You gotta pay to play…err…find out where your car is.

By James Gilboy - December 11, 2019

Although our constant inundation with technology in 2019 means our locations are always being tracked and our conversations analyzed, there is at least one upside to this Orwellian nightmare: It's mighty tricky to steal a modern car and get away with it. GPS trackers can pinpoint a stolen vehicle's location, and in some circumstances, these vehicles can be disabled remotely to assist in its recovery. It's a convenient service, but only if you're willing to pony up the bucks, according to Honda. Otherwise, as one Canadian Honda Accord owner just found, you'll be up a creek without a paddle.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/31444/honda-refuses-to-track-stolen-accord-because-owner-didnt-pay-for-hondalink-report

Reuters August 7, 2015 8:29 AM

http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/07/pocket-sized-personal-transporters-could-soon-be-seen-on-the-streets-of-tokyo/

Expect to see a flood of autonomous grocery and cargo vehicles.

Jon Fingas, 18 December 2019

Self-driving delivery vehicles could soon become a relatively common sight on California streets. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles will allow “light-duty” autonomous delivery vehicles under 10,001lbs for testing and commercial uses. Companies will need permits that vary depending on whether or not a backup driver is involved, but this will allow everything from modified passenger cars to purpose-built vans to carry groceries, pizza orders and other forms of cargo.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/18/california-allows-light-duty-self-driving-delivery-vehicles/

Tech reporter from The Guardian gets stuck in the boonies by the Internet of Things

Jonathan M. Gitlin - 2/18/2020, 7:06 AM

Over the weekend, a trip to the Californian boonies by Guardian journalist Kari Paul turned into a cautionary tale about the perils of the connected car and the Internet of Things. Paul had rented a car through a local car-sharing service called GIG Car Share, which offers a fleet of hybrid Toyota Priuses and electric Chevrolet Bolt EVs in the Bay Area and Sacramento, with plans to spend the weekend in a more rural part of the state about three hours north of Oakland. But on Sunday, she was left stranded on an unpaved road when the car's telematics system lost its cell signal. Without being able to call home, the rented Prius refused to move.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/02/driver-stranded-after-connected-rental-car-cant-call-home/

by HJ Pizarroon - August 11, 2020

In an article posted yesterday, I discussed what an autocycle is. I also mentioned some of the realities autocycle manufacturers are facing. Those included the changing regulations recognizing them as a separate vehicle class from a motorcycle, a growing shift to, and acceptance of, electric motivation, and the psychological barriers for consumers who want to stay with the crowd, versus purchasing something out of the norm. Today, I will go over some of the autocycle manufacturers that are making headway in the marketplace. There are even a few more that soon are just starting out.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/autocycles-are-here-even-if-they-face-slow-public-acceptance/

By Laura Tucker / Oct 19, 2020

Imagine not having to take your eyes off the road to see your speed or navigation while driving. While one faction of technology is focusing on autonomous vehicles, there are others who want to use technology to still allow you to remain in control. Envisics has raised the funding to bring AR holography to windshields in cars to allow you to have all the information you need while never having to take your eyes off the road.

https://www.maketecheasier.com/envisics-ar-holography-to-windshields/

Tesla's Cybertruck, GM's $113,000 Hummer, Ford's (e)F-150—then there are the startups.

Aarian Marshal, Wired.com - 10/24/2020, 5:00 AM

The electric pickup trucks are here. Or almost here, at least.

General Motors dropped a pretty penny to debut its new electric Hummer during the World Series on Tuesday, with a 2 minute, 15 second ad that took up an entire commercial break. But you won’t be able to drive the $112,595 truck off the lot until at least next fall. Tesla staged a smashing reveal for its Cybertruck pickup nearly a year ago, but it hasn’t yet built the factory in Texas that will make the thing—reservation holders can probably expect their truck late next year. Other contenders on the horizon include the Rivian R1T, which, after delays, should show up around June; the Lordstown Endurance (sometime in 2021); the Bollinger B2 (probably next year); the Ford F-150 EV (due mid-2022); and the Nikola Badger (thanks to the company’s leadership troubles, who knows). The competition for the hearts and minds of the American electric pickup truck buyer is bound to be intense.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/10/why-is-everyone-building-an-electric-pickup-truck/

And it’ll be in proper SSDs, not cheap NAND muck that drives infotainment systems today, say analysts

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Wed 4 Nov 2020 05:57 UTC

Passenger cars on sale in 2025 will ship with a terabyte of storage, according to analyst firm Counterpoint, and fully autonomous cabs might need 11TB of capacity.

The firm made that prediction in a whitepaper titled, “Storage Capacity Requirement for Autonomous Vehicles in the Next Decade,” that points out that cars are increasingly adding sensors and compute capacity that allows them to automate some or all aspects of driving.

The authors add that much of that data will be accumulated because the cars of the future won’t just use sensors to make real-time decisions but will also store data for upload at convenient moments. “This data will be used to inform everything from training artificial intelligence systems to developing new business models,” the whitepaper stated. https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/04/autonomous_car_storage_requirements/

By Mihir Patkar - 13 November 2020

If you're buying a new car or are in the market for a used car, check these car buying guides to know how to buy a car and save money.

Buying the right car can save you a lot of money over the years of ownership. A car is one of the most-used devices in your life, so you want to ensure you get a reliable machine that fits your needs. You want it to last long, get great mileage, be good on the environment, have heated mirrors and seats, and even connect Apple CarPlay or use Android Auto in the car.

https://www.makeuseof.com/things-to-check-before-buying-new-or-used-car-to-save-money/

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday August 03, 2021 02:20PM

On Sunday, a bipartisan group of Senators published draft text of a massive new bipartisan infrastructure bill, proposing more than a trillion dollars in spending and a vast array of far-reaching provisions. But a little-noticed section in the bill could have significant implications in the fight against drunk driving, eventually mandating a new in-car safety technology to actively prevent Americans from driving while impaired. The Verge reports:

Introduced under the heading “Advanced Impaired Driving Technology,” the provision would require the Department of Transportation to set a new standard for detecting and preventing impaired driving. The bill calls on the secretary of transportation to release a standard within three years, with the requirement taking effect for new cars three years after that. The specific provisions of the standard are vague, but it would require cars to “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired” and “prevent or limit motor vehicle operation” if impairment is detected.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/08/03/201237/proposed-federal-standard-would-require-cars-to-prevent-or-limit-operation-by-impaired-drivers

If you're looking to sell your car, here are seven trustworthy websites you can use to get a valuation before selling it.

By Syed Hammad Mahmood - 18 August 2021

Without knowing your car's exact value, you'll have a hard time selling it. Either you'll lose money by selling it for less than it's worth, or you'll wait too long for someone to buy your over-priced vehicle.

To avoid either of these unpleasant scenarios, it's best to get an accurate value of your used car before going into negotiations. Thanks to technology, getting a car appraisal is now easier than ever before. Here are seven trustworthy websites to value your used car for free.

https://www.makeuseof.com/7-trustworthy-websites-to-value-your-used-car/

To fight climate change, cities need to be designed with much more walking, biking, and public transit use in mind.

By Gabby Birenbaum Sep 12, 2021, 8:30am EDT

This summer’s series of extreme wildfires, hurricanes, and tropical storms have made it more apparent than ever that the effects of climate change are here.

Limiting the damage caused by future disasters will require a whole-of-government approach — one not limited to what the federal government can do. There’s a host of ideas that states and municipalities could implement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in some of the world’s biggest polluters: American cities.

According to a 2021 study published in Frontiers, Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles have some of the highest per-capita emissions totals in the world. The study broke down cities’ emissions based on sector, using the most recently available data (from 2009 and 2010), and found a large portion of those emissions come from transportation.

https://www.vox.com/22662963/end-driving-obsession-connectivity-zoning-parking

Kate Marino - Nov 8, 2021 - Economy & Business

Anyone who’s shopped for a car this year knows that new ones are hard to get and used ones have gotten way more expensive. And we know why: There's a global shortage of all the computer chips modern-day cars require.

But October’s used car price growth still managed to shock even the experts.

The latest: The industry’s key index of used vehicle prices jumped another 9.2% over the span of just a month. That puts the index 38% higher than a year ago — compared to “just” 27% for the same stat in September.

Why it matters: The market for cars and trucks is one of those that’s most impacted by pandemic-era supply problems. That’s unfortunate because vehicles are big-ticket items that most Americans rely on to get to work and generally engage in life.

https://www.axios.com/used-car-market-prices-dbea46f6-f8b3-42fe-b972-ece6c0f96de1.html

The declaration set ambitious timelines for EVs but does not include buying from the U.S., China, or the world's two largest automakers.

Mack DeGeurin - 10 November 2021 12:20PM

The world may be one baby step closer to ditching gas-powered cars thanks to a new agreement among nations, companies, and cities aimed at ending fossil fuel vehicles by 2040. The pledge, called, The Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Cars and Vans, was introduced at this year’s COP26 climate conference.

Major carmakers involved include General Motors, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar Land Rover; India, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Poland were among a lengthy list of countries to add their name to the pledge. Other major private companies like Uber and Siemens also signed on. New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Lagos, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires are among the cities included in the zero-emission vehicles pledge.

https://gizmodo.com/gas-powered-vehicles-just-got-one-step-closer-to-extinc-1848031166

Ronan Glon - Jul 5th, 2016 at 2:58 pm

Some of the most interesting cars that Sweden has to offer are hiding in small, rural towns, not in museums. That’s because 15-year-olds are allowed to drive virtually any type of car if it’s been converted into a two-seater pickup, and modified to top out at about 20 MPH.

These home-made pickups are considered tractors by Swedish law, and they’ve been around for nearly a century. In the early days, real tractors were expensive and difficult to come by, so skilled DIYers began chopping up cars (often Ford Model As) to use them in the fields. The conversion became popular enough that the government wound up writing laws that outlined what farmers were and weren’t allowed to do if they chose to build their own tractor.

The one-of-a-kind creations became known as EPA tractors. A taxi driver that I talked to in Gothenburg explained EPA was a store that sold low-priced goods, kind of like Lidl or Aldi today. In popular culture, the name EPA became synonymous with something that’s affordable, home-made, and a little off-beat. Use a rope to hold up your pants and you’ve got an EPA belt; turn a Volvo PV544 into a tractor and you’ve just built an EPA tractor.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2016/07/05/homebuilt-pickups-and-trailer-hitches-how-underage-teens-skirt-the-law-to-drive-in-sweden

Selling a car? Returning a rental? Don't leave personal data on the car! Here's how to remove personal data from your car.

Elliot Nesbo - 28 January 2022

If you're selling a vehicle, you've probably thought about places to sell it and prices to accept. However, many people don't ask whether or not the vehicle has any personal data on it.

Cars now record more personal data than ever before. This is useful while you own them; it provides added functionality. But when it's time to sell, that same information can potentially be used against you.

So, why is personal data a problem, and how can you remove it before you sell your car?

https://www.makeuseof.com/ways-remove-personal-data-from-car/

In-car HUDs are increasing in popularity and could even make it safer to access information while driving. But, how does a car HUD work?

Matthew Wallaker - 6 February 2022

The heads-up display (HUD) is a safety system designed to keep you from taking your eyes off the road by projecting data on your windshield. This way, you don't have to look down to check information about your trip or car or look at the infotainment display.

The technology behind the HUD isn't a recent innovation. It was first used on fighter jets 70 years ago for faster and safer flights during the night. So, unless you are a jet pilot, there's a fair chance you haven't encountered this technology outside video games, as mainstream cars usually don't come with HUD.

https://www.makeuseof.com/how-does-car-hud-work/

Bryan Gerould - 11 November 2020

Now and again, an invention becomes so ubiquitous that it’s rendered practically invisible. An industrial designer might consider that the ultimate compliment—a bellwether for a product’s longevity. All this was running through my brain when I recently had to explain to a friend what “that red thing” was, and what purpose it served. Really, when’s the last time you thought especially hard about the humble jerrycan?

https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/jerrycan-design-80-years-no-signs-retirement/

Jaclyn Trop - 8:20 AM PDT April 1, 2022

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a dramatic change to domestic fuel economy standards, a crucial step toward putting more electric vehicles on the road while reducing dependence on other countries.

The standards, which go into effect in 2024, aim to deliver on President Joe Biden’s ambitious goal for half of the vehicles sold in the U.S. to be battery-electric by 2030. They could also accelerate domestic development of battery packs and electric vehicles.

The federal mandate to cut emissions supports “the freedom of our country to chart its future without being subject to other countries and to the decisions that are being made in the boardrooms of energy companies,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on Friday at a press conference livestreamed from U.S. DOT headquarters.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/01/the-u-s-just-announced-that-cars-will-have-to-be-a-lot-more-fuel-efficient-by-2026/

If you purchased a car after 1996, it probably has an OBD-II port. But what is it for, and how do you diagnose errors with it?

Josh Ko - 2 June 2022

If you purchased a car after 1996, chances are it has an OBD-II (Onboard diagnostics II) port. Every car or truck on the road manufactured after 1996 is legally mandated to have one installed.

OBD-II is an onboard computer that monitors emissions, mileage, speed, and other data about your car. It's connected to the Check Engine light, which illuminates when the computer detects a problem.

The OBD-II onboard computer features a 16-pin port under the driver's side dash. It allows a mechanic or anyone else to read the error code using a special scan tool.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/obd-ii-port-used/

It pays to keep track of your VIN. You never know when you might need it!

Matthew Wallaker - 14 June 2022

The automotive industry uses the Vehicle Identification Number (or VIN) to identify every car, bus, truck, and motorcycle. You could say that a car's VIN is similar to its fingerprint. But what is a VIN, and what information does it contain about your car?

https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-find-your-cars-vin-why-you-need-it/

Who Are the Masked Vigilantes Behind Markups.org?

Matthew Denis - August 2, 2022 12:00PM

While it’s lean times for global car makers, scrounging for scarce chips and parts, it’s prosperous days for auto dealers. Sitting in the Goldilocks zone between cash-fat post-pandemic consumers and a shortage of vehicles coming from atop, car sellers are living through an ascendant present.

Quarter 1 2022 profit reports declare that it’s a golden time to be a dealership. A May publication from Haig Partners found that the average gross profit per new vehicle sold sits at $6,244. In turn, the average publicly owned dealership made $7.1 million in the 12 months leading up to March 2022. Unfortunately, money begets greed, and reports of price-gouging are rampant. Consumers already dealing with higher fuel prices, elevated interest rates, and declining GDP now have to deal with more expensive vehicles. Fortunately, an elegant solution for consumers looking to buy new cars has emerged.

https://www.themanual.com/auto/markup-exposes-car-dealership-greed/

Stick shifts are dying. When they go, something bigger than driving will be lost.

Ian Bogost - August 8, 2022

This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here.

I drive a stick shift. It’s a pain, sometimes. Clutching and shifting in bumper-to-bumper traffic wears you out. My wife can’t drive my car, which limits our transit options. And when I’m at the wheel, I can’t hold a cold, delicious slushie in one hand, at least not safely. But despite the inconvenience, I love a manual transmission. I love the feeling that I am operating my car, not just driving it. That’s why I’ve driven stick shifts for the past 20 years.

That streak may soon be over. When it comes time to replace my current car, I probably won’t be able to get another like it. In 2000, more than 15 percent of new and used cars sold by the auto retailer CarMax came with stick shifts; by 2020, that figure had dropped to 2.4 percent. Among the hundreds of new car models for sale in the United States this year, only about 30 can be purchased with a manual transmission. Electric cars, which now account for more than 5 percent of car sales, don’t even have gearboxes. There are rumors that Mercedes-Benz plans to retire manuals entirely by the end of next year, all around the world, in a decision driven partly by electrification; Volkswagen is said to be dropping its own by 2030, and other brands are sure to follow. Stick shifts have long been a niche market in the U.S. Soon they’ll be extinct.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/08/stick-shift-manual-transmission-cars/671078/

May 13, 2022 - Todd

It's not “ego.”

It's a claim that you encounter a lot—an insult really—that people are buying bigger and bigger trucks to compensate for… something. Here's one particularly cringe-worthy example, because the person making it doesn't seem to realize the go-kart he's praising doesn't meet US emissions standards.

whenever americans say that they *need* a massive pickup truck that gets 12mpg just show them the Subaru Sambar

utility vs. ego pic.twitter.com/NqexDbQcok

https://toddofmischief.blogspot.com/2022/05/why-are-trucks-getting-bigger.html

While it doesn’t look like much from the outside (as requested by the customer), this stealthy box truck hides a luxurious, jaw-dropping interior, full of amenities and with a very stylish design.

12 Aug 2022, 10:13 UTC - Cristina Mircea

Based on a 1999 Ford 7.3 Powerstroke with an E350 chassis, this classy, off-grid beauty is the creation of Epic Skoolies. These guys are located in the Pacific Northwest and specialize in converting vans, school buses, and other vehicles into comfortable houses on wheels that offer all the amenities of a stationary home but with the added benefit of mobility.

This build was for a client who wanted a stealthy box truck that doesn’t attract attention when parked in a busy city, but hides a world of luxury and amenities once you step inside it. That is the reason why Epic Skoolies left it pretty much as it was on the outside and only focused on the interior design.

The first thing that hits you right as you open the door is the flooring with mood lighting coming through the hallway entrance. Blue LED light switches on the wall control both the floor lighting as well as the main lights in the vehicle.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/stealthy-box-truck-hides-a-five-star-interior-with-a-luxurious-spa-like-bathroom-195827.html

When do you need more torque? How much horsepower do you need? And how do horsepower and torque relate?

Alex Ramos - 15 August 2022

Horsepower and torque are two of the most important metrics when it comes to your vehicle. These numbers tell you a lot about the vehicle you're going to buy, and manufacturers constantly strive to outgun their competition with higher horsepower and torque figures.

Pickup trucks have increasingly ridiculous torque figures, and sports cars' horsepower numbers seem to climb higher every year.

But what exactly are horsepower and torque, and how are they different?

https://www.makeuseof.com/difference-horsepower-torque-explained/

If you need extra protection, a secret kill switch could be what you're looking for.

Josh Ko - 27 August 2022

Automobile manufacturers have made drastic improvements to their safety and alarm systems to combat vehicle theft. However, with the rise in material costs, some manufacturers have opted out of adding immobilizers, which makes stealing vehicles much easier. The implementation of immobilizers makes stealing a vehicle harder by using vehicle-specific keys but not impossible.

Unfortunately, some vehicles are more susceptible to theft because of how easy it is. Luckily, there are preventive measures you can take to prevent your car from being stolen. One of them by installing a kill switch, and here's how you do it.

https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-install-kill-switch-any-car/

Buying a car has never been easy, but it only seems to be getting worse.

Elizabeth Blackstock - 30 August 2022 2:20PM

I’ve heard countless horror stories from people trying to buy lately. We all know that this market is a seller’s heaven and a buyer’s hell, but when you’re in desperate need for a vehicle, those concerns kind of move to the wayside, leaving people dealing with a network of so-called “stealerships.”

The catchy portmanteau refers to dealerships that sell vehicles or perform maintenance for exorbitant fees. Yes, dealers need to make a profit to stay in business, but what differentiates a dealership from a stealership is the stealership’s insistence on adding thousands of dollars of markups at every possible opportunity. You’ll also usually find fast-talking sales folk who are adept at gauging your willingness to pay a lot of money just to get out the door with a vehicle.

https://jalopnik.com/npr-dives-into-the-rise-of-the-stealership-1849473117

4 September 2022 - John D. Cook

I’ve had to work a little with VIN numbers lately, and so I looked back at a post I wrote on the subject three years ago. That post goes into the details of Vehicle Identification Numbers and the quirky algorithm used to compute the check sum.

This post captures the algorithm in Python code. See the earlier post for documentation.

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2022/09/04/computing-vin-checksums/

Liz Najman, Researcher - August 25, 2022

Almost every year since 2018, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has released a market projection for EV adoption. The analysis is thorough and thoughtful, with thousands of words of supporting detail on how the projections are designed.

Each report shows stacked bar charts that, year after year, demonstrate the accelerating growth of EV sales. The 2022 report is no different. Global EV adoption is projected to multiply by 2025, 2030 and 2035 – fueled by sales in major auto markets like the US and China. BCG projections for EV adoption

https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/ev-adoption-us

A modern vehicle can have more than 70 computers on board. This is how these systems talk to each other.

Nischay Khanna - 6 September 2022

You got into your car, pressed the start button, and the engine came to life in no time, but how did your car decide if it should start or not?

Well, to make the car start, several antennas and Electronic Control Units communicated with the key fob. The Controller Area Network (CAN) protocl ensures communication between your key fob, antennas, and ECUs happen appropriately inside your car.

So what is the CAN protocol, and how does it help the devices on your vehicle's systems work together? Well, let's find out.

https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-can-bus-in-automotive-systems/

'Our dealership tacked on 5K surcharge. My husband said “I don’t pay over sticker” and left. They called us the next day with a better deal.'

Braden Bjella - Posted on Oct 1, 2022

A user on TikTok has gone viral after sharing his negative experience at a local Chevrolet dealership.

In a video with over 8.8 million views, car-focused TikTok user @Pbsquamer recounted his experience at the Woodbridge, Virginia-based dealership, Lindsay Chevrolet.

According to the creator, he initially went to the dealership after seeing a car he was interested in listed for $23,000, which he called a “great price” for the car in question.

After he confirmed the price and test drove the car, he settled down to sign the paperwork — only to discover the dealership had added a $2,500 fee, which they dubbed the “blazer cost.”

“It’s a package that we have to add on,” @Pbsquamer recalls the salesperson saying. “Basically, what it is is that it comes with two years’ free maintenance and some floor mats for the car.”

The TikToker politely declined, at which point he discovered the fee was not optional.

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/chevrolet-dealership-blazer-package-scam-psa/

Analysis by Andrew Van Dam, Staff writer - October 21, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

After a long drive, the only thing that makes our stomachs churn faster than a windshield smeared with bug guts is a windshield bearing no evidence of insect life whatsoever. It feels like a fundamental pillar of the planet’s ecology has snapped.

You’ve probably noticed it, too. On long summer road trips, tiny corpses once formed a crust so thick that the reduced visibility posed a legitimate safety risk. Now, many folks we spoke with can’t remember the last time they had to scour the bug gore from their RAV4.

Before we address possible causes of the “windshield phenomenon,” such as more aerodynamic cars, we should make one thing clear: It’s not a mass delusion or faulty collective memory. Windshield splats are valid ecological data, and they don’t bear good news.

One of the first to realize their potential, in 1996, was Anders Pape Moller, a Danish biologist with (a) the iconoclastic streak necessary to even consider using windshields as a bug-measurement device and (b) the stubbornly ferocious work ethic needed to see the scheme through.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/21/dead-bugs-on-windshields/

TOM KRISHER - 15 November 2022

DETROIT (AP) — Two new U.S. studies show that automatic emergency braking can cut the number of rear-end automobile crashes in half, and reduce pickup truck crashes by more than 40%.

The studies released Tuesday, one by a government-auto industry partnership and the other by the insurance industry, each used crash data to make the calculations. Automatic emergency braking can stop vehicles if a crash is imminent, or slow them to reduce the severity.

Some automakers are moving toward a voluntary commitment by 20 companies to make the braking technology standard equipment on 95% of their light-duty models during the current model year that ends next August.

https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-3a3816bd26418cc612d5b9b56d86f3a8

As long as you have these essential accessories in your vehicle, you won't need to wait for roadside assistance if it breaks down.

Josh Ko - 5 January 2023

Millions of car accessories are offered today through a plethora of online merchants or standing retailers. With drastically varying levels of quality differences, finding what you actually need might prove to be difficult.

From electrical accessories to non-electrical essentials, here are some of the best accessories you should keep in your vehicle throughout the year.

https://www.makeuseof.com/top-accessories-to-keep-in-vehicle/

After the initial shock, there are several key steps to take.

Richard Adejumola - 31 January 2023

Sometimes you park farther down the road, but your car's always in this spot most days. You've been parking here forever; the lamp post is normally to your left when you exit the car, and there's the exact crooked crack on the asphalt.

However, reality dawns as you realize your car has been stolen along with all the important stuff in the glove box, back seat, and trunk. The disruption to your life, and your routines, are messed up. You want it back, bad.

So, what do you do after your car is stolen?

https://www.makeuseof.com/what-to-do-after-your-car-has-been-stolen/

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday May 16, 2023 06:25PM

According to S&P Global Mobility, the average age of light vehicles on the road in the U.S. is now at an all-time high of 12.5 years, up three months from 2022. Two decades ago, their average was 9.7 years. Axios reports:

The impact: The transition from gas to electric cars will take decades.

It'll likely take until at least 2050 – and possibly longer – before most gas-powered cars are off the road, Campau says.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/05/16/2114214/gas-powered-cars-wont-die-off-any-time-soon

You could just make them smaller. There's no rule saying you can't.

Steve DaSilva - 28 December 2023

Cars are huge now. This is known. These massive vehicles kill more people than smaller cars — this is also known. Yet, when confronted with these facts, automakers seem to prefer complex, expensive, high-tech solutions to reduce crashes, when there’s a much simpler option available: Make cars smaller.

Wired spoke with the chief engineering and technology officer for Stellantis recently, Ned Curic, and discussed this exact problem — how to make bigger cars safe. While he mentioned the prospect of shrinking cars, he stopped short of suggesting it for the States:

https://jalopnik.com/american-cars-are-huge-and-unsafe-but-automakers-dont-1851126751

Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN, CNNWire - Saturday, January 20, 2024 9:34AM

In America, traveling through red lights on right turns has become a rule of the road. Frequently, you get honked at if you don't speed through fast enough.

But the widespread driving practice is now coming under scrutiny, and facing government curbs, for being too dangerous.

Years ago, right-on-red was mostly limited to California and a few other western states. Woody Allen famously declared in “Annie Hall” that he'd never live in Los Angeles because the city's “only cultural advantage is that you can make a right turn on a red light.”

Right-on-red spread across the country in the 1970s in response to the Arab oil embargo against the United States and oil rationing. States introduced it as a gas-savings measure: The theory was that it would reduce idling at red lights.

Congress sped up states' adoption of right-on-red laws with a provision in the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act. It tied states' eligibility for federal energy assistance to allowing right-on-red “to the maximum extent practicable consistent with safety.”

By 1972, 13 states allowed ROTR, according to a legislative history of the practice in Connecticut. By the end of the decade, nearly every state in the country had it. (Although not New York City - and the patchwork of municipalities which do or don't allow it only adds to the behind-the-wheel confusion.)

https://abc7.com/red-light-right-on-traffic-turn/14343661/

Why car ownership today is like cable 25 years ago

Diana Lind - Sep 28, 2023

I married into owning a car, a pre-owned 2009 Toyota RAV-4. When my husband and I first started dating, he lived in Grays Ferry, a part of south Philadelphia unsafe and un-gentrified enough that people routinely drive on to their sidewalks to park in front of their door. For my husband, after years of biking everywhere – like to the Home Depot to pick up lumber and then strapping it to his back to bike home – the car was, in a very American way, a portal to freedom. He could now go anywhere, whether the Home Depot or a daytrip, with remarkable convenience.

Then the car became a portal to survival with young kids. You literally can’t leave a hospital after giving birth unless your newborn is buckled into a carseat, an indicator of just how intertwined young parenthood and cars are. I felt uneasily grateful to have a car, but it made life so much more convenient than schlepping strollers on transit or figuring out how to strap a carseat into an Uber. But I always imagined we would return to our less car-dependent ways once our kids got older. Among the milestones of parenting – Done with diapers! Done with strollers! – I waited for the Done with Car Ownership! milestone. I think we’re just about there.

https://thenewurbanorder.substack.com/p/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-private

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

A Reddit user shared the citation they received for driving a Subaru Crosstrek on a 4WD-only road

Logan Carter - 8 August 2024 5:00PM

As one Subaru Crosstrek owner recently learned the hard way, it bears repeating that all-wheel drive is not the same as four-wheel drive. A Subie owner posted a warning letter they received a month after driving on Colorado River Overlook Road in Canyonlands National Park to the r/NationalPark subreddit. The letter notes that this particular road is restricted to 4WD vehicles only, and the Crosstrek is equipped with AWD, not 4WD. It also warns that they may face serious consequences if they’re caught taking an AWD car on a 4WD-only trail again.

https://jalopnik.com/national-park-service-will-cite-drivers-of-awd-cars-for-1851617315

Need a new set of wheels? Shopping for a new car is a lot easier with the help of these iPhone and Android apps.

Joe Cason - 10 November 2021

Buying a new or used car can be a hassle. Going to a dealership, haggling prices, and dealing with car salespeople is a lot of hard work. This is why many people who begin their new or used car search should start with an app.

Using an app, you can see the available inventory at all your local dealers before going down there in person, and even get cars delivered to your door. So give one (or all) of these apps a try before you head down to a dealership to see if you can find your next dream car on your phone.

https://www.makeuseof.com/best-apps-for-buying-new-or-used-car-ios-android/

(Driverless Vehicles)

May 21, 2020 at 5:11pm By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

The wheels alone are more than enough to turn the automotive world upside down.

The last Frankfurt Motor Show may have been the last big one anyone could visit for quite a while. Our visit there allowed us to write compelling stories and to clarify doubts, including a persistent one: How did REE’s invention work. After Ran Dekel helped us clarify that, the company is showing more details of its Corner Module. Better saying, the REEcorner, as the company now calls it. In the video above, you can see it applied to a hypothetical autonomous delivery vehicle.

So far, there is nothing autonomous for sale, but the video allows us to understand the plans REE has for its invention. When level 4 autonomy is available, the REEcorner and its electric platform, called REEboard, will play an important role in transportation.

https://insideevs.com/news/424628/ree-autonomous-delivery-ev-platform/amp/

Jason Torchinsky - 21 October 2020 11:00AM

Just in case anyone out there forgot, autonomous driving is hard. Incredibly hard. Getting two tons of inert wires and transistors and motors and lenses to somehow navigate a complex, real-world environment is almost comically difficult. The fact that we’re able to make machines that can do any of it at all is amazing.

That also means that if we’re brutally honest, we still have a long way to go before we hit full Level 5 autonomy, and you can clearly see this in some in-car videos shot by Cruise’s fleet of test cars running around San Francisco. I don’t think that was the point these videos were trying to make, though.

https://jalopnik.com/watching-unlisted-driving-videos-from-gms-cruise-autono-1845428501

You might hop into a completely empty taxi soon.

Jon Fingas - 3 December 2020

Fully driverless robotaxis are now a practical reality on Chinese roads. AutoX has become the first company to put a fleet of the completely driver-free vehicles on the country’s streets, with the cars now roaming Shenzhen. They’re not yet available to the public, a spokesperson told TechCrunch, but it’s still a significant move.

AutoX claims this is possible thanks to a “5th generation” autonomous driving system that includes a pair of LiDAR sensors on the sides, “4D” radar sensors and thorough blind spot sensing. The robotaxis can react to even the smaller objects around them, and the company is touting a battle-tested platform that knows how to navigate everything from illegally-parked cars through to unprotected U-turns.

https://www.engadget.com/autox-fully-driverless-robotaxis-china-151438674.html

Mike Lenné / 12:00 PM PST November 15, 2021

Driver monitoring systems (DMS) are fast becoming the leading automotive safety system in the world. In the United States, rapid growth of Level 2 driving assistance systems such as General Motors’ Super Cruise and Ford’s BlueCruise are quickly expediting and greatly expanding DMS usage.

Driver monitoring systems use strategically placed cameras to ensure that the driver is paying attention to the road, awake and alert. The system is integrated into the vehicle and can be programmed according to a series of escalating actions, starting with a driver alert or warning and progressing to slowing or stopping the car if the driver is no longer able to operate the vehicle.

Across the globe, DMS will become a standard safety feature as soon as 2023. Provisions in the U.S. bipartisan infrastructure bill will require the Department of Transportation to begin making rules to stop distracted and drunk driving as well as update the U.S. New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). European standards, at first, will apply to distracted and drowsy driving. Eventually, Europe will require the systems to detect impairment to include alcohol and drugs.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/15/the-world-is-waking-up-to-driver-monitoring-systems/

Did you know there are levels of driving automation? We're still a way off taking a nap on the way to work, unfortunately.

Justin Bennett-Cohen - 8 March 2022

Many vehicles on the road today have driver assistance features. These vary from basic cruise control and adaptive cruise control to vehicles that can change lanes for you and can even steer you around curvy back roads. Between Tesla's Autopilot and Mercedes' impressive self-driving technology, there needs to be an exact definition of how each vehicle fits each level of self-driving autonomy.

So, here's what we know so far regarding the categories and levels of self-driving vehicles.

https://www.makeuseof.com/the-levels-self-driving-explained/

The incident in San Francisco cost first responders valuable time, and underscores the challenges Cruise and other companies face in launching driverless taxis.

Aarian Marshall - May 27, 2022 7:00 AM

On an early April morning, around 4 am, a San Francisco Fire Department truck responding to a fire tried to pass a doubled-parked garbage truck by using the opposing lane. But a traveling autonomous vehicle, operated by the General Motors subsidiary Cruise without anyone inside, was blocking its path. While a human might have reversed to clear the lane, the Cruise car stayed put. The fire truck only passed the blockage when the garbage truck driver ran from their work to move their vehicle.

“This incident slowed SFFD response to a fire that resulted in property damage and personal injuries,” city officials wrote in a filing submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission. The city wrote that the fire department is concerned that Cruise vehicles stop too often in travel lanes, which could have a “negative impact” on fire department response times.

It’s the most unnerving of a handful of incidents involving Cruise vehicles alleged by the city of San Francisco, as officials object to parts of a proposed permit program being crafted by the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates ride-hail across the state.

https://www.wired.com/story/cruise-fire-truck-block-san-francisco-autonomous-vehicles/

Self-driving semi was hit and run in May, then everything went quiet

Mark Harris - 11:43 AM PDT July 1, 2022

The most serious crash to date involving a self-driving truck might have resulted in only moderate injuries, but it exposed how unprepared local government and law enforcement are to deal with the new technology.

On May 5, a Class 8 Waymo Via truck operating in autonomous mode with a human safety operator behind the wheel was hauling a trailer northbound on Interstate 45 toward Dallas, Texas. At 3:11 p.m., just outside Ennis, the modified Peterbilt was traveling in the far right lane when a passing truck and trailer combo entered its lane.

The driver of the Waymo Via truck told police that the other semi truck continued to maneuver into the lane, forcing Waymo’s truck and trailer off the roadway. She was later taken to a hospital for injuries that Waymo described in its report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as “moderate.” The other truck drove off without stopping.

While Waymo’s autonomous semi truck was not at fault in the hit and run, the incident highlights gaps in reporting mechanisms, and raises questions about how ready the public and law enforcement are to cope with heavy, fast-moving vehicles that have no human driver.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/01/behind-the-scenes-of-waymos-worst-automated-truck-crash/

It could knock thousands off your bill

Jacob Jaffa, Motors Reporter - 15:07 ET, Apr 14 2024 / Updated 18:55 ET, Apr 14 2024

A CAR dealer with over 43 years of experience has revealed the five questions salesmen hate you asking.

Father and son team Ray and Zach Shefska from CarEdge also explained how you can spot a dodgy sale from a mile away.

Speaking on their YouTube channel, they took viewers through some top tips to keep costs down when buying a new or used motor.

https://www.the-sun.com/motors/11090133/car-dealer-hate-questions-better-deal/

Because cars are expensive, and you deserve as many extras as you can get.

Jeff Somers - May 30, 2024

The average price for a new car is close to $50,000 these days, which is a lot of money, and not always a good financial decision (not to mention the fact that the purchase price is only part of the cost). Even worse than the price, in many ways, is the process—anyone who has ever purchased a new car knows how long and excruciating it can be, involving several hours (or days) of your life as you engage in Jedi Mind Trick battles with a salesperson and then sign dozens of documents when you’re mentally and emotionally exhausted.

One reason the process sucks so much: Car dealerships are notorious for using tricky, sneaky tactics to get you to pay more than you need to. But you can turn the tables on them a little, because once you’ve struck a deal, in principle you have more leverage—the salesperson can smell that sale, and if you walk away, their time is as wasted as yours. This is the moment to ask for all the little things that won’t cost the dealer much, but can add up to a nice package of savings and perks for you, making this purchase a little less painful.

https://lifehacker.com/money/six-things-write-into-new-car-contract

Jan 15, 2023 / Updated Jan 17, 2023 0 Alex Molas

When considering buying a used car, you’re not just acquiring a mode of transportation, but also valuable insight into the car’s longevity. By knowing the car has stood the test of time for a certain number of years, you can make an informed decision on its durability. Additionally, it’s a well-known fact that the price of a car decreases as it ages. By combining these two pieces of information, you can craft a strategy to minimize your overall spending on cars throughout your lifetime. In this post, we’ll reveal the sweet spot for purchasing used cars - around 14 years old.

The notebook I used to generate the results in this post can be found here (https://github.com/alexmolas/alexmolas.github.io/blob/master/notebooks/used-cars/used-cars-simulation.ipynb).

https://www.amolas.dev/blog/buy-used-cars/

Jan 15, 2024 at 3:00 AM EST - Giulia Carbonaro

For decades, car ownership has been a trademark of the American lifestyle, with vehicles becoming symbols of freedom, independence and even rebellion, as well as a necessity. But in 2024, the country's legendary love story with the automobile appears to have reached a crucial point of potential no return, as cars have become unaffordable to millions.

Life has generally gotten more expensive in the aftermath of the pandemic, including the cost of cars, car insurance and car repairs.

Both new and used car prices rose to record highs during the pandemic, as the car industry was experiencing supply chain disruptions and chip shortages. Since 2020, new car prices have risen by 30 percent, according to data shared by AI car shopping app CoPilot with Newsweek. Within the same timeframe, used car prices have jumped by 38 percent.

In 2023—a year during which inflation slowed down to the point that the Federal Reserve decided to stop hiking rates—new car prices rose by 1 percent to an average of $50,364, while used car prices fell by only 2 percent to an average of $31,030.

But as things stand, cars are still really expensive for many Americans. Just 10 percent of new car listings are currently priced below $30,000, according to CoPilot. Things are not much better in the used car market, where only 28 percent of listings are currently priced below $20,000.

https://www.newsweek.com/americans-can-no-longer-afford-their-cars-1859929

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/

Posted by BeauHD on Friday May 10, 2024 03:40PM

Tim Levin reports via InsideEVs:

Two things of note in the electric vehicle world happened today around the same time. First, the Geely Group-owned Chinese EV brand Zeekr debuted on the New York Stock Exchange today at a valuation of around $5.2 billion. Then, around 250 miles south in Washington, D.C., news emerged that the Biden Administration is set to quadruple tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars if they hit American roads. The timing may be purely coincidental. But after this week, one thing feels clearer than ever: the automotive Cold War between China and the West is fully underway, and EVs specifically are at the center of it all.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/05/10/2050227/the-automotive-cold-war-is-officially-underway

Thom Holwerda - 2022-08-17

Physical buttons are increasingly rare in modern cars. Most manufacturers are switching to touchscreens – which perform far worse in a test carried out by Vi Bilägare. The driver in the worst-performing car needs four times longer to perform simple tasks than in the best-performing car.

https://www.osnews.com/story/135204/physical-buttons-outperform-touchscreens-in-new-cars-test-finds/

Swedish publication Vi Bilägare quantified the problem with new tests.

Jonathan M. Gitlin - 8/18/2022, 6:29 AM

It's probably a little early to be warning of extinction, but in some new cars, buttons are becoming hard to find. Given that a screen has to go into the dashboard anyway (thanks to things like backup camera requirements) and the fact that people increasingly won't consider a car without Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, touchscreens make life easier for automakers in terms of design and assembly.

It's just that they don't make life easier for drivers. Instead, we're treated to bad interfaces that don't create muscle memory but instead distract us while we should be driving. And now, Swedish car publication Vi Bilägare has the data to prove it.

VB tested 11 new cars alongside a 2005 Volvo C70, timing how long it took to perform a list of tasks in each car. These included turning on the seat heater, increasing the cabin temperature, turning on the defroster, adjusting the radio, resetting the trip computer, turning off the screen, and dimming the instruments.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/08/yes-touchscreens-really-are-worse-than-buttons-in-cars-study-finds/

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday March 05, 2024 05:00AM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Hagerty:

Euro NCAP, the automotive safety industry body for Europe, is introducing new guidance for 2026 which means that five important tasks in every car will have to be performed by actual buttons instead of by accessing a screen. Indicators, hazard warning lights, windscreen wipers, horn, and SOS features will have to be controlled by proper switches in order for cars to be granted Euro NCAP's coveted five star safety rating.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/03/05/0146205/carmakers-must-bring-back-physical-buttons-says-europe

Customers and critics alike have raked VW over the coals for its “frustrating” interiors.

Caleb Jacobs - Dec 18, 2023 1:54 PM EST

Whether you've driven a new Volkswagen or not, there's a good chance you've heard about its interiors. People who care about the German everyman brand have been extremely opinionated about the cars' lack of physical buttons. Customers' cries have even reached VW CEO Thomas Schäfer's ears, as he said the “frustrating” touchscreen controls “definitely did a lot of damage.” Now, VW interior designer Darius Watola is reported as saying that the brand is going back to buttons on all new cars.

The news comes from Autocar, which quotes Watola as saying the ID.2All concept and its buttons “showed a new approach for all models.” Like Schäfer, he referenced the public's feedback. There are still touchscreens, to be sure—the infotainment display is large and in charge, and there's also a digital gauge cluster. But instead of all the controls being hidden behind menus in these displays, they're toggled via switches on the center stack.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/vw-is-putting-buttons-back-in-cars-because-people-complained-enough

The ID. 2all concept's updated interior shows the brand's new approach for all future models.

Richard Lai, Senior Reporter - Updated Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 8:49 PM PST

It may seem like blasphemy for an Engadget writer to diss touch controls, but as the demise of the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar has proven, those aren't always a good idea — especially on cars. As spotted by Autocar at Volkswagen City Studio in Copenhagen, the ID. 2all concept electric car now features a slightly updated interior, with the most notable change being the return of physical buttons below the central touchscreen. According to the brand's interior designer Darius Watola, this will be “a new approach for all models” based on “recent feedback from customers” — especially those in Europe who wanted “more physical buttons.”

In Autocar's Tiguan launch interview back in June, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer already acknowledged customers' criticism on the over-reliance on touch controls — namely on the Golf Mk8 and ID.3, not to mention the same trend across the motor industry. The exec went as far as saying the earlier touch-heavy approach — endorsed by his predecessor, Herbert Diess — “definitely did a lot of damage” in terms of customer loyalty.

https://www.engadget.com/volkswagen-drivers-want-more-physical-buttons-instead-of-touch-controls-044931087.html

Volkswagen dials back a bit on the screenification of its next-gen vehicles, but physical controls still have yet to make a comeback.

Kyle Barr - 19 December 2023

There’s more than nostalgia making folks pine for the days of knobs, dials, and buttons. Touchscreens are fine for all-in-one devices but not for something as simple as controlling a car’s air conditioning. Volkswagen had to learn the hard way that just because something can be put in a touchscreen doesn’t mean it should. The automaker declared it will reintroduce physical controls back into future cars after eschewing them in recent releases.

The news out of Volkswagen has filtered out to the U.S. and lit a small fire in those pining for physical controls on devices. Autocar first reported late last week that Volkswagen is going to relent on its all-touchscreen interior design and filter back in physical buttons for future car models, starting with the next-gen Volkswagen Tiguan. The company’s CEO, Thomas Schäfer, previously told Autocar that the touchscreen-heavy layout of the Volkswagen ID.3 and Volkswagen Golf “definitely did a lot of damage” to the brand, with more drivers antagonistic to having to swipe on menus to turn on lights or access heat controls.

https://gizmodo.com/volkswagon-losing-touchscreens-cars-ev-1851111038

Down with touch screen controls.

Dec 18, 2023 at 2:30pm ET - Rob Stumpf

Volkswagen is still intent on marching its entire lineup of vehicles toward electrification in many of its markets. With that modernization of vehicle powertrains also comes more contemporary interiors; that means meshing design languages with current industry trends like minimalism, which involves ditching physical interior buttons with touch screen controls.

https://insideevs.com/news/701296/vw-physical-controls-to-return/

Your car is collecting (and transmitting) data about you to third parties.

Jeff Somers - April 11, 2024

Modern cars are kind of incredible. Getting behind the wheel of a new-ish car is like climbing into the cockpit of a spacecraft—especially if you’re old enough to remember when having a cassette player installed was the height of car luxury. These days, most cars offer navigation, touchscreen interfaces, music streaming, roadside assistance, and even assisted-driving features. They can tell you when you’re drifting out of your lane, when you’re exceeding the speed limit, and when something is dangerously close.

Unfortunately—and not surprisingly—they can also tell a lot of other people those things, along with an alarmingly long list of other stuff about you, your driving habits, and other information. The situation is so bad that cars have been called the “worst product category” in terms of privacy—which is saying something, in a world where smartphones and smart TVs exist.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/your-car-is-spying-on-you

It’s very hard to opt out of the data nightmare that comes off the lot

I was the first person to ask my Honda dealer how to turn off data sharing. It didn't go well.

Rani Molla - 6 May 2024

There are lots of reasons to want to shut off your car’s data collection. The Mozilla Foundation has called modern cars “surveillance machines on wheels” and ranked them worse than any other product category last year, with all 25 car brands they reviewed failing to offer adequate privacy protections.

With sensors, microphones, and cameras, cars collect way more data than needed to operate the vehicle. They also share and sell that information to third parties, something many Americans don’t realize they’re opting into when they buy these cars. Companies are quick to flaunt their privacy policies, but those amount to pages upon pages of legalese that leave even professionals stumped about what exactly car companies collect and where that information might go.

So what can they collect?

“Pretty much everything,” said Misha Rykov, a research associate at the Mozilla Foundation, who worked on the car-privacy report. “Sex-life data, biometric data, demographic, race, sexual orientation, gender — everything.”

https://sherwood.news/tech/how-to-opt-out-of-the-privacy-nightmare-that-comes-factory-installed-in-new/

Posted by BeauHD on Friday July 26, 2024 02:20PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times:

If you drive a car made by General Motors and it has an internet connection, your car's movements and exact location are being collected and shared anonymously with a data broker. This practice, disclosed in a letter (PDF) sent by Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts to the Federal Trade Commission on Friday, is yet another way in which automakers are tracking drivers (source may be paywalled; alternative source), often without their knowledge. Previous reporting in The New York Times which the letter cited, revealed how automakers including G.M., Honda and Hyundai collected information about drivers' behavior, such as how often they slammed on the brakes, accelerated rapidly and exceeded the speed limit. It was then sold to the insurance industry, which used it to help gauge individual drivers' riskiness.

The two Democratic senators, both known for privacy advocacy, zeroed in on G.M., Honda and Hyundai because all three had made deals, The Times reported, with Verisk, an analytics company that sold the data to insurers. In the letter, the senators urged the F.T.C.'s chairwoman, Lina Khan, to investigate how the auto industry collects and shares customers' data. One of the surprising findings of an investigation by Mr. Wyden's office was just how little the automakers made from selling driving data. According to the letter, Verisk paid Honda $25,920 over four years for information about 97,000 cars, or 26 cents per car. Hyundai was paid just over $1 million, or 61 cents per car, over six years. G.M. would not reveal how much it had been paid, Mr. Wyden's office said. People familiar with G.M.'s program previously told The Times that driving behavior data had been shared from more than eight million cars, with the company making an amount in the low millions of dollars from the sale. G.M. also previously shared data with LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/07/26/2029236/automakers-sold-driver-data-for-pennies-senators-say

Eight manufacturers reportedly told Congress they’d comply with a request for driver data without a court order.

James Gilboy - May 15, 2024 5:05 PM EDT

Connected cars' data security has become a political battleground in recent years as new cars have become ever-more high-tech. Consumers have good reasons to want their data kept private, and on the surface, the auto industry is an ally on that front. But behind the curtain, the industry is reportedly playing fast and loose with customers' data, selling it or reportedly even handing it over to police despite promising not to.

Connected cars have been promised to bring about a variety of quality-of-life improvements, both to car ownership and our experiences on the road. They're touted as preventing theft, streamlining service, improving road safety, and smoothing out traffic. But the drawbacks are manifesting just as quickly, in forms such as privacy issues, stealth recalls, and even enabling stalking. Consumers have other reasons to worry, too: Insurers are pressing harder for vehicle data, and privacy is only becoming more valuable in an increasingly authoritarian surveillance state. The federal government has expressed concern too, with the Biden administration asserting that allowing Chinese EVs to be sold in the U.S. poses national security risks.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/automakers-will-give-your-location-to-police-without-a-warrant-senators-say

Which is great news for the single company that makes them

Brandon Vigliarolo - Tue 11 Oct 2022 16:15 UTC

California has ended a pilot program and fully legalized digital license plates for private and commercial vehicles, which is great news for the one company that makes them.

A bill, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, permits the California Department of Motor Vehicles “to establish a program authorizing an entity to issue alternatives to stickers, tabs, license plates, and registration cards” for vehicles in the state.

California-based Reviver, which produces the only apparent commercialized E Ink digital license plates, known as the Rplate, thanked various interest groups in the state for passing the bill after a trial program was authorized in 2013. Reviver said it put 10,000 Rplates on the road in California during the trial period from 2017. The company was founded in 2009.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/11/california_digital_license_plates/

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday October 13, 2022 03:00PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg:

California's roads just got a little smarter with the passage of a bill that paves the way for the sale of digital license plates across the state. The technology allows for emergency messaging like marking the car stolen or indicating an Amber Alert, and can be personalized through an app with touts like “Go Warriors” or “Go Lakers” to cheer on the local sports teams. The pesky task of car registration also will become easier with DMV auto-renewals, eliminating the need for registration cards and stickers. California-based startup Reviver is the only company offering digital license plates right now, and they're expensive, costing up to $1,100 for four years for a hard-wired version. (The cost for a traditional license plate, registration card and sticker totals $69, according to state's DMV.) A battery-powered version is available for an about $20 per month subscription, or $215 a year, for four years.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/10/13/2047242/california-legalizes-digital-license-plates-with-1100-price-tag

Only one company makes the e-ink plates, subscriptions start at $19.95 per month.

Jonathan M. Gitlin - 10/13/2022, 8:46 AM

Digital license plates that can display information other than a car's license plate number are now legal for all vehicles in California. At the end of September, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 984 into law, which makes the e-ink displays a legal alternative to the traditional metal plate. The move comes after a successful 2018 pilot program—one that Ars tested out at the time.

The revised legislation sets out the conditions for using an e-ink plate (referred to in the bill as an “alternative device”). For example, a malfunctioning digital license plate would be a correctable violation—the law also requires “a process for frequent notification” if the digital plate breaks or needs replacing. And altering, forging, counterfeiting, or other hacking of the plates will be a felony.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/10/digital-license-plates-approved-for-all-vehicles-in-california/

They have plenty of cool features, but it'll cost you.

Matt Novak - 12 October 2022 6:00AM

Digital license plates have become legal for all cars in California, after a trial with a select number of drivers that’s lasted almost four years, according to a new report from the Los Angeles Times. Why would anyone want a digital license plate? Users can change the messaging at the bottom of their plates through a phone app, and even give safety notices and alerts, such as marking the car as stolen.

There’s currently just one company, a firm called Reviver, authorized to offer digital license plates to California drivers. The license plates come in two models: battery-powered or hard-wired. The battery-powered option comes with a five-year or 50,000-mile battery life, according to Reviver.

https://gizmodo.com/digital-license-plates-california-dmv-car-registration-1849651821

Bruce Schneier - October 13, 2022 at 6:19 AM

California just legalized digital license plates, which seems like a solution without a problem.

The Rplate can reportedly function in extreme temperatures, has some customization features, and is managed via Bluetooth using a smartphone app. Rplates are also equipped with an LTE antenna, which can be used to push updates, change the plate if the vehicle is reported stolen or lost, and notify vehicle owners if their car may have been stolen.

Perhaps most importantly to the average car owner, Reviver said Rplate owners can renew their registration online through the Reviver mobile app.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/10/digital-license-plates.html

Posted by BeauHD on Monday January 09, 2023 04:02PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard:

A team of security researchers managed to gain “super administrative access” into Reviver, the company behind California's new digital license plates which launched last year. That access allowed them to track the physical GPS location of all Reviver customers and change a section of text at the bottom of the license plate designed for personalized messages to whatever they wished, according to a blog post from the researchers. “An actual attacker could remotely update, track, or delete anyone's REVIVER plate,” Sam Curry, a bug bounty hunter, wrote in the blog post. Curry wrote that he and a group of friends started finding vulnerabilities across the automotive industry. That included Reviver.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/01/09/221207/researchers-track-gps-location-of-all-of-californias-new-digital-license-plates

Digitize anything and someone will hack it. The latest victim of this universal rule is California's new, hi-tech license plates.

Lucas Ropek - 9 January 2023 10:08PM

Only a few months after they officially became available, a security researcher and his friends have managed to pwn California’s new digital license plates.

Yes, for the past several years, Cali has been on a weird mission to digitize its car tags. Advocates claims that this modernization effort will offer a host of benefits to drivers, including “visual personalization” and easy in-app registration renewal, but security experts have long warned that if you hook your plates up to the web, somebody will inevitably try to mess with them.

https://gizmodo.com/security-researchers-hack-reviver-digital-license-plate-1849967297

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday December 18, 2024 05:00PM

Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares a report from Wired with the caption: “This story will be an on-going payday for traffic ticket lawyers. I am ordering one now.” From the report:

Digital license plates, already legal to buy in a growing number of states and to drive with nationwide, offer a few perks over their sheet metal predecessors. You can change their display on the fly to frame your plate number with novelty messages, for instance, or to flag that your car has been stolen. Now one security researcher has shown how they can also be hacked to enable a less benign feature: changing a car's license plate number at will to avoid traffic tickets and tolls – or even pin them on someone else.

Josep Rodriguez, a researcher at security firm IOActive, has revealed a technique to “jailbreak” digital license plates sold by Reviver, the leading vendor of those plates in the US with 65,000 plates already sold. By removing a sticker on the back of the plate and attaching a cable to its internal connectors, he's able to rewrite a Reviver plate's firmware in a matter of minutes. Then, with that custom firmware installed, the jailbroken license plate can receive commands via Bluetooth from a smartphone app to instantly change its display to show any characters or image. That susceptibility to jailbreaking, Rodriguez points out, could let drivers with the license plates evade any system that depends on license plate numbers for enforcement or surveillance, from tolls to speeding and parking tickets to automatic license plate readers that police use to track criminal suspects. “You can put whatever you want on the screen, which users are not supposed to be able to do,” says Rodriguez. “Imagine you are going through a speed camera or if you are a criminal and you don't want to get caught.”

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/12/18/2359246/hackers-can-jailbreak-digital-license-plates-to-make-others-pay-their-tolls-tickets

Because this is necessary, definitely can't go wrong

Brandon Vigliarolo - Sat 28 Jan 2023 01:58 UTC

The California Department of Motor Vehicles doesn't want anyone to think it's a technological dinosaur - that's why it's announcing its own cutting-edge NFT project to digitize vehicle titles.

According to CA DMV chief digital officer Ajay Gupta, the move to put titles on a private Tezos blockchain will increase efficiency and transparency while reducing costs. In an interview with Fortune, Gupta said the agency hoped to fully replicate the DMV's title database onto its blockchain within the next three months, with consumer-facing applications to come after. A proof-of-concept database has already been tested.

The DMV sees NFT car titles as a way to modernize its process, Gupta said. Its private Tezos chain, once fully fleshed out and accompanying mobile apps are built to act as wallets for storing NFT titles, is intended to be used to make title transfers between individuals and jurisdictions easier.

“The DMV's perception of lagging behind should definitely change,” Gupta opined.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/28/california_dmv_blockchain/

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

The cars are blacklisted because they are vulnerable to theft, employees say.

Devin Bartolotta, WWL-TV - Feb 2, 2023 at 9:35 am / Updated Feb 2, 2023 at 9:41 am

Starting Jan. 25, State Farm Insurance agents in Louisiana are no longer doing business with owners of 105 Kia and Hyundai models that have been blacklisted because they are vulnerable to theft, employees told WWL-TV.

The employees say they were sent a chart of models and years that are included in the restriction. It reads: “Kia and Hyundai models and years with an ‘x’ below will be ineligible unless the sales associate has verified the presence of a passive engine immobilizer.”

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/kia-hyundai-models-ineligible-insurance-louisiana-state-farm-list/article_55fae098-a30d-11ed-afaa-5faa28983298.html

Posted by msmash on Monday March 11, 2024 01:40PM

Automakers, including G.M., Honda, Kia, and Hyundai, have been collecting detailed driving data from millions of Americans through internet-enabled connected-car apps. The data, which includes information on speed, hard braking, and rapid accelerations, is shared with data brokers like LexisNexis. These brokers then provide the information to insurance companies, which use it to personalize coverage and set rates, The New York Times reported Monday. While automakers and data brokers claim to have drivers' consent, the partnerships are often obscured in fine print and unclear privacy policies. The practice raises concerns about privacy and transparency, as some drivers may be unaware that their driving habits are being tracked and shared with third parties.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/03/11/1934259/automakers-are-sharing-consumers-driving-behavior-with-insurance-companies

smooth-dust2254 - 13 March 2024

Does anyone know how to turn this off? My lexisnexis report has every hard acceleration I've done in a years ownership (not thousands but obviously more than zero) and Liberty Mutual dropped me as a result and even with a broker I am having trouble finding insurance that is not $899/month. Ideas?

https://old.reddit.com/r/F150Lightning/comments/1bds5x1/so_apparently_my_lightning_has_been_reporting/

Case 9 : 24- cv- 80281- DMM UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICTOF FLORIDA Romeo Chicco, individually and on behalf of others - Plaintiff V. General Motors LLC, OnStar LLC, LexisNexis Risk Solutions Inc. - Defendant CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT FOR: 1 ) THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT, 15 U.S.C. 1681 ET SEQ.; 2 ) THE FLORIDA DECEPTIVE AND UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES ACT , FLA . STAT 501.201 ET SEQ . 3 ) FLORIDA COMMON- LAW OF PRIVACY 1. The United States Congress has found that inaccurate consumer reports directly impair the efficiency of our economy and undermine public confidence . Congress enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act , 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.( FCRA ), to ensure fair and accurate reporting , promote efficiency in the banking system , and protect consumer privacy. Because consumer reporting agencies have assumed such a vital role in assembling and evaluating consumer credit and other consumer information, the FCRA seeks to ensure consumer reporting agencies exercise their grave responsibilities with fairness, impartiality, and a respect for the consumer's right to privacy . The FCRA also imposes duties on the sources that provide consumer information to credit reporting agencies, called “furnishers.” https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/0a813fc8e0ac1b6c/6c03d310-full.pdf

Ariel Zilber - March 12, 2024, 4:15 p.m. ET

Drivers of cars manufactured by General Motors, Honda and other popular brands say that their insurance rates went up after the companies sent data about their driving behavior to issuers without their knowledge.

Kenn Dahl, 65, is a Seattle-area businessman who told The New York Times that his car insurance costs soared by 21% in 2022 after GM’s OnStar Smart Driver computerized system installed in his Chevy Bolt collected information about the particulars of his driving habits.

Dahl said that his insurance agent told him the price increase was based on data collected by LexisNexis, which compiled a report tracking each and every time he and his wife drove their Chevy Bolt over a six-month period.

https://nypost.com/2024/03/12/business/your-car-is-spying-on-you-and-upping-your-insurance-rates-report/

There are better alternatives to clicking a EULA the first time you drive your car.

Jonathan M. Gitlin - 3/20/2024, 10:22 AM

Few Ars readers will have been surprised by the news from last week concerning General Motors' connected cars. As The New York Times reported, some owners of vehicles made by General Motors have been having a hard time getting car insurance. The reason? They unwittingly agreed to share their driving data with a third party. Now, at least one driver is suing. If more follow suit, this could be the push the industry needs to do better.

The heart of the problem is one of GM's OnStar connected-car services, called Smart Driver. We've tested it out in the past—it monitors things like how fast you drive, how hard you accelerate and brake, how often you drive at night, and your fuel economy, then uses that data to generate a numerical score from 0 to 100, with a higher number indicating that you're a safer driver.

These kinds of services can be useful—most people think they're great drivers until they start getting independent feedback. And the data that Smart Driver collects really can help you drive more economically and with less risk. But as I noted at the time, I was glad my insurance rates weren't at risk via data sharing with an insurer.

However, buried in OnStar's privacy notice is the revelation that GM can and will share user information with third parties, including “usage-based insurance providers.”

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/03/car-makers-shady-data-sharing-takes-spotlight-in-gm-connected-car-scandal/

Posted by BeauHD on Friday March 22, 2024 05:02PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times:

General Motors said Friday that it had stopped sharing details about how people drove its cars with two data brokers that created risk profiles for the insurance industry. The decision followed a New York Times report this month that G.M. had, for years, been sharing data about drivers' mileage, braking, acceleration and speed with the insurance industry. The drivers were enrolled – some unknowingly, they said – in OnStar Smart Driver, a feature in G.M.'s internet-connected cars that collected data about how the car had been driven and promised feedback and digital badges for good driving. Some drivers said their insurance rates had increased as a result of the captured data, which G.M. shared with two brokers, LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk. The firms then sold the data to insurance companies. Since Wednesday, “OnStar Smart Driver customer data is no longer being shared with LexisNexis or Verisk,” a G.M. spokeswoman, Malorie Lucich, said in an emailed statement. “Customer trust is a priority for us, and we are actively evaluating our privacy processes and policies.”

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/03/22/1959205/general-motors-quits-sharing-driving-behavior-with-data-brokers

This privacy reporter and her husband bought a Chevrolet Bolt in December. Two risk-profiling companies had been getting detailed data about their driving ever since.

Kashmir Hill - April 23, 2024 / Updated April 25, 2024

Kashmir Hill is a technology reporter who has been covering the privacy implications of connected cars, including her own.

Automakers have been selling data about the driving behavior of millions of people to the insurance industry. In the case of General Motors, affected drivers weren’t informed, and the tracking led insurance companies to charge some of them more for premiums. I’m the reporter who broke the story. I recently discovered that I’m among the drivers who was spied on.

My husband and I bought a G.M.-manufactured 2023 Chevrolet Bolt in December. This month, my husband received his “consumer disclosure files” from LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk, two data brokers that work with the insurance industry and that G.M. had been providing with data. (He requested the files after my article came out in March, heeding the advice I had given to readers.)

My husband’s LexisNexis report had a breakdown of the 203 trips we had taken in the car since January, including the distance, the start and end times, and how often we hard-braked or accelerated rapidly. The Verisk report, which dated back to mid-December and recounted 297 trips, had a high-level summary at the top: 1,890.89 miles driven; 4,251 driving minutes; 170 hard-brake events; 24 rapid accelerations, and, on a positive note, zero speeding events.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/technology/general-motors-spying-driver-data-consent.html?unlocked_article_code=1.m00.gIzH.YdQ-yszzdzq6&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Posted by msmash on Tuesday April 23, 2024 11:45AM

General Motors (GM) has been selling data about the driving behavior of millions of people to insurance companies, leading to higher premiums for some drivers, according to a recent investigation. The affected drivers were not informed about the tracking, which was carried out through GM's OnStar connected services plan and the Smart Driver program. The New York Times reporter who broke the story discovered that her own driving data had been shared with data brokers working with the insurance industry, despite not being enrolled in the program. GM has since discontinued the Smart Driver product and stopped sharing data with LexisNexis and Verisk, following customer feedback and federal lawsuits filed by drivers across the country.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/04/23/1843214/how-gm-tricked-millions-of-drivers-into-being-spied-on

States now offer a vast menu of personalized plate options for a dizzying array of organizations, professions, sports teams, causes and other groups.

Jon Keegan - Aug 21, 2023

During summer vacation car rides as a kid, I remember the thrill of seeing an unusual license plate from a faraway state. There were 50 possible plates to see (plus D.C.) each with distinct colors and often the state motto. Today the game of license plate bingo has gotten incredibly complex.

By my count, there are currently 8,291 different vehicle license plates offered by the 50 states and the District of Columbia. States now offer a vast menu of personalized plate options for a dizzying array of organizations, professions, sports teams, causes and other groups.

My count was conducted over June and July 2023, so this should be considered a snapshot, as I'm sure some plates have changed already.

For years, members of the military and veterans have been able to pick plates reflecting the honors they have received and the missions they have served in. Drivers have also been able to pick plates drawing attention to a large number of medical conditions such as breast cancer, downs syndrome, diabetes and autism, raising funds for various foundations through registration fees.

https://www.beautifulpublicdata.com/all-of-the-license-plates-in-the-united-states/

A database of all 8,291 license plates available in the U.S. (50 states + D.C.) as of June / July 2023. This should be considered a snapshot, as license plate offerings change frequently.

This data goes with the story All of the 8,291 License Plates in America, published by Jon Keegan at Beautiful Public Data.

https://github.com/jonkeegan/us-license-plates

Amanda Arden - Jan 12, 2023 02:06 PM PST / Updated: Jan 13, 2023 10:41 PM PST

ORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon DMV welcomes a wide variety of words and phrases on custom license plates, but it has to draw the line somewhere.

On the application for a custom vanity license plate, the DMV states that the word or phrase used in the six-letter space cannot refer to things like intimate body parts, sexual functions, alcohol or other controlled substances. They also can’t be offensive to a person or a class of people.

These are the custom license plates the Oregon DMV denied in 2022

But even with those rules clearly printed on the application, the DMV receives a couple of hundred requests every year that it must deny.

Below is the full list of rejected plates from 2022:

https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/read-full-list-of-license-plates-rejected-by-the-oregon-dmv-in-2022/

Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) isn't an ironclad speeding prevention system, but could be just annoying enough to spark a backlash.

Jay Ramey - Jul 08, 2024 10:58 AM EDT

Cars have been able to figure out when they're speeding for a while, thanks to GPS as well as traffic sign recognition, and they've also been able to pump the brakes automatically when needed.

Having a computer automatically slow down a car in response to posted speed limits, therefore, was not really a question of technical feasibility for some time—but mandating it has been a question of political will.

That political will has materialized in the European Union, and starting July 7 all new cars sold in the EU will feature intelligent speed assistance (ISA) systems.

The systems themselves have been working their way into newly introduced models of cars starting in 2022, so quite a few new cars on the road already feature them. The July 2024 regulation extends that mandate to all new vehicles being manufactured for sale in the EU.

https://www.autoweek.com/news/a61532276/mandatory-speed-limiters-europe-cars/

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday November 06, 2022 09:04PM

Manual transmissions are “the ultimate driver-car connection,” argues the chief marketing manager for Nissan's Z sports car, “where you really feel like a part of the vehicle and can control it in ways you wouldn't be able to with an automatic.” He tells ABC News that “As long as there are still new internal combustion engine vehicles on the market, there will be an interest in manual transmissions.”

Ah, but isn't that just another way of saying that “It's inevitable EVs are going to take over and people are getting misty-eyed that the manual won't be around forever.” That what Bob Sorokanich, editor-in-chief of Jalopnik, tells ABC:

“That's why people are flocking to these specialty cars. Young people are interested in the opportunity to experience them as internal combustion engines come to a close….”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/11/07/0236222/depite-evs-people-are-buying-manual-transmission-vehicles

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday September 21, 2022 01:45PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday recommended that all new vehicles be equipped with alcohol detection systems that can stop people from driving while drunk. The NTSB can't issue such a regulation on its own but urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to do so. The NTSB said it “is recommending measures leveraging new in-vehicle technologies that can limit or prohibit impaired drivers from operating their vehicles as well as technologies to prevent speeding.” If adopted, this would require “passive vehicle-integrated alcohol impairment detection systems, advanced driver monitoring systems or a combination of the two that would be capable of preventing or limiting vehicle operation if it detects driver impairment by alcohol,” the NTSB said. The agency urged the NHTSA to “require all new vehicles to be equipped with such systems.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/09/21/2014204/ntsb-wants-alcohol-detection-systems-installed-in-all-new-cars-in-us

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday August 10, 2022 08:30PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive:

If you don't want to pay for in-car subscriptions every month, no problem: Just pay it all upfront. That's the line from General Motors today after news spread that it's making a three-year, $1,500 OnStar connected services subscription a mandatory “option” for new Buick, GMC, and Cadillac Escalade models. The subscription, which enables things like using your phone as a key fob, data-enabled navigation, audio streaming, and Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant, is still optional on other GM vehicles, with the Premium package running $49.99 a month. But don't be surprised if this new setup spreads across the automaker's full portfolio.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/08/10/2255221/gm-makes-1500-onstar-subscription-mandatory-on-gmc-buick-cadillac-models

Don't want the services? You'll still have to pay for them, activated or not

Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 11 Aug 2022 17:45 UTC

Drivers in the US and Canada are in for a bit of sticker shock as General Motors has made three years of its OnStar subscription service mandatory in many new vehicles at a cost of $1,500.

The little-noticed change took place in early June, the Detroit Free Press reported, when new GMC and Buick vehicles being sold in North America had the aforementioned line item added to sticker prices under “options and pricing.”

According to a GM spokesperson who spoke to the Free Press, the fee will be charged whether or not the customer activates OnStar Connected Services. When the three years are up, customers have the option to extend the service, but charges will not be applied automatically.

The Register has asked GM for confirmation and additional details, but we've yet to hear back.

OnStar, which is owned by GM, provides a variety of safety services for the automaker and its subsidiaries' vehicles. According to GM, the mandatory OnStar plan provides remote key fob access, unlimited data, vehicle diagnostics, Wi-Fi hotspots, and access to the OnStar Guardian app, which is available for GM and non-GM vehicles.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/11/gm_makes_onstar_addon_mandatory/

Luxury vehicles, production cuts and soaring insurance prices have sent the cost of US car ownership out of control

Wilfred Chan - Mon 29 Jan 2024 09.00 EST

At the start of the pandemic, Ceola Luna, a 45-year-old Lyft driver in Los Angeles, bought a 2005 Saturn Vue crossover, after her new Dodge Caravan (a minivan) was wrecked in a crash. The Vue wasn’t nearly as nice, but it was affordable at $4,000 – including rust, engine issues, and a dashboard full of warning lights.

With no other income to support herself and three children, driving was an economic lifeline for Luna. But much of what she made ended up going to car mechanics as the small SUV kept breaking down. Then last year, Lyft informed Luna that her Vue had gotten too old for the platform, leaving her jobless. So she scrambled to find a new gig as a care worker for autistic children, and then the car failed again. To save up for another mechanic appointment, Luna has been taking the bus to her clients – sapping her earnings with hours of unpaid commute time.

A replacement car is out of the question, because she barely has enough money for rent. But even if Luna had the funds to go shopping, it’s unlikely she’d find anything remotely reasonable. The average new car today sells for nearly $49,000, and the average used car lists at more than $26,000 – representing a 31% increase for new cars and nearly 40% increase for used cars since 2020, according to data from the industry group Cox Automotive.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/29/us-car-costs-insurance-unaffordable

Posted by BeauHD on Friday June 23, 2023 03:00AM

Quality of new vehicles sold in the United States is declining as factors such as growing use of technology and lower build quality of certain parts are making the models more “problematic”, according to automotive consultant J.D. Power. Reuters reports:

Build quality of certain parts such as audio systems and cup-holders have resulted in quality issues, the report said, which collected data from 93,380 purchasers and lessees of 2023 model-year vehicles. Automakers have been leaning on software and technology as they rush to roll out innovative models amid easing supply constraints and labor shortages. Problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) rose 30 PP100 during the past two years, the report said. A lower score reflects higher vehicle quality.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/06/23/0520214/quality-of-new-vehicles-in-us-declining-on-more-tech-use-study-shows

Home: All Service Manuals

https://charm.li/

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday May 07, 2024 05:45PM

“With all the improvements in car safety over the decades, the recent addition of a plethora of high tech sensors and warnings comes with increased costs,” writes longtime Slashdot reader smooth wombat. “And not just to have to have them on your car. Any time you get into an accident, even a minor one, it will most likely require a detailed examination of any sensors which may have been affected and their subsequent realignment, replacement, and calibration.” CNN reports:

Some vehicles require “dynamic calibration,” which means, once the sensors and cameras are back in place, a driver needs to take the vehicle out on real roads for testing. With proper equipment attached the car can, essentially, recalibrate itself as it watches lane lines and other markers. It requires the car to be driven for a set distance at a certain speed but weather and traffic can create problems. “If you're in Chicago or L.A., good luck getting to that speed,” said [Hami Ebrahimi, chief commercial officer at Caliber] “or if you're in Seattle or Chicago or New York, with snow, good luck picking up all the road markings.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/05/07/2245251/minor-car-crashes-mean-high-tech-repairs

April 2024 - Josh Thompson

A bollard is:

any sort of physical barricade strong enough, shaped in such a way, that if a vehicle tries to overlap with the bollard in location, intentional or not, the vehicle cannot cross. Sometimes they’re built into the physical environment, sometimes not. They can be movable or not. Large and intrusive, or not.

In the words of a local city engineer, as he was explaining why a bollard placed near where pedestrians congregate to cross a large roadway would be innapropriate:

Barriers (bollards, guardrail, etc.) are considered for installation if the result of a vehicle striking the barrier will be less severe than hitting the unshielded object.

https://josh.works/bollards

Researchers found a flaw in a Kia web portal that let them track millions of cars, unlock doors, and start engines at will—the latest in a plague of web bugs that’s affected a dozen carmakers.

Andy Greenberg - Sep 26, 2024 7:00 AM

When security researchers in the past found ways to hijack vehicles' internet-connected systems, their proof-of-concept demonstrations tended to show, thankfully, that hacking cars is hard. Exploits like the ones that hackers used to remotely take over a Chevrolet Impala in 2010 or a Jeep in 2015 took years of work to develop and required ingenious tricks: reverse engineering the obscure code in the cars’ telematics units, delivering malicious software to those systems via audio tones played over radio connections, or even putting a disc with a malware-laced music file into the car’s CD drive.

This summer, one small group of hackers demonstrated a technique to hack and track millions of vehicles that’s considerably easier—as easy as finding a simple bug in a website.

Today, a group of independent security researchers revealed that they'd found a flaw in a web portal operated by the carmaker Kia that let the researchers reassign control of the internet-connected features of most modern Kia vehicles—dozens of models representing millions of cars on the road—from the smartphone of a car’s owner to the hackers’ own phone or computer. By exploiting that vulnerability and building their own custom app to send commands to target cars, they were able to scan virtually any internet-connected Kia vehicle’s license plate and within seconds gain the ability to track that car’s location, unlock the car, honk its horn, or start its ignition at will.

https://www.wired.com/story/kia-web-vulnerability-vehicle-hack-track/

Posted by msmash on Friday September 27, 2024 01:02PM

SpzToid shares a report:

Today, a group of independent security researchers revealed that they'd found a flaw in a web portal operated by the carmaker Kia that let the researchers reassign control of the Internet-connected features of most modern Kia vehicles – dozens of models representing millions of cars on the road – from the smartphone of a car's owner to the hackers' own phone or computer. By exploiting that vulnerability and building their own custom app to send commands to target cars, they were able to scan virtually any Internet-connected Kia vehicle's license plate and within seconds gain the ability to track that car's location, unlock the car, honk its horn, or start its ignition at will.

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/09/27/1950242/flaw-in-kias-web-portal-let-researchers-track-hack-cars

The key fob is a notable chink in the modern car's less than optimal cybersecurity armor.

Lucas Ropek - 10 May 2024

They’re small, they’re convenient, and, according to security researchers, they’re extremely hackable. The car key fob doesn’t exactly have the greatest reputation when it comes to digital security. Over the past few years, law enforcement agencies have alleged an uptick in the number of car thefts tied to hacking schemes and, more often than not, the key fob is the weak link that allows this to happen. But how, exactly, did the key fob end up being such a vulnerability? Here’s a quick rundown on why your car’s remote entry system is so damn hackable, and whether there’s anything you can do about it.

https://gizmodo.com/why-your-cars-key-fob-is-so-hackable-1851455426

Debate is just beginning about how in-vehicle data is collected, shared, and stored.

September 1st, 2022 - Marie C. Baca

While you watch the road, your car may be watching you back. The automotive industry’s transition toward self-driving technology means cars increasingly are equipped with features that measure driver alertness and engagement, among many other data points. Executives say such features save lives and spur innovation, while simultaneously raising significant technical, legal, and ethical questions.

The discussion comes at a time when governments are exploring how driver monitoring systems can make roads safer. The European Union’s new vehicle safety rules, which went into effect in July, require all new vehicles from July 2024 to be equipped with multiple features including systems that monitor driver drowsiness. Earlier this summer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expanded its investigation into whether Tesla’s Autopilot system exacerbates “human factors or behavioral safety risks by undermining effectiveness of the driver’s supervision.” The agency’s initial investigation, opened last year, included an assessment of the “technologies and methods used to monitor, assist, and enforce the driver’s engagement with the dynamic driving task during Autopilot operation.”

https://semiengineering.com/driver-monitoring-raises-complexity-adds-privacy-concerns/

Ford recently revealed details of headlights which can project symbols such as directional arrows onto the road

Jesse Crosse - 12 September 2022

Headlight road sign projection

    Road surface is used to display information such as an icy weather warning 

Rapid charging

    Tailored charging protocols could mean ultra-rapid charging is possible without deteriorating batteries 

Headlight road sign projection
Rapid charging

News by Jesse Crosse 3 mins read 12 September 2022 Share

Finding ways for drivers to control their cars and give them vital information without distraction has proved tricky over the years.

Touchscreens were intended to reduce the level of distraction but have proven controversial, while head-up displays for keeping drivers informed work well but are still a premium feature.

Ford recently revealed details of its work on high-resolution headlights, which use the road surface as a kind of screen on which to project symbols, such as direction arrows from the sat-nav system or weather-related information like the ice warning symbol that appears on the instrument display.

Headlights could also project lines showing the width of the car, making it less risky to squeeze through tight spaces at night.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology/should-we-let-cars-use-road-projection-screen

It's smart, it's glass, and it's in your next car.

Suzanne Cardello - 1 December 2022

Everything is becoming smart—even automotive glass.

Already available in premium vehicles, smart glass technology will be affordable to the masses within the next decade, perhaps as soon as three years.

Smart glass offers numerous benefits, such as customizability, increased fuel economy, and noise reduction. Learn why smart glass will make future vehicles safer and more fun to drive, from adjustable transparency to new display options.

https://www.makeuseof.com/smart-glass-car-reasons/

Madison Hall - Feb 13, 2023, 7:33 AM

Since moving away from the suburbs and into Chicago, Ashley Seery's been blinded by headlights more than ever. She said she doesn't even drive at night anymore in an attempt to remedy the problem.

“It's to the point where I will avoid driving at night because some headlights are just so bright,” Seery said. “They can literally blind me. I have to turn my mirrors away so that I can drive in peace without the glare.”

Seery's not alone. There are entire communities and online petitions devoted to discussing blinding headlights.

This isn't because headlight regulations have shifted — they haven't changed in decades, according to Greg Brannon, AAA's director of automotive engineering. But the lights themselves have.

https://www.businessinsider.com/american-drivers-have-a-blinding-headlight-problem-2023-2

We speak to Oliver Hoffmann, Audi's head of technical development.

Jonathan M. Gitlin - 5/31/2023, 12:51 PM

One of the auto industry trends I'm most excited about these days is the move to clean-sheet designs for car platforms and architectures. For decades, features have accumulated like cruft in new vehicles: a box here to control the antilock brakes, a module there to run the cruise control radar, and so on. Now engineers and designers are rationalizing the way they go about building new models, taking advantage of much more powerful hardware to consolidate all those discrete functions into a small number of domain controllers.

The behavior of new cars is increasingly defined by software, too. This is merely the progression of a trend that began at the end of the 1970s with the introduction of the first electronic engine control units; today, code controls a car's engine and transmission (or its electric motors and battery pack), the steering, brakes, suspension, interior and exterior lighting, and more, depending on how new (and how expensive) it is. And those systems are being leveraged for convenience or safety features like adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, remote parking, and so on.

Of course, this only works if that software is any good. “There is absolutely no question that software has been treated like a stepchild—I always say the fifth wheel in the car. So like a necessity, but not something that has been managed with care,” said Maria Anhalt, CEO of the automotive supplier Elektrobit, which develops digital systems and software for OEMs.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/throw-out-all-those-black-boxes-and-say-hello-to-the-software-defined-car/

Posted by BeauHD on Monday February 10, 2025 05:10PM

“In-dash advertising is here and Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram, beat everyone to further enshittification,” writes longtime Slashdot reader sinij. “Ads can be seen in this video.” From a report:

In a move that has left drivers both frustrated and bewildered, Stellantis has introduced full-screen pop-up ads on its infotainment systems. Specifically, Jeep owners have reported being bombarded with advertisements for Mopar's extended warranty service. The kicker? These ads appear every time the vehicle comes to a stop. Imagine pulling up to a red light, checking your GPS for directions, and suddenly, the entire screen is hijacked by an ad. That's the reality for some Stellantis owners. Instead of seamless functionality, drivers are now forced to manually close out of ads just to access basic vehicle functions.

One Jeep 4xe owner recently shared their frustration on an online forum, detailing how these pop-ups disrupt the driving experience. Stellantis, responding through their “JeepCares” representative, confirmed that these ads are part of the contractual agreement with SiriusXM and suggested that users simply tap the “X” to dismiss them. While the company claims to be working on reducing the frequency of these interruptions, the damage to customer trust may already be done.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/11/0016258/jeep-introduces-pop-up-ads-that-appear-every-time-you-stop

Posted by BeauHD on Monday February 10, 2025 05:10PM

“In-dash advertising is here and Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram, beat everyone to further enshittification,” writes longtime Slashdot reader sinij. “Ads can be seen in this video.” From a report:

In a move that has left drivers both frustrated and bewildered, Stellantis has introduced full-screen pop-up ads on its infotainment systems. Specifically, Jeep owners have reported being bombarded with advertisements for Mopar's extended warranty service. The kicker? These ads appear every time the vehicle comes to a stop. Imagine pulling up to a red light, checking your GPS for directions, and suddenly, the entire screen is hijacked by an ad. That's the reality for some Stellantis owners. Instead of seamless functionality, drivers are now forced to manually close out of ads just to access basic vehicle functions.

One Jeep 4xe owner recently shared their frustration on an online forum, detailing how these pop-ups disrupt the driving experience. Stellantis, responding through their “JeepCares” representative, confirmed that these ads are part of the contractual agreement with SiriusXM and suggested that users simply tap the “X” to dismiss them. While the company claims to be working on reducing the frequency of these interruptions, the damage to customer trust may already be done.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/11/0016258/jeep-introduces-pop-up-ads-that-appear-every-time-you-stop

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 15, 2025 07:34AM from the Jeep-tricks dept.

Remember Jeep's new in-dash pop-up ads which reportedly appeared every time you stopped?

“Since I'm a journalist, or at least close enough, I decided that I should at least get Stellantis/Jeep's side of things,” writes car-culture site The Autopian:

Would Stellantis do something so woefully misguided and annoying? I reached out to our Stellantis/Jeep contact to ask and was initially told that they were “investigating” on their end, which to me felt like a stalling tactic while the proper ass-covering plans were conceived. I eventually got this response from a Stellantis spokesperson:

“This was an in-vehicle message designed to inform Jeep customers about Mopar extended vehicle care options. A temporary software glitch affected the ability to instantly opt out in a few isolated cases, though instant opt-out is the standard for all our in-vehicle messages. Our team had already identified and corrected the error, and we are following up directly with the customer to ensure the matter is fully resolved…”

I suppose a glitch is possible, though I've not seen any examples of this ad popping up with the instant opt-out option available, but I guess it must exist, since not all Jeep owners seem to have had to deal with these ads. I suspect if this was happening to more people than these “few isolated cases” we'd still be cleaning up from the aftermath of the riots and uprisings.

Because, as they write, “Really, I can't think of a quicker way to incur the wrath of nearly every human…”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/15/0149202/jeep-claims-software-glitch-disabled-opting-out-of-in-vehicle-pop-up-ads-in-a-few-cases

Sean Tucker - 02/12/2025 11:10am

Hi, it’s Jeep again, texting about your car’s extended warranty…

Jeep owners took to social media this week with a new complaint: many are receiving repeated pop-up ads on their cars’ infotainment screens asking them to sign up for an extended warranty. The ad, some say, appears every time their car rolls to a stop.

“Purchase Peace of Mind,” the ad reads, encouraging owners to click a button to call about a FlexCare Extended Care Premium Plan. The ad notes that cars must have less than 36,000 miles on the odometer to qualify, but owners whose cars are over that limit say they’re getting the intrusive ads, too. Clicking X to close the screen just brings it back at the next stop.

Jeep parent company Stellantis has acknowledged the issue. MSN reports, “They attributed the persistent nature of the ad to a temporary software glitch that affected the opt-out functionality in certain cases. The company assured that the glitch had been identified and corrected, and they are reaching out to affected customers to resolve the matter.”

But the problem could presage a more significant issue for future drivers. Last year, Ford filed a patent for an in-car advertising system that would use the car’s speakers and display screen to serve ads to drivers and passengers. That system would also use the car’s GPS tracker to serve ads relevant to the driver’s route.

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/jeep-owners-fed-up-with-in-car-pop-up-ads/

Megan Glosson - Dec 29, 2023

Unfortunately, fender benders can turn into heated debates between both parties, leaving it up to insurance companies and law enforcement officers to determine what happened. When you install the WOLFBOX G900 4K+2.5K Touch Screen Parking Monitoring Dash Cam Smart Mirror, it will record both in front of and behind you, giving you outstanding views as you drive, as well as evidence if you should need to go to court. I took the dash cam for a test drive to ensure it performs exactly as needed to record driving footage.

https://www.maketecheasier.com/review/wolfbox-g900-4k-mirror-dash-cam/

Touchscreens are present in most new cars, and while they do offer advantages, using them poses a potential safety risk.

Andrei Nedelea - 16 February 2023

Most new cars on sale today come with a touchscreen infotainment system, at least as an option. Even if you buy a small city car, chances are you'll be able to buy it with a touch-sensitive display that does away with many physical controls and concentrates functions in one place.

But are touchscreens in cars a good idea? Importantly, from a safety standpoint, it's not an ideal solution. While a touchscreen helps declutter the center console and provides a trendy minimalist look, there are some clear disadvantages that shouldn't be overlooked.

https://www.makeuseof.com/car-touchscreens-bad-idea/

Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens. Buttons are back!

David Zipper - April 26, 202312:34 PM

You don’t see a lot of good news about road safety in the United States. Unlike in most peer countries, American roadway deaths surged during the pandemic and have barely receded since. Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities recently hit their highest levels in 40 years, but U.S. transportation officials continue to ignore key contributing factors. In a February interview with Fast Company, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that “further research” is needed before addressing the obvious risks that oversized SUVs and trucks pose to those not inside of them.

Happily, there is one area where we are making at least marginal progress: A growing number of automakers are backpedaling away from the huge, complex touchscreens that have infested dashboard design over the past 15 years. Buttons and knobs are coming back.

The touchscreen pullback is the result of consumer backlash, not the enactment of overdue regulations or an awakening of corporate responsibility. Many drivers want buttons, not screens, and they’ve given carmakers an earful about it. Auto executives have long brushed aside safety concerns about their complex displays—and all signs suggest they would have happily kept doing so. But their customers are revolting, which has forced them to pay attention.

https://slate.com/business/2023/04/cars-buttons-touchscreens-vw-porsche-nissan-hyundai.html

Drivers are falling out of love with the tech-forward touch screens that have become commonplace in modern cars.

Oscar Collins - March 29, 2025

Today’s tech-heavy cars are more advanced than they’ve ever been, and while some aspects of that shift are inarguably good, certain features have fallen out of favor with the public. One of the most prominent and problematic auto trends is the infotainment screen.

It’s easy to see why touch screens and large displays initially caught on. They’re sleek, enabling you to interact with your car in much the same way you’d interact with your smartphone. In practice, though, the tech is flawed, and drivers are pushing back.

Infotainment screens have been around for years. Once Tesla gained traction with its iPad-like controls in the mid-2010s, the technology took over. Today, roughly 97% of new vehicles have a touch screen, and nearly a quarter have one that’s 11 inches or larger.

Automakers have been eagerly adding new functions to these screens. Some infotainment systems let you access iMessage and even Netflix from the driver’s seat, while others use them to keep all your car’s controls in one place, often behind layers of menus.

https://gizmodo.com/are-vehicle-infotainment-screens-headed-for-the-scrap-heap-2000580600

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday June 21, 2025 06:34PM

“Modern vehicles have quietly become rolling monuments to terrible user experience, trading intuitive physical controls for flashy but dangerous touchscreen interfaces,” argues the site Cars & Horsepower, decrying “an industry-wide plague of poorly designed digital dashboards that demand more attention from drivers than the road itself.”

The consequences are measurable and severe: studies now show touchscreen vehicles require up to four times longer to perform basic functions than their button-equipped counterparts, creating a distracted driving crisis that automakers refuse to acknowledge. A Swedish car magazine, Vi Bilägare, conducted a study [in 2022] comparing how long it takes drivers to perform basic tasks like adjusting climate controls or changing the radio station using touchscreens versus traditional physical buttons. The results showed that in the worst-performing modern car, it took drivers up to four times longer to complete these tasks compared to an older vehicle with physical controls… Even after allowing drivers time to familiarize themselves with each system, touchscreen-equipped cars consistently required more time and attention, which could translate into increased distraction and reduced safety on the road….

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/06/22/0044222/why-your-cars-touchscreen-is-more-dangerous-than-your-phone

Heads-up displays are becoming more common, and these are the best on the market right now.

Alex Ramos - 2 February 2023

Heads-up displays (HUDs) have been around for a long time in the car world. The functionality of these gadgets might vary from one manufacturer to the next, but the main goal is to provide valuable information for the driver while keeping eyes from wandering from the road ahead.

This is why heads-up displays project relevant information onto the windshield in an area easily accessible in the driver's immediate field of view. Today, heads-up displays provide tons of useful information, and some automakers are truly hitting it out of the park with their respective implementations.

https://www.makeuseof.com/cars-best-heads-up-displays/

It spans the full width of the car with increased brightness and sharpness.

Sam Rutherford - Wed, Jan 8, 2025, 3:00 PM PST

Automotive heads up displays (HUDs) have been around as far back as 1988, and while they’ve gotten brighter and more colorful over the years, even today’s most sophisticated implementations still feel a bit primitive. But after seeing what Hyundai Mobis (which makes auto parts for Hyundai, Kia and Genesis) is calling the world’s first full-windshield holographic display at CES 2025, it felt like I was looking at a major evolution in-car infotainment.

Unlike traditional reflective HUDs, Hyundai Mobis’ holographic windshield display (HWD) consists of two main components: a projector (or in this case multiple projectors) hidden beneath the dash and a special optical film with a carefully tuned wavelength sensitivity embedded inside the windshield itself. This combination allows the HWD to pump out brighter and more colorful images with much shallower viewing angles. Unless you’re sitting in the right spot, you may not even see the HUD at all.

https://www.engadget.com/transportation/a-holographic-windshield-from-hyundai-mobis-is-a-big-upgrade-for-in-car-huds-at-ces-2025-230050196.html

HomeLink is the most common automotive wireless control system used to open your garage door automatically or activate lights.

Josh Ko - 26 April 2023

Have you ever wondered what the small panel with three buttons on your car's visor or center console does? Its presence suggests you have a wireless controller in your vehicle for a system called HomeLink, which allows you to open garage doors or gates remotely.

Basically, HomeLink is designed to minimize the clutter of having to use multiple remotes. If you're not familiar with this system and think it could improve your daily experience, keep reading.

https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-use-homelink/

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday December 04, 2022 05:03PM

The Boston Globe reports that U.S. Senator Ed. Markey just sent a letter to more than 20 car manufacturers asking them to continue including AM radios in future car models — including electric vehicles:

Some EV manufacturers have raised concerns even as far back as 2016 about how the battery power of an EV can interfere with AM radio signals. However, Markey addressed these concerns saying, “car manufacturers appear to have developed innovative solutions to this problem.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/12/05/0049216/senator-urges-automakers-to-keep-making-cars-with-am-radio

Sen. Ed Markey sent off letters to 20 different car manufacturers asking to keep AM radio around in future models.

Gwen Egan - December 4, 2022

AM radio in cars isn’t going anywhere while Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey is around.

In a letter he sent to more than 20 car manufacturers, Markey outlined why he thinks AM radio is important and asked that they continue to have AM radios in future models, including electric vehicles known as EVs.

“Broadcast AM radio remains a crucial, cost-free source of news, sports, and weather, and, more importantly, is an essential medium for public safety officials — including the president — to communicate with the public during emergencies,” he wrote in the letter.

Markey cited statistics from the Pew Research Center News Platform Fact Sheet from September 2022 which said 47% of Americans receive their news from the radio.

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2022/12/04/the-end-of-am-radio-in-your-car-not-if-ed-markey-has-anything-to-say-about-it/

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday March 09, 2023 05:30PM

The new 2024 Ford Mustang is losing its AM radio receiver, reports The Drive. A Ford spokesperson confirmed the feature's deletion, citing that “countries and automakers globally are modernizing radio by offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, or digital.” From the report:

The availability of AM radio in new cars has declined over the last decade with shifts in media consumption habits, with AM radio's audience evaporating in Europe and accounting for only a small minority of the U.S. population. […] It's a trend of concern to current and former U.S. emergency officials, who recently wrote the Secretary of Transportation a letter advising action on AM radio's disappearance. AM radio is a crucial component of the U.S.'s national alert network, with just 75 stations reaching more than 90 percent of the country's population. Officials are concerned that AM receivers' decreasing availability in new cars could compromise their ability to reach citizens during emergencies.

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/23/03/09/2346247/2024-ford-mustang-drops-am-radio-from-infotainment

Makers of electric vehicles should devote sufficient resources to mitigating interference

Pooja Nair ⋅ February 16, 2022 / Updated December 6, 2022

As carmakers increase electric vehicle (EV) offerings throughout their lineups, the availability of AM radio to consumers is declining. This is because the effects of electromagnetic interference are more pronounced in EVs than in vehicles with internal-combustion engines (ICEs).

Although the character and severity of this interference can be difficult to model and predict, it is clearly more disruptive to AM radio reception, often causing annoying static and limiting coverage. As a result, some EV manufacturers have begun removing AM radios — but not FM — from their vehicles.

EMI can be suppressed in EVs using well-known mitigation techniques such as shielding cables and electric motors, installing filters and carefully locating electrical components within the vehicle. Within receivers, EMI can be limited by isolating and shielding antenna and RF sections, filtering connections and carefully grounding and placing receiver components.

https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/guest-commentaries/control-emi-dont-dump-am-receivers

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday May 14, 2023 08:50PM

This weekend the Washington Post updated the current status of AM radio:

Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation's top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated…

Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Jaguar Land Rover — said they have no plans to eliminate AM.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/05/15/0330255/saving-am-radio---the-case-for-and-against

Posted by msmash on Wednesday May 17, 2023 10:20AM

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to make it illegal for carmakers to eliminate AM radio from their cars, arguing public safety is at risk. From the report:

AM radio is one key way that government officials communicate with the public during natural disasters and other emergencies. Officials worry that if drivers don't have access, they might miss important safety alerts. Some manufacturers are eliminating AM radio from their electric vehicles (EVs) because of interference from the electric motors that creates annoying buzzing noises and faded signals.

https://radio.slashdot.org/story/23/05/17/1711207/congress-moves-to-preserve-am-radio-in-cars

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday October 23, 2023 12:34AM

“New data suggests that what a lot of people do most often in their car is listen to AM/FM radio,” writes 9to5Mac. “Yes, it's 2023, and you might think AM/FM radio is on the way out, but new data show that to not be the case for a lot of people…”

The market research company Edison Research used one-day listening diarires (for Americans older than 13) to measure the amount of time spent listening to audio — then compared results for those with and without an in-car entertainment system.

Those without an in-car entertainment system spent 67% of their time listening to AM/FM radio — with the rest listening to Sirius XM (12%), a streaming service (9%), or podcasts (4%).

But among those with an in-car entertainment system… 46% still listened to AM/FM radio. Less than a fifth listened to Sirus XM (19%), a streaming service (18%), or podcasts (7%).

The researchers' conclusion? “Even those with these systems choose AM/FM for nearly half of their in-car listening. For many people, even with so many new options, radio and the in-car environment continue to just go together.”

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/23/10/23/0154257/carplay-android-auto-most-people-still-just-listen-to-amfm-radio

Edward Longe, Opinion Contributor - 04/19/24 8:30 AM ET

One of the principal tenets of progress and innovation is that we are not tethered to old technology. For example, when consumers purchase the latest smartphone that can connect to the internet or download applications, they are not forced to buy a rotary phone. When consumers subscribe to broadband service, they aren’t additionally required to purchase a dial-service.

If such an ecosystem existed, our homes would be filled with printing presses and wind-up clocks instead of smartphones, fast internet, and other advanced technologies.

Unfortunately, Washington may be about to drag America back into the past by forcing automobile manufacturers to install AM radios in all new cars. Despite historical opposition to mandates among Republicans and centrist Democrats, the bill enjoys broad bipartisan support, with more than 30 sponsors in the Senate and over 200 sponsors in the House of Representatives.

Proponents of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act claim the legislation is critical for ensuring public safety and is necessary, because car manufacturers have begun to remove AM radios from newer models, particularly electric vehicles. The reality, though, is that fewer and fewer Americans use AM radio to receive safety alerts, meaning it is less relevant to ensuring public safety. In addition, an AM radio mandate would unnecessarily inflate the cost of automobiles, forcing Americans to pay more for already skyrocketing prices of cars.

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4602463-dont-force-drivers-to-buy-am-radios/

A recent test of the emergency alert system found only 1 percent got it via AM.

Jonathan M. Gitlin - 5/1/2024, 11:34 AM

A controversial bill that would require all new cars to be fitted with AM radios looks set to become a law in the near future. Yesterday, Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass) revealed that the “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act” now has the support of 60 US Senators, as well as 246 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, making its passage an almost sure thing. Should that happen, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be required to ensure that all new cars sold in the US had AM radios at no extra cost.

“Democrats and Republicans are tuning in to the millions of listeners, thousands of broadcasters, and countless emergency management officials who depend on AM radio in their vehicles. AM radio is a lifeline for people in every corner of the United States to get news, sports, and local updates in times of emergencies. Our commonsense bill makes sure this fundamental, essential tool doesn’t get lost on the dial. With a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate, Congress should quickly take it up and pass it,” said Sen. Markey and his co-sponsor Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

About 82 million people still listen to AM radio, according to the National Association of Broadcasters, which as you can imagine was rather pleased with the congressional support for its industry.

“Broadcasters are grateful for the overwhelming bipartisan support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act in both chambers of Congress,“ said NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “This majority endorsement reaffirms lawmakers' recognition of the essential service AM radio provides to the American people, particularly in emergency situations. NAB thanks the 307 members of Congress who are reinforcing the importance of maintaining universal access to this crucial public communications medium.”

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/05/am-radio-is-a-lifeline-lawmakers-say-tech-and-auto-industries-disagree/

The radio broadcasting system looked like it was on the brink of extinction, but a recent legislative push could save it.

Lucas Ropek - 2 May 2024

Good news: A legislative push to save AM radio is almost certain to succeed, which means that America’s weirdest auditory wavelength will continue to survive for the foreseeable future.

The “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act” is a bipartisan bill that was introduced by Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would force automotive companies to include an AM radio in all of the cars that they produce. As it stands now, the bill is currently backed by 60 U.S. Senators and also has the support of 246 House co-sponsors, Markey and Cruz have said. With that kind of support, it seems highly likely that it will become law.

Once America’s dominant broadcasting channel, AM has fallen on hard times in recent years. While it still enjoys tens of millions of listeners, fewer and fewer people have been tuning in. As its popularity has waned, car manufacturers have made a concerted push to discontinue its availability in newer vehicle models. If the bill currently before Congress passes, that won’t happen—and the inclusion of AM radio in new cars will become a federal mandate. So hey, call your senator and tell them what you think.

https://gizmodo.com/nows-your-chance-to-save-am-radio-1851450109

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday May 01, 2024 08:30PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:

A controversial bill that would require all new cars to be fitted with AM radios looks set to become a law in the near future. Yesterday, Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass) revealed that the “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act” now has the support of 60 US Senators, as well as 246 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, making its passage an almost sure thing. Should that happen, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be required to ensure that all new cars sold in the US had AM radios at no extra cost. “Democrats and Republicans are tuning in to the millions of listeners, thousands of broadcasters, and countless emergency management officials who depend on AM radio in their vehicles. AM radio is a lifeline for people in every corner of the United States to get news, sports, and local updates in times of emergencies. Our commonsense bill makes sure this fundamental, essential tool doesn't get lost on the dial. With a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate, Congress should quickly take it up and pass it,” said Sen. Markey and his co-sponsor Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/05/02/015209/am-radio-law-opposed-by-tech-and-auto-industries-is-close-to-passing

Rebecca Bellan - 1:00 PM PDT September 18, 2024

A House committee overwhelmingly voted to approve a bill that would require new cars to be built with AM radio at no additional cost to the owner. The AM for Every Vehicle Act will now head to the House floor for final approval. If successful, it’ll go to the president’s desk to be signed into law, pending a veto.

Advocates for the bill have argued the decline of AM radio, a consequence of the software-defined vehicle, could make it difficult to broadcast emergency information, particularly in rural areas. The bill was introduced in May 2023 after automakers, including Ford, Tesla, BMW, and Volkswagen, promised to remove AM radio from new EVs, saying electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM radio stations.

Ford reversed its decision shortly after lawmakers introduced the bill. At the time, Ford told TechCrunch that less than 5% of its customers listened to AM radio.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/18/bill-requiring-am-radio-in-new-cars-gets-closer-to-law/

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday September 18, 2024 03:40PM

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved the AM for Every Vehicle Act, which mandates that automakers include AM radio in new vehicles without additional charges. The Verge reports:

The bill passed the committee on a roll-call vote of 45-2 and now heads to the full House for final approval. The bill, titled the AM for Every Vehicle Act, would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a rule that “requires automakers to maintain AM broadcast radio in their vehicles without a separate or additional payment, fee, or surcharge.” Supporters say they are pushing the bill out of a concern that the slow demise of AM radio could make it more difficult to broadcast emergency information during a natural disaster or other related events. Conservatives are also worried about losing a lucrative platform for right-wing news and media. […]

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/18/205250/house-committee-approves-bill-requiring-new-cars-to-have-am-radio

EVs will also be required to include AM radio, despite concerns from manufacturers about electromagnetic interference.

Andrew J. Hawkins - Sep 18, 2024, 9:06 AM PDT

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill Wednesday requiring new cars to have AM radio, which was introduced in response to an increasing number of vehicles coming out without the first-generation radio broadcast technology. The bill passed the committee on a roll-call vote of 45-2 and now heads to the full House for final approval.

The bill, titled the AM for Every Vehicle Act, would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a rule that “requires automakers to maintain AM broadcast radio in their vehicles without a separate or additional payment, fee, or surcharge.”

Supporters say they are pushing the bill out of a concern that the slow demise of AM radio could make it more difficult to broadcast emergency information during a natural disaster or other related events. Conservatives are also worried about losing a lucrative platform for right-wing news and media.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/18/24248137/am-radio-bill-house-energy-commerce-ev-interference

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday January 30, 2025 11:00PM

A bipartisan group of legislators has reintroduced the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025, aiming to mandate AM radio in all new vehicles at no additional cost. Adweek reports:

The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act was first introduced in May 2023. It continued to take on new co-sponsors through the fall of 2024. It was reintroduced as the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025 with 62 cosponsors. Upper Midwest senators showing support for the bill include Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer R-North Dakota, and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, DFL- Minnesota.

If enacted, the bill would require the Department of Transportation to issue a rule requiring new vehicles to maintain access to broadcast AM radio at no additional cost to the consumer and provide small vehicle manufacturers at least four years after the date DOT issues the rule to comply. The act also requires automakers to inform consumers, during the period before the rule takes effect, that the vehicles do not maintain access to broadcast AM radio.

“With 82 million Americans tuning in each month, AM radio delivers more than just emergency alerts,” says the National Association of Broadcasters in a news release. “It connects communities through hyper-local content, including news, weather and diverse cultural programming,” according to a news release from the National Association of Broadcasters.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/31/0428255/am-radio-for-all-vehicles-legislation-reintroduced

July 17, 2023 - Gabe Cherry, College of Engineering

Skyrocketing vehicle theft rates in some U.S. cities have drawn attention to an inconvenient truth: the increasing amount of technology in our vehicles can make them increasingly vulnerable to hacking or theft.

Now, a solution that leverages perhaps the lowest-tech feature of today’s vehicles—the auxiliary power outlet, known to those of a certain age as the cigarette lighter—has been developed by a University of Michigan-led research team.

With a new $1.2 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, the team is set to begin large-scale testing of Battery Sleuth, a vehicle security system that can protect against sophisticated wireless hacking, old-school jimmying and everything in between.

https://news.umich.edu/a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-foil-car-thieves/

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 24, 2024 08:34PM

“One London resident watched on CCTV as a thief walked up to his £40,000 car and drove away,” reports the Observer. “Now manufacturers say they are being drawn in to a hi-tech 'arms race' with criminals.”

[H]i-tech devices disguised as handheld games consoles are being traded online for thousands of pounds and are used by organised crime gangs to mimic the electronic key on an Ioniq 5, opening the doors and starting the engine. The device, known as an “emulator”, works by intercepting a signal from the car, which is scanning for the presence of a legitimate key, and sending back a signal to gain access to the vehicle…

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/02/24/2148203/how-smart-keys-have-fueled-a-new-wave-of-car-thefts

Huibert Mees - September 13, 2022 3:02 pm

Hello Autopians! Have you ever wondered why designers show sketches of concept cars with massive deep dish wheels, but when those cars actually make it to production the wheels end up being fairly flat? Adrian Clarke talked about this recently from a designers point of view, but I’m going to tell you why this is true from an engineering point of view. In other words, I’m going to tell you why we just can’t have nice things!

Years ago, in days of old, cars came with wheels that had very deep dish styling. Life was good, cars looked cool and everyone was happy (okay, maybe that’s a stretch). Over the years, as technology marched on, deep dish wheels got shallower until finally, starting about 20 years ago, they became essentially flat on the outside. Why did this happen? Well, in a word, “steering” is what happened. The change from deep dish wheels to flat wheels can be traced back to improvements in the steering system — in particular, to the popularity and advantages of rack and pinion steering.

https://www.theautopian.com/heres-why-car-wheels-are-so-flat-these-days-and-no-its-not-just-aerodynamics-and-styling/

Tim Woolmer, Founder and CTO, thinks his axial-flux motors could be a mobility game-changer

Mike Butcher - 7:41 AM PDT•September 3, 2021

Back in July, YASA (formerly Yokeless And Segmented Armature), a British electric motor startup with a revolutionary ‘axial-flux’ motor, was acquired by Mercedes-Benz. The acquisition didn’t exactly garner enormous press attention, as scant other details were announced. But YASA is likely to be an entity worth watching.

Founded in 2009 after being spun out of Oxford University, YASA will now develop ultra-high-performance electric motors for Mercedes-Benz’s AMG.EA electric-only platform. It will stay in the UK as a fully owned subsidiary, serving both Mercedes-Benz and existing customers like Ferrari. The company will retain its own brand, team, facilities, and location in Oxford.

YASA’s axial-flux electric motors generated EV industry interest because of their efficiency, high power density, small size, and low weight.

By contrast, the ‘radial’ electric motor design is more common in today’s EV market. Even Tesla relies on radial electric motors, a legacy technology more than 40 years old with very little left to give in terms of innovation.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/03/acquired-by-mercedes-benz-yasas-revolutionary-electric-motor-is-set-for-big-things

Aria Alamalhodaei / 7:08 AM PDT•September 14, 2021

Toyota Motor and Honda are urging legislators to reject a bill that would expand tax incentives for union-made electric vehicles that are built in the United States.

The proposal — which Toyota blasted as “blatantly biased” and “exorbitant” in a letter to Congress — would expand the federal tax incentives from $7,500 to as much as $12,500 for union- and domestically manufactured cars. Vehicles with batteries manufactured in the U.S. would be eligible for an additional $500. If the legislation passes, vehicles from automakers like Toyota, Honda and Tesla would be excluded from the expanded credit, while the “Big Three” manufacturers in Detroit would all qualify.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/14/toyota-honda-urge-congress-to-reject-expanded-tax-incentive-that-would-benefit-ford-gm-stellantis/

A keyless car sounds like a great idea! That is until you realize how simple it is for thieves to target your shiny new vehicle.

Tamal Das - 20 December 2021

A car thief is accessing a car

If you think that owning a keyless car doesn't come with the risk of getting stolen, you're wrong. Keyless cars need protection against the evolving technologies that thieves use.

So, read on to learn about how keyless car theft works and how you can prevent keyless car theft from your home.

https://www.makeuseof.com/ways-protect-against-keyless-car-theft/

Many EVs beat legendary performance cars without breaking a sweat. But how? How are they so fast?

Alex Ramos - 15 August 2022

Electrified vehicles used to have a reputation for being slow and boring. Just ask the first-gen Toyota Prius. But, today's EVs are the farthest thing from the original Prius you can possibly imagine. The fastest vehicles on the road today are performance EVs, and this trend isn't stopping anytime soon.

EVs like the Tesla Model S Plaid absolutely destroy everything in their paths in terms of performance. The trend also extends across segments, as even EV pickups are faster than most sports cars. So the question is: why are EVs so fast?

https://www.makeuseof.com/why-are-electric-vehicles-so-fast/

By Ben Coxworth - January 19, 2021

For people who mainly make short trips around town, a full-on electric car may be more than they need, while an ebike isn't enough. It was with such folks in mind that the three-wheeled, fully-enclosed LEF electric vehicle was created. https://newatlas.com/urban-transport/lef-electric-vehicle/

January 28th, 2021 by Derek Markham

For those looking for a micromobility solution that has an enclosed cabin, a comfortable seated driving position, and space inside the vehicle to haul groceries, laundry, your work bag, or whatever you like, there have been a few fairly successful offerings, including Organic Transit’s pedal electric ELF models, which also have onboard solar for charging their batteries (and the company is now for sale, by the way).

But what if you don’t even want to pedal? That’s where tiny EVs that more resemble micro cars than e-bikes come in, such as the LEF from the Netherlands’ EV Mobility.

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/01/28/lef-is-a-dutch-e-bike-car-chimera-promising-66-miles-of-range-with-no-pedaling-necessary/

Kay Leadfoot - March 12, 2025

Nothing quite says “high-performance muscle car” like a popup ad for a Mopar Extended Warranty covering your whole center console.

That’s right, Dodge Charger owners are now experiencing an exciting new feature: pop-up ads that appear every time the vehicle stops at a light.

This garbage feature was spotted in the wild, where a Charger owner posted a photo of their infotainment screen absolutely hijacked by an ad for an extended warranty. Take a look:

https://fuelarc.com/cars/dodge-chargers-now-have-pop-up-ads-at-every-stop/

Micah Toll - Jan. 30th 2021 8:00 am ET

Remember when the coolest kids on the block had those ride-on PowerWheels Jeeps? Well, just because we’re adults now doesn’t mean we can’t still have the same type of fun. This week’s entry for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week is a fun-looking little electric Jeep with room for two adventure-loving adults.

I knew it was going to be tough to top the awesome little $4,000 electric pickup truck I found for last week’s feature. But I think I might have actually succeeded, because now I really need someone to talk me out of buying one of these electric Jeep things.

https://electrek.co/2021/01/30/awesomely-weird-alibaba-electric-vehicle-1500-electric-jeep/

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

Rules included in the infrastructure bill will require new cars to deploy monitoring technology that can passively tell if a driver is intoxicated.

Mack DeGeurin - 9 November 2021

The recently passed $1 trillion infrastructure package is jam-packed with initiatives but sprinkled in there amid alongside $17 billion in funding for road safety programs is a mandate requiring carmakers to implement monitoring systems to identify and stop drunk drivers.

The mandate, first noted by the Associated Press could apply to new vehicles sold as early as 2026. Courts have ordered some drunk drivers to use breathalyzers attached to ignition interlocks to start their vehicles for years, but the technology noted in this bill would take that concept much further and would need to be capable of “passively monitor[ing] the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.”

Though the Department of Transportation has yet to put its foot down on the exact type of technology it will use for this program, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and 17 automakers have been working on something called the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety ( DADSS ) since 2008. DADSS is exploring both a breath and touch-based system to detect whether or not a driver has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above 0.08%.

https://gizmodo.com/infrastructure-bills-drunk-driving-tech-mandate-leaves-1848026588

It could reach new vehicles by 2026.

Devindra Hardawar - November 10th, 2021

Congress is making its biggest push ever to stop drunk driving with President Biden's huge infrastructure bill. As we previously reported, one of the provisions included a mandate for anti-drunk driving technology in new cars. Now, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has passed Congress with the measure intact, Autoblog (AP) reports, and it's expected to be signed by the President soon. As part of the legislation, carmakers will have to include technology to detect and stop drunk drivers by as early as 2026.

First, though, the Department of Transportation will have to determine the best solution to curtail intoxicated drunk driving. Specifically, the bill requires something that will “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.” That sounds similar to infrared camera solutions already used today by GM, Nissan and others, Sam Abuelsamid, principal mobility analyst for Guidehouse Insights, tells the AP. It goes without saying that we'd need something more advanced than breathalyzers, which are already used as a punishment for convicted drunken drivers.

https://www.engadget.com/congress-mandate-anti-drunk-driving-technology-cars-201820120.html

Devindra Hardawar - 12:33 PM PST November 10, 2021

Congress is making its biggest push ever to stop drunk driving with President Biden’s huge infrastructure bill. As we previously reported, one of the provisions included a mandate for anti-drunk driving technology in new cars. Now, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has passed Congress with the measure intact, Autoblog (AP) reports, and it’s expected to be signed by the President soon. As part of the legislation, carmakers will have to include technology to detect and stop drunk drivers by as early as 2026.

First, though, the Department of Transportation will have to determine the best solution to curtail intoxicated drunk driving. Specifically, the bill requires something that will “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.” That sounds similar to infrared camera solutions already used today by GM, Nissan and others, Sam Abuelsamid, principal mobility analyst for Guidehouse Insights, tells the AP. It goes without saying that we’d need something more advanced than breathalyzers, which are already used as a punishment for convicted drunken drivers.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/10/congress-mandates-anti-drunk-driving-technology-for-cars/

Zak Killian - Wednesday, December 01, 2021, 04:55 PM EDT

Remember that 2700-page, $1 trillion dollar infrastructure bill that the US government passed back in August? Well, have you read it? Of course we're joking – we know you haven't read it. Most of the legislators who voted on it probably haven't either. Some folks have, though, and they're finding some pretty alarming things buried in that bill.

One of the most concerning things we've heard so far is the revelation that this “infrastructure” bill includes a measure mandating vehicle backdoor kill-switches in every car by 2026. The clause is intended to increase vehicle safety by “passively monitoring the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired,” and if that sentence doesn't make your hair stand on end, you're not thinking about the implications.

Let us spell it out for you: by 2026, vehicles sold in the US will be required to automatically and silently record various metrics of driver performance, and then make a decision, absent any human oversight, whether the owner will be allowed to use their own vehicle. Even worse, the measure goes on to require that the system be “open” to remote access by “authorized” third parties at any time.

https://hothardware.com/news/bidens-infrastructure-bill-mandatory-backdoor-car-kill-switch

Tarikh Campbell (tarikhcampbell) - 6:14 AM · Aug 20, 2021

TRAVELER BEWARE! Have you ever had a rental car company steal their car back from you? Well this just happened to me. I’m not usually one to take to Twitter in this way. I’m barely ever here. But I feel this is my only option short of taking legal action. So here goes

https://twitter.com/tarikhcampbell/status/1428707006412640271

Avis charged a customer more than $6,000 after claiming she drove a rental car nearly 23,000 miles in three days, according to reports.

Ryan Hogg - Sat, August 27, 2022 at 2:04 AM

North Shore News first reported that Giovanna Boniface rented a GMC Yukon Denali from Toronto Pearson Airport to help her daughter move to college.

Boniface told NSN she drove between the airport, downtown Toronto, and to Kitchener, Ontario, where she visited her mother-in-law. She estimated that in total she drove 300 kilometres (186 miles).

While she was waiting to take a flight to Paris, France, Boniface, who had prepaid $1,000 to rent the car, checked her credit card statement to check it had gone through correctly, per CTV News.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/avis-charged-customer-6-000-090455228.html

Ryan Hogg - Oct 15, 2022, 3:55 AM

A woman was charged almost $800 for a car she never picked up and was pursued by a debt collector after she refused to pay, damaging her credit score.

Abigail Eason planned to rent from Dollar Rent A Car in early August at Houston International Airport, but was told when she arrived at the counter that her online booking could not be honored.

Eason made a new reservation with Dollar but then canceled it after being offered smaller car that was still far more expensive than the SUV she had booked.

She then rented a car from Hertz, which also owns Dollar, at a cost of $621.

https://www.businessinsider.com/dollar-charged-customer-768-for-car-she-never-collected-2022-10

December 10, 2021 / 8:25 AM / CBS News

More people have come forward to claim they were accused, arrested or even jailed after Hertz reported cars they had legitimately rented were stolen.
Carrie Gibbs was arrested at a California gas station in 2019 after Hertz told police she'd stolen the truck.

The truck had been rented for her from Hertz by an insurance company after an accident, but video obtained exclusively by CBS News shows police arresting her. They took her to jail, and she was charged with felony car theft.
The case was later dismissed but Gibbs said in court papers she lost her real estate license for a year.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hertz-claims-false-arrests/

A federal judge has ordered the rental company to make all of its alleged rental theft data available

Lawrence Hodge - 14 February 2022 5:30PM

After years of hundreds of customers saying they’ve been wrongly accused of stealing rentals from Hertz, a federal judge is ordering the company to back up those claims by making its rental theft records available to the public.

CBS investigated Hertz after it was made public that the company was reporting many of its rental customers to local authorities over alleged car thefts. CBS says Hertz now faces over 230 claims from customers accused of stealing rental vehicles.

https://jalopnik.com/hertz-now-has-to-share-its-rental-theft-information-wit-1848536221

Christopher Elliott, Chief Advocacy Officer - February 15, 2022

When Elie-Anne Chevrier rents a car in Palm Beach, Fla., she expects to pay around $200. So why did Hertz just charge her over $900 for extra days she didn’t have the vehicle?

Question

I recently rented a car from Hertz for three days in Palm Beach, Fla. Hertz billed me for 2 hours and 11 days.

I have contacted the car rental company several times to try to resolve this. But Hertz employees haven’t been able to fix this problem.

I’m able to prove that I was at the Palm Beach airport when I returned the car and back in Philadelphia on the dates Hertz is claiming I rented the car for 11 days. I should have paid Hertz $237. Instead, Hertz charged me $953.

https://www.elliott.org/the-troubleshooter/hertz-sent-700-bill-eight-extra-days-want-refund/

A law professor posts a five-page complaint against Hertz on Twitter, claiming the company broke its contract and was ‘extorting’ her. She got a full refund.

By Nicole Lyn Pesce - Dec. 1, 2021 at 12:06 p.m. ET / Last Updated: Dec. 1, 2021 at 12:23 p.m. ET

That was a dissatisfied Hertz customer, whose thread about “a Very Bad experience” trying to rent a car over Thanksgiving weekend went viral on Twitter this week — and eventually got her a refund.
Kate Klonick, an assistant professor at St. John’s University School of Law, was so frustrated by her experience with the car rental company that she wrote a five-page letter to Hertz HTZ, -4.18%, which she then posted in full on Twitter TWTR, -1.66% on Tuesday.

She described reserving a median sedan for pickup on the Sunday before Thanksgiving week, to be used for one week at the quoted price of $343.27, or $414.93 after taxes. But when she arrived at the Brooklyn, N.Y., Hertz location at her appointed time, she says that she waited in line for two hours before the customer service representative closed up shop for the day and told Klonick to call customer service to find another car. Meanwhile, Klonick’s husband had tried calling the customer service line, and was told they could make a new reservation at a different location for $1,800, which they declined.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-hertz-customers-very-bad-car-rental-experience-goes-viral-it-was-extortion-11638378425

Some say they spent time in jail because of Hertz's cost-cutting measures.

By Minda Zetlin, Co-author, The Geek Gap - Dec 21, 2021

More than 180 Hertz customers are suing the car rental company in bankruptcy court, seeking damages of just under $529.7 million. Most of these customers were stopped by police, and sometimes arrested, for driving Hertz cars that they had legally rented.

According to their filings, for years Hertz has falsely reported that its cars were stolen as part of its regular business practice, “ensnaring its customers in accusations of car theft, throwing them in jail on felony charges, prosecuting them, burdening them with criminal records that impact their livelihoods, and separating them from their family and loved ones.”

Why would Hertz claim that its cars were stolen when legitimate renters were driving them? Believe it or not, the filing claims this is a cost-cutting measure. In some cases, the company simply misplaces a car or a rental contract and doesn't know where the car is. Rather than upgrade its malfunctioning inventory systems or conduct its own investigation when cars are unaccounted for, Hertz simply reports these cars as stolen, the filing claims. The plaintiffs say the company is “effectively using the police, criminal justice system, and taxpayers to subsidize inventory control for a private corporation.” The unfortunate renters who happen to be driving those cars are collateral damage.

https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/hertz-530-million-lawsuit-customers-arrested-bankruptcy-court.html

Rich McHugh, Edited by Aleksandra Bush and Katie Smith - Mar 31, 2022 / 10:00 PM CDT / Updated: Apr 1, 2022 / 01:42 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — Rental car company Hertz is under fire from lawmakers after hundreds of customers say they were pulled over by police and told the rental car they were driving had been reported as stolen.

Those customers say they rented their cars legally and paid for them but were arrested and sometimes thrown in jail.

Now, a whistleblower is shedding light on what is going on behind the scenes at the company.

Daniel Stokes worked for Hertz for 11 years from 1996 till 2007 and was a branch and city manager in charge of 24 different Hertz locations.

“Being a city manager and knowing what the processes were and learning more about what actually happens to the people, quite honestly, it pissed me off that knowing that it was still going on,” Stokes told NewsNation investigative reporter Rich McHugh.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/whistleblower-hertz-using-police-as-repo-men-prompting-false-arrests/

More than 200 Hertz customers are suing the car rental company, claiming false arrests after Hertz incorrectly labeled their rentals as stolen.

Kevin Landers - 6:13 PM EDT April 12, 2022 / Updated: 6:33 PM EDT April 12, 2022

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On May 21, 2019, while driving east on Interstate 76 in Ohio near the border of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Letourneau noticed flashing lights in her rearview mirror.

“I was returning the vehicle and I got pulled over the by Ohio Highway Patrol,” she said.

Letourneau had rented a car through princeline.com and had her electronic rental contract on her phone that she said she showed to the officers.

It didn't matter. She was arrested and her car was towed.

“They did end up charging me with possession of a stolen property,” she said.

Ayisha Essick's husband also rented from Hertz.

Essick said Columbus police came looking for her husband with a warrant.

“Somebody did not check that the car was freaking returned,” she said.

Essick said they returned the car with no issues.

“I mean it really felt like it wasn't real. I didn't know what GTA [was]. It was grand theft auto, it was ridiculous,” she said.

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/ohio-drivers-caught-in-hertz-investigation-speak-out/530-eae3869d-441a-48a6-aa7d-3a509bb1423f

from the fuck-our-paying-customers-said-the-company-emerging-from-bankruptcy dept

Wed, May 25th 2022 12:12pm - Tim Cushing

Hertz has dug its own hole. And it insists it hasn’t hit the bottom yet. The shovels will continue to be deployed until the litigation ends. This isn’t going to work out well for Hertz, but the company seems to have retreated deep into denial following lawsuits over its bogus theft allegations.

Hertz is facing a class action lawsuit featuring hundreds of its customers over its apparent inability to handle rental paperwork correctly. Rather than engage in due diligence when things don’t add up, Hertz apparently allows employees to pull the trigger on theft reports to law enforcement. It also has allegedly decided to convert local law enforcement officers into debt collection agents, referring any overdue rentals or uncollected fees to cop shops rather than pursuing these claims using its own personnel.

The end result has been hundreds of innocent renters being accused of theft… and not just in an “angry letter sent to their residence” way. Hertz has co-opted cops, turning mistaken conclusions about rental agreements into guns-out confrontations that have deprived renters of their freedom, jobs, and any hope of returning to a normal life after being falsely accused of auto theft.

https://www.techdirt.com/2022/05/25/hertz-still-refuses-to-drop-prosecutions-despite-being-sued-for-bogus-theft-reports/

Sydney Kalich, Rich McHugh - Jun 23, 2022 07:04 AM CDT / Updated: Jun 23, 2022 08:11 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — Hertz is offering settlements to dozens of customers who are suing the rental car giant after they claimed they were wrongly arrested and accused of stealing cars they rented, NewsNation’s Rich McHugh confirmed.

NewsNation previously reported on the nightmare situations that led customers to sue Hertz last year.

More than 200 customers were suing the rental car giant for mental and emotional damages after they say they were falsely arrested, and even jailed, after Hertz filed police reports saying the cars they rented were stolen. A judge ruled earlier this month that at least 89 of those cases could be pursued in state courts across the country, according to McHugh.

The customers say the cars were legitimately rented and many have had the charges removed, but not before spending time in jail in some cases, including Julius Burnside.

Burnside is part of one of the lawsuits against Hertz.

“I felt it was a joke..like you you’re telling me I got a warrant for my arrest for something I paid for. That’s not possible,” Burnside told NewsNation last year.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/morninginamerica/hertz-offers-settlements-dozens-after-false-arrest-lawsuits/

Rich McHugh, Sydney Kalich, Nexstar Media Wire - Aug 17, 2022 11:37 AM PDT / Updated: Aug 17, 2022 / 08:16 PM PDT

A Pennsylvania woman is suing Hertz after she says she is mentally and emotionally damaged after the rental car giant wrongfully arrested and accused her of stealing the car she rented. She is one of the hundreds suing the rental car giant over similar situations.

NewsNation previously reported on the nightmare situations that led customers to sue Hertz last year. At least 200 customers were suing the rental car giant for mental and emotional damages after they say they were falsely arrested, and even jailed after Hertz filed police reports saying the cars they rented were stolen. In June, NewsNation’s Rich McHugh confirmed Hertz was offering customers settlements.

Single mother of three Saleema Lovelace is now another person filing a lawsuit against the rental car company after she claims she was arrested.

NewsNation exclusively obtained body camera footage of Lovelace’s Jan. 2021 arrest. Lovelace can be heard telling police she extended the rental and paid for it days earlier as she begs them to look for proof on her phone. Lovelace is distraught as she pleads with officers to let her go so she can pick up her 11-year-old daughter.

https://ktla.com/news/hertz-faces-more-false-arrest-lawsuits/

A lawsuit by five Hertz customers alleges that they were held at gunpoint for cars that were erroneously reported stolen by Hertz.

Chris Rosales - PUBLISHED Sep 24, 2022 2:00 PM

The Hertz saga of arresting paying customers for legally rented cars reported as stolen has not ended, even after the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020. A lawsuit filed by five Hertz customers alleges that they were stopped by police and held at gunpoint for driving rented vehicles that the company reported as stolen, after the company filed for bankruptcy.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the lawsuit was filed in the Delaware Superior Court on Tuesday. The five Hertz customers named in the suit faced wrongful arrest for driving legitimately rented vehicles. This is a problem that has persisted with Hertz since 2015, with at least 300 cases of wrongfully arrested customers, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer. Most of those cases were bundled into bankruptcy proceedings. These appear to be the first claims since the company emerged from bankruptcy in June 2021.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/hertz-is-still-having-rental-car-customers-wrongfully-arrested-lawsuit-claims

Hertz customers are still being falsely arrested over rentals even though the company’s CEO has called them “unacceptable.“

Lawrence Hodge - 27 September 2022 2:00PM

While Hertz has been attempting to garner some positive news with reports of the company expanding its EV offerings, there’s still a lot of ugly going on between the company and its customers. Namely, false accusations of rental thefts. INC.com reports that five more customers have come forward and are suing the company over false accusations of rental theft.

There have to be hundreds of people who have accused the company of having them falsely arrested over their rental cars, and the timeline of this problem has only gotten worse since its began.

https://jalopnik.com/hertz-arrests-still-happening-despite-new-ceo-calling-t-1849586180

Ryan Hogg - Sun, October 2, 2022 at 5:55 AM

A Hertz customer was accused of stealing a rental car despite booking and paying for the vehicle in an incident that has led to her being arrested a total of four times and being held in custody for days at a time, a lawsuit stated.

Antwanette Hill used her status as a platinum member of the Hertz Gold Club loyalty program to book and collect a car without checking in with a staff member at Atlanta airport in October 2018, according to the lawsuit filed in July and seen by Insider. She had rented at least 20 times with Hertz before then.

As she got in the car, an employee came up to her claiming she was stealing it. Hill told him she was a platinum member and to look for her reservation, but instead he called police who then arrested her.

Hill was arrested three more times between 2019 and 2021 for failure to appear in court over the incident because she was not notified about the court dates, according to the lawsuit, and spent about nine days in jail on each occasion. Her case is still pending; Hertz has declined to dismiss the case.

https://news.yahoo.com/woman-suing-hertz-being-accused-125513944.html

Rich McHugh, Katie Smith - Oct 20, 2022 08:14 AM CDT / Updated: Oct 20, 2022 11:03 AM CDT

(NewsNation) — Police had their weapons drawn as they ordered Nick Wright and his 13-year-old daughter to put their hands on the hood of the car they had rented less than an hour earlier.

“I couldn’t see my daughter for most of the situation, so I felt completely helpless,” Wright said. “I was being detained with my fingers locked behind my head and police telling me to shut up. It was surreal.”

Wright and his daughter were on vacation and had just landed at Savannah airport. They’d rented the car about 30 minutes before officers stopped them.

“This is what happens when the rental company doesn’t clear a stolen license plate-vehicle from the national database. Yep! That just happened.” Wright said into his cellphone during a video he recorded after the incident.

He’s one of hundreds suing Hertz over mental and emotional damages after they were arrested — sometimes jailed — based on police reports labeling the cars stolen.

Hertz has declined repeated NewsNation interview requests.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/man-sues-hertz-rental-surreal-traffic-stop/

Thu, Oct 27th 2022 09:31am - Tim Cushing

It seems like every couple of weeks there’s another report of a Hertz customer being treated like a thief because the car rental company can’t be bothered to do even the most minimal of due diligence or follow-up.

At this point, there are more than 100 plaintiffs involved in class action lawsuit claiming Hertz has falsely reported their rented vehicles as stolen or failed to notify law enforcement when they recover a car reported as stolen, allowing new renters to be subjected to the potentially deadly actions of cops who think they’re dealing with a car thief.

According to a former employee, the company does almost nothing to recover allegedly stolen vehicles, preferring to let the public foot the bill by outsourcing the job to local law enforcement. Despite statements otherwise by company officials, Hertz appears to be unwilling to terminate prosecutions linked to bogus car theft reports by company employees.

https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/27/yet-another-renter-sues-hertz-after-he-and-his-teen-daughter-were-held-at-gunpoint-by-cops-following-a-bogus-theft-report/

Gary Leff - December 5, 2022

Hertz announced a $168 million settlement covering 364 claims against them, at an average of just over $460,000 per customer.

There are perhaps a dozen more customers who are suing Hertz, that are not a part of the settlement. I have to think that in many of those cases the customers believe the egregiousness of their experience warrants a greater cash payout and that it makes sense to get closer to trial.

It’s hard to imagine that – given the substantial evidence of Hertz incompetence, wrongdoing, and callousness (a refusal, for instance, to retract false police reports out of fear that the retractions would lead police to stop trusting their false reports) that we won’t see additional liability.

https://viewfromthewing.com/hertz-to-pay-168-million-to-customers-arrested-due-to-their-false-police-reports/

Gary Leff - January 4, 2024

Hertz is a very badly run company. They hired Palantir to help them because they cannot track their fleet of cars. They regularly think their cars have been stolen, and have reported them stolen, when they still had the cars and were renting them out. That got their customers arrested, sometimes at gunpoint, and then they’ve been unwilling to retract false police reports out of fear that the retractions would lead police to stop trusting their false reports.

They settled a class action lawsuit for $168 million covering 364 claims against them, at an average of just over $460,000 per customer.

https://viewfromthewing.com/first-time-hertz-customer-already-blacklisted-the-bizarre-reality-of-car-rentals/

Gary Leff - February 6, 2024

Hertz developed a reputation for sending customers to prison for stealing cars that they actually returned.

One elite member chalked up 4 arrests spending 30 days in jail, where she suffered a miscarriage. And a father and daughter were held at gunpoint and arrested for renting from Hertz.

Usually what seemed to happen is,

A customer changed vehicles or extended their rental
The changes didn’t get reflected properly in Hertz’s systems
So it looked like the customer didn’t return the vehicle when they were supposed to
Hertz reported it to the police
And stuck by their story even as they continued to rent out the vehicle to other customers. And sometimes it was those other customers getting arrested for driving a vehicle reported stolen.

It seemed like Hertz really got this under control, after bringing in Palantir to help track its rental fleet. So it was pretty jarring to me that a reader recently received the scariest letter than anyone who frequents this blog can get. They rented a car from Hertz. And Herts wrote to them to say the car was missing.

https://viewfromthewing.com/hertz-still-cant-keep-track-of-cars-threatens-reader-who-returned-vehicle-on-time/

Gary Leff - May 9, 2024

A Hertz Presidents Circle customer was charged a fee of $277.39 for not filling up the gas on a Tesla model 3 in Los Angeles. This is an obvious, impossible claim because it’s a Tesla that doesn’t run on gas. But Hertz customer service is so bad, that they kept doubling down saying that there’s ‘nothing they can do’ about the charge.

• The customer even has the ‘skip the pump and save time’ prepaid fuel option selected for rentals. This is almost never a good idea, unless you’re literally returning a gas vehicle empty.

• But that fee on a gas vehicle would be less than what Hertz charged.

• And there is no fuel tank to fill on a Tesla EV. Prepaid fuel is based on the capacity of the gas tank being filled, and that amount here should be zero.

Here’s what Hertz customer service had to say though,

I am unable to provide an adjustment or refund since the service was provided and contract is closed. Your signed rental agreement will also be our basis that you are fully aware of the fuel option that was added on the contract. I hope I was able to clarify this with you. Thank you for allowing me to review and assist you with your concern.

https://viewfromthewing.com/hertz-charged-presidents-circle-member-277-for-not-filling-gas-tank-on-a-tesla-wont-remove-fees/

A loyal Hertz customer was hit with a nasty surcharge to “fill up the gas tank” of a Tesla Model 3.

Nico DeMattia - May 8, 2024 5:30 PM EDT

You might understand the shock that Hertz customer Joshua Lee felt when he saw the receipt for his rented Tesla Model 3. After returning the vehicle back to Hertz following a weekend vacation in Los Angeles, Lee noticed he was hit with additional charge of $277.39 on top of his initial reservation price. Why was he charged so much additional money? According to Hertz, that was the cost of refueling the electric Model 3. Unfortunately for Lee, the further he pried the company for information, the more Hertz doubled down, and the more confused he became.

Update May 9, 12:45 p.m. ET: After this story was published, Hertz informed The Drive that its Customer Care team would be “reaching out to Mr. Lee to apologize and will refund this erroneous charge.”

When Lee made his reservation—the receipts for which were seen and confirmed by The Drive—he paid for the “Skip the Pump and Save Time” option, which allows customers to bring their rental cars back without refilling the gas tank. So even if he was driving a car that took gasoline, he shouldn't have been charged an additional refueling fee. OK—mistakes happen, and perhaps the person working at the counter accidentally checked the wrong box. However, when Lee submitted a billing question, Hertz doubled down on the refuel charge, despite the Tesla Model 3 not having a fuel tank to refill, and Lee having already paid for the “Skip the Pump” option.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/hertz-is-charging-tesla-model-3-renter-277-fee-for-gas-wont-back-down

Hertz billing a customer hundreds of dollars for gas in an EV wasn’t a one-off mistake. In fact, it may have been happening for more than a year.

James Gilboy - May 17, 2024 9:55 AM EDT

Hertz's foray into renting EVs hasn't been a runaway success. The rental agency is liquidating its excess Teslas due to limited demand and tanking values, while those who have rented its EVs haven't always had a good experience. Last week, we reported on a customer who was charged $277 for gasoline his rented Tesla couldn't have possibly used—and now, we've heard from other Hertz customers who say they've been charged even more.

Hertz caught attention last week for how it handled a customer whom it had charged a “Skip the Pump” fee, which allows renters to pay a premium for Hertz to refill the tank for them. But of course, this customer's rented Tesla Model 3 didn't use gas—it draws power from a battery—and Hertz has a separate, flat fee for EV recharges. Nevertheless, the customer was charged $277.39 despite returning the car with the exact same charge they left with, and Hertz refused to refund it until after our story ran.

It's no isolated incident either, as other customers have written in to inform us that it happened to them, too.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/hertz-charging-a-tesla-renter-for-gas-was-not-an-isolated-incident

'Hertz told me they'd get a tow truck out to me and never did.'

Braden Bjella - May 27, 2024 / Updated May 27, 2024, 11:32 am CDT

Earlier in the month, a TikToker sparked discussion after claiming that one should thoroughly inspect a rental car before taking it off the lot.

Now, another TikToker went viral after revealing the worst-case scenario that can happen if a car rental company does not properly inspect its vehicle before renting it out to them.

In a slideshow with over 201,000 views, TikTok user Allie Bellair (@alliebellair) declared that the rental company Hertz owes her $700. Here’s how it happened.

A nightmare car rental experience

In her TikTok, Bellair said she was driving her rental car from Hertz when she was prompted with a message that said that the engine was overheating.

Upon pulling over in Blandford, Massachusetts, she said she discovered the car’s coolant was empty. She included a photo of an empty coolant reservoir In her TikTok slideshow. “And this is what the coolant reservoir looks like !” she exclaimed. “She’s BONE DRY.”

Unfazed, Bellair said she refilled the car’s coolant. She included a photo of said coolant at the store. “Me being the mechanic that I am, I bought some coolant,” she said.

She also contacted Hertz so that it could tow the car.

https://www.dailydot.com/news/hertz-rental-car-broke-down/

Gary Leff - June 16, 2024

A Hertz customer accomplished a new feat in the annals of rental car company disservice, actually being charged for a red light ticket before even renting the vehicle.

They rented the vehicle on May 15th at the Calgary Airport for a period of six days, starting at 10:30 p.m. However the agent at the airport logged the rental as starting at 10:30 a.m.

They were hit with an extra day’s charge, beyond the period they actually had the car for

And the previous renter “ran a red light at 2:33pm.” But since the system now saw them as having the car at the time, their credit card was hit with $436.50 for the bill.

https://viewfromthewing.com/hertz-nightmare-customer-fined-436-before-they-even-rented-the-car/

Gary Leff =- August 22, 2024

Between customers getting fined before even picking up their vehicles, charging customers who rent Teslas for failing to refill the gas, and sending innocent customers to jail it’s amazing they’re still in business. If you get hit with a $500 bill from their toll-tracking scam you’re lucky.

Yet people keep renting cars from them. So here’s finally some advice on how to do so without ending up in jail as their next victim, or at least one way you may be able to see an early warning signal that this could happen to you.

Hertz developed a reputation for sending customers to prison for stealing cars that they actually returned.

One elite member chalked up 4 arrests spending 30 days in jail, where she suffered a miscarriage. And a father and daughter were held at gunpoint and arrested for renting from Hertz.

https://viewfromthewing.com/renting-from-hertz-heres-how-to-protect-yourself-from-their-costly-and-criminal-mistakes/

Ben Schlappig - 3 November 2024

Hertz is known for being an unethical and customer unfriendly company, plain and simple. Hertz has a history of having its customers arrested, accusing them of stealing cars when they didn’t. Hertz even had to pay $168 million for this behavior.

Even after that, there’s no shortage of Hertz behaving horribly, like calling the cops on a Puerto Rican for not being American. Here’s the latest example of Hertz’s questionable behavior…

https://onemileatatime.com/news/hertz-unlimited-miles-rental/

The tense exchange came down to dueling interpretations of an “unlimited” mileage rental agreement

Melvin Backman - 8 November 2024 12:51PM

Hertz has apologized to a customer who got into a tense exchange at one location over his interpretation of the rental company’s “unlimited” mileage policy. Things got so heated that a rental agent threatened to have the customer arrested, the travel site One Mile at at Time reports.

The customer in question booked a car for a month. The agreement he signed claimed it had unlimited mileage, so the customer took the paperwork at face value and racked up 25,000 miles. When he returned it, as shown in a TikTok video that later went viral, the agent claimed that the customer was only supposed to drive 100 miles a day and charged him $10,000.

“I’ve never signed anything saying I can only go 100 miles a day, or anything like that, or that I would have to pay more,” the customer says in the video.

“But you also never signed anything saying you were going to be allowed to drive 25,000 miles in a month,” the agent replies.

“No, unlimited is 100,000 miles,” the customer says.

https://qz.com/hertz-apology-customer-unlimited-mileage-rental-arrest-1851693456

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

Will Chase, Jared Whalen and Joann Muller - Jan. 23, 2023

America has a love affair with pickup trucks. In 2022, the top three best-selling vehicles in America were pickup trucks, and among them, the Ford F-series reigns supreme. The Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for more than 40 years, and for that reason, it’s a useful proxy for pickups overall.

But during those 40 years, pickups have changed significantly. They’ve become bigger, heavier and more tricked out, and they’ve transformed from workhorse vehicles to family cruisers.

Why it matters: Sales of these huge trucks are sustaining carmakers, bringing in record profits they can use to develop expensive technologies like electrification and automation that will drive the industry in the future.

Yet pedestrian and road safety advocates say today's massive trucks are a hazard, given their size, weight and driver blind spots.

In the 1980s, about half of pickup trucks were categorized as small or midsize, but by the 2010s small pickups had nearly vanished and fullsize trucks dominated. Today, midsize trucks are making a comeback, but fullsize still make up a majority of sales.

https://www.axios.com/ford-pickup-trucks-history

Seairra Sheppard - November 14, 2022

No one likes to get a speeding ticket, but police hand out citations thousands of times a day throughout the United States. In El Paso, along Delta Drive, law enforcement issued 136 speeding citations to drivers in just six days, in an effort to stop speeding along Delta Drive, where many locals had complained about cars passing by at dangerous speeds. After the six-day citation spree, the police department claimed on their twitter to have successfully slowed down the cars.

A month after this, Strong Towns member and El Paso Community College civil engineering student, Zachary Staggs, wondered if the speed trap really did put a stop to speeding.

Strong Towns member Zachary Staggs poses with the radar gun he used for this speed study. (Source: Zachary Staggs.)

Deciding to conduct a speed study, Staggs placed himself in an inconspicuous spot away from school zones or intersections that may have influenced the results. He spent two hours tracking oncoming traffic speed from both directions to collect the study data.

“My takeaway is that whatever the police did, it didn't work,” said Staggs. “At all.”

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/11/14/mdf2022-speed-traps-have-no-long-term-effect-on-speeding

Michal J A Paszkiewicz - Mar 1, 2023

Rules, once established, can often gain a life of their own. People seem to feel the need to support or nourish, even if the original purpose of them is forgotten. The postmodern approach to such rules is to just drop them entirely and make up entirely new sets of rules, until hopefully one day we will rediscover why the rules were made in such a way and put them back in place. Perhaps some of them will be changed for the better. A better approach than this is to thoroughly investigate the rules, and to understand their historical purpose. We need to know whether the reasons had merit, and whether those reasons are still applicable. Further to this, there needs to be an understanding of the effects of changing these rules, some of which may be second order and difficult to reverse.

One of my friends recently told me that they had been caught by a speed camera and made to go through the National Speed Awareness Course, an alternative to having points put on your driving licence and potentially losing it. He attended the course, but found the course leaders unable to answer any basic questions regarding the reasoning for the choices of National Speed Limits. What was the reasoning behind the choice of our National Speed Limits? Why do other countries have higher, or no speed limits? Surely one could drive more dangerously while going slowly by swerving than while going fast? Who is the arbiter of what constitutes reckless driving?

https://www.cricetuscricetus.co.uk/post/are-road-speed-limits-based-on-safety