Rant: Current car commercials

Jeffblue

I agree and i've noticed this trend too. put more emphasis on driver aids that help a driver's inability to control their car, and less emphasis on helping the driver control their car.

you mentioned tires. it's a commonly held belief that summer tires/high performance tires/low profile tires are more expensive to produce. that is false. they only reason it costs you more to buy a 285/30 series tire than a 215/55 tire is because of the economies of scale that producers can achieve because of the volumes in the high profile, passenger tires. more people buy them, they produce more, the cost is less per tire. Same goes for tread compound. if your average run of the mill car demanded a better tread compound, tuned for grip and less so for tire life/road noise etc, then a better handling tire would become less expensive.

heavier is better really pisses me off. like, i'm really glad ms soccer mom feels safer with her 5000 lb suv because its heavier. the fact of the matter is, heavier is safer, only if everyone plays by that logic. a 5000lb suv is going to annihilate a corrolla, not because a corolla isn't as safe, but because of simple physics. and the fact of the matter is, theres always a bigger fish. you feel safe in your big SUV? lets see how it fairs against a semi-tractor trailer or a dump truck....

instead of engineering cars to give their drivers a better ability to avoid accidents, there is this notion that if a hazardous situation is to present itself, you're probably gonna crash, so just brace for impact. its like their whole message is "hey... accidents happen, and we know that you probably aren't paying attention to driving, so if we can, our car will help avoid accidents by keeping your car in its lane, and when it can't, you'll crash, but you'll be ok because your car is heavy. oh, what was that? you want to be able to avoid an accident by braking? oh, no your car can't stop quickly enough because its too damn heavy. Have fun now!"