================= Ok, what do you guys think of this? I saw a H2 hummer the other day...remember this is supposed to be the ultimate off road vehicle. This thing was slammed to the ground with 20inch wheels on it. It was lower than most sports cars. I just thought to myself, that idiot just ruined a perfectly good 4x4. Just plain stupid if you ask me......Oh and BTW, those new H2s are just another Tahoe, nothing like the original Hummer. That H2 is another example of overpriced crap for people to buy that have a need to be cool. :)
It's easy! Go to college, join the Air Force, take the proper training, and they will give you one! Well, they'll give it to the crew chief, and if you're real nice, he'll let you fly it.
Precisely. They have to make a judgment call as to what is necessary and what isn't. IMHO they got it wrong. If you don't agree, fine. Try telling that to the relatives of the dead.
It points out a specific vehicle/tire failure combination that was implicated in the fatalities. It does not say whether the Explorer is in 'general' safe or otherwise. It is specific. Saying it is 'safe in it's class' I will not deny, but I do contend that these fatalities were due to a unique set of circumstances; ONE of which was the explorer and NOT other vehicle types.
I have NEVER denied that the tires had a flaw. I mean NEVER. Because I argue that the explorer was contributory you seem to believe that I mean the tire was not at fault. Far from it. It takes a lot to make a vehicle fail, I have listed elsewhere in other threads eight factors that I have gleaned as pertinent to this issue, only ONE of which was the explorer, ONE of is the tire flaw, and so on.
Now you do seem to deny that the explorer has ANY type of weakness with regard to the rollovers that caused the fatalities in question.
No I do not own Firestone stock. Nor have I ever (unless my Mutual funds hold them without my explicit knowledge).
I DO own an explorer which my son drives. It is NOT a train wreck, It's not a road hazard. But the explorer WAS contributory to the accidents with the firestone tires (as well of course were the tires). The Venezuela memo from FORD says so. It's not something I MAKE UP as I go along. But something I observe from reading widespread reports of the accidents over the years, some of which include references to documents subpoenaed at the time.
I do not say these things as someone who 'likes' firestone nor one who 'likes' or 'dislikes' Ford. But I do have 4 fords on my driveway, some of which have Bridgstone tires, some have Michelin, some have Goodyear. (I used to have a car with Firesstone tires too, but I sold that vehicle; which BTW was a Ford).
I am impartial I believe. You wear rosy colored glasses.
Well I suppose it's what you're used to. I grew up in England. And believe me an Explorer is BIG to me (compared to a Taurus it's BIG). True, and excursion is Enormous. A Probe is a 'normal' sized vehicle to most Brits, with the requisite performance and handling they need on their narrow twisty roads.
Stricter standards in giving out licenses would be a start in that direction. I was amazed at how EASY it is to pass the US driving test. You basically drive around the block a few times, if that. No Parallel parking, emergency stops, three point turns etc. etc. The US license in comparison to the UK license is a license to kill.
You are simply rationalizing to excuse your own excess while damming other for theirs. If people who are using wood and hydro power did not waste it on larger houses then they need, that wood and hydro power could be used elsewhere to provide energy that would otherwise have to be supplied by oil. So it really makes no difference. ANYONE living in more then 300 sf per person is supporting terrorists the same as people who drive gas guzzlers are.
When was the last time you saw someone using turn signals with any kind of consistency or planning, if they're used at all? And lane discipline is totally lost on most people. When the road veers left, most people are straddling the left lane marker, and when it veers right, they're straddling the right lane marker. And it's comical to watch most people exit from an expressway on a looping exit---not only are they nowhere NEAR the center of the lane, they're practically clipping off the standing lane markers on the inside of the curve. They have no CONCEPT of the fact that the rear wheels do not steer, or where the center of the lane is.
Finally, I always seem to have some 19-year-old, mouth-breathing girl, stressfully leaning forward in her seat inside the Saturn that her daddy just bought her (without realizing what a POS Saturns are), GLUED to my rear bumper, no matter what the speed limit. Someone didn't bother to teach this bubble-headed cell-phone jockey about stopping distances, either.
Driving lessons in the US are a complete JOKE. I'm really surprised the insurance companies haven't gotten involved to at least TRY to teach some kind of driving skills in this country.
why would the insurance companies want to stop that? They make tons of money off of accidents, they love it. Sad but true.
Nobody is going to learn how to drive by reading a book or getting told what to do. They have to learn on their own or with somebody while they are driving, and it doesnt only take a day or two it takes a long time.
Heck when I started driving I had my father come with me anywhere I went just to have him along, every move i made he said "you could have done this or that" I thought about those things and all of this experience (Most coming from his experiences) helps me to be a better USA driver.
I beleive the core of the problem is that parents do not want to help their kids to learn to drive well. They would much rather buy them an automobile and isolate themselvs from the picture. Again, sad but true
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