to declare his admiration for tiny Japanese Kei cars, telling Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to make them street-legal in the US.
+https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/12/trump-wants-tiny-japanese-style-cars-for-us-even-as-he-cuts-mpg-goals/
+== 10 Hacks Every Car Owner Should Know ==
+Make affording, maintaining, and driving your car a better experience.
+Jeff Somers - December 17, 2025
+America is a car-centric culture—more than 90% of U.S. households have at least one vehicle. There are a lot of different kinds of cars, from old classics being maintained with love, to snazzy new electric rides, or luxury cruisers filled with cutting-edge tech. Whichever kind you drive, getting the most out of your vehicle demands regular maintenance and sensible driving practices, but you can also goose just a bit more out of any vehicle with these universal car hacks.
+https://lifehacker.com/home/car-hacks-everyone-should-know
@@ Line 696: / Line 733: @@
 https://www.newsweek.com/americans-can-no-longer-afford-their-cars-1859929
+==  Here’s why there are so few new cars for under $30,000 ==
+Five years ago it was a lot easier to buy a car for less than $30,000.
+Jonathan M. Gitlin – Jul 21, 2025 11:05 AM
+The affordability crisis affecting the US automobile market shows little signs of abating. The average price of a new car continues to rise: In June the average new vehicle MSRP was $51,124, according to Kelly Blue Book, with average transaction prices a little lower at $48,907. While one might imagine this has had a dampening effect on car sales, the opposite is true—the first half of 2025 has seen a robust market with some months seeing extremely high volumes. But most signs point to a tightening of the market for the rest of 2025, according to a new report from cars.com.
+The ongoing confusion caused by President Trump’s trade war is in part responsible for the surge of new car sales earlier this year. As tariffs on car imports and car parts were announced, but before they went into effect in April, dealerships filled their forecourts with as much stock as possible. New car sales rose nearly as much as inventory, helped by OEMs offering incentives to move metal—this is why the average transaction price is several thousand dollars less than the average MSRP. But as pre-tariff inventory runs out, we can expect prices to rise and sales to slow.
+As tariffs have started to bite, different parts of the market are being affected differently. And if the cynic in you thinks this means the low end is being squeezed, you’d be right. New cars costing less than $30,000 were just 13.9 percent of all car sales in the first half of this year; for the first six months of 2019—before the pandemic drove up new car prices by so much—they made up 38 percent of new car sales. Cars.com notes that 92 percent of sub-$30,000 vehicles are built outside the US, and therefore highly exposed to the new tariffs; only the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic are built in the US.
+June was also the last month it was possible to buy a new car for less than $20,000, now that Mitsubishi has ended production of the Mirage and discontinued incentives for that model.
+https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/07/heres-why-there-are-so-few-new-cars-for-under-30000/
@@ Line 750: / Line 803: @@
 https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/03/05/0146205/carmakers-must-bring-back-physical-buttons-says-europe
+== Is 2026 the year buttons come back to cars? Crash testers say yes. ==
+The requirements won’t go far enough for many, but it’s a start.
+Jonathan M. Gitlin – Jan 14, 2026 5:31 AM
+Like any industry led by designers, the automotive world is subject to trends and fashions. Often, these are things the rest of us complain about. Wheels that used to be 16 inches are now 20s, because the extra size makes the vehicle they’re fitted to look smaller, particularly if it’s an SUV with a slab of electric vehicle battery to conceal. Front seat passengers now find themselves with their own infotainment screen, often with some kind of active filter tech to prevent the driver from being distracted by whatever it is they’re doing. And of course le buzz du jour, AI, is being crammed in here, there, and everywhere.
+But the thing about fashion and trends is that they don’t remain in style forever. For a few years, it was hard to drive a new car that didn’t use piano black trim all over the interior. The shiny black plastic surfaces hide infotainment screens well when the display is not turned on, but they scratch and show every speck of dust and lint and every smudge and fingerprint. And that’s true for the cheap econobox to the plush luxobarge. The industry finally cottoned on to this, and “black gloss has had its time—we can do without it,” Kia designer Jochen Paesen told me a few years ago.
+Many of those design trends may have been annoying, but the switch away from buttons isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s affecting safety. And increasingly, safety regulators are pushing back. A couple of years ago, we learned that the Euro New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) organization, which crash tests cars for European consumers, decided that from 2026, it would start deducting points for basic controls that weren’t separate, physical controls that the driver can easily operate without taking their eyes off the road. And now ANCAP, which provides similar crash testing for Australia and New Zealand, has done the same.
+https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/01/buttons-in-cars-australian-crash-testers-are-latest-to-require-them/
@@ Line 999: / Line 1068: @@
 https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/28/california_dmv_blockchain/
+===== Fire Truck =====
+==== Cost ====
+== Why does a fire truck cost $2 million? ==
+Katherine Laidlaw - uly 18, 2025
+This past Valentine’s Day, a firefighter behind the wheel of an enormous ladder truck felt his brakes give out.
+He was driving in the heart of Chicago, on a busy city street, about to lose control of a truck that was supposed to help him save people’s lives. He looked around, panicked. The 25-year-old truck — and the nightmare — picked up speed.
+He had three choices: drive into traffic, hit a local grammar school, or plow into the side of a church on the corner. He swerved, narrowly avoiding a pole, and picked the church.
+“It was pretty tragic,” says Pat Cleary, president of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2. “We were just happy no one got injured.”
+It wouldn’t be the last time something like this happened to one of the departments’ 96 rigs. Weeks later, another truck dropped a rear axle responding to a medical emergency. And in January, the department threw a mock 30th birthday for one of its trucks — it was older than many firefighters on the force.
+https://thehustle.co/originals/why-does-a-fire-truck-cost-2-million
@@ Line 1349: / Line 1442: @@
 https://josh.works/bollards
+==== Headlight ====
+== How Bright Headlights Escaped Regulation — and Blinded Us All ==
+Modern LED technology promised safer roads. Instead, it’s creating a blinding menace that regulators refuse to address.
+Jan 7, 2026 11:45 AM EST - Simran Rastogi, News Editor, Autoblog
+Key Points
+ *   Headlight brightness has doubled in a decade, with widespread driver complaints and frustration.
+ *   Regulatory loopholes allow manufacturers to increase brightness because of outdated federal standards.
+ *   Regulations capping maximum brightness for LED headlights have still not been formulated.
+The Bright Headlights Crisis Is Far From Over
+If you find yourself squinting while driving at night, you’re not alone. The IIHS reports that average headlight brightness has roughly doubled in the last decade. The NHTSA receives growing consumer complaints regarding headlight brightness. There’s a real, widespread anger out there; there’s even a subreddit with over 44,000 members complaining about this growing and very real crisis.
+The numbers support the public’s frustration. Older halogen bulbs produced approximately 1,000 lumens. Newer factory-fitted LEDs produce up to 4,000 lumens or more. Some aftermarket LEDs have been found to produce 10,000 lumens or more. But the problem is that the federal brightness standards for automotive headlights have not changed for decades.
+https://www.autoblog.com/news/how-bright-headlights-escaped-regulation-and-blinded-us-all
+== How Bright Headlights Escaped Regulation ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday January 07, 2026 11:00PM
+Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Autoblog:
+<blockquote>
+... the problem is that the federal brightness standards for automotive headlights have not changed for decades. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 hasn't had significant updates since 1986, with an addition allowing Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) headlights coming only in 2022. The NHTSA last investigated (PDF) the issue of headlamp glare in 2003. The current standards include huge loopholes for auto manufacturers to emit as much light as desired, as long as the manufacturer meets the requirements of the other parts of the regulation.
+LEDs can be made to focus light using lasers, and auto manufacturers use this ability to their advantage. The regulatory standard prohibits excessive light in certain areas by referencing old technologies, but manufacturers design the areas in question to be shaded so that the total light output can still be increased greatly overall. Manufacturers want as much light as possible in order to get a high score for the IIHS headlight safety ratings. [...] Although the U.S. finally approved the ADB technology in 2022, manufacturers are wary of implementing it because of conflicting regulations, with a few exceptions, such as Rivian.
+</blockquote>
+https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/01/07/2339221/how-bright-headlights-escaped-regulation
 ===== Security =====
@@ Line 1573: / Line 1706: @@
 https://www.maketecheasier.com/review/wolfbox-g900-4k-mirror-dash-cam/
+== We Spent the Last 3 Weeks Testing 24 Dashcams to Find the Best Option for 2025 ==
+Robert M (Ava's Review) - (Viewed 28 December 2025)
+A high-quality dashcam is essential for road safety, accident documentation, and insurance protection. While many dashcams promise clear footage, reliable recording, and easy installation, finding one that actually delivers sharp video, strong night vision, and long-lasting performance—without overheating, blurry images, or missing footage can be a challenge.
+We tested 24 dashcams, including models from Osmo, Garmin, Vantrue, Nextbase, and BlackVue. The top five were rated based on the following criteria:
+Video Quality
+A dashcam should capture sharp, high-resolution footage in any lighting condition. We tested video clarity, frame rate, and low-light performance to ensure clear recordings both day and night.
+Night Vision Performance
+Many accidents happen at night, making strong night vision technology essential. We evaluated which models provide the best visibility in low-light conditions without grainy or washed-out footage.
+Field of View
+A wider field of view captures more details on the road. We compared lens angles and distortion levels to find dashcams that cover multiple lanes without warping the image.
+Storage and Loop Recording
+A good dashcam should automatically overwrite old footage and support large memory cards. We checked storage capacity, file management, and emergency recording features for the most reliable options.
+Smart Features and Connectivity
+Modern dashcams offer WiFi, GPS tracking, and app integration for easy access to footage. We tested each model’s connectivity, voice control, and parking mode capabilities.
@@ Line 1632: / Line 1791: @@
 https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/06/22/0044222/why-your-cars-touchscreen-is-more-dangerous-than-your-phone
+== Are touchscreens in cars dangerous? ==
+Probably—and safety organisations are beginning to take note
+Sep 19th 2025
+It might not have been the first to have a touchscreen but it was Tesla’s Model S, with its minimalist cabin built around a huge full-colour display, that set the trend. For years almost every new car sold has come with a high-tech, futuristic screen, which controls everything from the air conditioning and satnav to the music. Even safety features like automatic lane-keeping are sometimes screen-controlled.
+https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/09/19/are-touchscreens-in-cars-dangerous
@@ Line 2047: / Line 2218: @@
 https://electrek.co/2021/01/30/awesomely-weird-alibaba-electric-vehicle-1500-electric-jeep/
-====== Ford ======
-== Ford attracts younger and more female buyers with new $20,000 Maverick pickup ==
+====== Hybrid ======
-Sat, Nov 6 20218:00 AM EDT / Updated Sat, Nov 6 202110:04 PM EDT - Michael Wayland
+== Are Hybrid Cars Helping America Transition to Electric Vehicles? ==
-Rebecca and Shane Phillips are accustomed to getting looks when driving around California in their 1985 Mercury Colony Park or 1978 Lincoln Continental with longhorns on the front. But the newest head turner in their collection has been somewhat unexpected.
+Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday January 04, 2026 03:49PM
-“The looks we’re getting are pretty neat. Everybody I’ve run into they’re like, ‘I’ve never seen something like this,’” said Rebecca, 31. “It’s always fun to drive by and somebody gets surprised about what it actually is and what it looks like.”
+America's electric car subsidies expired at the end of September, notes Bloomberg. Yet in those last three months, "while fully electric cars and trucks made up 10% of all auto sales in the US... another 15% of transactions were for hybrid vehicles."
-It’s not a classic vehicle, sports car or electric vehicle. It’s the new 2022 Ford Maverick, a small pickup truck that recently went on sale as the automaker’s least expensive vehicle in its entire lineup of cars and trucks at about $20,000.
+<blockquote>
+The EV market is slowing in the U.S., but analysts expect hybrid sales to continue accelerating. CarGurus Inc., a digital listings platform that covers most of the US auto market, predicts nearly one in six new cars next year will be a hybrid, as automakers green-light more and better machines with the technology. And though these cars and trucks will still burn gas, they will quietly move the needle on both transportation emissions and the transition to fully electric cars and trucks... CarGurus calls hybrids the success story of 2025. Indeed, the fastest-selling car in the country this year has been the Hyundai Palisade Hybrid; it sat on lots for fewer than 14 days on average...
+While carmakers have struggled to turn a profit on fully electric vehicles, analysts say their investments in batteries and electric motors are helping them sell more and better hybrid machines. It's also increasingly difficult to discern a hybrid from a solely gas-powered model, said Scott Hardman, assistant director of the Electric Vehicle Research Center at the University of California at Davis. Carmakers today often don't even label a hybrid as such. Consider Toyota's RAV4, one of the best-selling vehicles in America. The 2026 version of the SUV comes in six different variants, all of which include an electric motor and a gas tank. "A hybrid is just a regular car now," Hardman said. "You can buy one by accident...."
+</blockquote>
+https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/01/04/2346256/are-hybrid-cars-helping-america-transition-to-electric-vehicles
-While the vehicle has only been on sale for slightly over a month, Ford Motor says the compact truck – about the length of a Toyota full-size sedan but priced at far less than that and many other smaller cars – is already succeeding in attracting new, younger and more cost-conscious buyers like the Phillips’.
-https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/06/ford-attracts-younger-and-more-female-buyers-with-new-20000-maverick-pickup.html
@@ Line 2575: / Line 2749: @@
 https://qz.com/hertz-apology-customer-unlimited-mileage-rental-arrest-1851693456
+== Hertz AI Scanner Charges $350 for Tiny ‘Dings’ on Rental and This Is Going Off the Rails ==
+More Hertz customers are learning that if you rent from a lot with an AI scanner, chances are it'll charge you for the tiniest things.
+Adam Ismail - Jul 8, 2025 2:23 PM EDT
+A few weeks ago, we wrote about a Hertz customer in Atlanta who rented their vehicle from a location that used an AI-powered scanner for inspections. Their story of being charged $440 for a small scratch on a wheel gained some attention, and we’re already seeing similar accounts bear out. One case from another customer strikes us as even more egregious.
+Adam Foley went to LinkedIn to share his story, saying that a few hours after returning his vehicle, he received a notification that the system found two areas of damage of similar size. One was on the car’s roof, while the other was on the driver’s side front fender. Foley shared the fender damage in a comment to his initial post, and it does appear to be slight, seemingly smaller than a dime in diameter and not very deep. He told the Daily Mail that Hertz charged him a total of $350 in response—$80 for each dent, plus another $190 in processing and administration fees.
+If you followed our last story involving the wheel scuff, you know that UVeye—the firm that produces and operates the scanners—and Hertz like to secure payment of these fees as quickly as possible. They do this by discounting the charge if the customer admits fault and pays within seven days. Foley said that Hertz offered to knock $65 off the bill if he paid immediately. Furthermore, we’ve heard that contacting a human agent at the company to discuss or contest the charges is very difficult, and not possible within the web portal where customers can view and pay for damages. You have to call a separate support line instead, though Hertz doesn’t seem to make that very clear.
+https://www.thedrive.com/news/hertz-ai-scanner-charging-350-for-dime-sized-dings-proves-this-is-going-off-the-rails
+== Nancy Mace Hitches Her Wagon to the Hertz AI-Scanner Controversy ==
+Customers say the car rental company's scanners send huge bills for minor scuffs.
+Lucas Ropek - August 21, 2025
+Car rental giant Hertz is in the hot seat, after customers have come out of the woodwork to complain that the company’s newly instituted AI scanners are charging them outrageous fees over minor issues. Now the system reportedly has the attention of one of Congress’s most artificially intelligent members.
+The company recently rolled out the scanners as part of a partnership with Israeli firm UVeye, whose products were originally developed as a homeland security device—designed to detect guns and bombs. Its executives ultimately decided to make money by scanning cars. UVeye’s product is described as an “AI-driven inspection technology,” and is designed to assess returned cars for damages.
+According to The New York Post, “dozens” of Hertz customers have complained about the company’s AI scanners, with many claiming they’re being sent huge bills for minor scuffs and scrapes. On Reddit, the scanners have also gotten a lot of hate.
+https://gizmodo.com/nancy-mace-hitches-her-wagon-to-the-hertz-ai-scanner-controversy-2000646059
+====== Manufacturer ======
+===== Ford =====
+== Ford attracts younger and more female buyers with new $20,000 Maverick pickup ==
+Sat, Nov 6 20218:00 AM EDT / Updated Sat, Nov 6 202110:04 PM EDT - Michael Wayland
+Rebecca and Shane Phillips are accustomed to getting looks when driving around California in their 1985 Mercury Colony Park or 1978 Lincoln Continental with longhorns on the front. But the newest head turner in their collection has been somewhat unexpected.
+“The looks we’re getting are pretty neat. Everybody I’ve run into they’re like, ‘I’ve never seen something like this,’” said Rebecca, 31. “It’s always fun to drive by and somebody gets surprised about what it actually is and what it looks like.”
+It’s not a classic vehicle, sports car or electric vehicle. It’s the new 2022 Ford Maverick, a small pickup truck that recently went on sale as the automaker’s least expensive vehicle in its entire lineup of cars and trucks at about $20,000.
+While the vehicle has only been on sale for slightly over a month, Ford Motor says the compact truck – about the length of a Toyota full-size sedan but priced at far less than that and many other smaller cars – is already succeeding in attracting new, younger and more cost-conscious buyers like the Phillips’.
+https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/06/ford-attracts-younger-and-more-female-buyers-with-new-20000-maverick-pickup.html
+===== Mazda =====
+== rediscover the mazda suitcase car, a portable three-wheeled vehicle that fits in the luggage ==
+Portable mazda suitcase car for airports and travels
+matthew burgos - 6 December 2025
+Back in the early 1990s, Mazda built a suitcase car, a portable three-wheeled vehicle for airports that fits inside hard-shell luggage. A project coming from an internal contest called Fantasyard between 1989 and 1991, the concept automobile was built by seven of the company’s engineers from their manual transmission testing and research unit. They wanted a vehicle to move around airports faster, so the team bought a pocket bike and the largest hard-shell Samsonite suitcase, size 57 cm by 75 cm. They used parts from the pocket bike, including its 33.6 cc two-stroke engine that produces 1.7 PS. The handlebars went inside the suitcase, the rear wheels attached to the outside of the case, and the front wheel came through a removable hatch in the front.
+Assembling the portable Mazda suitcase car could take around a minute. Workers turned the front wheel to an upright position through the removable section, and they inserted the rear wheels. Then, they attached the seat above the rear axle. In the end, the vehicle weighed 32 kilos while the engine pushed it to a top speed of 30 km/h, or 19 mph. The concept automobile shared traits with earlier Mazda vehicles because it had three wheels, like the Mazda-Go from 1931, which was a motor rickshaw sold in Japan. Then, there’s the low center of gravity, which was found in the previous MX-5 roadster. So far, the portable Mazda suitcase car has never made it to production.
+https://www.designboom.com/technology/rediscover-mazda-suitcase-car-portable-three-wheeled-vehicle-fits-luggage-12-06-2025/