Rock Solid Shifts.com

This Dude, Ryan Davis, was accused of rear-ending a Lincoln with his Jeep on Monday night. The Jeep flipped on its top, with the three-month-old baby dangling in its car seat inside.

”All of a sudden you hear a baby scream”, said eyewitness Shelly Wood. ”As you get closer to the car all you can smell is alcohol. It reeked”, Wood said.  A man who lives in the neighborhood helped get the baby out of the car, along with police.

This dude not only had the nerve to drive drunk and risk the lives of everyone on the road that night, but to do it with a BABY in his car!  I don’t know what this loser was thinking, but come to find out he had other prior convictions.  He is being held on a $100,000 bail.  Why even let him out? Just keep him in there until he learns his lesson?

I have had a friend in high school loose his life because of drunk driver, so I have no mercy on these guys.  Drink all you want.  Just stay away from me and stay away from your car.

This guy is going to need a good laywer.  Maybe he should check out Baltimore DUI Lawyers.  On second thought, maybe he shouldn’t.  What am I saying.  He should try and represent himself in court.  That way he will get the maximum punishment for his DUI and other charges.

let me know what you think…

Popularity: 1% [?]

#1 Daihatsu Naked – WTF?!?  How does Naked and cars relate at all?

#2 Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear – If that’s the space gear, then what does the space ship look like?!

Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear

#3 Nissan Prairie Joy – Sounds like a movie title.  Maybe Nissan forgot what industry they were in.

Nissan Prairie Joy

#4 Rickman Space Ranger – It was hard to rank these names because all these names suck soo bad.

Rickman Space Ranger

#5 isuzu Giga 20 Light Dump – This name is as appealing as a bowel movement…

isuzu Giga 20 Light Dump

#6Honda Life Dunk – Japan only. Too bad it’s not sold in the states. I’m sure many would go for this one.

Honda Life Dunk

#7 Suzuki Cappucino – Makes your coffee in the morning, just like I’ve always wanted my car to do.

Suzuki Cappuccino

#8Toyota Deliboy – Hey boy! Go make me a sandwich! Cars do that… right?

Toyota Deliboy

#9Volugrafo Bimbo – What is more stupid, the name of the car, or the car itself?

Volugrafo Bimbo

#10 Dodge Diplomat – Genius…

dodge diplomat

#11 Mitsubishi Pistachio – No comment

Mitsubishi Pistachio

Popularity: 100% [?]

Sunday February 21, a woman was hit by a tire flung by a crashing dragster.  The woman was airlifted to the nearest hospital for treatment, but later died.

It was Firebird International Raceway’s first-round Top Fuel run that caused the tragedy.  Driver Antron Brown was piloting the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster, when a crash caused the rear left wheel to come off.

Top fuel dragsters are unbelievably powerful machines that can reach speeds up to 340 miles per hour within a quarter mile’s distance.  A tire launched at this speed would have an amazing destructive force on any person or any thing.

Top fuel injuries and deaths are not a new thing, however, it is more rare for someone in the audience to get hurt from accidents.

The NHRA issued this statement regarding the incident:

“The entire NHRA community is deeply saddened by today’s incident and sends its thoughts and prayers to the woman’s family and friends”

Dragster Crash

Popularity: 12% [?]

In Palo Alto, CA a small Cessna airplane crashed killing three employees from Tesla motors.  The names have not been released yet.  A statement by the Tesla CEO Elon Mus indicated they wanted to notify the family members first.  Tesla motors is a small tightly knit company and loss for this company is devastating according to Mus.

The airplane was owned by one of the engineers of the company, and it appears as if they were joyriding and something went wrong.  They crashed into power lines and the plane exploded.  Some houses were damaged including a day care, but no one was injured on the ground.

This comes at a bad time for the company as they are preparing to go public and offer shares through an IPO.  Hopefully this setback won’t hurt them in the long run.

[source http://www.ktvu.com/news/22589862/detail.html]

Popularity: 6% [?]

According to Left Lane news the South Korean court has found Chung Mong-Koo, Hyundai CEO, guilty of protecting managerial rights knowing it would hurt the company and bring about financial loss.  The courts fined him 60 million dollars… holy crap.  But that doesn’t even come close to the amount desired, which was $480 million according to the lawsuit documents.  The losses had to do with sales of shares of Hyundai affiliates Hyundai Airspace and Aircraft Co. and Hyundai Hysco.

At first thought, who could pass judgment on this guy.  Who knows what really went down? However, come to find out in 2007 this guy was found guilty of embezzling 90 billion won of Hyundai’s funds, which is like 78 million dollars give or take, through fraudulent accounting practices!  That is too bad considering I love this company.  Every year they surprise me… you know you liked the Sonata presented in the super bowl commercials.  Don’t deny it.  Starting under 20K for a sleekly designed 4 door sedan running at 35 mpgs?!?  Remarkable…

Leave a comment darn it! Oh and here is the full article if you want to read it.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/hyundai-ceo-to-pay-60m-fine-over-losses-to-company.html

NG4GUHWGWHMX

Popularity: 5% [?]

If you are like me, there is no “best car” per se.  If I had my choice, then I would have a line up of twenty cars and in the morning think to myself “hmm… which car do I feel like driving today, the Tesla Roadster, my Toyota FJ Cruiser, or the Camaro?  But of course, Motor Trend must be a little more realistic than I am because they realize that that doesn’t happen.  For 2010, they picked the Ford Fusion.  Let’s find out why.

To sum it up, it’s economical, practical, and doesn’t bore your pants off.  It’s an exciting car to say the least due to its 4 engine choices and various trims, and great design. (it was completely redesigned for 2010)

Here is a quote from the Motor Trend article:

It isn’t often that lower-end models impress our lead-footed, enthusiast-driver staff, but our 2.5-liter four-cylinder Fusion SE tester proved the biggest of surprises. Paired with a slick-shifting six-speed manual transmission and optional Monochrome Appearance Package, (which, at only $895, includes 18-inch alloy wheels, V-rated performance tires, a rear spoiler, leather steering wheel, and cruise control), the Fusion SE goes from mild-mannered commuter to worthy canyon charger. Edward Loh said it has a “balanced ride, yet it’s sporty and really fun to chuck in corners.” And it boasts an EPA rating of 22 city, 29 highway, and an as-tested sticker price of just $23,065.

Full Article Motor Trend Article: http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/car/112_1001_2010_motor_trend_car_of_the_year_ford_fusion/index.html

There are lots to say about this car, but the other item I wanted to point out was the hybrid option that boasts a 45 mile electric only range.  Thats incredible.  For me , that finishes my everyday commute plus 20 miles.  Give me the option to plug in and I would hardly need the 2.5l  combustion engine that’s mated with it, only on long road trips.  Think about it.  I now spend $2000 a year on gas.  If I keep the car for 5 years and only spend $500 per year because of the electric feature, thats $7500 more dollars I can spend on the price of the car.

Anyways props to the engineers and creators of this car.  Check out the article if you are interested.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Toyota Symbol

[Rock Solid Shifts]With surprisingly little press from the danger that is created by a sticking gas pedal, eight Toyota models have been suspended from sales and even from being manufactured, a drastic safety measure taken until the problem of the unwanted acceleration can be fixed.  The source of the problem are parts made by CTS Corp. and manufactured in Ontario, Canada, and maybe just a by product of former President of Toyota Katsuaki Watanabe’s super aggressive growth strategy that catapulted the company to be the largest auto maker world wide in 2008.

As to the accidents and injuries these acceleration problems have caused, probably nobody but Toyota knows the extent.  And its a pretty good indication from their actions that things are serious and injuries or deaths are a reality.  Corporations act in the best interest of their shareholders, or in other words make decisions based on the bottom line.  Stopping production and sales of these eight vehicles will lead to huge losses.  The scary part comes in when we realize that they made the decision off knowing that if they continued sales they would lose even more.  Can we speculate where those loses come from?  Lawsuits maybe? Could be a good guess.

Leave a comment. I want to hear what you think.

Cars that sales and production have been halted:

the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2009-2010 Matrix hatchback, the 2005-2010 Avalon large sedan, the 2010 Highlander crossover, the 2007-2010 Tundra pickup and the 2008-2010 Sequoia large SUV.

Popularity: 6% [?]

A video from CBS’s 60 minutes unmasked a hidden danger you may not know about when buying “new” tires.  Parents of a family mentioned in the short news clip sent their sons on a road trip assuming they had a safe vehicle to drive.  However, on the way to their destination, they experienced a fatal accident.  The cause? Tires recently purchased for the car broke apart and caused the catastrophe.  The odd and dangerous part of this is that the tires on the car that were thought to be new were actually many years old. Old tires dry out, and become unsafe to use.

Tires sold over the counter across the country advertised as new have the potential to be YEARS older than you think.  This video from 60 minutes explains the ordeal and lets you know how to identify tires that are very old.

Popularity: 2% [?]

[Rock Solid Shifts] Flying through the dirty “out back” in Australia, with your now dirty sports coupe, you swing by to watch bikini models as they wash your car by hand. Not exactly… You pull up and see male nudity!  four dudes were caught naked washing themselves with their cars all while their girl friends were taking pictures of them… Thats wierd, or maybe they just finished watching the episode of Jackass where the guys strapped themselves to the hood of their cars and drove through an automatic wash, and were inspired by it.  Either way, what were they thinking?  They were charged with indecent exposure and public nuances, and are scheduled to appear in court in a month.  Boy would I like to be a fly on the wall for that one!

[source: kcra]

Popularity: 15% [?]

Nissan Cube

I saw this thing on the road the other day, and I almost threw up a little bit in my mouth.  I looks like a two color rubic’s cube put in front of one of those image distorting mirrors.  I don’t know why anyone would pay money for that thing.  It’s classified as an “affordable small car”(although I wouldn’t really call it a car).  Is that why the car maker made it so ugly?  Because if Nissan sold an actual, normal, ok looking car that was at that same price too many people would buy it and then they would lose sales on other vehicles?

Please, I am interested in what others think about this thing.  Leave a comment below.

I found the best looking picture of it I could to give it the benefit of the doubt…

Popularity: 14% [?]

CEO Fritz Henderson’s annual salary is being cut by twenty-five Percent to $950,000 as part of the Obama administration’s  mandated pay reductions for some of the top executives of companies that received government bailout money.  It’s reported that the top 175 execs’ salaries of seven companies that were given help were all slashed.  However, the US Treasury did not report the identities, only the salary numbers were listed.  Evidently Henderson was identified by a source knowing the CEO as the highest paid GM executive, which only makes sense since he is the cheif executive officer. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 2% [?]