Just need to vent...

Never had a UPS on my computer. Never needed it; live in an urban area with reliable power, I think until just recently the last glitch that rebooted me was a year ago March. Now, this is the fourth time since mid-May.

UPS, here I come, I guess.

The utility gives me an easy way to report "hey, my power is out now", but as for "what gives, four glitches in five weeks, guys?", they seem to have optimized the reporting interface for having no way to say that.

 

Okay gotta rant about the ridiculous Toyota Parts....for numerous reasons.

I've been doing brake jobs on all our vehicles for years and, until now, never replaced our Toyota brakes/rotors with OEM. But my 2014 Tundra needs both front and rear brakes (she tows our camper so rear pads actually wear down as fast as the front.)

I priced out my favorite AutoZone Duralast Gold rotors and pads and it came out to $656 even with "free" pads if you buy two rotors. I noticed my favorite Toyota dealer up in Denver is having a 20% off deal on parts to priced out rotors and pad kits....$536! Nice.

So picked up the rotors and pad "kits" and it's no kit....just a box with 4 pads in it! So he looked up hardware and shims and I found front/rear shim kits for a ridiculous prices of $21 and $38. The front has metal hardware but they didn't have those nor did the rear hardware have rubber replacements for the calipers...I don't expect to re-use the 11-year old ones on there. But O'Reillys had those for just $10.

Come on, Toyota....put HARDWARE in your brake pad "kits" or stop calling them "kits"....

 

That's really not a bad price for OEM rotors!
The hardware?

Yup.
Toyota sucks.

 

I had a car stolen once, and my insurer at the time wanted to reduce the settlement amount by the amount they had paid me the year before on an unrelated claim for hail damage.

I didn't keep that insurer, and I have never experienced similar BS from my current one,

It turns out what the first insurer did, I would have known was fully allowed in their policy document, if I had read it closely enough. They had a whole long section giving all the details on a rigorous method of determining market value and basing a settlement offer on that, and I had read that part carefully. I hadn't even noticed the following paragraph that essentially said "or we can offer you any number we like and you can take it or leave it."

I read policies more carefully now.

 

I sort of understand the insurance company's policy, since a car suffering from a major insurance claim can be worth several thousands of dollars less than one with no major accident/incident claims.

But yeah,
Caveat Emptor.

I always eschew comp and collision of my paid-for cars and keep a $1,000 deductible for any car that I have a loan balance on.

Why?
Because they don't offer a $2000 deductible!

 

What in the world is going on with automotive manufacturers these days?

-Ford Recalls over 200,000 trucks, vans, SUVs, and cars for SYNC 3 software issue

-Nissan recalls nearly 444,000 vehicles over VC-Turbo engine issues

-Stellantis recalls over 250,000 Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager Minivans for airbag issue

-Chevy recalls medium-duty trucks over fire risk from leaky brake pressure sensor assembly

-Ford recalls incorrectly repaired Lincoln Navigator SUVs over software issue (again)

-Honda recalls 304,662 three-row sport utility vehicles over second-row seat issue

-Ford recalls 1.5L EcoBoost Crossovers for improperly manufactured cylinder heads

They only thing I'm seeing from Toyota is a recall on Tundra's for reverse lamp assemblies leaking water. (They, actually, have a stop-sale going on at dealerships while they wait for replacements.)

Where's W. Edwards Deming when you need him?

 

Easy.
Cars used to be a lot simpler.

They didn't HAVE recalls for airbags, brake pressure sensors turbos and software issues, because they didn't HAVE any of those things.
Also, accountants squeeze the ninnies of all of the engineers trying to get them to buy a component that is $0.03 cheaper than a more robust counterpart.
Commonality of parts ensures that something like.........an ignition switch will affect hundreds of thousands of units instead of a few thousand.

 

True, Etc....hey, let's save $2 by replacing this steel upper control arm with a plastic one! What could go wrong? What other metals can we save money on by using plastic? (My friend has a Ford Maverick and it's pretty scary looking in his engine bay....plastic, plastic, plastic, plastic.)

 

You ought to see my 2023 GMC....
It has more plastic crap than your G3!!!!

Maybe when I retire I will take my toy fund and buy any car I can find in decent shape that was made before 1973!!

 

i would say most us here have experienced prius ownership, and have been relatively satisfied with it.
when we get into the weeds of long term ownership beyond warranty, that's where priuschat comes into play, and where the complications of efficiency start to rear their ugly heads.

 

Yep, I've read that, in the USA, government regulations add about $7,000 to every car....from the backup camera to emission requirements.

I'm old enough to remember vehicles that didn't even have a seat belt! (Our old Chevy Opel) Safety belts should, of course, be mandatory but they've also added how many air bags, now? And those things cost thousands...just get in a wreck and have them deploy and see what replacements cost! (Often just totals the vehicle so just piles vehicles up in the junk yard....what happened to being conservative with our waste?) And lithium batteries can't even be recycled so those darn things aren't really saving the planet, are they??

 

otoh, getting in a wreck without them sounds even more costly. everything is a compromise

 

One of my first cars -- actually my third? Was an old '62 Ford Falcon straight six. No seatbelts and the original front seats had been replaced with what I called launch seats.

Flat 2x4 pieces of wood were bolted to the floor. Regular gate hinges on the ends connected to a second 2x4. Seat connected to the hinge.

Seat then was able to tilt forward on the gate hinge. In a wreck seat would fly forward, ejecting passenger/driver into steering wheel and/or out the front window.

Never did worry about it, but I was 19...

 

Oh there IS a reason, and it's VERY obvious.
Google "right to repair" laws.

My last 8 vehicles have been GMCs.
My next one will be too, since my CFO gets 'next pick.'
It's no better in Toyotaland from how many posts I've been reading about people using Bill Gates era windows boxes to tinker with their cars.

One of my two spare cars is a 2012 GMC Acadia - currently suffering from the dreaded ECU fault.
My 'real world' repair options are near enough to a "Hobson's choice" but my initial plan is to get an OEM replacement and pay a disgruntled former GMC tech 'with a subscription' to flash it and delete the anti-theft.....and downrate it for 'callout use only.'

 

Big box stores - all the way down to smaller strip malls, when there are huge parking lots typically near empty way out in the south 40. Some lots have very narrow isles to drive down - & maybe nearly ⅛ of drivers not only show up in pickup trucks, but especially the double cabs w/ the long beds? And they often feel the need to park right up front? So - 3 or 4 backups later - they finally manage to squeeze into that long-awaited / right up front - premium space. Parking is challenging enough right up front. Maybe show a little courtesy by parking in the south 40? Guess it's too much to ask.
It does bring a smirk sometimes when you see some of these largest of the super long / land barges sticking out into narrow aisles, right across from each other & folks cruising the parking lot find they can only get one vehicle through at a time. Sheesh.
.