Mechanic here who's shop disconnects the camera. Its for the same reason cashiers are told to not sit on the job, its a dumb "company image" thing. We personally never joy ride customers cars, some test drives do require longer drives (DPF regens test drives can take over and hour of driving sometimes, hence high milage test drives), but the main reason is just management wants to keep an image and not potentially ruin when a customer goes through the videos listening to their "respectful" mechanics just saying dumb stuff or being judgmental of a customers car. We can have crude laugauge, odd humor, and any bumper stickers on a car will be spoken about, and management don't want you hearing that. Another reason is customers misinterpreting what a mechanic is doing to a car, some interior work genuinely feels like we are breaking the car, we are doing what the manufacturer requires and with the tools needed, but still can sometimes not be pretty, even for us, and unknowledged customers can and have claimed the workshop is breaking their car intentionally and tried to take us to court over us doing our job. Though this is just my workplace, I have worked for dodgy independent shop where joy riding has happened, and straight up taking customers cars home because workers don't wanna pay for their own fuel, I got out of that one asap

A motorcycle. I don't know exactly what make and model, but I would guess to be something Suzuki, but you're looking at the front of the bike, with the light at the bottom, and the SS is stuck behind the wind deflector, or "windshield" as some might refer to it as. Picture might help give an idea.

Clarification for those OOTL. Aus had a test alert for their new national emergency warning system AusAlert, and it shouldn't say "Presidential alert", not for Australia at least. Older or alternative mobile OS will display an American or International default heading, The intended heading is "CRITICAL AUSALERT"

Work for a somewhat expensive automotive brand and yes it is very common. We have cars from $60k to over $400k and beyond, and they all are glued together everywhere you look, that or plastic clips, very little is actually bolted on. Sometimes because in a crash it is better that a piece breaks and fly's off then to stay mounted to the car, and in (most) other cases, probably for cost reasons. But it is a common thing, and has been for a long while, and if executed right, it is tried and true, however if you don't have good quality control and workers who don't care, they're not gonna mount pieces right, and create a hazard

What car a "car person" buys is not because of a numbers games, or its features, or its practicality, it is just because certain cars give a sort of "emotion" that connects with them. As someone who has driven loud but genuinely slow cars like Toyota Chasers, RB20 swapped Silvias, forged billet built 4g63 evo's, but then something like an Audi E-tron GT, the etron of course is faster, more comfort, more festures, but they feel "sanitized" where as the others you have to conform to the car. EV's are amazing cars, but give you no connection to the car or the road, there is no personality. If you're not into cars, it sounds dumb, but as much as corvette owners, or dodge demon buyers will tell you the 0-60 times, the 1/4 miles trap speeds, the power of the car, the real reason is it conveys an emotion that connects with them that a Tesla doesn't, a Porsche Taycan doesn't, a ioniq 5 N doesn't, etc, they're great amazing cars, but they don't let you turn your brain off the world and needing you to focus on driving, like listening to your favorite song does, some songs are just noise, but some let you forget about the world and just focus on the moment

👏RAIN👏X👏

genuinely an amazing product, don't even need wipers in the rain if you have it applied. And last a decently long time. Will advise though don't use the window washer additive for newer cars, can cause the sensor to always think it is empty

My very simple guess is this. It requires more parts, bigger assembly line, overall higher complexity, adds weight, makes the headset more fragile, and so forth, so I'm sure if they can make a design that accommodates the majority of users, it is cheaper to say "good enough" then to design and accommodate for the rest of the potential users

Don't know why you are being downvoted, it's a genuine question. Just generally the control groups for a vaccines effectiveness when given to the public, example, comparing the spread of a virus to those vaccinated and unvaccinated, or comparing the severity of symptoms between the 2 groups.

This isn't a new thing. Almost every car that has an electrical park brake advises you to use software to change change out your rear brake pads, as when you release your Electric Park Brake (EPB), the EPB motor doesn't wind back enough, to give you the space required to install new pads and/or rotors, it only winds back enough to release pressure off the piston pushing the pad, which this has been in production cars since 2001 (some cars have brake maintenance modes which can be activated without software, Mazda first comes to mind with this). This whole Hyundai/Kia deal reminds me of Volkswagen back when they were intoducting proprietary software for vehicle maintenance, which led to a guy getting mad and making his own software that does everything the factory software does for a fraction of the cost and arguably better (Rosstech/VCDS) which I feel will happen soon with Hyundai. But being mad just at just Hyundai for this is the wrong mindsent, almost every car manufacturer does this and for a long time, and needs to stop. Even for dealerships this is horrendous because it uses a always online software that if you live somewhere with bad internet or GPS connection, stops you from even just resetting the service interval, which as usual is explained as being a good thing for "safety reasons" by the manufacturer.

+1 to this. $5k is BS, Especially if we're talking USD, but this also sounds like classic VW making a simple repair a massive job, replacing unnecessary parts, charging exorbitant prices and throwing away perfectly good components that end up in landfill, and best part is in the end it probably wasn't even what they diagnosed to actually be the cause of the problem, dealerships love to fix symptoms, not causes. A good independent Euro specialist would have loved that job.

And that's okay! Cars as an interest isn't for everyone, to me it is my passion, and my means to a living, but for most they are merely a tool and a burden, nothing more, but for some it goes beyond that. It is one of the very few hobbies/passion that is shared by the majority of those who don't care for it. Imagine if suddenly everyone in the world had to spend and hour of their day listening to heavy metal music, no negotiation, just has to as a means to living, for the majority, they would hate that hour of the day, but for those who are into it, they'd love it, well that is the automotive hobby, majority have to drive to live, so not everyone has to be interested in it, its just a tool, but for some, it is an expression of themselves, a connection to a past, something to improve themselves upon, or just a way to disconnect, cars can tell a story to some, but to others they're as colourful as a hospital hallway, and both are okay.

C

Internet car forums are the only reason my cars are still running. A trove of endless car information to fix things yourself and not let them become obsolete, where to find parts, what new parts fit old chassis, etc. Will forever be grateful for them

Of all the Volkswagen Group brands (Audi, Bentley, Cupra, Jetta, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda) Skoda is top tier. Octavia RS wagons are one of my favorite current production cars on the road

I'll add some notes to this guy, on the "no specialized tools required" this may be a misdirect.

Depending on your vehicle, you may need an OBD reader to release the parking brake into a "servicing mode" (if your car has and E-parking brake (where there is a button to apply to parking brake instead of a just a typical hand brake) you're most likely gonna need an ODB reader that has function tests) and some, mainly euro, cars have odd socket types for brake components, Torx and multispline/triple squares are common on VWAG, and E-Torx on anything Merc, your handbrake may also require a wind back tool as some don't just "push" in. These are tools which can sometimes be a pain to find someone selling, or just annoyingly expensive.

Also most modern cars, mainly euro again, will require rotor change every time you do pads as the rotors metal is hardened more on the inside, so if that is suggested, do it, might be more expensive, but if you don't, it can become a lot more expensive.

Sounds like me trying to advise you don't do brakes, but no, doing your own work on cars can be a massive pain but also rewarding, and if you have to buy tools to get the job done, it sucks initially, but those tools can last a life time and help with with tons of other jobs, and if you're like me, you get to appreciate the engineering into these simple components we take for granted, just do some research on your car, be safe and enjoy!

Another word of advice, if you live near the coast or in any countries "rust belt", penetrate oil can be a life saver!

Itasha goes deep, these "builds" are closer to shrines then anything else IMO. It isn't for me, and not for many, but it isn't the point, it isn't to appeal to the masses, but to entertain ones self and truly indulge in their own tastes, personality and interest, same as Kaido racesr, Dekotora, Bosozoku or any other extreme car cultures. It is insane the effort people put in, but it is just for themselves, to entertain their passion, to take no shame, and really show who they are. Its really cool and I love the culture and history behind them all. If you're interested in more, Noriyaro on YT has some videos of Itasha car events, shows off cool builds and talks about its history, really cool

Can't say any legit bands that sound exactly like that, But some of the guitar and metal notes sounds inspired by Polyphia, Playing God (sorry for the yt link) might scratch your itch, otherwise look up the math rock genre, might find some gems there. Wish you the best of luck!

Gonna make a quick edit, Unprocessed 100% deserves a recommendation in this genre. Occasionally have some EDM but mainly more on the metal side, but still have some extraordinary strings akin to Polyphia

I mean, these are ment to imply that you have become a hazard and stopping in the middle of the road do be pretty hazardous.

Legitimate reasons to use it imo is If you're gonna be stopped for less then a minute on the side of a road, otherwise find a park, if you need to stop and not somewhere you can park, get as far off the road as you can (ie shoulder of a freeway) or if you actually are in an emergency and need to stop, e.g. you're car is suddenly externally combusting

As another said, That is very specific, can't say I've heard of that before, but not a Prius connoisseur, However is right regardless when it comes to ICE engines (internal combustion engine). An engines efficiency goes down over time, there is a lot of mechanical movement and a lot of its components decay overtimes, bearings, piston rings, springs, valves, gaskets, just everything in the engine is not a "lifetime" part. In 20 years, if you on average drive 2 hours a day, 5 days a week at 2,000rpm, just 1 piston has done 41,600,000 strokes, crankshaft has spun 20,800,000 rotations, Camshaft has spun 10,400,000 rotations as has the intake and exhaust cam opened/closed, fuel has been injected into the engine and exploded. It comes at a cost that would honestly be similar to the lost of charge in an EV battery, however the EV battery will lose its charge at a same rate even if "neglected". An engines overall efficiency over time also correlates to the maintanace you put in. Late in a oil service can cause problems causing poor efficiency, as can using the wrong oil, or using the wrong octane/cetane rating fuel/diesel, poor engine cooling, etc, a lot of maintenance is required, and you'll still have poor efficiency after 20 years, at least with a battery, as long as you aren't constantly discharging it completely then filling it, and it is being cooled correctly, it should consistently lose its charge over time.

And if you're up to spending a little more, you can buy OBD readers that are manufacturer specific which will give you details on what is setting off a code. VWAG cars are hell, but if you have VCDS/Rosstech (or ODIS if you can get your hands on it) simple plug and scan will majority of the time give you the exact cause with an event history of the code and not just a vauge "Bank 1 lean" etc, and even if you don't want to do the repairs, if you know what is broken, ordering the parts and giving to a shop ends up being much cheaper and quicker then the cost of them doing the diagnosis and repairs