Full Disclosure

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The federal regulatory apparat requires that the sellers of the food we buy in stores list the ingredients and calories per serving and other such on the label so that we know what we’re eating. It is interesting that the federal apparat does not require any similar disclosure regarding the cost-increasing effect of the regulations it imposes on the cars it allows us to buy.

Well, assuming we can afford to.

Millions of us – literally – no longer can, if the waning number of new cars being sold currently vs. recently is a barometer of that. The high of more than 17 million annually was set back in 2017. It is down by a couple million now.

Certainly, there is inflation. The cost of everything has increased by about 20 percent, roughly – and that includes cars. Which of course leaves less money in people’s hands to buy cars. And cars have become alienating things to many people, who dislike the disconnected, smartphone-emulating interfaces and pushy parenting of the “driver assistance technology” that has become unavoidable in new cars – because the car companies now anticipate these “technologies” being mandated by the regulatory apparat and make them standard before they’re required.

Which is exactly has happened.

It is why all new cars already have a suite of “advanced driver assistance technology” – including (most of them) the automated emergency braking system that has been mandated to be standard a few years hence. Elements of the so-called “kill switch” all new vehicles must have by 2026 are also already embedded in anticipation of the formal requirement.

This regulating and complying with it has been happening for a long time – since the mid-1960s, to be precise. That was when the apparat issued its first regulation that every car buyer could see the moment they went to look at a new car.

It was the seatbelt mandate.

Others followed – because one thing always follows another. In time, there was so much regulating – so much mandating – that cars were fundamentally transformed. Some say this transformation was for the best, though the unspoken part is – according to whom? Well, according to those who approve. Those who don’t can suck it. More finely, those who don’t have no choice. They can “approve” – by buying what’s available. Or they can choose not to – as millions now do.

But no one really knows what they’re buying anymore. More finely, no one knows what the cost of all these regulations they’re forced to pay for is.

Shouldn’t there be disclosure?

Don’t car buyers have the same right to know what they are buying that people who buy frozen TV dinners have to know what they’re eating? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see whether car buyers would balk if they were informed about the cost of all these regulations that the apparat insists are “worth it”?

Car companies already line-item the cost of optional equipment – which car buyers are free to not pay for. So how about the car companies line-item the cost of the standard equipment the apparat forces them to install and us to pay for? So that we know what we’re paying for? So that we can decide whether it’s “worth it” – to us, as individuals?

It is hard to know the exact cost of the apparat’s equipment – and its mandates – but some rough estimates are possible:

Integrated air bags – which are no longer just a single air bag stuffed into the steering wheel, as they were at first – probably have added $4,000 to the cost of a typical new vehicle. Because there are multiple air bags now – four at least – and these are integrated into the design of the dashboard and doors/seats, which must be designed to accommodate them as well as around them. This is why the deployment of just two air bags in a relatively minor crash can result in irreparable damage to the vehicle – in the sense that the damage to the dashboard and so on is not worth fixing.

Direct injection – This extremely high pressure way of injecting fuel directly into an engine’s cylinders probably adds $1,000 to the cost of a vehicle vs. what it would cost to equip it with  throttle body injection – the system that preceded port fuel injection and that works just as well in terms of drivability and “emissions,” provided those “emissions” standard are reasonable. They no longer are. Hence port fuel injection and now direct injection.

Direct Injection systems typically have two fuel pumps and some have an additional port-fuel injection circuit that is installed to counteract the carbon fouling of intake valve stems that arises as a result of injecting the fuel directly into the engine’s cylinders, rather than above the intake valves – where the gas acts as a solvent and thereby prevents the formation of carbon deposits on the intake valve stems. DI also helps the car companies comply with federal minimum miles-per-gallon regs by slightly increasing gas mileage vs. port fuel or throttle body injection.

Automatic transmissions – These have become standard equipment in almost everything, even high-performance sports cars and trucks. Both of which used to typically come standard with less-expensive manual transmissions. Automatics have largely been made standard for the same reason that direct injection (and cylinder deactivation) have also been made standard. They help with compliance. But how much does this cost? One can get a sense of it by looking at how much it costs to replace a modern automatic, which is a very complex piece of equipment that now routinely has eight or even ten speeds – the latter several being incremental overdrive speeds installed to eke out minor MPG gains by incrementally reducing engine revs at various road speeds.

Figure about $4,500 or so – which is roughly double what it cost to replace an automatic with four speeds and just one overdrive.

Tear-away plastic front and rear ends – The apparat has made it much too costly to chrome exposed metal bumpers, which is why the bumpers mandated by the apparat for “safety” are now hidden behind body-colored plastic “fascias.” While the bumpers are still designed to absorb impact, the plastic covers are designed of plastic – and so very easily damaged and usually impossible to repair afterward. They are typically held to the car by press-in clips that easily shear off and the cost to replace a front or rear “fascia” that shears off can be and often is thousands of dollars, even though it is just cheap painted plastic.

Back-up cameras and incidental electronica – The apparat decreed a few years back that all new vehicles must be equipped with back-up cameras because a few people who could not see what was behind them due to the apparat’s bumper-impact regs. So all new vehicles now come standard with little cameras built into them and a video display monitor so the driver can see what “safety” otherwise makes it impossible to see.

There are also many sensors and lots of wiring – all of necessary to the operation of the “advanced driver assistance technology” they apparat has made standard in anticipation of it all being mandated. Figure at least another $2,000 and that’s probably on the low end.

These are among the reasons new vehicles have become so expensive.

Wouldn’t it be nice if people knew why, exactly?

. . .

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40 COMMENTS

  1. It’s all about ‘keeping us safe™’, don’tcha know?

    The European Union has proclaimed that its goal is to have ZERO road deaths by 2050. This is called ‘Vision Zero’ – not to be confused with ‘Net Zero’, although the two are closely related.

    They are related because the only way to attain ‘Vision Zero’ is to ban cars altogether. Which of course will make a massive contribution to ‘Net Zero’.

    The same, albeit in a slightly different way, applies to food. The government enforces labels with ingredients, but at the same time promotes the ‘food pyramid’, which is exactly upside down from a truly healthy nutrition point of view.

    The logic there is that by increasing food costs due to the extra compliance, the peasants will have no option but to seek out and eat the cheap carbohydrates, corn syrup and seed oils that the government says are ‘healthy’.

    This is a win-win for both the government’s Net Zero plans, as more people die younger and thus are not a drain on Social Security & help save the planet, and the politicians’ donors in the pharma companies, who get to sell drugs to treat the chronic diseases this ‘healthy diet’ inevitably causes.

    There is logic in the madness, fear not. Just not the kind of logic we, the tax cattle, would like.

  2. The windshield mounted camera for my 2018 Camry enabling several “safety” features has a retail pricetag of $1200 just for the part.

    When the camera stops working, as I’ve briefly experienced twice, the dash lights up like a Christmas tree as a warning to the driver.

    Good luck selling one of these with a bad camera when the module becomes unavailable at ~ 15-20 year mark.

  3. As a rough comparison, a Suzuki Ignis in Germany costs about the same ($11,900 US) as a Mexican version. The Mexican version has ABS, and Airbags but the German version also has is a Hybrid with Lane Assist, Emergency Braking, Rear Camera and all the other EU required safety nonsense.
    Maybe the Mexican cars are subsidizing the EU cars.

  4. “Direct injection – This extremely high pressure way of injecting fuel directly into an engine’s cylinders probably adds $1,000 to the cost of a vehicle”

    and direct injection ruins the engine….low rpm detonation, carbon build up and oil dilution…so you wreck the bearings…and the timing chain…but you got a couple of mpg more…lol

    and when you have to replace the fuel pumps and injectors, the cost is far higher then port injection….not including the cost to fix the ruined engine….by the direct injection….

    Fuel dilution…chain wear…and low speed pre ignition…detonation….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVd-ZS5bnyY

  5. Those plastic covers front and rear, oh yes it is thousands to replace. I nicked the LH corner of the front facia on a VW rental. Of course the “lane assist” gizmo on that corner got scuffed too.

    Overseas rental, glad I used a VISA gold card to rent as I would have been out $3800 for the repair. Your USA car insurance DOES NOT cover your out of country car rental. The VISA rental coverage kicked in I was out my $500 deductible and VISA picked up the bill. You must keep your rental receipt showing payment by that card otherwise good luck.

    • One of my wife’s gal pals had a minor contact in a Costco parking lot with her ’22 Traverse and Progressive paid out 5,000 bucks minus the deductible for the bumper, right parking lamp, a minor dent in the right fender and paint. It’s crazy.

  6. Add to that motor oil. Hard to even find 10-30 or 15-40 etc. any more. It’s mostly 5-20 or 0-20 or 5-30 and even lighter vis. I had 3 choices at WallyWorld for the oil changes on a couple of new inverter gensets I’m breaking in. Super Tech 10-30 4 cycle Syn, Mobil 1 10-30 high mileage syn or Quaker State 10-30 conventional. I got the Mobil 1 for 8.50, all I needed was a quart. Crazy. The parts stores have a little more selection but I was in a rush. Both generators spec 10-30 and you don’t want to put lighter oil in and have a higher risk of oil leakage.

    • And the joy of antifreeze selection! I’ve given up and get the factory stuff per their spec for that vehicle, motor, and year. The ‘91 Chev pickup and the Ford Escape are the only exception they get GL5 coolant no more Dexcon (heavy on the ‘con’) for the truck after it ate the intake gasket water passage.

      • Yeah, antifreeze especially for newer vehicles is VERY make and model specific. OEM is pretty much the only way to go. Same for transmission, transfer case and axle oil. You don’t want to mess around with these.

  7. Full disclosure

    Shaun Maguire
    @shaunmmaguire

    Yup. True story. Hunter [Biden] was our tenant in Venice, CA. Didn’t pay rent for over a year. Tried to pay w/ art made from his own feces.

    He changed the locks and used Secret Service to enforce. We had no access to the property.

    Absolute shit bag.

    https://x.com/shaunmmaguire/status/1863442726588498117

    It’s the Biden way: steal you blind, then leave behind a stinking pile of dung to clean up.

    • Hard to feel sorry for: a venture capital guy in CA, choosing to rent a home in CA (CA laws favor renters), and then chooses to rent to Biden family member.

      Seems like a string of bad judgments to me that says stay away from Sequoia Capital if one of their partners is this bad at making sound business decisions.

      ROTFL

    • Typical grifters. A family of white trash that slithered their way to the top. While the “cream rises to the top” in a capitalist system; the scum also rises to the top in politics.

      • UFB!,,, Their going OOB now because they can’t sell the crap. And what the hell is Corpgov doing wasting the freshly printed counterfeit which will cause more inflation.

        They are insane! Insanity runs rampant in today’s Merica.

      • That’s $7.54 billion to Stellantis-Samsung … on top of $6 billion to Rivian announced last week.

        And more stolen billions of arms to the Ukies, from a Defense Department that can’t pass an audit.

        In its final days, the ‘Biden’ regime is looting the Treasury in broad daylight. Expect the new administration to spin a sob story similar to Bill Clinton, upon taking office in 1993:

        ‘Folks, the government’s finances are in MUCH WORSE shape than we were told. So those tax cuts and the balanced budget that I promised are off the table. THEY LIED TO ME.’ 🙁

  8. “Certainly, there is inflation. The cost of everything has increased by about 20 percent”

    Haaaa. If prices had ONLY increased by 20% I’d be happier than a pig in slop. No, I think prices have doubled — or more — on nearly everything. Went to Wally yesterday to buy some dry gas and oil filters. Bottle of drygas used to be 99 cents, now it is over $2. Motorcraft oil filters were $3.99, now they are $8.49.

    I bought a leftover ’16 Ford Focus in 2017. MSRP was 17 grand for the base. I got it for about $12,500 plus tax and shipping, a little over $14 OTD.

    Try that now. if you can find ANY brand new vehicle for less than $28k OTD I’ll eat my shorts.

  9. How about just telling people that all those airbags have a limited lifespan and if not replaced become little grenades? The words “air bag” are found on 40 pages in the Jeep Cherokee manual but no where does it mention that they have a shelf life. The only thing that comes close to saying they’re not perfection on Earth is that there’s a warning light -that gets mentioned over and over again, how it’s normal for it to bulb check, then if it comes on for any reason after starting to immediately take it to the dealer.

    How about telling us that all those automatic “driver assist” systems won’t work in sloppy conditions, when it might be handy to have something that keeps you out of the ditch? As soon as the sensors get covered up by mag chloride or snow it shuts down. Driving on dry pavement doesn’t require “assistance.” But in poor conditions I could use all the help I can get, so why not design the stuff to help out then? Oh but that’s too hard, so just drive manually.

    How about building cars people want instead of SUVs that appeal to no one? We make do, but they’re obviously a comprise. Style? Nope. Performance? Not really. Big numbers that look good on paper? Yep. 1000 cubic feet of storage! Seating for 12 (extremely small people)! Sits up high so you don’t get as intimidated by the jacked up RAM 1500 passing you at 90! But does it sell itself? Nope.

    • Right….

      Nobody knows what 40 year old airbags will do….

      Was it forward planning to reduce the useless eater…slave herd?

      When they find out….ban all old cars…anything pre 2020?…. with airbags…a lot of cars….great way to take away slave mobility…

    • How about telling us that all those automatic “driver assist” systems…

      We already found out…even one day old systems are defective…can kill….the automatic emergency braking system locks…. up if it thinks it saw something….you get rear ended and your neck broken…

      Plus these automated systems have many defects that can get you killed…..

      But…safe and effective….right. very effective….slave herd reduction agenda 2030….

  10. That kind of reminds me of the withholding of one’s taxes from their paychecks every pay period. That was instituted during WW-2 to more quickly raise funds for the war. At the time of implementation, the government proclaimed it would be only temporary til war’s end. I guess the war never ended. If were ended, everyone would have to pay in every quarter or every year. That would put a big crimp in the Feds reckless spending after most taxpayers would be raising hell! The same would happen if new car buyers actually knew what regulations were making the MSRP so damned expensive!

    • New update! Speaking of costs (hidden or otherwise), I just got a view of my auto insurance policy for 2025. It went up another 23% . That’s on top of 26% for 2024! That’s over $800 in 2 years! That’s with the same autos, no accidents and no violations! WTH!!!

    • ‘I guess the war never ended.’ — Allen

      Well, ‘we’ never demoblized. So apparently it didn’t.

      Is 80 years a long time?

  11. Looked at a new 2024 Subaru WRX.
    Monroney window sticker has one line just above total MSRP that says “Emissions Compliance – $59.00”
    I guess that’s a start.

    • I love my 2023 WRX. Its a REALLY great car – but they put that damned subaru eyesight in them starting in 2024. I hope i am able to keep mine for a long time because i definitely dont want eyesight.

    • The actual true cost of emissions is $5,900 on the WRX.

      Not the $59 you “thought you saw”, the decimal was probably just a speck of dirt or something.

      Back in the 90’s, the Insurance Institute was on a crusade about how expensive Manufacturers parts were to use for repairs. They decided to “build & assemble” a 96 Jeep Cherokee, about a $30 grand MSRP vehicle. Using only manufacturers parts, the total cost was over $120 GRAND. This was in 1996 or 97.

      What’s the cost to do something like that now??? LOL

      • Here in WA the insurance lobby quietly got “like kind and quality” instituted years ago. Enjoy your Chinesium sheet metal & related replacement parts along with the constantly increasing premiums. And no, they DO NOT fit like the original OEM. I raised hell over the misfit grill on the truck repair they relented & I did get my genuine GM grill. The grill still misfairs with the Chicom fender about 1/4 inch but the 3/4 inch grill to hood gap is gone.

  12. I think it’s a marvelous idea. It ain’t gonna happen either because a) the increased costs = increased profits to the manufacturers and b) the boot on the neck of manufacturers & dealers. Can’t have the dumb masses know why they are getting screwed.

  13. You are correct, Eric. And what about all the data mining that you get? Selling info on where, when and how we travel and shop is a big money maker for these mercantilists.

    Think “they” are not watching? An acquaintance was strolling through a grocery store and stopped to glance at a display for fish sticks. She thought about her childhood school lunches and the fond memories it triggered. Several hours later she was getting fish stick recipes and suggestions. She hadn’t even bought the things, just stopped and looked. After reflecting on it she realized was wearing her smart watch at the time and had left her phone in the car. All this “tech” is nothing but an electronic fence surrounding the plantation planet upon which we live.

  14. ‘Millions of us – literally – no longer can [afford a new car].’ — eric

    Two classical consumer discretionary sectors of the US eclownomy — new cars and new houses — both are sucking wind.

    Houses still mostly respond to what buyers want, although new code requirements constantly jack up their price too. Commiefornia forces new houses to come with costly solar panels, for instance. By contrast, new cars have been commodified by BigGov decree into obese, tiny-engined appliances — or worse, even more obese EeeVees with thousand-pound inflammable boat anchors battery packs.

    In the election run-up, the usual lipstick was applied to our pig of an economy. But spreading gangrene in the consumer discretionary sector — exemplified by Stellantis booting out Carlos Tavares as CEO — shows that the chickens are coming home to roost.

    During the last really big war, Big Gov seized auto factories to convert them to arms production. A four-year gap in new models — 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945 — ensued.

    Would the trigger-happy fools behind NATO’s Ukraine debacle pull this shit again? HELL YES, they would. Probably without the dead weight of Lightning Jim Farley and EeeVee Mary Barra at the helm of Ford and GM, though. They are yesterday’s news. Turf them out.

    • You bet they would. If they could. What they would find here in the United States is a highly complex, largely unusable system for other manufacturing purposes. The robots, the software support, the complex machinery in today’s auto plants is highly specialized and mechanized to the point that it can’t really be used to manufacture anything else. In addition, we no longer have the steel, aluminum, glass and plastics production capabilities here to execute anything close to a military war buildup. Couple that with the absolute gutting of the domestic textile industry that began 40 years ago, and and we find the US as an utterly useless country. It pains me to say that.

      All the military would have is a bunch of buildings with 600VAC incoming power with a whole lot of machinery that no one could program other than the indian H1B “workers” who made a mess of things.

      As for bouncing these CEOs out, it’s a good idea. They are the useless eaters of our time, though I’m not going to say much more for myself at this point.

      We need a true automotive watchdog group that will get to the heart of what Eric has begun here, pumping out press release after press release to the idiots in the media and to podcasters who give a crap. Maybe the word will get out.

      The affordability and prevalence of private transportation is what differentiates us from the rest of the world. With stagnating auto sales due to increasing complexity, cost, and market saturation, we are on the verge of losing it all. Barring all out nuclear conflict, I give it 7 years.

      • Heck they *did* try to do that

        Remember during Covid they got GM to manufacture s whole bunch of ventilators that no one ever actually used? (No word on whether or not they even worked very well) (personally I would not trust my health/wellbeing to any GM product)

      • “ As for bouncing these CEOs out, it’s a good idea. They are the useless eaters of our time “

        Had a coworker that had worked Silicon Valley years ago, his exact opinion. His put – the CEO secretary knew more and was more competent to run the company. Park the CEO at his 3 martini lunch and watch the place soar with him out of the way.

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