The Augmented Driving iPhone app turns your car into a fighter jet. Mount your iPhone on the dash and launch the program and it starts tracking the cars around you, warning with an annoying voice if you get too close and showing you your lane so you don’t drift. Could come in handy for long road trips, as would staying alert and pulling off to a rest stop and taking a nap if you get tired. Only, don’t get so fascinated by playing with your driving app that you get into an accident. Even though it looks like a video game, there’s no replays. Here’s a demo so you can scoff or fawn for yourself: [More]
cars
Facts And Myths About Cutting Gas Costs
By 4.19.10
BillShrink writes in with some tips on how to cut the costs of fueling your car. Just as valuable as the tips to cut costs are the way the email shoots down myths about gas-saving methods that don’t really work. [More]
Toyota Stops Selling Lexus SUV After Consumer Reports Says "Don't Buy"
By 4.13.10
It’s a big deal when Consumer Reports awards a “Don’t Buy” rating to a vehicle, and when it announced earlier today that the 2010 Lexus GX 460 should be avoided because of safety risks, the story started popping up all over the web. Now only 12 hours later, Lexus has announced that it is asking dealers to temporarily stop selling the vehicle while it looks into the situation, and that it’s taking the Consumer Reports claim “very seriously.” [More]
Is Your Parking Garage Ripping You Off?
By 4.12.10
Next time you get your ticket from the parking garage dispenser, better grab a clock. [More]
Gas Prices On The Rise For No Good Reason
By 4.5.10
Several states are reporting this morning that average gas prices have crept up slightly, despite the fact that oil consumption has dropped and refiners are operating below capacity. The Miami Herald blames the price creep on Wall Street speculators who are optimistic that the economy is getting better, which in turn will lead to increased gas consumption. [More]
To Tip Or Not To Tip: Full-Service Gas Station Attendants
By 4.1.10
Last week’s poll on tipping the pizza delivery guy certainly riled a lot of feathers, with over 300 comments on the topic and more than 12,000 votes tallied. It’s also brought up some good questions about tipping from Consumerist readers, like this one from Chad, who has just been introduced to mandatory full-service gas stations in New Jersey. [More]
Asphalt Has Become So Expensive That Some States Are Going Back To Gravel
By 3.31.10
Kiplinger says that in the near future, if you’re driving down a rural or less-traveled road, you might find yourself driving on gravel. Road asphalt has doubled in price over the past three years and shows no signs of coming back down, so some states–Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Vermont, and Pennsylvania to begin with–are looking for ways to cut corners. Gravel costs $20 a ton compared to asphalt’s current $400/ton price. [More]
Kick Off Spring Cleaning By Home-Detailing Your Car
By 3.28.10
Spring is actually here, and do you know what that means? Spring cleaning! Ugh. If you live in a wintery climate, take some time to clean up your vehicle and pretend that all that salt and gravel never happened. Our sister publication Consumer Reports shows you how. After all, who else thoroughly tests kinds of car wax? Exactly. [More]
How Does Brake Override Technology Stop Runaway Cars?
By 3.24.10
The recent fuss over Toyota’s recalls has brought a lot of attention to a previously rather boring car feature: brake override. It wasn’t a very sexy feature until we began reading about throttles gone rogue, taking drivers on a terrifying ride. Brake override, and its absence on the affected Toyota models, became very interesting all of a sudden. But how does it work? Does it really work? Our sister publication Consumer Reports has a test track and some Toyotas lying around, so they set out to find out. [More]
Fake Toyota CEO: "From Now On No Brakes!"
By 3.24.10
Uh-oh, (fake) Mr. Toyoda is mad. He went on Letterman to call the latest runaway Toyota report a hoax, and he’s going to get revenge for this blatant attempt to shame him. “From now on, Toyota no brakes!” Also, he’s apparently upset about Jay Leno for some reason. All are punish-ed!
Fake Toyota CEO Yells at David Letterman, Mocks Jay Leno [Gawker.TV] (Thanks to GitEmSteveDave!)
Disgruntled Former Dealership Employee Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely, Honks Horns
By 3.18.10
Some car dealerships and lenders have equipped cars with devices that disable the ignition or make the horn honk nonstop when payments are late. We wrote about this last year, but didn’t realize that the interface has fantastic potential for pranks. And that’s how a laid-off car dealership employee was allegedly able to disable the ignitions of more than 100 cars purchased from the dealership. Or set off their horns in the middle of the night. [More]
Thrifty Charges You For Gas Even Though You Returned It Full
By 3.17.10
Manny returned a rental car full of gas to Thrifty, yet they still ended up charging him $12.67 to top it off. Even after several days of escalating, they have yet to refund him his cash. [More]
Video: How To Stop A Speeding Prius If You're F****** Stupid
By 3.16.10
This masked video troll is the zeitgeist. His 40-odd f-bomb-fueled demonstration of how to stop a Prius captures the mood among a swath of consumers that runaway Toyotas are just the fault of “stupid” drivers. Nevermind that the driver of an out-of-control Lexus did both the “power off” and “put it in neutral” tricks he shows, potentially pointing to an electronics system issue, and it didn’t help. “Get your head out of your ass, stop thinking about saving the planet, and figure out how to drive your car,” he admonishes. Very NSFW, cursing. [More]
Beat The "Four Square" Dealership Ripoff
By 3.12.10
Former used car salesman Alan Slone grew a little Jimminy Cricket in his ear and decided to spill his guts on a classic dealership technique used to addle your mind and empty your wallet. It’s called “The Four Square” and the object of the game is to make you lose. Here’s how it works, and how to beat it. [More]
Nissan Loses Devoted Customer Over Demonic Driver's Seat
By 3.11.10
Consumerist reader Brian has been devoted Nissan owner his entire adult life, having owned upward of 10 different Nissan vehicles over the years. But now Brian is looking to move onto non-Nissan pastures after the driver’s side seat of his new Pathfinder became possessed by some sort of malicious demon. [More]
Mercedes-Benz Ordered To Pay $482k Over Lemon Car
By 3.9.10
Wisconsin’s lemon law for cars is pretty strict. If a customer demands a refund on a newly bought car that won’t run and can’t be repaired, the manufacturer has to comply within 30 days or pay double the purchase price plus legal fees. Marco Marquez has been fighting Mercedes-Benz for 4 years now over a $56,000 E 320 he bought in 2005 that immediately stopped working. He says the company deliberately stalled on giving him the refund in time, and last week a judge awarded him $482,000. [More]
Mercedes Shows Off New Safety Feature For Cars
By 3.9.10
Last week, Mercedes showed a bunch of journalists some new safety features it’s working on to prevent deaths in the event of a car crash, and BNET describes them. I hope you like air bags going off all around you–the demo even has air bags for the car. Sadly, the people-scooper feature–something about when you hit a pedestrian, the car “scoops” the body onto the hood and keeps the person there, probably so that his screaming can alert you that you’ve been in an accident–will only be available in Europe. [More]
Nissan Recalls 540,000 Cars
By 3.3.10
Due to potential problems in brake pedal pins and fuel-gauge components, Nissan is recalling 540,000 cars, 179,000 of which are in the US. [More]
