What’s Right: Right or Left Braking?

Posted on Mar 19, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on What’s Right: Right or Left Braking?

When does braking feel like hitting a brick wall? When you try to apply the brakes using the wrong foot. For those of us with decades of experience using our right feet to slow down, our left feet might as well be attached to our hips with wet noodles. There’s just no control when it comes to using them to stop a motor vehicle. The debate about driving with two...

Third Age Suit Points to Greater Safety Technology Needs

Posted on Mar 17, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Third Age Suit Points to Greater Safety Technology Needs

Normally driving a 2015 Lexus RC 350 is an exercise in automotive enjoyment. On one hot day recently, I found it extremely difficult. I had trouble seeing. My movements were largely restricted, and my hand was shaking. I was less confident in my ability to safely drive. While it sounds like I was drunk, I wasn’t. I was encased in Ford’s Third Age Suit. It is...

Digging Out? Get Your Car Ready for Spring!

Posted on Mar 16, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Digging Out? Get Your Car Ready for Spring!

I love snow. I’m honestly a little jealous that a good majority of the country got buried this winter while I sat and watched my local ski hill warm up and close for the season by February. If you live anywhere other than the West Coast, odds are good that you, and your car, experienced record snowfall. If you’re one of the many car owners who simply gave up...

Here’s Your Chance to Sell Your Truck Back to the Automaker

Posted on Feb 14, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Here’s Your Chance to Sell Your Truck Back to the Automaker

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has flexed its muscle and leveled Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with a massive fine and buyback program, in addition to requiring strict oversight of future recalls. A fine of up to $105 million is the result of a settlement between the government and FCA over allegations of misconduct in...

Have You Ever Had a Car Stolen?

Posted on Feb 13, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Have You Ever Had a Car Stolen?

If you’re one of the unfortunate people to have experienced an auto theft, you’re familiar with how invasive and unsettling it is to know someone has your car. At first you think you just can’t remember where you parked. You spin in circles, visually scouring the parking lot for any sign of your car. Then you replay the events in your mind of where you parked...

Would You Trust a Self-Driving Car?

Posted on Jan 12, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Would You Trust a Self-Driving Car?

For the first time, a Google self-driving car is at fault for causing an accident. On Valentine’s Day a Lexus RX 450h with Google’s self-driving technology leaned in a little too close to a city bus in Mountain View, California. The two vehicles collided at low speed. Google has acknowledged at least 17 other accidents involving its cars, but this is the first...

Are Convertibles Worth the Safety Risk?

Posted on Jan 11, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Are Convertibles Worth the Safety Risk?

Yesterday we drove Highway 1 in California from San Simeon to Monterey. This is the most beautiful segment of the most beautiful road in America, but one thing started driving me crazy: One in ten cars that passed in the opposite direction was either a red convertible Camaro orMustang. That’s no exaggeration. I don’t know if there’s either a rental place that...

Would You Buy This Damaged Land Rover?

Posted on Jan 10, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Would You Buy This Damaged Land Rover?

What a short attention span we have in this world today. Less than a month ago, we wrote about the Hoegh Osaka. Remember that? If you’re anything like me, you’ll read that name and it’ll sound vaguely familiar, but you won’t remember why. Let me remind you: The ship was carrying around 1,200 Jaguars and Land Rovers before tilting dangerously and running aground...

New BMW Headlights Solve Old Problem

Posted on Dec 18, 2021 in Safety | 1 comment

Imagine a world where you never have to worry about turning down your brights as you drive. We’ve all been there, happily zooming down a country lane or lonely highway with the road in front of us bathed in ample light, our cars cutting through the darkness with high beams in full force. Then a car approaches. We think nothing of it until the approaching...

Does Snow Change Your Travel Plans?

Posted on Nov 25, 2021 in Safety | Comments Off on Does Snow Change Your Travel Plans?

How much snow is too much? There was a debate at my house last night involving safety and weather-related travel, and I declared myself the winner, but now I’m not so sure. My wife, of course, had a good case. Here’s the situation: On Saturday we had made plans to go out Sunday evening and buy a day bed from a woman who listed it for sale on Craigslist. It was...

When’s the Last Time a Rear-view Mirror Made the News?

Posted on Oct 12, 2021 in Safety | Comments Off on When’s the Last Time a Rear-view Mirror Made the News?

The first backup camera ever invented was made of glass and adhered to the front windshield. It was called a rear-view mirror. I looked toward Wikipedia for more history on the veritable safety device, because there just isn’t much chatter about them these days. Here’s what I found: The earliest known rear-view mirror mounted on a motor vehicle appeared in Ray...

Winter Car Hacks? Try Good Common Sense Instead

Posted on Sep 9, 2021 in Safety | 1 comment

Winter has set in across the United States, which is something of which the people of upstate New York need no reminder. When winter snow and ice make their annual return, websites like to give advice on how to deal with the effects on cars. Advice on everything from driving through blizzards to de-icing your car with onions can be found with a simple Google...