Yeah - the clips can be nice... IF done well, and that's rare. I've seen them done so ridiculously that removing a door panel is like going after a cylinder head - there's a specific sequence you have to go through on the clips, including rotating/shifting the panel at specific points in the process to keep the…

"Mad Dog Time is the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time. Oh, I've seen bad movies before. But they usually made me care about how bad they were. Watching Mad Dog Time is like waiting for the bus in a city where you're not sure they have a…

Please. Consumer Reports is no better - they trash vehicles for absurdities all the time. I especially like it when they tell me a vehicle isn't comfortable to sit in. You know what will tell me if a vehicle is comfortable, CR? My own ass. Some of the vehicles they rave about I've found to be brutally…

Best bad review EVER:

The Mirage is a cheap car. You can get the base one for under $14,000. Maybe it's not as good as a Fiesta or Fit — that's a fair point to make. But the idea that somehow low-end cars need to have interiors with finger-orgasming plastics and no obscene seams like mid- and luxury cars costing 3-5x as much is absurd.

I love low-end cars. I love what low-end cars used to be. There was once an honest dignity about a cheap car that made it useful, easy to maintain, and classless. I love exposed screw heads and easily visible seams on things because that means if something needs tweaking or fixing, you can actually figure out what…

Anyone know who the supplier was? I know Ford used JTEKT on that era of Escape (at least some)... not sure about the Explorer, though.

None of this is surprising, as the EPA test is fairly generous and it's often in the hands of automakers to self-test and report — which has led to some notorious problems.

In this brave new world, there is a solid chance that you won't even own a car at all, just getting into one when you need them. That doesn't sit right. At all.

Bingo. It's appropriate to point out the different tailgate and ask what was up with that. And I'll give Ford PR kudos for outright admitting it had been redesigned and replaced.

FWIW, here are the #s for those issued in 2013. Ford is at the top of the list then, but remember this doesn't account for WHEN the vehicle was made, the natural year-to-year variability in these numbers, or even sales figures. Adjust for volume and Ford isn't even close to the top of the list (HELLOOO, German…

Why look at just one year? Year-to-year results are highly variable. Just look at GM's recalls last year vs. this. Honda recalled over 3x as many vehicles as GM last year. Toyota recalled over 6x as many.

With an average vehicle life expectancy, that Accord could be expected to last 16 years. The Mercedes could be expected to last 2.

Actually, as I stated, they can be a sign that something IS working correctly - as opposed to a lack of bulletins, which can indicate the manufacturer is clueless as to when something happened, how to fix it, or that they simply aren't caring about continuous process improvement (ie, improved maintenance methods do…

From my reply to Howie below:

You can look up the data on NHTSA's website. I pulled all unique TSB identifiers for vehicles built 2005 MY or newer (basically 10 years). Here are the number of unique TSBs by manufacturer during that period:

TSBs are overblown. I've seen manufacturers get overaggressive in their use and others who refuse to release the things because people automatically assume the existence of a TSB means massive problems. On the contrary, they can even be indicators of extremely tight control over your production process (ie, one…

The 9.4% figure is accurate for the current rate and the rate hasn't been below the state's current required contribution EVER. You have to go back to the 1960s to get the employee side down to the current employer side contribution, and the employer side required contribution then was less than half of what it is…

They'll also charge your insurance several thousand dollars for a roof dent you didn't cause! Take lots of pictures of the car, people!

The inputs aren't irrelevant. They are just as critical to the value equation as the outputs.