I’ll get this part out of the way first. Yes, I work for a oil company. Yes, I believe in climate change. Yes, I believe that we need to take action.

yeah the lack of clear information around charging in general is pretty bad, the fragmentation, the annoying and useless bureaucracy, and it’s happening everywhere

The lede picture is a good example. Two different chargers, two companies, two apps, two different connections (or some sort of “adapter”).

Somewhere along the internet some folks forgot the people we want to be EV owners are the same people who wouldn’t read Jalopnik or watch YouTube videos about EV road trips.

I think it’s a “yes, and” situation. Blare the horn and lights, turn on the AC. If a radar can tell someone is inside the car, then one can tell when help arrives. Lower windows maybe shouldn’t be the first thing..

Yeah, I thought that’s weird too.  Start with HVAC and notify the owners via whatever means necessary. The lights flashing/horn thing if the internal temp in the vehicle doesn’t drop quick enough (however that’s determined).  Finally, first responders and all that stuff.  

I’m sure having a vehicle that can comfortably tow a rated load has nothing to do with the longevity of said vehicle. /s

In the event of an airbag deployment, many vehicles will shut off the fuel and turn the flashers on, unlock the doors and some even call 911 for you. If it were possible to have moved the truck to the side Im sure the driver would have done so, rather than leaving it in the middle of a freeway.

Apparently modern vehicles have a fuel-pump shutoff switch tied into the vehicle’s computer that gets tripped when a crash is detected. Assuming this truck had something like this, by the time the smoke cleared and the driver got herself sorted out enough to consider moving the vehicle, the engine was starved of fuel.

Getting out and pushing is worse than leaving it sitting unless you’ve got two vehicles blocking lanes for you. On your own, you run the real risk of being between that semi and the tailgate at the time of impact.

Automatic engine cutoffs. If a collision is enough to set off the airbags, then the vehicle automatically kills the engine to prevent fire and fuel spillage. Unless they were gonna get out and push, and I would not be doing that on an active freeway, that truck was going nowhere.

Nobody with a median income is buying a median priced new car. That is not how it works. Not many people of merely median income are buying new cars *period*.

Eh....historically you’re supposed to raise rates when things are good. We didn’t do that through the Obama and Trump terms, so now we’re fucked.

1st Gear: I mean, anyone who is paying attention realizes the rate hikes will affect car buying the most directly. No one with any fiscal sense at all is going to be entering a 72 month loan at 8% interest on a car that nearly matches their annual income in price.

Ugh...

But AWD/4WD is better, just saying. Coming from interior Alaska ;)

To be fair, I once criticized the S-10 Blazer on here in much the way you have and the weirdos came out to fight me over it. Those people don’t buy new cars though.

As someone who’s thought about being a Ford owner before witnessing their new model launch failures, I think they’d be best off investing that money into new model launches. 

You’re probably right, which is a shame. The logic behind this is so bulletproof: the best advertisement is cars that don’t suck, and an appreciable post-purchase experience. As gold as it sounds, most of the latter is in the dealers’ hands... good luck.

I think it’s become such common theater that it’s evolved into a business not putting out a statement is the same as putting out an anti-statement. Despite knowing that most of those statements are a farce, any major company that chooses to skip something like Pride month risks being grouped in with Chickfila or other…