SMART DUMMIES PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE DISCUSSED THE HISTORY OF AUTOMOTIVE TEST DUMMIES. Today in Part 2, NPR’s Camila Domonoske tours Humanetics, a major supplier of ATDs. Video from YouTube via NPR. A Humanetics … Continue reading
SMART DUMMIES PART 1
AUTOMOTIVE CRASH TEST DUMMIES ARE SMARTER than their real-life counterparts. Unlike humans, their memories retain scads of data from sensors throughout their bodies. Their materials and contours are engineered to … Continue reading
ON AUTOMOTIVE PRICES (AND, ALAS, LOAN DELINQUENCIES)—PITY GEN Z
A RECENT AUTOMOTIVE NEWS ARTICLE by Paige Hodder describes, “Gen Z Car Buyers Use Research, Digital Tools to Make F&I Deals,” December 1, 2025. (F&I, by the way, is auto … Continue reading
ONE BRILLIANT HELMET
MADELINE COLEMAN REPORTS IN THE ATHLETIC, The New York Times, October 9, 2025, “Isack Hadjar’s F1 Helmet is a Tribute to Physics, Fatherhood, and a Decade of Racing.” Coleman observes … Continue reading
TRUMP LIES LIKE A RUG
HOW CAN ANYONE TRUST A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR? As Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to our own facts.” Succinctly, … Continue reading
EV CARSICKNESS
ARE YOU SICK OF YOUR TESLA? No, not just because of that chainsaw-wielding DOGE guy. I’m talking about EVs in general making people increasingly carsick. Here are tidbits on this … Continue reading
COMPLEXITIES OF CAFE COMPLIANCE FEES PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN ANALYZING Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and their encouraging average mpgs from 13.5 to more than double that today. In Part 2 we continue—and close with a … Continue reading
COMPLEXITIES OF CAFE COMPLIANCE FEES PART 1
HEADLINES IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, July 26, 2025, are provocative: “Republicans Propose a New Way to Scrap Fuel Economy Rules: No Fines.” Brad Plumer and Jack Ewing report, “For … Continue reading
A USED CAR AFTER WHICH I LUST
“THE ASTON MARTIN CYGNET,” this fabled sports car manufacturer said back in 2011, “was designed as a luxury solution to urban mobility.” A city car that’s “Elegant and distinctive whilst … Continue reading
WOULD YOU BUY A USED (OR NEW) CAR FROM THIS MAN?
I DON’T RECALL ELON MUSK (aka “The Chainsaw Wielder”) being on any ballots. Yet he has become BBF of the guy who won by a mere 1.5 percent of the … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 