BMW has patented a new screw head designed to prevent non-dealer repairs

[Mini Me]

Unintended outcomes such as airtags being used to track spouses and others for nefarious reasons would be the outstanding example all.

A lot of what has happened to cars is an unintended consequence of government legislation. We have short memories on some of this stuff, back in the day before LED's entered the automotive market it was routine to see cars with blown globes and in some cases no rear light at all but now it is the exception. As much as we complain the modern motor car is a pretty nice place to be in compared to cars of the past. Being trapped in a snow storm traffic jam in a 1960's car must have been fairly unpleasant I would have thought as were heatwaves conditions in a car with no AC.

 

[Cheese]

As much as we complain, the modern motor car is a pretty nice place to be in compared to cars of the past. Being trapped in a snow storm traffic jam in a 1960's car must have been fairly unpleasant I would have thought as were heatwaves conditions in a car with no AC.

I had a 1958 Chevy 2 door Impala and the windshield washer was optional and the wipers were vacuum actuated. Consequently, if you wanted the wipers to work, you needed to take your foot completely off the gas so that all the engine vacuum could be used to operate the windshield wipers.

 

[mino]

...
As much as we complain the modern motor car is a pretty nice place to be in compared to cars of the past. Being trapped in a snow storm traffic jam in a 1960's car must have been fairly unpleasant I would have thought as were heatwaves conditions in a car with no AC.

Mostly agree, though this notion that a heatwave in a car with no AC is a problem .. it is an absolute non-issue. There is a thing called ventilation/wind ...
The same with a snow storm. An 1960s car would last idling/heating during a snow storm about as long as a modern car.

There is so much FUD around about the "essential" nature of modern amenities it is not funny at times.

This is the same about the "essential" nature of home AC as well. People lived for millennia, and to this day live, without AC and are very, very comfortable. New houses in Europe are still mostly AC-free, even in hot climates like the Mediterranean area. It just means you design your house sanely and from the appropriate materials. No need to compensate for its deficiency with artificial means thereafter. Same goes for cars. Ever wondered why those 1960s card has those funky mini-windows on the doors next to the mirrors? Those were for ventilation in the summer ..

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I had a 1958 Chevy 2 door Impala and the windshield washer was optional and the wipers were vacuum actuated. Consequently, if you wanted the wipers to work, you needed to take your foot completely off the gas so that all the engine vacuum could be used to operate the windshield wipers.

A lot of cars were like that back then. They worked really well, when you were sitting at a traffic light, not so much at 60MPH.
Quite a few had covers over the headlights, that were vacuum actuated too. My '69 Camaro was like that, but the wiper motors had already been electrified by then. I'm not sure when GM made the switch. By 1969 they did at least make it so some light would shine through the covers, the earlier ones did not. If the vacuum failed to pull them open, you had nothing. It later years, there are aftermarket conversion kits, to replace the vacuum actuators, with electric motors.

Mostly agree, though this notion that a heatwave in a car with no AC is a problem .. it is an absolute non-issue. There is a thing called ventilation/wind ...
The same with a snow storm. An 1960s car would last idling/heating during a snow storm about as long as a modern car.

There is so much FUD around about the "essential" nature of modern amenities it is not funny at times.

This is the same about the "essential" nature of home AC as well. People lived for millennia, and to this day live, without AC and are very, very comfortable. New houses in Europe are still mostly AC-free, even in hot climates like the Mediterranean area. It just means you design your house sanely and from the appropriate materials. No need to compensate for its deficiency with artificial means thereafter. Same goes for cars. Ever wondered why those 1960s card has those funky mini-windows on the doors next to the mirrors? Those were for ventilation in the summer ..

Back in the day, AC was an option, usually a pretty expensive one. Now, it's standard equipment, on nearly everything automotive.
I would say that it is essentially the same way with housing now too. At least around here, I haven't seen a new house built without it in years.

 

[mino]

...
Back in the day, AC was an option, usually a pretty expensive one. Now, it's standard equipment, on nearly everything automotive.
I would say that it is essentially the same way with housing now too. At least around here, I haven't seen a new house built without it in years.

Over here the standard is a brick/concrete house. With most common architecture, basic AC is mostly superfluous in such a house. With sane ventilation, the house maintains comfortable 20C-25C temperature "auto-magically" by itself for most of the year, even with 30C+ outside. So helping with AC is mostly not needed, hence not done given all the costs and problems/maintenance that tag along with it.

It specifically drives me nuts when US-born colleagues behave as if AC-equipped homes are something "superior" while they are not. Over here those are mostly the bad ones/with bad architecture like southern-windows-only apartments, etc.

True, there are more homes built with heat pumps in last few years, and thus AC /which is not used/, but that is due to the broken legislation which treats coal-sourced electricity as "green" while a gas burner that is more efficient than a heat pump as something "dirty", making it problematic when wanting a build permit.


I do get it why in the southern US it makes sense to have AC almost everywhere. It just seems wrong that universal AC results in usual homes being essentially uninhabitable most of the year without it running ..

---
A high-end proper AC setup, with quality /and expensive/ air filtering and humidification for winter, which almost no one is willing to pay for, is a different matter. That is indeed a luxury and a very useful one at that.

That said, I am probably biased, living in a mild climate zone ..

/end rant

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Over here the standard is a brick/concrete house. With most common architecture, basic AC is mostly superfluous in such a house. With sane ventilation, the house maintains comfortable 20C-25C temperature "auto-magically" by itself for most of the year, even with 30C+ outside. So helping with AC is mostly not needed, hence not done given all the costs and problems/maintenance that tag along with it.

It specifically drives me nuts when US-born colleagues behave as if AC-equipped homes are something "superior" while they are not. Over here those are mostly the bad ones/with bad architecture like southern-windows-only apartments, etc.

True, there are more homes build with heat pumps in last few years, and thus AC /which is not used/, but that is due to the broken legislation which treats coal-sourced electricity as "green" while a gas burner that is more efficient than a heat pump as something "dirty", making it problematic when wanting a build permit.


I do get it why in the southern US it makes sense to have AC almost everywhere. It just seems wrong that universal AC results in usual homes being essentially uninhabitable most of the year without it running ..

---
A high-end proper AC setup, with quality /and expensive/ air filtering and humidification for winter, which almost no one is willing to pay for, is a different matter. That is indeed a luxury and a very useful one at that.

That said, I am probably biased, living in a mild climate zone ..

/end rant

I was just talking about the trend, it has been that way for decades. My house is nearly 100 years old. It was built with a coal-fired furnace and very little ductwork, mostly for radiating heat. It had no blower originally. To this day neither the heat or AC are ideally efficient, because of it.
The house I grew up in was built in 1962, we lived there without AC my entire childhood. The last time it was sold, the listing showed that it does have it now, must have been retrofitted at some time.

 

[Cheese]

As far as home construction goes, there's a basic difference between the US and Europe, it's neither good or bad but just a difference because of the availability of local resources and the relative size of populations. The US HAD vast reserves of standing trees that became the basis of the American housing industry. It was locally grown lumber that was near the building site and it was a renewable resource that was available to all the local constituents. That premise worked well in providing affordable housing to the many millions of Americans. While the structures may not have been the most energy efficient structures, they provided some basic shelter and led to providing 330 million people with something to weather the storm.

 

[Mini Me]

Mostly agree, though this notion that a heatwave in a car with no AC is a problem .. it is an absolute non-issue. There is a thing called ventilation/wind ..

The forecast for us two days from now is 44 deg C, try that in a car not moving and stuck in traffic with nothing more than a fan. Actually, AC has become mandatory for another reason altogether and that is fuel economy is raised if the windows aren't opened and that can be measured. Don't judge where I live against where you live as they have two entirely different climates and needs for cars.

 

[luvmytoolz]

The forecast for us two days from now is 44 deg C, try that in a car not moving and stuck in traffic with nothing more than a fan. Actually, AC has become mandatory for another reason altogether and that is fuel economy is raised if the windows aren't opened and that can be measured. Don't judge where I live against where you live as they have two entirely different climates and needs for cars.

Yep, gotta love those days when the thongs start melting into the bitumen!

 

[Packard]

The forecast for us two days from now is 44 deg C, try that in a car not moving and stuck in traffic with nothing more than a fan. Actually, AC has become mandatory for another reason altogether and that is fuel economy is raised if the windows aren't opened and that can be measured. Don't judge where I live against where you live as they have two entirely different climates and needs for cars.

I read, that aat highway speeds, fuel economy is better with the AC on and the windows closed due to improved aerodynamics. (This would apply for cars built in the last 20 years or so. As aerodynamics was not a design consideration in the 1960s and for some models, not until recently. Think “SUVs”.)