headlights... who needs them? Morgan says theirs (2012 -2013) don't comply with US regs, but they say: noncompliance of the subject vehicles is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety

V. Summary of Morgan's Analyses: Morgan stated its belief that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety for the following reasons:

In addition, Morgan knows of no reports of injuries or other safety issues in the US or the rest of the world caused by the subject noncompliance.

Morgan believes that the described noncompliance of the subject vehicles is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety, and that its petition, to exempt from providing recall notification of noncompliance as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118 and remedying the recall noncompliance as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120 should be granted.

In its petition, Morgan also requested that NHTSA amend the headlamp spacing requirements in FMVSS No. 108 during future rulemaking.

This request cannot be considered as part of the instant petition as filed under 49 CFR part 556. However, Morgan may consider petitioning the Agency for rulemaking.The appropriate type of petition to request a change in a rule is one filed under 49 CFR Part 552 Petitions for Rulemaking, Defect, and Non-Compliance Orders. NHTSA notes that the statutory provisions (49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h)) that permit manufacturers to file petitions for a determination of inconsequentiality allow NHTSA to exempt manufacturers only from the duties found in sections 30118 and 30120, respectively, to notify owners, purchasers, and dealers of a defect or noncompliance and to remedy the defect or noncompliance. Therefore, any decision on this petition only applies to the vehicles that Morgan no longer controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance existed. However, a decision on this petition cannot relieve vehicle distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer for sale, introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of the noncompliant motor vehicles under their control after Morgan notified them that the subject noncompliance existed.

AUTHORITY:
Back to Top 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120:
delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.8.
 Issued on: December 2, 2013.
Claude H. Harris, Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.

Morgan contends that the noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety on the basis that the lamps meet the substantive requirements of FMVSS No. 108, the technical requirements of FMVSS No. 108 and that the current horizontal spacing of 29 inches is in the best interests of road safety, Morgan owners almost exclusively go to Morgan dealers for replacement parts, and if the M3W were compliant with the existing motorcycle head lamp spacing requirement, other road users would not have an accurate indication of the width of an oncoming M3W.

All parsed from https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/12/09/2013-29249/morgan-3-wheeler-limited-receipt-of-petition-for-decision-of-inconsequential-noncompliance

did you hear about the class action suit against Porsche for the intermediate shaft bearing failures?

a total intermediate shaft-bearing failure within the engine, a hand-grenade effect that transformed the uber-wundercars into functioning doorstops. So prevalent were the malfunctions that owners banded together to sue Porsche.

Porsche wants nothing to do with him and will not—cannot, they say—fix his car gratis. His problem,  lies outside the criteria of the class-action suit, and to fix it would violate the agreement. Schoelzel's car was registered to him and in service for 10 years and 98 days, so he's S.O.L.

 If he wants the company to behave as it should and treat him as a loyal customer, he is going to have to sue them on his own.

 From 2001 to 2005, Porsche sold 39,633 Boxsters and a whopping 51,375 Porsche 911 models (including rarer and unattached-to-this-suit GT2s, GT3s and Turbos).

 The heart of the matter is the heart of what matters: If you can't trust Porsche to build bullet-proof engines and stand by their products, what can you do?

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130918/CARNEWS/130919830 

First illegal license plate cover I've found, these make stop light cameras about useless

RHIP (Rank Has It's Privileges/parking) also know as those who make or enforce laws are sometimes breaking the laws they've made or vowed to enforce.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/05/06/free-airport-parking-for-congress-a-reminder-that-the-rich-write-the-rules/

In this next short video, a 12-year-old named Jeremy approaches a Las Vegas Metro motorcycle cop who has illegally parked his motorcycle on a sidewalk, apparently in order to get a soft drink. The young man politely asks the cop if he had any emergency reason to park, and then requests his badge number. The cop refuses to answer either question, and asks Jeremy if he is a lawyer. Jeremy reiterates his request for a badge number. The cop continues to refuse, and eventually drives off. Perhaps the officer can be identified through this footage and reported to a superior who can work with him to correct his misunderstandings about his relationship to the law and his obligations to the public.

Both of these were on http://boingboing.net/ and 

What will a corrupt city government do to get your money in fines? Paint a handicap parking around your car, then tow your car, fine you, and get a cut of the towing and impound fines. Nice huh?

thanks Steve for the story! (he wanted me to see the cool tow truck (side forks that allow a narrow street parallel parked car to get hoisted onto the flatbed while parked beside it in traffic))

Here is the great part, it was all captured on a security camera across the street, and the car owner was smart enough to check for that. She's avoided the fines (total $365 USD) got her car back, an apology from the mayor, and publicly (using facebook) exposed this scam.

Full story here: http://www.timesofisrael.com/parking-debacle-turns-facebook-sensation/

Speed limit infographic

found on http://thekevinchen.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/need-for-speed/

real, accurate MPG numbers for my 2012 Veloster.. from me. Kia and Hyundai have been found guilty of false advertising on their numbers, but not by much

I just went round trip from San Diego to Las Vegas

I got 37 mpg at 80 miles per hour going to Las Vegas,

 and on the way back, stopped at Victorville to gas up (3.85 a gallon an exit south of the Palmdale exit which was 4.25 a gallon) and

got 39 mpg at 80 on the trip from Victorville to San Diego

The Hyundai and Kia ESTIMATES were found to be over the reality by the EPA, who seems to not actually test cars before putting their stamp on the window sticker of a new car... huh. How about that, a lazy US Government agency taking a companies word for it when reporting information. Astonishing, and I am very sarcastic.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/02/hyundai-kia-admit-exaggerated-mileage-claims-will-compensate-o/

Want your pre 1980's car to have the right era license plate, if you are in California.. it's now possible. Law AB 1658 has passed and the DMV will stamp out the vintage plates as far back as the 1950's Yellow plate with black letters

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/10/california-dmv-vintage-license-plates.html

For an extra $50, California car enthusiasts will soon be able to order vintage license plates, including the black plates with yellow lettering issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles in the 1960s, thanks to action taken by Gov. Jerry Brown.

 Among the hundreds of bills signed by the governor last week, AB 1658 is aimed at Californians who restore and drive vintage automobiles, as well as residents who are just nostalgic for the good old days.

 Other plates to be offered after Jan. 1 include those used in the 1950s, with a yellow background and black lettering, and those issued in the 1980s, with a blue background and yellow lettering.

 The DMV will only produce one of the designs once 7,500 applications have been received for that design statewide.

Memo #64, or, did you know that the 1970 Plymouth Superbird was not legal to register in Maryland because of the lack of a front bumper?

Can you see what is wrong in this picture?

Things I never paid attention to with the California DMV car registration renewal form

It doesn't make sense that California has a registration fee, which is the form, and the reason they send it, and what you expect to pay to keep your car registered... though why cars must be registered is absurd to me. What, does the government need to know that you have a car? Do they need to know what cars, how many, how old, and the serial number of them? No idea what that information can do for the public good.

So anyway, what is the different license fee? Are we being charged to display that license? Why aren't we being paid to advertise the state we live in on a envelope sized aluminum tag on the back of our car?

Avoid New Mexico's Dona Ana County traveling friends... they locked a guy in solitary for two years without a trial. No judge, no sentence, no charges. True story

Slevin was awarded $22 million in damages by a federal jury for his ordeal, which involved being confined to a small cell with no natural light for 23 hours a day.

Meanwhile, his relatives were trying to find out: where's Stephen?

for most of his 22-month detainment, was that he was in "deplorable" conditions of his solitary "pod," court documents state, except for a 14-day period in May 2007, when he was sent to New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, N.M., for a psychiatric review. He had lost a third of his body weight by that point, documents say, and had bed sores and a fungal infection on his skin.

It wouldn't be until months later that Slevin's sister, whose name and location [attorney Matt] Coyte did not give, found out what her brother was going through: Forced to pull out his own tooth because he was denied access to a dentist, he told reporters on Tuesday. Toenails curling around his foot because they were so long. Basically forgotten about in his dark cell for more than 22 months.

“There was no doctor looking after him. There was a nurse, the nurse practitioner.”
But the so-called nurse practitioner only had a bachelor’s degree in psychology and no actual medical qualifications, KOB reported.

Dona Ana County officials were tight-lipped about the case, refusing to answer questions about whether any jail employees were reprimanded or fired over Slevin's treatment.

So, I won't be driving through that county... ever.


News excerpts from http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10243856-letters-from-solitary-confinement-reveal-dwi-mans-despair but you'll find the same info everywhere around the internet... this is appalling. Nothing about being a citizen with constitutional rights was ever applied to this man until his lawyer got the County of Dona Ana of New Mexico sued.

And if you think this is just an isolated incident, and that this Dona Ana County doesn't have problems?

(Mayor Elect) Daniel Salinas, of Sunland Park, was arrested overnight Monday on bribery and conspiracy charges alleging he gave acting Police Chief Luis Monarez his job in exchange for persuading Monarez’s sister not to run against a Salinas ally for City Council, according to Dona Ana County Assistant District Attorney

Salinas had already posted $50,000 cash following his arrest in late February on extortion and other charges related to accusations that he and the city manager tried to force an opponent out of the mayor’s race with a secretly recorded video of him getting a lap dance.

Side note, from the DSC show on 100.7 Jack FM news, the opponent mentioned above was running for Mayor, and while giving a job interview and accompanied by his election campaign manager, the interviewee started up music and stripped off her top. Bingo, caught on film, total set up. Feb 24 podcast #4 of 4 http://www.sandiegojack.com/global/Story.asp?s=12880043

That set off a widespread probe that has resulted in eight arrests of current and former city officials on bribery, extortion, voter fraud and other charges.

From the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/sunland-park-nm-mayor-elect-accused-in-lap-dance-video-arrested-again-for-other-alleged-plot/2012/03/20/gIQA20JfPS_story.html

Why did I post this? We all drive, and occasionally we drive through some scary places. I don't want you to go through there without being warned. Seriously.

Costco is the defendant in a class action lawsuit over selling gas over 60 degrees without a pump that automatically adjusts for hot temperatures

The Chicken War, and the Chicken Tax, and what they have to do with trucks made in Europe and Asia

The Chicken tax was a 25% tax on potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks imposed in 1963 by the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson as a response to tariffs placed by France and West Germany on importation of U.S. chicken.

Largely because of post-World War II intensive chicken farming and accompanying price reductions, chicken, once internationally synonymous with luxury, became a staple food in the U.S. Prior to the early 1960s, not only had chicken remained prohibitively expensive in Europe, it had remained a delicacy. With imports of inexpensive chicken from the U.S., chicken prices fell quickly and sharply across Europe, radically affecting European chicken consumption. In 1961, per capita chicken consumption rose 23% in West Germany. U.S. chicken overtook nearly half of the imported European chicken market.

Subsequently, the Dutch accused the U.S. of dumping chickens at prices below cost of production. The French government banned U.S. chicken and raised concerns that hormones could affect male virility. German farmers' associations accused U.S. poultrymen of artificially fattening chicken with arsenic. In fact, U.S. chicken farmers, with Food and Drug Administration approval, had treated chicken feed with antimony, arsenic compounds, or estrogen hormones to stimulate growth.

The period from 1961–1964 of tensions and negotiations surrounding the issue, which took place at the height of Cold War politics, was known as the "Chicken War".

Eventually, the tariffs on potato starch, dextrin, and brandy were lifted, but over the next 48 years the light truck tax ossified, remaining in place to protect U.S. domestic automakers from foreign light truck production (e.g., from Japan and Thailand). Though concern remains about its repeal, a 2003 Cato Institute study called the tariff "a policy in search of a rationale."

As an unintended consequence, several importers of light trucks have circumvented the tariff via loopholes—including Ford (ostensibly a company the tax was designed to protect), which currently imports the Transit Connect light trucks as "passenger vehicles" to the U.S. from Turkey and immediately shreds portions of their interiors in a warehouse outside Baltimore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

26 yr old Kyle Busch... Nascar Sprint Cup driver, in serious danger of losing his regular drivers lisense for 128 in a 45 in South Carolina

His nickname "Wild Thing"..., his crime? Nearly 3 times the speed limit.

Careless and reckless driving plus speeding. His wife was in the car with him.

On two lane Perth Road near Troutman, N.C. in a yellow 2012 Lexus LFA sports car, unregistered, still a dealership supercar he was loaned by Toyota-Lexus.


A very special supercar by Lexus, a 552-horsepower LFA coupe that began production in December with a very serious price tag of $375,000. Just 22 of them have been delivered so far to U.S. customers, with 500 examples planned worldwide.

Really? (as they say on Saturday night live) You really had to find the top speed of a Lexus?

If convicted, Busch can lose his license for up to a year and face $1,000 in fines.

"I was test driving a new sports car and I got carried away," Busch explained. "I went beyond the speed I should have been going on a public road."

Kyle is already on Nascar probation for infamous rule 12-4-A, "actions detrimental to stock car racing," from the Darlington incident with Kevin Harvick http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/NASCAR-Kevin-Harvick-and-Kyle-Busch-clash-after-Darlington-Cup-race (Harvick climbing out of his car to take a swing at Busch who stayed in his car. Harvick's ends up crashing into a wall) , but NASCAR decided Busch's speeding on a 2 lane at a splinter under 3ximes the posted limit didn't fall afoul of that rule... could it be that to link this incident to that would possibly result in a loss of championship points?

Near that area several other notable people have died in higher speed collisions.

Some info from http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=newton_david&id=6587895 and http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-kyle-busch-ticket-bait-lexus-lfa/

Photos from http://photos.speedtv.com/gallery/2012_Lexus_LFA/slideshow

Bikers are getting a shot at repealing the helmet law in California

http://www.ride2repeal.com/ or send them email at Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

And on May 23rd there is a Motorcycle Awareness and Freedom Rally in Sacramento organized by ABATE (American Bikers Aimed Toward Education) http://abate.com

New California traffic laws and fines

Traffic Tickets Fines (January 2011) thanks to Patricia Cummings, Manager III
Court Liaison Officer CPD – Justice and Government Liaison Branch
Failure to notify DMV of address change within 10 days................. $154
Failure to provide evidence of financial responsibility (insurance) ....$800
Failure to stop at a red signal. .......................................$400
Failure to stop at a stop sign. ........................................$154
Unsafe Speed, 1 to 15 miles over the limit..............................$154
Unsafe Speed, 16 to 25 miles over the limit.............................$280
Passing a school bus with flashing red signals..........................$600
Drive using wireless phone not hands free, First offense ...............$80
Drive using wireless phone not hands free, For each subsequent offense. ....$110
Drive while wireless device to send, read or write text.................$80
Minor drive using wireless phone........................................$80
Parking in a bus loading area .........................................$1000
Violation of disabled parking provisions, first offense................$1000
Violation of disabled parking provisions, second offense..(there is nothing in the statute to indicate increased sanctions for subsequent offenses)
Unlawful material on vehicle windows...................................$114
Adequate muffler required .............................................$114
Mandatory use of seat belts............................................$80
Mandatory use of child passenger restraints............................$400
Headsets/Earplugs over both ears.......................................$114
Motorcycle safety helmet requirements..................................$114
No evidence of current registration....................................$200

2011 Bail and Penalty Schedule, direct from the State of California:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/documents/2011_jcbail.pdf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motorcyclist training. Anyone under 21 wanting to drive a motorcycle will be required to complete an approved motorcycle safety course. Upon completion, the driver will receive a motorcycle instruction permit that must be held for six months before receiving a motorcycle driver license.

Local traffic citations. Local law enforcement officials will no longer be authorized to ticket drivers for moving violations under municipal law or local ordinances. Under the new law, all moving violations must be cited under an appropriate section of the state vehicle code, which specifies penalties. This law takes effect July 1, 2011 and will provide uniform punishment for moving violations throughout the state.

Carpool lanes. Solo drivers in certain "green" (fuel-efficient, low-emission) vehicles with a DMV-issued carpool lane sticker will be able to continue using the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes until July 1, 2011. In addition, a new class of plug-in hybrid vehicles will also be able to use HOV lanes starting in January 2012.

Drunk drivers. If a person is convicted of three or more DUIs in a 10-year period, judges will be authorized to revoke the drunk driver's license for 10 years. This law does not take effect until January 1, 2012. The purpose behind the new law is to reduce repeat offenses by drunk drivers and decrease the number of drunk driving fatalities.

Higher traffic citation fines. All moving violation ticket fines will increase by $4. This law will remain in effect until 2016. Every vehicle-related or traffic infraction will cost $4 more than they did in 2010, raising an extra $34 million for Medi-Cal.

Street-sweeper cameras. Local agencies are now permitted to install cameras on street sweepers in order to digitally photograph illegally parked vehicles parked on streets during posted street sweeper times.

Other safety changes require all motorcycle drivers to complete a fifteen hour training course before earning a learner’s permit and laws increasing reckless driving penalties for paparazzi chasing celebrities.

A new law makes adults liable if an underage guest gets drunk and causes a car crash.

cities to install and operate cameras on street sweepers to digitally photograph vehicles that are parked on streets when street sweeping is posted to occur. Critics of the law are already comparing the plan to an Orwellian Big Brother plot, but this program literally would only photograph cars that are parked illegally.

Thanks to cuts to the state’s Medi-Cal program, motorists caught breaking the law will be charged $4 for the next six years to pay for emergency air-lifts.

a last new law wasn’t about change but about preserving the status-quo for “clean cars” and the state’s HOV Lanes. Hybrid vehicles adorned with the “yellow sticker” advertising its clean air status will be allowed to use HOV lanes as though they had multiple passengers until July 1 of this year. Cars with “white stickers” showing that they are electric or “compressed natural gas” will have HOV privileges until January of 2015. The new law creates a third sticker, for plug-in hybrid vehicles, to be issued and to allow access to HOV lanes also until 2015.

Mobile Billboard Advertising Displays (AB 2756, Blumenfield) This bill created Section 395.5 of the Vehicle Code, which defines “mobile billboard advertising display” as an advertising display that is attached to a wheeled, mobile, non-motorized vehicle that carries, pulls or transports a sign or billboard and is for the primary purpose of advertising. This bill also amended Section 21100 of the Vehicle Code to give local authorities the ability to adopt rules/regulations by ordinance/resolution to regulate mobile billboard advertising; this includes establishing penalties that could authorize removal of the mobile billboard advertising display. In addition, VC Section 22651 was amended to say that the mobile billboard advertising display may be towed when left parked or standing in violation of a local ordinance. Warning citations advising of the consequences, including towing of the mobile billboard display, are sufficient enough warning to the public.

registered in California, which does not bear the required applicable federal Environmental Protection Agency exhaust system label consistent with federal regulations. This law only applies to motorcycles manufactured on or after Jan. 1, 2013, or a motorcycle with after market exhaust system equipment that is manufactured on or after Jan. 1, 2013.

I just remembered, the fine for running a red light

went from $350 to about $430. This couldn't have anything to do with more cities, counties, states and our country going bankrupt and more stop light cameras getting installed, could it?