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by newnewpdro 2660 days ago
> Improperly repaired and modified cars are a detriment to the safety of others on the road

I'll take streets full of gearheads tinkering with their cars over soccer moms ignoring grinding brakes until the rotor disc completely separates from the hat/hub any day.
2 comments
tomatotomato37 2660 days ago
It frustrates me too that for every tuner that gets too excited with their camber there are a hundred shitboxes with bald tires and janky emission systems that stopped being effective sometime in the Clinton administration, yet for some reason the tuners are the ones commonly vilified.
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newnewpdro 2660 days ago
I'm excited about EVs improving this situation.

With ICEs it's somewhat necessary to become more obnoxious in pursuit of greater performance. Faster ICE-powered cars tend to be noisier and stinkier, it's somewhat inherent.

Gearheads in the EV-era will be a lot less visible. You won't know who has upgraded their batteries, controllers, and motors. I wish Tesla would take a different stance on this and instead embrace and support the grassroots motorsports scene. GM Performance has already announced an EV crate motor, so it looks like GM might be taking the lead here.

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btilly 2660 days ago
You have a point.

The gearheads just have their cars sitting there in non-running condition while they tinker. The soccer moms are driving around with noisy distractions in the back seat.

(Only halfway joking. I have 4 kids.)

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rplst8 2660 days ago
It's much worse than you think. Some states don't require regular safety inspections. I've seen some scary stuff on the road in those states.
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dsfyu404ed 2660 days ago
If those states were measurably less safe wouldn't that be reflected in insurance premiums? Mechanical failure is inconsequential compared to boring old human factors (distractions, alcohol, bad decisions) when it comes to dangers on the road.
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btilly 2660 days ago
The problem is that there are confounding factors.

States with regular inspections tend to have more expensive cars, higher wealth, higher traffic density and so on. Those factors are going to drive insurance rates up as well.

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