Automotive Blogger

Winter is creeping closer and closer, with snow already making an appearance in the Midwest. If you live in a place where the temperatures dip below freezing, it’s a wise idea to make sure your car is prepped for winter. For this week’s Tech Thursday, here are some things you should do to winterize your car:

1. Battery: Cold weather can reduce your battery’s life by up to half, so get your battery tested, and replace it if necessary.
2. Tires: Winter or summer, saving gas, or staying on the road, it all comes down to tired. For winter, make sure they have adequate pressure, and also make sure the treads are in good condition. This is a good time to rotate your tires, or replace them with snow tires, if necessary.
3. Wipers: Make sure your windshield wipers are in good condition. If the blades show any signs of tearing or cracking, or if they leave bad streaks or smears on the windshield, replace them. If you live in a place prone to snow and ice, you might want to consider special winter-friendly wiper blades.
4. Fluids: Keep your gas tank at least half full all the time to keep the gas lines from freezing, and make sure you have enough antifreeze as well. This is also a good time to replenish the washing fluid for your windshield with a winter blend to help reduce ice.
5. Emergency Preparedness: Along with a first-aid kit, make sure your trunk holds a flashlight, jumper cables, a tool kit, and tire chains if snow and ice are an issue. Also, a bag of sand or kitty litter can be invaluable if you get stuck in snow or ice, either for traction, or just to add weight. Packing a blanket and matches or a propane lighter is wise also.

Winter driving doesn’t have to be dangerous, and getting caught in weather doesn’t have to be deadly. Keep your car well-maintained, drive sensibly, and stay warm.

Happy October!
Coming at you today we have news of two different recalls, one from Volkswagen and one from Toyota - we’ll be adding both to our safety files.

Toyota Motor Sales, USA is recalling their all-weather floor mats that can jam the gas pedal in some Toyota and Lexus models. It’s a direct response to a federal investigation of “unintended acceleration incidents,” and about 55,000 drivers should receive letters.

Toyota owners were already warned about issues with all-weather mats earlier this month, when they were cautioned to use mat retaining hooks, and not to layer all-weather mats with regular ones. Replacements are not yet available, so owners will get a second letter about that at a later date.

Affected models are the 2007 and 2008 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES 350, but even if you’re driving the cool new 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser you should probably make sure that your floor mats are secure.

The Volkswagen Recall is a little more serious, involving Volkswagen 340,000 Jetta and Rabbit models that were manufactured in Mexico, and sold in the United States, and have mis-constructed head lights.

According to spokespeople at VW, some of the head lamps on affected vehicles are missing legally-required rubber caps that are supposed to be installed in some of the screw-sockets. While VW says there’s no danger caused by the missing caps, owners are urged to bring their car in to their local dealer to have the caps installed.

Looks like VW’s hands on approach may need a little refinement.

Read any auto review, and safety features will be given almost as much attention as engine specs. Either the array of safety systems is lauded, or the lack thereof is denigrated, and sometimes mocked. In either case, the message is clear: driving fast is cool, but getting there in one piece is cooler.

This, then, is a list of ten features or systems that protect us as we’re zooming from point a to point b, or beyond:

1. AirbagsThey prevent you from crashing into the steering wheel (and impaling yourself on the steering column) and also prevent severe cranial injuries. The newest versions are set to “depower” themselves - reduce power after they’re activated - to keep them from causing injuries while preventing fatalaties.
2. Computers Whether they’re the powerful type of computer that aid in the design and manufacture of our cars, or the mini-processors on board, without which many other safety features wouldn’t work, computers are a crucial component of safe driving.
3. Deformable Structure We’re past the days, for the most part, when a survivable crash ended in fatality because the hood of the car ripped off and cut through the windshield, or any other such grisly results, and this is largely because deformable structure allows the car itself to absorb the energy of impact, and not pass it on to the driver.
4. Disc Brakes Not only do they allow cars to make 60 - 0mph stops, something old-school drum brakes couldn’t always do more than a couple times in a row without over heating, disc brakes also allow us to have anti-lock braking systems, and are a vital component of stability and traction control.
5. Divided Highways Driving is simply safer with divided highways, and statistics support this - comparisons based on total numbers of traveled miles show that there are 70% fewer fatalities on divided roads than on old two-lane bidirectional ones.
6. DUI Laws While drunk or (otherwise chemically) altered drivers still account for about a third of fatal driving accidents, that’s down from a 50% statistic from 1982. Across the country, DUI laws have been getting tougher - but critics think they’re still not strict enough.
7. Quick Emergency Response Skilled rescue workers arriving on-scene quickly may not be something drivers can control, but because of EMTs and fast-response teams, less than one percent of the 6 million or so traffic accidents that occur annually end in death.
8. Stability Control Electronic Stability Control, whether it’s known by a set of initials (ESC, DSC, etc.) or a fancy name (”Stabilitrak”) is what helps keep all four tires touching the pavement. It’s controlled by computers, not drivers, so it can’t make panic and make a wrong decision, which is always a plus.
9. Seatbelts When I was a kid, my mother had a rule that the car didn’t move until everyone was buckled in. Thankfully, I’m an only child, so this didn’t take long. The point however is that all the cool technology in the world cannot keep you alive if you’re flying through the windshield. Buckle up!
10. Tires Good quality, well-maintained, pneumatic steel-belted radial tires may well be the most important safety feature there is. Why? Because at any given moment it’s a patch of rubber about the size of an adult hand that is actually in contact with the road. Without tires, disc brakes are useless, and stability control non-existent. Also, keeping the pressure correct helps maximize fuel economy.

Your Turn: My list comes from a week of research, and years of riding in, driving, and owning cars. What would you add to this list? What would you remove?