Few things make a car owner question reality quite like finding every window open in the morning. The doors are still locked. Nothing appears to be missing. There is no broken glass, no damaged wea
So, can you legally drive without a rearview mirror? The slightly irritating answer is: maybe. That is not very satisfying, but it is the truth. In the U.S., mirror laws are not perfectly iden
A small square or circular panel sits almost flush with the painted bumper. It has no button, light or obvious reason to exist. Once spotted, though, it becomes surprisingly difficult to ignore. Be
Close a car door with every window shut and the air inside has to go somewhere. The door pushes a substantial volume of air into an already sealed cabin. Without an escape route, pressure builds fo
The old-fashioned car antenna made no attempt to hide what it was. It was a long metal whip sticking proudly out of a fender, ready to catch radio stations, snag a car-wash brush or disappear overnigh
The engine stops. The dashboard goes dark. The radio continues playing as though it has decided the journey deserves an encore. For a driver unfamiliar with the car, this can produce an immediate r
The car drifts gently toward the shoulder, and suspicion immediately falls on the alignment. That is understandable. A car should travel where it is pointed, and anything that seems to tug at the s
A parked car should understand the concept of being parked. The engine is off. The keys are inside the house. The garage has been quiet for hours. Then something beneath the car begins to hu
There is no graceful way to discover how ABS feels for the first time. Something enters the road. The brake pedal goes down hard. Then, at precisely the moment when calm would be useful, the pedal beg
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