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Today I had to correct a field of experts that claimed that an adaptive suspension increased active safety. Not your self proclaimed armchair expert but one charging a sum with a number of zeros behind a 1 – 6 to be exact.

I disagreed, and minutes later – coincidentally – stumbled across one of many examples.

Mercedes limited chassis revisions to a light retuning of the adjustable Airmatic suspension system and a 10-percent quicker steering ratio. The results are a very heavy sedan that feels a little lighter on its feet. Still, this sport sedan is not as athletic as its rivals. Its test track performance numbers …are very good, but not great. Both the 550i and A6 4.2 S-Line outhandle and outstop the E550, but the more relaxed ride and handling compromise of the Mercedes feels better at anything short of the most fevered pace. Even in the stiffest of its three suspension settings, the Mercedes is sprung more softly than the BMW or the Audi, putting a higher premium on a smooth ride than ultimate agility. – Edmunds

(In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s not the hardware, it’s the software – or more specifically how it’s written…)

Carmakers like SUVs for the same reason they like coupes, and more so – convertibles: they can charge a lot more for ‘em. Same goes for all wheel drive (cost: a few hundred tops, retail cost: thousands) or larger displacement engine in the same family (Someone explain why a 3.0L 6 cylinder costs more than a 2.5L 6 cylinder when they have the same number of parts? Some companies command $5K+ for the privilege).

The latest moneymaker: third row seating, in many cases right where the crumple zone was meant to be and no airbags either.

When cars get bigger, marketers cite growing waistlines. But as award winning L.A. TImes writer Dan Neil cites:

If the average family size in the United States is 3.84—so sayeth the U.S. Census Bureau—and the average number of children younger than 18 in those families is holding steady at 1.86, well, why the sudden pressing need for more seats? ...The rise of third-row seating, it seems to me, is a classic case of a manufactured need. Most people who spend the extra money don’t actually need a sixth and seventh seat; it’s merely that they have been possessed with the anxiety of not having them. My God, one day we might have friends, and then what will we do?

Reuters reports that Nissan has warned owners that its intelligent key can be rendered useless if placed in the same pocket as a cell phone. (For those of you who don’t know, this is Nissan’s version of the new generation of car keys that allow you to get into and start the car so long as the key is on your person). When your hotel room key forgets who you are, help is an elevator ride away – this might mean you’re forced to spend the night in a hotel.

No word on whether other brands’ similar keys are vulnerable but you might want to get into the habit of dedicating pockets.

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It’s not quite common knowledge yet but some people are starting to understand that tires – because they are made of rubber – have a certain operating range within which the rubber adheres to the road surface. Go above that and the rubber becomes greasy and is prone to tearing, go below it and it reaches its ‘glass point’ and gets hard and slippery.

For this reason your average ‘all-season’ tire gets slippery on a dry cold day below about 40 degrees and your average performance tire gets slippery below about 55 degrees until you warm them up. It of course varies from tire to tire but something on the TireRack website got me thinking – apparently once you expose tires to extreme cold permanent damage can occur!

Like the motorsports tires this Extreme Performance street tire has evolved from, the ADVAN Neova AD07 radial’s construction and compounds have been tuned to maximize the tire’s traction and performance within a specific range of ambient temperatures. Therefore, unlike less highly-tuned tires, Yokohama’s care instructions specify that due to its compound characteristics, ADVAN Neova tires must be used and stored at temperatures above -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) to maintain its performance and avoid tire damage.

Due to a single piece of trim, the Buick LaCrosse received one out of five stars in NHTSA side impact tests. Buick is redesigning the trim, but I have recieved no word on whether owners are being informed.

If you have any information to share with other readers, please comment below.

When your tires were new, they had 10 to 11/32 of an inch of rubber on them.

To pass state safety inspection you are required only to have 2/32s. That’s only 18-20% of what you started with.

Here’s the thing – testing shows that you’d have to have a deathwish to drive with less than 4/32” (just over a third of the original) in the rain or 6/32” (just over half original depth) in the snow.

Most mechanics still follow the state minimum but given that tires are typically cheaper than insurance deductibles as the wet and slippery weather approaches I hope you’ll consider replacing yours a bit too soon rather that a bit too late.

I commend Ford for taking this step but given that the technology’s been around since the late 90s should it really be taking so long for manufacturers to at least make it an option on every car?

Now that the mass media is catching on, consumers are too and are starting to demand it. That’s the only way the manufacturers ever listen – when we speak by spending dollars elsewhere.

Some people think driving with your lights on in the daytime looks silly, but when you dig a little deeper driving with them off seems downright stupid.

Every study I’ve seen lists a double digit percent reduction in accidents for cars equipped with daytime running lights, while this page from a British website lists 3-5%.

Lights on at all times isn’t about seeing, it’s about being seen, especially in low contrast times (e.g. dusk, bleak winter days) or during sunset when drivers are overcome by glare as they head west.

It only takes a moment to turn ‘em on and there are other benefits too: people are quicker to get out of your way as you come up behind them in the fast lane and the laser guns police use are literally blinded by the light.

I’ve been driving with mine on since the mid 90s, when I found out a rental car company saw a 2000 percent drop in insurance claims after wiring their cars so the lights were on when the car was in drive. (No that’s not a typo).

Perhaps we should define ‘safer’.

Safer for the occupants? Less likely to kill someone?.

My definition of ‘safer’ is a car that is less likely to get in an accident – some call this active (rather than passive) safety. Light cars can brake and change direction smartly, while Electronic Stability Control ensures the driver doesn’t panic and overcorrect.

As with many things in life it comes down to the relationship between stiffness and mass. You want the strongest car possible for a given weight. Adding stiffness while also adding weight is less desirable, as is losing stiffness when you subtract weight.

If you check out the crash performance of cars in offset collisions you’ll notice that it’s not the heaviest cars that protect their occupants best when striking a barrier, its the ones that have the best structural engineering, something that can’t be seen by the naked eye. Now if we’re talking two cars hitting one another, that complicates things… but that’s why I’m big on car control clinics and ESP.

Anyone who knows me can tell you I’m addicted to my phone. Taking calls 24/7 or pictures of the one paragraph in your average car magazine worth reading, my phone gets more use than most. So when it failed last Friday I was understanding; we’d been through a lot and it had given me good service…

What I didn’t realize until I got an identical replacement phone was how badly I needed a new one. Apparently the speaker, the headset port and the battery were barely functioning but I’d accepted their performance as normal because the degredation happened over time.

And so it goes with tires, wiper blades, air filters and especially shock absorbers (the old bounce test or visual inspection doesn’t work anymore now that shocks are gas pressurized rather than simply hydraulic). If you have any doubt, replace ‘em with the same or higher quality and you’ll see what you’ve been missing. Come to think of it this applies to significant others too…

But I digress… If you’re considering a used car, factor in how much it would cost to replace these items or have the seller include them in the deal.