Replacing windshield wipers used to be one of those jobs that made everyone feel mechanically competent. Lift the arm. Turn the blade. Unclip it. Spend several minutes questioning the little plasti
A turn signal normally keeps a relaxed, predictable beat. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Then, without warning, it sounds as though someone has doubled the tempo. The arrow on the dashboard flashes furiously
Select Reverse, walk behind the car and one white lamp comes on. The other stays dark. The rear light clusters look symmetrical. Both contain clear and red sections. Surely one bulb has fail
A cold engine starts, and a pale cloud rolls out of the exhaust. The sight is particularly dramatic on a winter morning, when the plume hangs behind the car as though the engine has chosen a new caree
The fuel light comes on. The dashboard says 80 miles to empty. The next gas station is 35 miles away, so there should be no problem. Ten miles later, the display reads 54. Nothing has leaked out. N
It may be the most famous sentence ever permanently printed on a car. “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” The wording has turned up in films, songs and countless jokes, but it
The sticker inside the driver’s door says 35 PSI. After an hour on the highway, the dashboard says 39. Four extra pounds of pressure sounds like a problem. The tires were set correctly that morn
The car comes out of the wash looking excellent, apart from one headlight. Behind the clear lens is a patch of mist, as though someone breathed on the inside of it. The other lamp may be perfectly
The car looked spotless when it was parked. Then it rained overnight, or perhaps the wheels received an enthusiastic blast at the car wash. By morning, the shiny brake rotors had turned orange. Not sl
Picture a gray car on a gray highway just after sunset. From the front, everything looks normal. Its white daytime running lights are glowing, the dashboard is lit, and the driver has no reason to sus