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A: Frequently conflate poor driving habits with safety assistance systems. B: Refuse to acknowledge that drivers who engage in bad behavior will do so regardless of the available safety assistance systems. C: Mistakenly believe that safety assistance systems somehow absolve folks of the responsibility and consequences of their own actions.

A few days later my customer stopped in and said the pedal was working but did not feel like it did before. Before he was done talking, I already knew how to solve his problem. I have a tremendously capable staff, yet I knew this was a job for me. These days I mostly only work on cars with the aid of a computer, but every once in a while we encounter a situation that needs my “ancient” experience.

He also mentioned that, to prevent airbags deploying off-road, Colorado owners have been pulling fuse No. 18, or installing switches to turn off the airbag system—moves that could result in preventable injuries if the vehicle does roll or crash.

WhisperPower founder and chief executive Roel ter Heide said: “As electric propulsion systems need more and more power, a back-up or extra energy system is becoming increasingly necessary.

I find these gizmos annoying for a somewhat contrary reason. I’m a very safe driver who gets frustrated with people who can’t seem to signal when turning/changing lanes, or dart from lane to lane without a blindspot check. It’s annoying to me that I would have to have all these systems on my new vehicle because of the unsafe driving characteristics of other motorists.

Then there’s the CarbonPro cargo box, very much a solution looking for a problem (unless I’ve simply been deaf to years of complaints that a steel truck bed is somehow not sturdy or durable enough). This features the same sort of shapable forged carbon fiber found on the Lamborghini Huracán Performante; it reduces weight by 62 pounds—about how much the MuliPro tailgate adds, incidentally—and is, according to GMC, very durable. "Best-in-class dent, scratch and corrosion resistance," they say. It will also be, according to GMC, very expensive: while final pricing wasn’t announced for the late-availability option, it was suggested the CarbonPro bed would cost several thousands of dollars. There’s no way that "extra" capability tracks with the price, but in terms of truck-guy bragging rights, GMC has clearly pegged a significant number of owners willing to pay exorbitantly to be able to say, "Check out my carbon-fiber truck bed!" But if you want one, you’ll need to get your hand raised early: the carbon-fiber is labor-intensive and time-consuming to make, and there is a hard production limit per year from the lone supplier.

Matt’s video also helped me get in touch with another ZR2 owner in California, who wanted to remain anonymous out of concern that this story could in some way affect the claim he’s filing with GM. That’s his truck above.

There are a lot of internet experts, pit pundits and “the world is flat” advocates who claim that weight doesn’t matter. Not a day passes that some Honda rider doesn’t claim that his CRF450 doesn’t feel heavy—and some that claim that heavier bikes handle better than light ones. Hogwash! When a two-wheeled vehicle is balanced on two wheels, it does feel light, until you lean it off center, lift one of the wheels off the ground or try to pick it up, then the tipping-point sensation of lightness disappears. When a 238-pound CRF450 lands from a jump, the tires, rims, spokes, fork springs and frame know how much it really weighs. 

This is the display screen for the Compu-Shift II 4L60E controller from HGM Automotive Electronics. This is just one of a dozen displays, and you don’t need a laptop to make changes. The display shows we were running at 62 m.p.h. at 2,157 rpm in 4th gear (A4), the transmission temperature was 189 degrees and the torque converter clutch (TCC) was engaged. The battery voltage was 13.1 volts and the transmission was currently delivering 42 percent of full line pressure (PRB).

It’s time to be brutally honest about that. It’s a lie we tell ourselves. Worse, it’s a dangerous lie. As the roads get more crowded, the threat level goes up. In my opinion, it’s idiotic to argue against things like lane-departure warning because “the idiots will ignore it”. First, that’s a stupid blanket statement. If you’ve ever driven a car with the seat buzzers, you know that this is a crap argument. It’s bloody hard to ignore. Second, as I mentioned before, we all screw up. Yes, some people will ignore the warnings. But most won’t. And, I predict, the warnings will make people more aware of their own failings. If your car tells you that you need to pay attention, most people will heed that warning if only to reduce the annoyance factor. That will yield a net improvement in overall safety.

The coverage of this report includes: 1) Analysis of the pivotal competitors and their potential opportunities in the industry. 2) The details of every manufacturer with respect to the company profile, a generic overview, and the products offered have also been enumerated. 3) The report elaborates on the product sales, revenue accumulated, price patterns, and gross margins. 4) Further information with regards to the latest news that every company is embroiled in has been elucidated in the research study. 5) In addition, the report incorporates details regarding the product consumption (growth rate and revenue) as per the application and the sale price over the forecast duration.

We aren’t conspiracy theorists, but we have to wonder if KTM/Husqvarna owner Stefan Pierer’s engineers aren’t handicapping the Husqvarna FC450 so it doesn’t perform better than the KTM 450SXF. If we were in Stefan Pierer shoes, we’d have the Husqvarna engineers on the hot seat explaining the mysteries of the choked-up airbox, faulty Magura component and ice-cream-cone restrictor. This is a great bike if you drill out the airbox, install a Brembo slave piston and add a slip-on muffler (or even borrow a restrictor-less FC250 muffler). Full test of the 2019 Husqvarna FC450.