Agreed. Jalopnik seems to be the only one covering the story well. I’m actually really surprised that there isn’t actually a fix available yet - every story I’ve seen has simply said Chrysler issued a recall but that Yelchin hadn’t taken his car in, just like about 40% of people who get a recall. Well why would he…

Shove them in a Macan and let the g forces make up for any cramped seating.

I hadn’t thought of it that way. Good point.

The more you can bring in house, the less you are vulnerable to a takata problem. Plus if you build inhouse, you can also sell the product to other people and be a supplier instead of a customer. Any company that has the resources to do so always tries to achieve that, it just makes more sense.

Yeah not sure that’s a reason not to buy from a supplier. I don’t know if Tesla needs to be making their own factory either. They use a lot of bolts but I don’t see them making their own bolts.

Not even close to the same concept here. When you drive a manual, the gear stick stays in the position relative to the gear you have selected.

For the same reason Tesla had to make a battery factory. They need more than the entire world produces at the moment if they want to build electric cars.

Clearly you’ve never driven a dog-leg...

Why would VW need to make their own batteries? You don’t need to make all your own parts to make your own car...

Pretty much.

In this case the repair is to change the behavior to match other manufacturers using the same design. That is to put it in park when the driver’s door opens.

If something so basic and fundamentally important as the gear selector is so confusing that people cannot figure it out, then I’d call that broken, regardless of whether or not it was actually malfunctioning.

Definitely. That’s our method, too. Just seems like, “they can buy used,” would be an odd business plan for the manufacturers...

Nice! Manual drivers are more focused drivers so they’ll have better habits than other kids their age. Plus they’ll struggle which builds character. Make sure to teach them about the parking brake, too.

Every time I hear BMW scare stories you find out the owner did not maintain the vehicle, or they bought a used abused junkpile without having it checked out. I have a neighbor that complains loudly about their BMW and how the Xdrive failed. I ask, “when did you change the transfer case fluid?” and he replies, oh you…

I don’t dig minivans, but it’s tough to find an affordable family vehicle. Sure part of that is because families are getting smaller and smaller, so it’s a tougher business case for manufacturers... We have 3 kids and we fit great in our 5 seat wagon, but that means if any kid invites even 1 friend out with us we have…

VW USA is trying to fix that with a 3-row SUV, but they have to deal with a European parent to get that done

I say this every time we’re on this topic. A new Eurovan would absolutely DESTROY on the coasts of North America.

The tiguan, or Toureg should easily be able to handle 3 kids. How much junk do you really need to lug around regualry?

How about simply offering the van that they already make?