“Driver Performance” . . .

By
eric
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You may have heard that about two years from now – less than that, actually – new cars will be required per the Biden Thing to be outfitted with “technology” to thwart “impaired” driving. What you ought to read is the language of the edicts, which states that the “technology” will “passively monitor the performance of a driver.”

Italics added.

In other words, what the Biden Thing’s flying monkeys (who actually wrote the edict, the Thing not being capable of much more than erratically reading a TelePrompter) did was to oleaginously change the operational definition of “impaired” – which most people equate with being drunk (or high) with performance; i.e., how you drive.

Not necessarily whether you’re driving drunk or high. Irrespective of whether you’re entirely sober. 

The significance of this distinction cannot be overstated.

The Breathalyzers most people are familiar with measure an individual’s blood alcohol content (BAC) and a person is regarded by the law as “drunk” if his BAC is above a certain threshold. In most states, this is .08 BAC though some states are lowering this to .05 BAC, a point that can be reached after having had not much more than a beer or a single mixed drink, depending on body weight. The in-car Breathalyzers courts often mandate a person have installed in their vehicle after they have been convicted of “drunk” driving require the person to “blow” into the device, which is tied into the vehicle’s ignition. If any alcohol is detected the ignition won’t work, so the car won’t start.

What the Things have in store for us come the 2026 model year, when the edict goes into effect, is “technology” that is in the first place “passive,” which means the driver doesn’t “blow” into a device and – crucially – it evaluates fitness to drive based on performance.

This does not mean you are drunk – or high. It does not require that you first be convicted of having driven drunk. It means you are performing contrary to the programming the car says is allowable.

It does not take much imagination to envision what will be not be allowed. Make a lane change that’s not glacially slow – after having first signaled and waited for several long moments – and your performance will be judged (by the “technology”) to have fallen outside the allowable. The same for any overly “aggressive” acceleration or braking performance. Failure to stop completely at a stop sign – and then wait for a long moment, as required by the programming – will constitute poor performance.

The point being that everything you do behind the wheel will be the measure of your performance – the parameters defined by the government – and none of it will have anything to do with whether you are “impaired” (let alone drunk).

It has everything to do with the exercise of total supervisory control over your driving – by hanging over your head the omnipresent threat of more than merely correction but prevention. This being precisely what the “technology” decreed by the Thing and his monkeys will prevent you from doing, if your performance falls outside parameters.

The car will pull itself over – no need for an armed government worker – and there you’ll sit until an armed government worker (or someone else, who is still allowed to drive) arrives.

This is no joke. Most of the necessary “technology” is already embedded in practically all new cars. What do you suppose such “advanced driver assistance technologies” as speed limit assist, brake assist and lane change assist are ultimately for?

Hint: They are not about “assisting” you.

What they are about is habituating you. Getting you used to having your driving second-guessed by “technology” – and (ultimately) controlled by it. Note that most new cars come standard with these “technologies.” Italicized to emphasis the fact that they are not on offer as optional “technology.” They are being standardized, in other words. Just the same as air bags have been, want them or not.

Because the things insist – like it or not.

The pending elaboration of this “technology” come 2026 (which is actually sooner than that as the ’26 models will be available in 2025, or a little more than a year from now) is merely its fulfillment. More finely, it is the fulfillment of the long-term plan to make driving as such a passive activity, by completely controlling how you’re allowed to drive. No more latitude to exercise your own judgment or make use your own skill. In the future – which is only about a year ahead of us now – driving will be not much different than riding an escalator.

The Things want this because escalators are under their control. They hate your driving – and intend to use “technology” to make you hate it, too. Why bother with driving when you can’t really? Why not just take the bus or the train – or the escalator – instead?

Exactly.

And that’s what performance – as opposed to impairment (or being “drunk”) really means.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky understands – and is trying to put the kibosh on this “technology” but it is probably already too late as the car manufacturers are already designing the ’26 models -most of which are already designed and already have the “technology” embedded, regardless.

Massie may succeed * in disabling the “technology,” for a time. But you ought to know it could be turned on whenever the Things so decide.

The only way to really put the kibosh on this “technology” is to refuse to buy it. That is something the car manufacturers will understand. That is something we have the power to make them understand – if only enough of us would exercise that power.

It is the same power that could have ended “masking” within weeks of its being mandated; it is the same power that did end the push to jab everyone – because enough of us refused to be jabbed.

Now comes another opportunity to say No to these things.

Will enough of us say it?

Update: It appears Massie wasn’t able to put the kibosh on this; news reports indicate that enough Republicans voted with Democrats to assure new cars will be equipped with this “technology” come the ’26 model year, which is only about one calendar year away. 

. . .

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  2. Perils of the Part-Time Driver
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  4. What Driver’s Licenses Aren’t
  5. Driver Profiles . . .

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72 COMMENTS

  2. It would be easy to force all ice car owners of older cars…… to install this kill switch feature….

    then when they have the upcoming climate change lockdown…throw the switch…all slaves are immobile…..coming soon….

    • Freeze your bank account….immobilize your vehicle….you are a sitting duck…shipped off to the 15 min city/prison camp….

      The slave owners own the slaves…the slaves have no rights….the reality….

  3. “oleaginously” Whoa! that’s a $25 word. I had to look it up. And oleaginous has two meanings:

    1. Of or relating to oil.
    2. Falsely or smugly earnest; unctuous.

    I’m assuming #2 in this context, But I’m gonna try to use the phrase “oleaginously oleaginous”. Maybe “He oleaginously lied about the oleaginous economy”

  4. I don’t see how this could possible work. Seriously, driving were I do entails all sorts of nonsense just to stay on road and not get run over. Never mind idiots of bicycles, foot, cops blocking lanes for no apparent reason etc. There is no way the car would think I am sober in most morning commutes. Hopefully you can push a button as will ASS to turn it off.

  5. Twisted saaaaafety advice from our fedgov overlords:

    ‘A consumer alert issued by the NHTSA on Monday warned drivers not to adorn their steering wheels with decorative emblem decals because in a crash they could come off and hurt someone.

    “In a crash, the force of a deploying airbag can turn the product into a projectile, resulting in serious injury or death,” the alert said.

    ‘The Insurance Institute for Highway Saaaaafety also recommends not using seat covers or dash covers bought through secondary markets because they can block or redirect an airbag in a crash.

    ‘Earlier this year, Nissan issued a recall warning consumers that old and cracked emblems over the driver’s side airbag cover could become projectiles when the airbag was deployed. The recall included more than 400,000 vehicles.’

    https://archive.ph/yfcav#selection-653.0-657.186

    Arsonist firemen come to mind: they flick their Bics as they toast you.

    Naturally, NHTSA is headed by an idiot-bitch lawyer from Commiefornia, Ann Carlson.

    A high-velocity airbag strike might actually FIX her homely harridan face.

  6. I’ve had more than enough of this nonsense. The federal govt could disappear tomorrow and I think we’d all be better off.

    When did anyone agree to give them this (or 99% of any other) power? Voting harder won’t fix it, but the eventual worthless dollar might.

    • I agree, Dan –

      Also: It’s become apparent the pretense of “safety” has always been just that – a pretense. This has always been about using “safety” to justify ever-more-control. And – as regards cars – to essentially render them devices under their control rather than ours. I hope a sufficiency of people begin to understand this.

  7. For now I have nothing to worry about as my cutoff for purchasing a car was anything with a touch screen. They can mandate 12″ long metal spikes that pop up out of the seat if you had a beer 2 days ago and it won’t affect me.

    I currently own 2 cars from the 70’s, 2 trucks from the 90’s and one 2011 Honda that’s good at hauling a bunch of humans. They are all in tip top shape and I plan to keep them that way and on the road no matter what new laws they pass.

  8. How did we ever get in this situation to begin with where the government has so much control over our cars? All products have some oversight/control, such as they have to operate as intended, can’t poison or kill you, start fires, etc. but this is overkill – nitpicking pedantic details that have minimal benefit and really should be up to the consumer. That’s like mandating my new hair dryer MUST come with the baffle attachment. No, if I want one, I’ll either buy a hair dryer that has it or buy one myself and attach it. I understand other people can be affected if I’m an unsafe driver, but it’s still up to me to make sure I’m sober, alert and know how to operate my car safely and no technology cures dumbassery.
    Speaking of which, some idiot doctor ran over his own kid in the driveway, so now we all have to buy a backup camera. The quality on mine is so bad, I wouldn’t know a kid from an oil spot on the pavement. Might as well not have bothered. It’s not making me any safer. I have always checked behind my car as I get in it and again in my mirrors as I back up.
    I guess we are seeing this mission creep in our household appliances, as well.
    My last three cars have been recalled – two for the airbags (one of them twice) and my current one for the backup camera. Neither of those things are features I wanted. They just came with the car, and now I am being asked to take time out of my life – and maybe be car-less for awhile – to fix something I don’t even want.
    Meanwhile, Ford (2016 Mustangs anyway) used crappy lugnuts that fused to the bolt, making it impossible to get the tire off without heavy machinery. What if I got a flat in the middle of the night in the boondocks, and can’t change my tire? That’s more dangerous to me than my balky backup camera. But no recall for the lugnuts. My dealership recommended I go to Autozone and get new ones. First time I’ve ever heard a dealership mechanic recommend something that wasn’t “genuine certified Ford Motor Co. parts.”

  9. Guess I would get labeled “impaired” from day one, since I constantly swerve to avoid wrecking the tires on all the potholes around here. Maybe some of those $billions being sent to Keeeeev could be better spent fixing up the infrastructure that seems to have been omitted from the Biden thing’s “infrastructure” bill.

  11. So if 1/3 of crash fatalities are from “drunk” drivers, which is an entirely subjective measure, what to do about the other 2/3?

  13. Where’s all the research showing that any of this tech is ready for deployment? The only reason for the creation of the Breathalyzer was because it was too hard to get a conviction of drunk driving with all the cockamamie roadside tests and stationing cops in bars was ruled to be entrapment.

    None of this stuff will ever stand up in court. The ghost in the machine is no more relable than Roscoe P Coltraine. Hell, show me an AI generated picture that has the correct number of fingers on a human hand! And not only that, the programmers have no skin in the game, so maybe they just go ahead and carve out an exception for BPOC or raise the bar to unreasonble levels for you WASPS. You identify as a woman? You get a handicap because you’re scientifically determined to have a harder time with spacial relations. Why the hell not? She needs to balance career, childbirthing and homelife, so of course you get an exception!

    “By starting your vehicle, you agree to abide by the terms of this EULA, including agreeing to not hold Government Motors or any of its subsidiaries accountable for any determination of imparment. You agree to arbitration in any legal interactions with Government Motors, using an arbitration board of our choice. Please visit GovernmentMotors.com/inclusivity/ to view our inclusivity policy.”

    • ‘Where’s all the research showing that any of this tech is ready for deployment?’ — ReadyKilowatt

      Shhhh! You’re not supposed to ask embarrassing questions.

      On the website of DADSS — the auto maker funded pushers behind this Big Sis tech — the latest publications date from 2019.

      https://dadss.org/resources/publications/

      False positives will abound. Like REAL-ID (original deadline 2008; current deadline 2025), DADSS is an ill-conceived Big Gov clusterf*ck waiting to happen.

      I call bullshit. DADSS, by the way, is an acronym honoring the HALT Act’s original House sponsor: Deborah Ann Dingell Sucks Schlong.

      • Passive breathalyzers? Yea, that’ll be great. I’m sure it will work just as well as the “dual climate zones” LOL. So you and your mates take a Uber home after watching the big game. Vehicle detects alcohol in the air so the it pulls over and locks the doors until the cops show up to wisk away your driver to the detention center.

        “But officer! I’m the Uber driver!” he cries. “Tell it to the judge, buddy!”

    • RK: I’m with you on this one. It will be challenged as an unconstitutional search prohibited by the 4th Amendment. My guess is that it’ll be ruled unconstitutional. There is most certainly an expectation of privacy in one’s automobile. I would expect criminal trial lawyers to be bothered by this. Their business model depends on drunk drivers actually being able to operate the car. If a drunk is prevented from starting the car in the first place that’s bad for business.

      • Bad for the cops and the courts as well. There goes a lot of business, no fines, no long overcrowded dockets, of course they will find something else to do. Thought/PreCrime. That’s the next thing.

  15. Looking at it from their point of view, this is Tony the tiger grrreat. Just imagine how many will refuse to buy one of these. Sure they’ll get an older car but soon we will update the ‘law’ and require ALL vehicles on the road to be compliant with this technology for saaaafety! Easy Peezy!

    • Listen to her arguments, this is why we made a BIG mistake giving women the right to vote. This entire feminization of culture is what is driving all this saaaaafety bullshit.

      She quotes chapter & verse at the podium about drunk driving crashes, saaaaafety, and every other mother hen over protective thing that women always vote for and will vote for forever.

      You live in a Gynarcho-Tyranny in case you haven’t figured it out yet. Women’s minds fundamentally work this way and it has poisoned every level of society. Government, corporations, media, all of it. There is a reason that HR departments are 90% female.

      Give women the reigns and you will lurch towards tyranny. This is old wisdom. Aristotle from thousands of years ago— “Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny”.

      We are -deep- in the feminine democracy phase and rapidly approaching full scale anarcho-tyranny. You’d have to be blind not to see this progression and most people are both blind & stupid so onwards we march.

      • They thought I was kidding 50 years ago, my statement:

        “You’re a guest in a man’s world, don’t wear out your welcome.”

        My daughter in the mid 80s, “mom why do your friends hate dad?”

        My daughter today “women in charge wherever I’ve worked have really screwed it up”. Looking at some job postings, “they need a man’s man in charge on this one!”

      • Hi UserA,

        There is wisdom in what you’ve said. I’d only add (as I have grown wiser – or at least, less foolish) that men have their share of blame for this. By which I mean many have failed to protect women, from the worst impulses of men. When women – in their turn – began to behave like men, many men decided to take them up on it and – here we are. By which I mean lots of “strong, independent” women – who despise weak men. And men who want nothing to do with women (other than for you know what). They have set the sexes against each other.

        Cui bono?

      • The founding FATHERS of this country referred to it as the “tyranny of the apron strings”. I’ve seldom found reason to disagree with them.

    • Sure, & it’ll be the same fuse for the computer.

      And, If it were that easy, surly your car would rat you out ‘Minority Report’ pre-crime style.

  18. Does any of this impaired driving detection business work if someone is not drunk on booze, but stoned on pot, strung out on fentanyl or other opioids, or tweaking on meth?

    One thing that we’ll see A LOT more of as pot is decriminalized, and as all other kinds of dope keep floating around out there thanks to open borders and just plain nobody caring anymore, is impaired driving.

    Yet no one seems to even notice this.

  19. Here’s some feedback on the ‘experience’ of having the insurance mafia rating my driving in order to get a slightly lower cost of car insurance.
    Last year I ran over the remains of a truck tire that I couldn’t safely avoid (in a rain storm at night) and my front spoiler was destroyed (along with damage to a strut.) I filed a claim on my insurance policy for the damages. I haven’t had a claim or any violations since the early 90’s.
    The $900 damages were repaired under the policy (net of $100 deductibles.)
    Two months later my insurance rates were increased from $775 per year to $2500 per year.
    Apparently I was at fault for the truck tire left on the road according to the insurance mafia.
    So I shopped for a different policy and the cheapest I found was about $950 a year with less coverage and if I agreed to let the mafia monitor my driving for 6 months to assure that I was a safe enough driver. They also claimed that was a 15% discount and that 30% discount was possible if I was “safe.” (I drive about 3,000 miles a year at present in a rural area and do not commute to work.)
    I tracked the mafia’s reporting on my driving on-line so I could tell what their monitor was seeing. After 6 months and less than 1000 miles of monitoring the insurance rates were increased by about $150 to $1,100 a year. According to their monitor I had frequent “hard stops” and that resulted in the higher rate – along with a rate increase.
    All the “hard stops” were caused by my having to slow and stop when traffic lights changed on a rural road with 65 mph speed limits. I followed the traffic laws and the insurance mafia’s monitor penalized me for doing so.
    I called about this and was told basically that I was lucky to get such a low rate and pay up.
    They also said that they never give the 30% discount that they advertised in my area.

    I’m wondering how many others have had the same experience and if there is a class action suit possible.

    My solution to this will probably be to move outside the US and remove myself from the mafia’s tyranny.

  20. You know, during all the hubub on the MSM about the “infrastructure bill”, you NEVER heard about this! It was all about whether or not it would pass, what the Republicans would do, and so on. We NEVER heard about this from those august “guardians of truth” like we should have…

    • Marky,

      The fact that they don’t advertise what they are doing pretty much proves that they know damn well they shouldn’t be doing it, and the people would be furious if they knew about it.

      • Hey Publius

        “the people would be furious if they knew about it.”

        come’on mannnnn……be real!

        First you’d have to ‘care’,,, and the tyrannical acts of this rogue government are far from the minds? of most of the mob.

        Most don’t care if little Sally gets felt up at airports, they smile, it’s sooo cute or little Johnny can’t read, write or do math (per Oregon and other states to follow),,, Bobby wants to cut off his weenie and Gloria wants one…. and the hits just keep coming!

        Some might say this nation is toast but I say it will go down much, much further before it crashes. Enjoy the ride!

  21. “The only way to really put the kibosh on this “technology” is to refuse to buy it. ”

    I thought that too about GWB’s TSA. Enough people would say to hell with commercial aviation & the airlines would resist. Nah, they got subsidized from the taxpayer teat. Golden parachutes and investors were just fine. And the TSA goons still are able to gate rape & make the flying experience miserable.

    • What other choice is there? Drive or don’t go. Unless you’re crossing an ocean, then it’s pretty much fly or ???. Driving gets tough becuase anymore it is pretty hard to just pull off and get a room, especially during heavy travel times. And it is pretty hard to justify a $120/night room for 10 hours of actual use. I’m set up for car camping so it’s not a big deal to catch a few hours nap at the rest stops but I’m not enthusiastic about it. The worst part of flying is the misserable airport experience, and that’s largely due to the fact they’re owned by city governments. And remember the TSA was created because before 9/11 the airlines were paying for the passenger screening, and this got them off the hook for “terrorist” activity.

  22. I am already experiencing the beginnings of this garbage in the shop. There are Tires I need to put a vehicle’s wheel in a precise location to service something. I can’t see out of the window to do this and must open the door enough to spot a wheel, front or rear. The newest vehicles will immediately put the transmission in ‘Park’ and draw up the electric parking brake.
    Some of these can be over-ridden by jockeying gas & brake pedal simultaneously, and some cannot. I also need to open the doors of most vehicles to spot the rear tire when I am parking finished vehicles in my confined parking lot. Again I will get resistance, and sometimes refusal from certain vehicles, to ‘allow’ me to operate them in a manner I deem necessary on my own property.
    Eventually I will be refusing to service 95% of anything on the road, instead of the current 3-5%. I have already banned Teslas and other full-EVs on account of their ‘incendiary tendencies’.

    • Hi Graves,

      I’ll be able to give you a preview of this crap; I need to swing by the shop to show you. Also – I am going to shortly film the TA’s old rear tires burning down to the cords. I’m thinking it might be smart to do this in my driveway – in case the tires literally shred. It would be inconvenient if that happened on a public (government) road… leaving the TA helpless and me at the mercy of armed government workers.

    • Hey Graves,
      I get it, I experienced something similar at my shop. A while back had a guy pull up to the shop during Friday happy hour in a Tesla with a skid plate under the car dragging on the ground. Told him sure, we’ll take a look. Had him drive it into the bay and center it on the lift. Told him to leave it in neutral and the brake off. As soon as he gets out of the car, it goes into park and the window rolls up. I had to have him sit in the car to move the car back and forth to get the lift arms in the right position to put it up in the air. What a pain in the ass that would be if I was the only person here. Dumb!!!
      I also remember having a 3 or 4 year old Ram pickup that wouldn’t let me shut off the engine with the trans in neutral, so I had to let it run while I got it on the lift. I work on VW’s and Audi’s all day so I don’t have much experience with other makes, thought that was odd with the Ram.

    • Hi GTC: Try putting it into reverse, when it auto stops when you open the door put it in park with the door still open and then back into reverse and it may work then. This works on my buddies late model Dodge PU.

  23. More info on the malefactors behind Section 24220, a/k/a the HALT Act:

    ‘Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is outraged by a proposal by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to reverse a bipartisan law that will lead to impaired driving prevention technology in all new vehicles.

    ‘The HALT Act was led in the House by Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI), and in the Senate by Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Rick Scott (R-FL), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Gary Peters (D-MI).

    ‘“MADD would not support a ‘kill switch’ that could be used by law enforcement to disable a vehicle or technology that tracks the driver’s location or collects, uses or stores any data that would compromise the privacy of vehicle occupants,” said MADD CEO Stacey D. Stewart. “The technology is solely to prevent impaired drivers from illegally operating vehicles and causing deaths and injuries.”

    ‘The HALT Act has received broad support from a variety of organizations and industries, including Anheuser-Busch, the Beer Institute, Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, AAA, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Governors Highway Safety Association, National Safety Council, Safe Kids Worldwide, and 13 major auto insurance companies including Amica Mutual Insurance Company, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.’

    https://tinyurl.com/purjhuzw

    Rich, ain’t it? Anheuser-Busch and the insurance mafia, collaborating to screw us over (again).

    Color me berserk with rage.

  24. ‘Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky understands – and is trying to put the kibosh on this “technology” but it is probably already too late.’ — eric

    As of last night, it is too late. Massie’s amendment was titled H.Amdt.641 — An amendment numbered 60 printed in Part B of House Report 118-261 to prohibit funds from being used to implement Sec. 24220 of the IIJA, which mandates that new vehicles include a kill switch to monitor driver performance and prevent vehicle operation.

    In Roll Call 616, it failed by 201-229, largely on party lines. But nineteen (19) stinking RINOs joined all but two Demonrats to sink it. You can peruse the RINO Hall of Shame at this link by selecting ‘Party: Republican’ and ‘Votes: No/Nay’ on the filter menu buttons below the subhead ALL VOTES:

    https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023616

    And so the die is cast, leaving us no option but to call for a total boycott of weaponized 2026 vehicles. Death to the automakers, each and every one of them.

    • Massie has been in Washington DC for years. There are thousands of opportunities to file bills that would actually benefit a large cross section of Americans. Restrict TSA from using body scanners, repeal the Energy Conservation Act of 2007, study highway safety impacts of NHTSA FMVSS on car designs that restrict visibility, study screen distractions in modern vehicles, ban glyphosate, ban atrazine, allow DDT again. A whole host of things. What do we get? This?

      The only hope here is that this impaired driver monitoring system will be as well received as the 1974 seatbelt interlock was. By mid 1974, the regulation was rescinded by congress.

    • It’s truly sad that we can’t even count on politicians who claim to represent us to do the right thing. At least the leftist, anti-freedom Democrats are open about where they stand.

  25. Well thats something not to look forward to! I imagine lots of disabled vehicles parked on the side of the road since some folks barely stop at stop signs and outright run red lights these days. My new car is threatening to install an auto update. Not pulling the trigger but guessing even if it doesn’t update it will get done at first service. Bracing myself for all the assists i toggled off to resume and stay locked on like my 2020. These updates make me feel like i have no control of my car.

      • Expect that EVERYONE will be required to install that sort of “tattler” on their ride…someone will lobby and BRIBE the Congress critters.

    • Wow, ‘Clockwork Orange’ for your car.

      …I wonder what will happen to the cars, & the people inside the cars, when the car is shutdown in the wrong part of town,…or, at night during a blizzard,… or, while fleeing a hurricane,… or, any combo?

      The value I place upon of my dumb* used vehicles just increased significantly.

      (*”Dumb” like a dumb phone, as opposed to a sthmart phone.)

      • Well, if something bad (like serious injury or death) happens to the persons/people in the cars that do this, I predict some massive lawsuits against the manufacturers! Imagine a car shutting down on a deserted road on a cold, dark night. A driver who is impaired by some substance, or even an elderly person, could wander away and get lost and die, or die of hypothermia in the car if they cannot at least start it (assuming it is an ICE car, an EV will have its own set of bigger problems).
        Imagine the lawsuit(s) filed by the survivors….

      • I hear ya, Helot. The 2022 vehicle I bought last year will be the last new one I buy. A kill switch in a car/truck up here could get someone stranded and killed in the middle of nowhere when it is dark and -40 below. Slide through a stop sign due to icy snow roads and have your engine killed? Ooops, sorry about that, but regulations are regulations. Ooops, you swerved one too many times to avoid hitting a moose in BFE on your way to work. Sorry, but you have to walk 20 miles to work, or thumb a ride home, and get your now-worthless vehicle (that you still owe payments on) towed somewhere. Yeah, no thanks. What I found surprising, is that my equally worthless, democratic House Representative actually voted “no” on this bill. Who would have thought hell froze over for a bit….

        • Good Morning, Shadow!

          This “kill switch” business may be it for me, too – insofar as test driving new cars. What would be the point? To tell you how much I loved the new touchscreen?

  26. How hard would it be to disable these sort of things? Maybe there is some sort of a mode for servicing the vehicle? If you’ve ever seen a mechanic weaving while trying to locate whether it’s a bearing or CV joint issue causing the noise complaint this new technology should make thing more interesting.

    • You can count on the idea that there will be no exemptions or service modes for the cars. If so, maybe they will only allow it for about 20 miles or so.

    • Well, the dealership won’t have to do that, they’ll just replace everything to be on the “safe” (and coincidentally profitable) side. We old school troubleshooters are part of the problem, we keep junk going long after the plebes should have been forced to finance a new one. At a minimum I would expect licensing of mechanics to be a push soon.

  27. I suspect the collapsing economy is going to vote for us, and against the car makers and the state. A year from now, far fewer will afford a new car.

    • Unfortunately, John, the one word answer is Cuba, but in that lovely and sad little tropical paradise the communist government at least didn’t hate cars.

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