Fuel economy scams are alive and well in 2024. You can still buy plastic boxes that plug into your OBD-II port and promise to increase your fuel economy. You can also drop metal pellets into your fuel tank and hope something happens. In either case, all you’ve really done is probably flushed money down the drain.
Many miracle products are easily revealed as scams if you just think about them. Many scam products will talk about how some important, unnamed person was stopped by a big corporation or the government because their product was just too revolutionary, so instead they’re releasing the product into the market by themselves. Always take a moment to think about this. The ads never give a name for the inventor and they always use the most generic stock footage. Also, if you can improve fuel economy just by plugging a cheap plastic thing into one of your car’s sockets, you’d think that an automaker would do that from the factory. After all, the automakers do want to meet regulations.
Anyway, this is all a long way to say that Sklooner’s joke is a good one:
All I need to know if they are compatible with my Fuel Shark
Richard O also got a giggle out of me:
It’ll give the Fuel Shark lead poisoning.
Earlier today, we heard of a teenager who found himself in a pickle when the Honda Pilot he was driving rocketed down the road at 100 mph and allegedly resisted efforts to stop it. Should you find yourself in a situation like that in a car, try to punch the brakes, put the car into neutral, or shut the car down. If you have a newfangled car with a push-button start, try this:
My understanding is that most cars with a pushbutton start/stop won’t do anything if you hit the button while moving. However, if you press and hold the button, it will shut off the engine.
Remember a few years back when there was a Prius that got the throttle stuck and was blasting down a California highway? IIRC, CHP dispatchers were talking to the driver and told him to press the button. He did, but he kept just hitting it, not holding it. That’s why it wouldn’t shut off.
Shutting down your engine at speed usually means losing power steering and power brakes, but you should be able to come to a controlled stop. I’ve done it before!
Finally, Jason wrote a Cold Start about Rosh Hashanah. One of the things that we hope makes us stand out is that we want our site to be for everyone who loves vehicles, not just the stereotypical “car guy.” Thank you Diana Slyter:
This is what I love about The Autopian- A car site for us car nuts that ain’t straight WASP guys! Extra points for the Corvair- Drive Different!
Indeed, the Autopian will forever be for all walks of life. Have a great evening, everyone!
Fuel Shark image via eBay.
I actually found 2 of those OBD fuel economy things in amazon return boxes when we did that for a white elephant party. I honestly was wondering how many people plugged them in? Seemed like a very good way to brick one’s ride or worse open them up to theft in the event those thing actually did anything.
I feel like car shows have changed considerably over the last decade or so. Part of it was COVID (lots of people were looking to join in outdoor activities of any sort; the Cars & Coffees became insanely crowded), but in general, I am no longer surprised when I meet someone who doesn’t fit the car dude stereotypes. [said the white scandinavian guy]
Wait, the Fuel Shark doesn’t actually work? /s
I mean, the cold air intakes work too right?
I prefer the Lukewarm air intakes…they use The Force…
(Not to be confused w/ Lucas Electrics= The Prince of Darkness
w/ the slogan “Add Your Own Replacement Smoke!”)
Great words Diana Slyter. The Autopian is populated with wonderful car people. Corvair rule!!!
Interesting story about the runaway Prius.
I know the manual for my 2012 v says that I can either push it 5 times, or push it once and hold it to shut it down in that kind of situation.
I was going to say that I recall one of the improvements that came out of the runaway Toyota scandal was that they changed the pushbutton logic to allow multiple stabs at the button to turn off the car the same as one sustained push.
See, I was just imagining Jason with an ’85 Corvair the other day in one of The Bishop’s fictional-car writings.