Panic in the Streets!

This was the scene at my local gas station at 11:30 PM, Wednesday July 30th. On a normal Wednesday evening, it would be unusual to have more than two or three cars total at the eight available pumps at any one time. Tonight, with one pump mysteriously blocked off, there were often several drivers waiting for a vacancy.

Just half an hour before taking this photo, I waited in a line-up three deep for my turn at the pumps. When I had first passed by, at around 6:00 in the evening, the lines were overflowing out of the station onto the surrounding streets.

Why the sudden rush? It's because at midnight, the new Harmonized Sales Tax comes into effect. Yes, as of July 1st, sales tax on fuel goes from the current 5% GST to 13% as the previous 8% PST gets added in - and it should be noted that like the existing tax, it compounds on taxes built in to the price of fuel already, meaning it's partially a tax on a tax.

It's appropriate that the addition of the HST (to this and a number of other items, though not everything) occurs on Canada Day, as taxing citizens in new and creative ways appears to be a Canadian tradition. Remember, Income Tax was strictly a wartime measure when it was introduced - back in 1917!

Topping the family's two cars at the current 96.4¢ per litre cost me $40 even (call it $38 pre-GST). With the new HST, the same amount of fuel would have cost me $42.94. Does an extra $3 really matter in the grand scheme of things?

Look at it this way: That same $40 would have bought me 8% less fuel. Whether you figure it by the litre or lifetime of driving, my fuel dollar now takes me 8% less distance, so it effectively costs me 8% more to get anywhere.

Think of how much this one item alone will add to the provincial coffers and it's not hard to see why they've done it. I hope that Premier McGuinty and his Liberal government have enjoyed their stay in office, because I can see the HST being political suicide.

Shameless Self-promotion

(Mercedes' Dr Leopold Mikulic and Gerhard Doll find the humour in posing for photos with their new V8 engine - both were good sports)

You can find my Wheels article about Mercedes' latest V6 and V8 engine families and their advanced technology here.

A New Look!

Blogger has been kind enough to offer new templates to its blog users. Who would I be to ignore their kindness?

The new background reminds me a little of carbon fibre, and I thought that the light font on a dark background might provide some relief for eyes that have dealt with the bright backgrounds typically found elsewhere on the 'net.

You'll find that links are now red to make them easier to pick out. This applies to both article links and links to other related posts within my blog.

Let me know what you think - good move? Bad move? What changes would you like to see?

Brian

Shameless Self-Promotion

(Two Mercedes test vehicles narrowly miss each other at a simulated intersection)

You can read my Wheels article about Mercedes' new automated driving system and facility here.

Shameless Self-promotion

You can find my Wheels review of Hyundai's 2011 Sonata Limited here.

Toyota's Ongoing Recall Woes

In the past day or two, Toyota Canada has issued a voluntary recall for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 270,000 first and second-generation Sienna minivans.

This one is for spare tire retainer cables, which may corrode and fail, causing the spare tire to fall out of its stowed position beneath the vehicle, potentially causing damage or loss of control for the affected vehicle or others following behind. All-wheel drive Siennas, which do not have a spare tire (the rear driveshaft needs the same piece of underbody real estate), are obviously not included in this recall.

OK, I agree that this is a potentially serious safety concern. I'll even agree that it warrants some kind of fix (like using chains, as nearly everyone did prior to adopting cheaper, lighter cables).

Clearly, Toyota, having just paid a large fine (and suffering much public humiliation) for not reacting quickly enough to potential safety issues - and facing another, embarrassing situation with Consumer Reports trumpeting a handling issue with its 2010 Lexus GX 460 - is going all-out to deal with anything remotely concerning as fast as possible.

What bugs me here is that other automakers will seem innocent here because Toyota is the only one presently addressing this issue. They're not. Countless hundreds of thousands of minivans and pickups from nearly every automaker are currently plying our streets with the same kind of frankly crappy design as that used on the Sienna, and I speak from experience that they can - and do - fail in exactly the same fashion. I can't count the number of minivans I've been beneath where the frayed end of a rusty cable is all that remains where the spare once resided.

Spare tire on a (new at the time) 2005 Buick Terrazza

I've actually been hit in the face by a spare tire falling off the bottom of a GM minivan, disturbed when I bumped it with the heel of my hand to see if it was tightly secured during a safety inspection (the cable broke and it fell on me while the van was up on the hoist).

There are ways around this problem. Chrysler vans have had a mushroom-shaped plastic safety catch since their 1996 revamp, and I've yet to see one of them so afflicted - not to say it's foolproof. Honda Odysseys store their spares inside; that's about as close to foolproof as you'll find in this industry - at least until you get a flat with a full load of stuff inside - then you might wish it was externally mounted.

I'm sure that the popular media will take this latest Toyota recall and run with it until the next hot news item comes along. Maybe the pro-domestic crowd can come up with another clever bumper sticker to place alongside their newly minted "Toyotas - keep 100 metres back!" decal to commemorate the occasion.

In the meantime, I will continue to believe that Toyota's products are among the best and safest available, and will hope that the company's way of dealing with these problems improves vastly over the train-wrecks that have occurred so far.

Shameless Self-promotion

You can read my Wheels review of Ford's 2010 Taurus SEL AWD here.