If I throw in a chicken, can I get an exemption?
Posted on 12/07/2010 9:36:26 PM PST by Nachum
Thought that new car was expensive now? Wait till the Department of Transportation implements its latest plan to protect Americans from themselves.
Last week, the department announced regulations that would require all new vehicles to install video cameras on their back bumpers. The idea is to make backing up safer, and it’s not optional. “To meet the requirements of the proposed rule,” reads a DOT release, “10 percent of new vehicles must comply by Sept. 2012, 40 percent by Sept. 2013 and 100 percent by Sept. 2014.”
Three years ago, Congress passed the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act, named after a Connecticut toddler whose father backed over him in the driveway. Video cameras are one consequence of the law. According to a spokesman for Ford, the cameras will cost consumers up to $400 apiece. The total cost of equipping the country’s vehicles could reach $2.7 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Another WTF issue to deal with... might as well live in a well-proven communist dump.
a cow-orker of mine was planning to install one on his motor home last week. Said they cost about $40.
Is this satire? Did W sign this bill?
Oh goody. No thank you!
I have no intention of ever buying a new car ever again. Too expensive. And it is about to get a lot more expensive.
I’ll just continue to fix my old cars.
For some larger vehicles is a great idea indeed.
Issue I have is the ‘mandated’ nature of this crap, hope is coming from The Onion... but probably not.
Yet another distraction for idiot drivers!
If I throw in a chicken, can I get an exemption?
The camera’s themselves don’t cost much but they do require a display to view them. That’s the pricey part. Dash’s re-engineered and wiring. $400 sounds about right.
Don't get me wrong... I don't believe that these should be mandated for passenger vehicles. But I'm a techie and always impressed at the low prices of rather amazing technology these days.
It shouldn’t be too expensive. I have a nice little video display on my cell phone. Maybe get to twice that size for something like this to be useful.
You a SCUBA instructor?
You a SCUBA instructor?
How’d ya guess?
My cover is blown!
Dam
LOL
The same people I wouldn't trust to pick up my Dog's poo poo have nothing better to do than think up things like this?
You would think the Nation's Economy was humming along after the National Debt was paid in full, the Mideast was as peaceful as Gay Day at Disneyland and North Korea was the new Riviera.
But please read the reviews. For example:
I liked it when I got it new. But it rained a couple weeks after being installed, an got full of water. [...]now I can't see anything in the monitor.
And here is another one, relevant to the discussion:
I have a friend who had an after market backup system in her Toyota Tacoma for $500+. The display (monitor) in her Toyota is in the center of the mirror. Her Toyota unit is no doubt "better quality"
I'm sure those Chinese toys for $56 won't even qualify under the new program. If the government mandates something, it also specifies the whole list of requirements and tests that manufacturers must meet. I'm sure things like IP67, night sensitivity, resolution, and focus distance will be all required.
Bought the whole works for my truck nearly 2 years ago to help with backing up the boat at the launch (have a bed tool box which sometimes obstructs the view on certain boat launch angles). Installed it myself, easy, total cost $130.
I’ve seen wireless backup cameras for about $65. If someone really wants/needs one, they’re not that expensive. If they would make one with video capture so I can get the license number of that guy that’s tailgaiting me, now we’re talking.
I bought a new car that has one, and was very pleased with the idea, being a relatively new grandfather. However, there are a couple of drawbacks. First is that it has to “initialize’ before it comes on. This might amount to 15 seconds, and if you futz around a little bit starting up, you don’t notice it, but if you turn the key and put it in gear, you’re ten or fifteen feet out of the garage before it comes on. ( As a grandfather, I’ve been trying to condition myself to wait for it. )
Another thing is that it’s a distraction! It does guard against that dreadful possibility of running over your own grandchild playing behind the car ( if you wait, ) but it’s a very curious fish-eye perspective, and I actually bumped a chainlink fence having been emboldened by the view that made it seem I still had some distance. That “distance” was just a few inches and vanished in an instant. No harm done, but I wouldn’t have come within a foot of that fence without the camera.
Further, there’s the issue of cars and other obstacles along side of you when you want to turn. Having this second perspective definitely can distract you from the routine you probably have of orienting yourself wrt your surroundings. In fact, it’s surprisingly confusing. So I’d say it’s a very mixed blessing.
I hear you. I’m at 135,000 and hope to get 300,000 miles on my car.
The thought of going in debt to buy some outrageous priced car is crazy.
This crap has gotta stop. If you want a backup camera, go down to Advance Auto Parts, buy one and put it in yourself. Government should butt out and leave us alone. There is a side of me that believes that all this hue and cry over human rights is just noise, there is one basic human right, the right to be left alone to pursue our lives and goals as long as we do not impose willingly on others as well as the right to defend ourselves if attacked.
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