I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...
... I think we've turned a dangerous corner where our cars can kill us in more and more creative ways.
I'm not cross-promoting the latest Transformers movie (actually, I just missed that cartoon when I was younger -- I was raised more on Tom and Jerry and Starblazers and Speed Racer as a child), nor am I bemoaning the latest drunk driving statistics or Oprah-led vows to attempt to prevent teens from crashing while texting (although both newsworthy people-killer stories, they're "old hat" and so commonplace, they're almost predictable). And I'm not naive enough to think that we all live in a Pixar Cars 2 world (that was a plug -- you can't go wrong with Pixar ...), but after reading these three stories back to back recently, I'm beginning to get paranoid that
every vehicle might just be idling, waiting to ignite its inner Christine.
First, Toyota decided to add "pedestrian-warning systems" to its otherwise-silent hybrid car, because it was messing with the minds of walkers who couldn't judge how quickly it was going. Too stealth for its own good, it needed to be upgraded to give pedestrians a fighting chance.
Then Mazda had to recall nearly 70 thousand vehicles -- not because of rollover tendencies or faulty brake lines or airbags that didn't inflate -- but because the yellow-sac spider infested them, taking up residence in the vent line and causing pressure problems in the fuel tank, which could cause a crack and lead to a gas leak.
Finally, a series of lawsuits were filed to protect disabled people from getting third degree burns from seats that heated to 120 degrees (or even one that maxed at 160 degrees), scorching their skin and putting them squarely in the hot seat (bad pun fully intended).
I know it's frowned upon right now to suggest a bigger government, but I'm thinking we need a secret X-files division of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Maybe those same people who avoided LA's Car-mageddon can be tapped to address these concerns -- and others about which we've yet to hear! The Automotive Truth is Out There!!
YOU CAN CHOOSE THE SOUND OF A SPACE SHIP (of course you can)!:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/cartech/silent-toyota-prius-to-get-sound-generator-50000485/
ARACHNID INFESTATION IN MAZDA 6s:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0304/Yellow-sac-spiders-infest-Mazda-cars-cause-recall
THIS ONE IS SERIOUS IF YOU BELONG TO THE "-PLEGIC" COMMUNITY:
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/carseatburns.shtml
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