You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

There were over 160 American car manufacturers in 1919. That number dropped to about 15 by 1969 and the industry has consolidated at 11 in 2020.

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

The Perseid meteor shower is about to peak

For the next week or so, if you head outside after sunset and it happens to be a clear night, look up. The sky will be putting on its annual production of the Perseids

[Lee Stewart]

Chevy’s 2020 Corvette has received its first recall, and it isn’t for frunks flying open … it’s for frunks staying closed.

As of September 1, 2001, NHTSA amended the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) to require that all trunks (or frunks) feature a release latch inside the compartment to allow anyone stuck inside to escape on their own. While the C8 Corvette does have such an interior release, Chevy also equipped it with a low-power “sleep” mode that activates 10 minutes after powering off the vehicle. If someone—Chevrolet specifies “a small person”—should shut themselves in the frunk within that 10-minute window, the sleep mode could prevent that latch from working, thus trapping them inside.

The good news is that Chevy has an easy fix. You don’t even have to go to a dealership; GM will use an over-the-air software update that allows the Corvette’s Body Control Module (BCM) to “lower the voltage required to wake the vehicle from the low-power “sleep” mode, thus providing adequate power to the interior frunk latch for an indefinite time after power-off. As a practical measure, however, just make sure the frunk is latched before you get into any shenanigans.

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

A folding utility knife that stores extra blades, strips wires, and costs about $15