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Storm Scarred

As though loss of life and property wasn’t bad enough - courtesy Hurricane Harvey, Automotive News says watch out for storm scarred cars – 300,000 to 500,000 vehicles (based on flooding from other storms) could end up in salvage yards and subsequently cleaned up and sold on used car lots from the flooding in Houston. Shady or unsuspecting used vehicle dealers in Canada could import trucks.

Things to look for include checking the engine compartment for evidence of water damage, look under the dash for residue or mud, examine the carpets closely if they have recently been shampooed – especially water stains under the carpet, check to see if the interior panels look faded, and check for rust on screws or wiring under the dash and under carriage of the truck.

According to the Canadian Registrar of Imported Vehicles (riv.ca) “ Flood or water-damaged vehicles coming from the U.S. are considered junk/non-repairable by all licensing jurisdictions in Canada and can only be imported into Canada for scrap or parts…” But considering the profit to be made from potentially a half a million vehicles, caveat emptor is the phrase of the day.

Danger - Autonomous Ford Driver Approaching

Ford has announced they are looking for partners to build autonomous vehicles with by 2021 – but you won’t be buying an F150. They will be looking to create an electric hybrid vehicle for service industries (taxi, delivery, ride-sharing) and will initially operate in high demand (read dense urban) areas with extensive, detailed route mapping (again – sounds like big city). They are currently working with Domino's Pizza in an industry-first collaboration to understand the role that self-driving vehicles can play in the service industry.

Bottom line - your trails, small farms and work sites will be avoided by robot cars for now.

Nissan Intelligent Rear View Mirror

That’s a fancy way of saying they’ve built a backup camera into the rearview mirror. And I like it. The video shows an actor filling the cargo area of his 2018 Armada with balloons – spoiler alert – he can’t see out the back window… but with a flip of the switch the balloon view becomes a rear camera view. Many vehicles today have a limited view out the rear now so this feature certainly makes sense. With a soft top up and a 35” spare hung off the back, my view from the drivers seat of my Wrangler JK Unlimited, is definitely limited. While aftermarket rear camera-rearview mirrors are easily and affordably available, if you install them according to the directions they only function when you are in reverse – not too helpful on balloon day.

Ram 3500 HD gets Heavier Dutier for 2018

Tweak, tweak, tweak. As Ford was tweaking its engines to hit best-in-class in the half-ton market, the Ram engineers went all-in to bump the Ram 3500 HD up to an astounding 13,608 kg (30,000 lb) fifth wheel towing capacity with a newly in-house engineered hitch, and Cummins engineers amped the Cummins 6.7L diesel up to 930 lb-ft of torque to keep the Ram rolling.

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