A discussion on auto safety issues and technological developments, in hopes of providing consumers and enthusiasts with a better understanding of modern vehicles, safety systems, and current issues in the auto industry.
Fred is off this week but Michael and I push on. Did you know that driving on Thanksgiving is more dangerous than driving on the mad shopping day of Black Friday?The NTSB suggests that NHTSA make ISA a thing. Gotta love those acronyms. Basically one safety regulator is asking a different safety regulator to put in a system to alert drivers that they are going to fast. Speaking of NHTSA for 50 years they've not delivered on a seat back safety standard that would prevent passengers in the back seat from getting crushed by the front seats.We bid adieu to tech-bro Kyle Vogt formerly of GM Cruise as he got to resign instead of being fired. We'll miss his hubris.Listeners let us know if you've ever had to speed in an emergency.This weeks links:https://www.concordmonitor.com/newcm/2023/11/thanksgiving-black-friday-accidents-52940030.phphttps://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20231114.aspxhttps://www.fastcompany.com/90985257/you-shouldnt-be-driving-over-100-mph-and-your-car-shouldnt-let-youhttps://www.wuft.org/news/2023/11/17/new-road-safety-report-shows-reduced-pedestrian-fatalities-using-speed-detection-systems/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nhtsa-misses-new-safety-regulation-deadline/https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-prepares-to-turn-the-heated-front-seats-and-wipers-into-paid-features-224519.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/technology/cruise-ceo-kyle-vogt-quits.htmlhttps://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjbx5/cruise-exec-omitted-pedestrian-dragging-in-summary-of-self-driving-car-incident-to-california-dmv-email-showshttps://www.wsj.com/business/autos/gm-cruise-driverless-car-vogt-a47d63a2https://sfstandard.com/2023/11/21/cruise-san-francisco-crash-lobbyist-gavin-newsom/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/11/12/auto-glass-florida-insurance/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V751-4249.PDF
This week Michael and Anthony claim to be visited by the deep state (or just happen to be around helicopters) and Fred has his voice replaced by an AI (head cold). Could it be GM? Nah, they are too busy putting a lawyer in charge of their GM Cruise division. Anyone got the over/under on whether their CEO Kyle will make it to the end of year? Lucky for him American corporations tend let people fail upwards.Did you know that anti-lock brakes are not required on motorcycles? And that lots of people don't want the ability for their car to be remotely disabled. What if they are drunk? Would it be good or bad to prevent a car from starting if their driver were impaired?The Tesla whistleblower is dealing with retaliation for telling Elon that his factory is unsafe, Fred nerds out on road lane width, we discuss the dumbness of the Ram Charger EV and a couple of recalls.This weeks links:https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/14/gm-inserts-exec-at-cruise-as-safety-review-expands-manual-self-driving-paused/https://theintercept.com/2023/11/06/cruise-self-driving-cars-children/https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/large-pickups-offer-strong-side-protection-but-falter-in-back-seat-safetyhttps://www.iihs.org/news/detail/its-past-time-to-require-abs-on-all-motorcycles-iihs-hldi-petition-argueshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/editorial-why-are-people-worried-about-automotive-kill-switch-mandates/ar-AA1jyyx2https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/business/tesla-whistleblower-elon-musk.htmlhttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/11/bmw-subaru-and-porsche-drivers-more-likely-to-cause-a-crash-study-findshttps://techcrunch.com/2023/11/06/the-2025-ram-ramcharger-is-an-electric-truck-that-gets-its-ev-juice-from-a-gas-powered-generator/https://narrowlanes.americanhealth.jhu.edu/https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/11/rivian-apologizes-to-customers-after-infotainment-bricking-ota-update/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V743-2081.PDF
GM Cruise is on a death watch. They no longer have non-driverless cars, they've recalled all of their cars so that they don't drag humans caught underneath them and they stopped production of their contender for worlds ugliest car, the Cruise Origin. To date this has only cost GM a few billion dollars. How much more will they burn?Another Cybertruck is spotted in the wild, more reports of Tesla's ADAS systems being more hazard than help, Mercedes issues a recall for 8 cars and listener mail has Fred do some math on the cost of ownership of an EV vs an ICE vs a Hybrid car.This weeks links:https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/consumer-alert-steering-wheel-decorative-emblem-decalshttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38145062https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/technology/cruise-general-motors-self-driving-cars.htmlhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RMISC-23E086-4326.pdfhttps://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/britain-says-automakers-will-be-liable-for-selfdriving-crashes-not-owners-432SI-3225348https://insideevs.com/news/694929/tesla-cybertruck-matte-black-impressions/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/07/super-fog-new-orleans-car-crasheshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/here-s-why-tesla-s-autopilot-isn-t-the-best-adas-currently/ar-AA1cIf9Ghttps://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-full-self-driving-helpless-cameras-fog-up-cold-weatherhttps://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/YDC-Brochure_2023-FINAL-8.30.23-.pdfhttps://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2023-11-03/toyota-is-not-advising-people-to-park-recalled-rav4-suvs-outdoors-despite-reports-of-engine-fireshttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2019/INCLA-PE19012-12269.pdfhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V733-6826.PDF
Time to pour some out for the poor folks at GM Cruise as they take time to reflect on how they can better earn the public's trust. We suggest not dragging people under your car and lying about it to regulators. On the plus side lying to NHTSA will hopefully make NHTSA a little more proactive in their investigations into this company. Might make the GM Cruise investors a little more proactive too. Toyota has been slow to move into the EV market and now they are having an, "I told you so" moment as EV's are not selling as well as expected. At the same time Toyota is putting a fake clutch and shifter into their EV because one good idea deserves to be followed up by one dumb idea? We dig into how safety inspections need to be updated for ADAS and self driving vehicles. And how exactly is a self driving car with no pedals or steering wheel going to get itself to an inspection station? Plus recall roundup.This weeks links:https://apnews.com/article/cruise-robotaxi-suspends-operations-gm-73f27ef959afe1e201e61f0fd31802d5https://safeautonomy.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-snapshot-of-cruise-crash-reporting.htmlhttps://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/honda-cancels-plan-for-cheap-electric-vehicles-ending-collaboration-with-gm/https://www.carscoops.com/2023/10/toyota-chairman-says-people-are-finally-seeing-reality-of-evs/https://www.businessinsider.com/auto-executives-coming-clean-evs-arent-working-2023-10https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23939076/norway-electric-vehicle-cars-evs-tesla-oslohttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-app-storebut-for-carsmay-not-be-far-off-df82503https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/toyota-has-built-an-ev-with-a-fake-transmission-and-weve-driven-it/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V718-8025.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V719-7656.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V708-4418.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V704-6233.PDF
To celebrate Fred and Anthony's birthday the California DMV has banned GM Cruise self driving cars. The moral of the story? Don't listen to tech bro nonsense AND don't lie to the DMV. Turns out the GM Cruise that ran over a woman dragged her too but GM Cruise forgot to mention that part.The DOJ is getting all up in Tesla's business. Turns out lying to consumers about their EV range is not a good thing. A "super fog" causes a 168 car pile up, Colorado adds a vehicle weight fee, Fred invents a new number 5 and recall roundup.This weeks links:https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/24/cruise-robotaxis-california-suspended/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2023/10/24/superfog-louisiana-highway-crashes-marsh/e8dc0152-726b-11ee-936d-7a16ee667359_story.htmlhttps://www.theverge.com/2023/10/23/23928563/tesla-doj-ev-range-exaggerate-investigationhttps://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/elon-musk-talks-tesla-we-dug-our-own-grave-with-the-cybertruck/https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/10/18/colorados-vehicle-weight-fee-could-tame-megacar-crisis-and-protect-vulnerable-road-usershttps://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V696000https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V692000https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V686000https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V700-2183.PDF