Growing up my family owned a Jeep Wagoneer that consistently broke down towing our boat. My frugal parents couldn’t afford to have it repaired by a mechanic so my Pop dutifully bought the repair manual and spent his days off cursing under the hood in our driveway. He eventually grew so frustrated that he dropped a 500cu Cadillac engine in that old Jeep. Technology has made do-it-yourself repairs little more than nostalgic memories. Now it takes expensive diagnostic computers to identify why the light on the dash came on. And not only are the diagnostic computers expensive but in many cases the codes are proprietary. With recent dealership closures, congress has proposed legislation to protect consumers access to this critical repair information. HR 2057, the Rural Communities Stranded Without The Right To Repair Act would require auto manufacturers to make repair information and computer diagnostic codes available to the general public.
Bloomberg is reporting that a deal between Ford and the UAW has been reached. The deal is said to include a ban on most strikes, and wage freezes for new employees. In short, most of what it offered the automakers it holds equity stakes in. Of course, the deal still has to be approved by plant-level UAW leadership which tends to have a harder time understanding that not giving Ford these concessions makes the UAW look like its strangling a competitor to the OEMs it owns. “There’s a lot of sentiment against concessions inside the plant,” explains one Dearborn-based union. This despite the fact that Ford still won’t achieve parity with GM and Chrysler.
It’s easy to understand how a commercial like this gets made. Funny people miss the mark occasionally. What’s more difficult to explain is the decision to build an entire marketing campaign around such weak middle school humor. Are the executives at Subaru the same people who decided to buy the slapchop after Vince threw in the gratie, or did this actually test well thanks to Billy Mays nostalgia? If educated,experienced auto executives can be sold on this idea what hope do the rest of us have? Sebrings and WNBA tickets for all?
Our friendly neighbors to the north are starting to cope with a difficult and embarrassing reality. Canada.com reports on a briefing note prepared for Canadian Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt warning that hundreds of millions of dollars spent subsidizing e85 Flex Fuel technology have been a colossal failure. Not the least of which is the fact that a complete lack of convenient fueling infrastructure has resulted in people using “dirty” gasoline. According to the memo, obtained under public information laws:
Given that E85 (fuel) is not sold in significant quantities, these credits (to manufacturers) are not tied to actual GHG emission reductions because Canada’s FFVs are fuelled almost exclusively with gasoline
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