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Archive for October, 2016

Is it Time for Extensive ‘Lemon’ Laws?

As recently as last month, consumer advocates and legal groups were once again campaigning for the introduction of extensive lemon laws. Australian consumer laws have long been considered inadequate for motorists who purchase new vehicles, only to see their purchase turn out to be a dud – in fact, a ‘lemon’.

This time, the lobbying extended further, with several groups joining together to put pressure on the government to make the necessary changes. With bodies such as the Consumer Credit Legal Service and Legal Aid NSW behind the push, are motorists overdue a change in legislation?

When we consider consumers’ entitlements to said respite, it’s worth noting that Australia trails its international peers by some margin. Major countries such as the UK, the US and Singapore are well ahead in this area. Consumers are protected by laws that dictate the number of permissible faults in a new vehicle, as well as the length of time such vehicles are allowed off the road due to any given major fault or combination of faults. Should a vehicle encounter more issues, or remain off the road longer than guidelines permit, the owner can notify an auto-maker about the fault(s) and request its repair, or an appropriate refund.

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Source: consumerreports.org

In Australia however, there is a shortfall in coverage regarding major vehicle failures, with customers expected to work with the retailer to resolve the problem – often leading to an escalating level of frustration when the problem is often unable to be identified. Among other concerns noted by lobbying groups and proponents of legislative changes, motorists are often burdened with repair costs that are disproportional compared to the price paid for the vehicle. In this respect, the sale of faulty second-hand vehicles attracts more attention, as consumers have even less legal protection.

Currently, one of the fundamental issues to navigate is a system where the customer is treated in a manner befitting of their fault being assumed. Understandably, with some customers looking to take advantage of certain scenarios, it is unfortunate things have unfolded in this manner. Motorists are responsible for demonstrating the vehicle’s defects. In practice, this works against the theory of affording consumers protection for products which they do not have an expert knowledge about

Predictably, motoring bodies are opposed to any legislative changes, suggesting there is no need for change. They argue motorists have sufficient access to recourse as it is, and assessments would be significantly open to interpretation. While there might be merit in the second statement, specialist panels with expert assessment are being touted as an appropriate option, while delicate wording would ease the degree of interpretation required. In the case of ambiguous interpretations, there is hardly any evidence to suggest that the current scope provides a better approach to deal with such concerns – particularly when one considers the use of vague references regarding rejection periods and a high threshold for time off the road.

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The government would also be wise to separate and distinguish motor vehicles as requiring a separate form of consumer protection from standard items. After all, with vehicles likely to be the second largest purchase in one’s lifetime, the acquisition should not be understated with respect to its importance. And it goes without saying, the impediment of a non-functional vehicle is likely to have other ramifications on one’s personal and professional life.

With local vehicles surpassing previous all-time figures for recalls (albeit, with only a portion related to faults), and reliability data already withheld from consumers, it’s clear that manufacturers and motoring bodies also have a vested interest in retaining ambiguous legislation to uphold their reputation. Moreover, it also serves well to inhibit a customer’s avenue to recourse.

The key step is transparency. Quality control will only improve through continual feedback and learning. And whilst ‘naming and shaming’ is certainly not the intended course of action, a renewed focus on the number of faults experienced by certain manufacturers should be means to promote an improvement in build quality, which should then make interpretation of defects a whole lot easier.

 

 

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Please Fasten Your Seatbelts

seatbeltWe all know that seatbelts save lives.  Why the Swedish inventor of the three-point seatbelt, Nils Bohlin of Volvo , didn’t get one of the Nobel Prizes for his invention, given the number of deaths his invention has prevented is something of a mystery.  He did get a medal of some sort during his lifetime and was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, so that does give him some of the recognition he deserves.

However, there are those idiots who still don’t wear seat belts. One wants to bang the heads of these idiots against a wall until they see sense, except that (a) this would result in a serious assault charge and (b) if they keep on not wearing seatbelts, they’re going to bang their own heads against the steering wheel, dashboard or worse one of these days.

Car manufacturers don’t like their vehicles featuring on the fatal crash list, so they are taking steps to make sure that we are fastening our seatbelts – and they’re providing better ones, too, with most modern vehicles having three-pointers all around the vehicle, including the middle seat at the back.  They also take steps to make sure that you actually wear the seatbelts they have so thoughtfully provided.  Back in the 1970s, the manufacturers flirted with the idea of a system that refused to start the engine unless the driver was safely buckled in, but this was banned by the US Congress in 1974 – goodness knows why.

Most cars prefer to have a seatbelt warning light of some description.  In some vehicles, this applies to the driver’s seat only; in others, the system considers the front passenger and/or the rear seats.  The warning system usually flashes lights or beeps until the buckle clicks home properly. The variety that involves the driver’s seat is the simplest.  After all, a car will always have a driver if the engine is on and the vehicle is moving; it doesn’t always have front passengers.  The driver-only versions start flashing and beeping if the key is in the ignition and the engine is on or some similar indication that you’re not just sitting there with the engine off waiting for your daughter’s ballet lessons to come to an end… or watching a romantic sunset from the front seat with a significant other.

The systems that throw a hissy fit if the passengers don’t buckle up usually have some sort of pressure or weight sensor in the seats. After all, nobody wants a warning light to go off to tell you to buckle in a non-existent passenger.  These are pretty sensitive, too.  You don’t need much weight to make the seat think that it’s got a passenger on board. For a parent, these are a godsend, as you know straight away if little Jason has got bored during the trip to Grandma’s and has undone the seatbelt while fiddling with it. If the seat belt comes undone, on goes the little warning light.

The only drawback with the passenger detection systems is that they think any weight at all is a passenger, as happened to my mother when out shopping in her Subaru Outback .  Mum grabbed a few litres of milk and some other goodies, and plonked them on the front seat beside her as she drove off.  However, the weight of two 2-litre milk bottles was enough to make the passenger seat detector throw a wobbly and (in her words) scream at her.  As Mum was now on the road, she wasn’t in a position to reach over to the far side of the vehicle and grab the seatbelt to plug it in and shut the warning system up.  She could, however, reach the milk bottles and sat there trying to shove the bottles off the seat and into the footwell, the alarm screaming at her all the time.  Talk about trying to drive while distracted! Just as well she wasn’t trying to shove eggs around as well…

One also wonders what would happen with other loads carried on the back seat.  We’ve all done this, haven’t we?  Don’t we all toss our bags and coats into the back of the sedan? What about the cat carrier when taking Tiddles to the vet?  Thankfully, a lot of warning lights for the rear seat don’t make noises at the driver but just have a little light.  However, given the trend towards having more safety systems in our cars – and a good trend, too – it probably won’t be long until rear seat passenger detection systems start beeping at us as well. When this happens, we’ll all have to do the following:

  • Put things in the boot or in the footwell;
  • Get car seat harnesses for the dog;
  • Plug the seatbelt in before placing a load that can’t be buckled in onto the seat (e.g. that large houseplant that’s too tall for the boot and/or the cat carrier.

And, of course, we need to keep wearing our seatbelts.  No excuses – buckle up!

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2017 Hyundai Veloster Street Turbo: Private Fleet Car Review

Hyundai’s quirky four door hatchback, the Veloster, has been given a limited edition model run of just 200 units. Painted Dazzling Blue Mica and given some cool looking black clad alloys, the Veloster Street Turbo spent a week with Private Fleet.With a starting price of $35750 plus on roads for a six speed manual version and $2500 for the seven speed dual clutch auto, the Veloster Street Turbo is off to a tough start. Using the outgoing Veloster SR Turbo + as a base ($34750 + ORCs), as Hyundai have realigned the Veloster into a two tier range, means that some extra equipment is required to justify the cost.Here’s what you get: push button Start/Stop, keyless entry, dusk sensing HID xenon headlights, LED running lights, tyre pressure monitoring, a seven inch navitainment touchscreen (but no RDS, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto or digital), leather appointed seating with colour coded inserts, colour coded plastic highlights on the door grips and centre console, blue seatbelts, branded door mats and Street badging on the fenders and the sweet looking Ray Grams Lights 18 inch alloys. Being based on the SR+ you’ll get steering wheel mounted phone controls, Bluetooth streaming, heated AND ventilated (huzzah!!!) front seats and a punchy eight speaker sound system.Up front is the same 150 kilowatt/265 Newton metre 1.6 force fed four. That’s connected to the aforementioned six speed manual and this, unlike the recently tested i30 SR, has a far better manual selector feel. There’s a proper sense of movement and placement, a satisfying “snick” to the gate and a real mechanical feel overall as opposed to the numbness experienced in the i30 SR.That torque is available between 1750 and 4500 revs, and compared to the last time Private Fleet and Veloster Turbo partnered up (Veloster Turbo review 2015) didn’t seem to move the car along as quickly. Perhaps it would be the manual versus the auto, it simply didn’t feel as wound up. Having said that, it still provided a tractable and useable driving style, with a smooth and fluid torque delivery.The ratios in the manual are closely stacked, meaning revs drop only minimally when changing, and also means you can keep the engine spinning and take advantage of the torque from 1750 onwards. It helps that the clutch has a decent pressure requirement to push and that the pickup point is appropriately mid travel. The combination allows a sporting aimed driver to bang through the gears and see 100 kmh reasonably quickly. Given that the car isn’t that heavy as well, at around 1400 kg, the overall fuel consumption figure of 7.9L/100 km was reasonable from the fifty litre tank.Inside, apart from the blue trim, the Veloster remains much the same. The design and look of the plastics is dating and not well, there’s sharp edges on the door grab handles however the deeply bolstered and very comfortable bucket seats make up for that. Being the oddity that it is in regards to entry and exit, the driver has slightly less issue in getting in and out thanks to the single door on the right hand side. Those using the left side, especially the rear door, will have to duck their head and slide across the centre rear seat mounted cup holders in order to fill the space behind the driver. Rear head room, thanks to the steeply raked roofline, is a touch tight for average sized humans, ok for kids but would be, erm, difficult to deal with for anyone of a bigger frame. There is, though, a 320 litre cargo space and a space saver spare to consider.There’s more refinement in the suspension, with a taut yet supple suspension combination providing a ride that errs on the side of sport but with just enough give to not rattle the fillings on smooth roads. Toss the Veloster Street onto anything else and expect a choppy, jiggly, teeth rattler. That initial level of sporting compliance disappears and there’s even some sideways skip when covering a corner with ripples or broken surface, even with the 225/40/18 Hankook rubber.Hyundai painfully continues with the three mode power steering and it’s rare that any one the modes (Comfort/Sport/Normal) tend to be on the money. Sport generally comes over too heavy, Comfort too light and well, just like the porridge, Normal is generally all you need for a reasonable facsimile of a communicative tiller setup.

At The End Of The Drive.
Given the dollars required, one could buy the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ, a Renault Clio, or a Mazda MX-5 and have some seroes to spare. The Veloster’s aging interior is one thing, the exterior looks are another. The engine is usable but, in honesty, not the firecracker A Wheel Thing remembers. Their is a respectable five-year unlimited kilometre warranty, 12 months roadside assist, plus you’ll get a complimentary first service at 1500km. There’s also a lifetime service plan with scheduled services with prices ranging from $159 to $259 for the first three years or 45,000km. They’re due due every six months or 7500km.
There’s an undeniable appeal about the Veloster, however, with sales consistent and even a quarter of these two hundred already sold since release. More info can be found here: 2016 2017 Hyundai Veloster range and info http://credit-n.ru/kredity-online-blog-single.html

Tesla Takes The Next Step To Hands Free Driving.

It’s a topic that is cropping up more and more in conversation: will self driving cars become a reality? Nowadays the jury is leaning towards when, not if, and Tesla is at the front of the charge (no pun intended). Self-driving vehicles will play a crucial role in improving transportation safety and accelerating the world’s transition to a sustainable future. Full autonomy will enable a Tesla to be substantially safer than a human driver, lower the financial cost of transportation for those who own a car and provide low-cost on-demand mobility for those who do not.Tesla Model X

As of mid October 2016, all Tesla vehicles produced in the factory – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver. Eight surround cameras provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of both hard and soft objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system. A forward-facing radar with enhanced processing (Tesla radar) provides additional data about the world on a redundant wavelength, capable of seeing through heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead.

To make sense of all of this data, a new onboard computer with more than 40 times the computing power of the previous generation runs the new Tesla-developed neural net for vision, sonar and radar processing software. Together, this system provides a view of the world that a driver alone cannot access, seeing in every direction simultaneously and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses.

Model S and Model X vehicles with this new hardware are already in production, and customers can purchase one today: https://www.tesla.com/autopilotP1-CEO-Tesla-Motors-Products-Model-S-upper-left-white-Roadster-bottom-right-red

Before activating the features enabled by the new hardware, there’s a further calibration of system using millions of miles of real-world driving to ensure significant improvements to safety and convenience. While this is occurring, Teslas with new hardware will temporarily lack certain features currently available on Teslas with first-generation Autopilot hardware, including some standard safety features such as automatic emergency breaking, collision warning, lane holding and active cruise control. As these features are robustly validated we will enable them over-the-air, together with a rapidly expanding set of entirely new features. As always, the over-the-air software updates will keep customers at the forefront of technology and continue to make every Tesla, including those equipped with first-generation Autopilot and earlier cars, more capable over time.

(With thanks to Heath Walker at Tesla Motors Australia for content) http://credit-n.ru/oformit-kredit-online.html