Two items that should be included in a new car.

In My Humble Opinion
1

IMHO, every new car should come with a "plug-in-the-wall battery charger. Not some 20-AMP fast-charger, but just a 1 or 2 amp trickle charger, to keep the battery charged during periods of non-use or give the owner a easy way of being sure the battery is at fault (if you have it on a trickle charger for two days and it still won’t work, chances are it’s the battery). Add to this, it is very hard on an auto alternator to charge a dead battery. With a discharged battery, it is always better to charge it first with a trickle battery charger before doing than anything else.

As you can buy these aftermarket for less than $20, I can’t believe that an automaker couldn’t integrate such a device into the car for less than $5. No cables or cords, it is integral to the charging system, the owner has to supply the extension cord.

The other item is a 12Volt tire pump. These can be had for $9.95 aftermarket. An automaker could probably do it for less than $5. Just this past week, I drove my brother to the airport to pick up his car (his wife had to go out-of-town and just left it in the airport parking lot). After dropping him off, I noticed his rear tire was awfully low and stopped him. Brand new tires on a 10-year-old car, and one had a nail in it. I had a tire pump in my trunk and in about 10 minutes, he was on his way to the tire shop he bought the tire at. If we had to put on the spare, it would have take much longer and would have been the donut tire. As it was, we just had to wait until the tire pumped up.

Funny thing, just a day before, I had told the same brother that I thought every car should have such a pump. He said “Naw, tires these days don’t get flats that often, and when they do, a little pump like that won’t do any good”. Well, while the tire was pumping up, he said, “I think I’ll get one of those, now”.

So, go down to the nearest Harbor Freight or other cheap tool outlet and buy a trickle charger and a 12v tire pump, and put them in your trunk. Chances are you will need both over the life of the car; if you just need one of them, they will have paid for themselves. Paying $20 extra on the price of a car is really worth it.

2

you willing to pay another $500 to get one of these?

here’s the thing. the stuff automakers sell with the car is tested to have a design life of 10 years/150,000 miles. That utter fucking junk you buy from China Express… er, I mean Harbor Freight… might work once, if you’re lucky.

so, the answer is, if you want the automakers to give you this stuff, it’s going to cost a hell of a lot more than that filth Harbor Freight sells.

3

I happen to have a battery charger… and I’ve used it something like 3 times in the past 20 years, one of which wasn’t even for my battery. I think I’d just as soon pass on them integrating that capability into the car itself. Most of the time, I drive enough to keep my battery adequately charged, and the times that the battery’s been dead, I’ve either had a dying alternator, or done something like accidentally left the dome light on.

The tire pump is another thing that might be nice once in a blue moon. Personally, I keep my spare inflated, and have a can of Slime fix-a-flat in the off chance that I need it. If I need real tire inflation, I fire up the real compressor in the garage. Again, I’d rather not pay for the OEM version of a 15 dollar tire compressor.

Personally, I think they ought to have more cigarette lighters/power ports; like 2-3 in the front, and a couple in the back seat as well. With the prevalence of mobile devices like phones, tablets, etc… having one in the center console isn’t enough on long trips.

4

I just got my first (used) vehicle with a backup camera. Holy cats, those things are worth every penny. I love it so much. I can hook up my own trailer now, without so much as a peep from my husband “helping.” Words cannot express how much stress that relieves and how our entire camping trip improves for the want of a squabble.

It’s also great day to day, and makes parallel parking a big vehicle* a breeze. Even backing out of parking spaces is a breeze; it’s so much faster and safer knowing I have more room to back up than I’d been giving myself.

So that’s what every car should come with. Have they made them mandatory yet? I know it’s planned…

*The biggest vehicle I’ve regularly driven, anyway. It’s a Honda Pilot.

5

Need a portable camera or three that can point in a lot of directions for 18 wheelers and really for the guys who pull mobile homes / pre-fabbed homes…

6

Good Lord! $500? The alternator has not only the needed basic circuitry, but windings and the mechanical support to generate a much higher current, and they cost less than $150. I’d guess alternators cost the automaker less than $80 each. I’d be surprised if they couldn’t design a device that mounted in the engine compartment that would cost them less than $5.

It’s not like a battery charger is complicated. Given that batteries only last 2-5 years, it seems to make a lot of sense to include circuity that would permit attaching a 110 volt extension cord for an alternate charging method, particularly when a lot of times doing this overnight will solve a very common problem many people experience.

[QUOTE=excavating (for a mind)]
The other item is a 12Volt tire pump.

[QUOTE=jz78817]
here’s the thing. the stuff automakers sell with the car is tested to have a design life of 10 years/150,000 miles. That utter fucking junk you buy from China Express… er, I mean Harbor Freight… might work once, if you’re lucky.
[/QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]

I think this “utter fucking junk” is probably much more reliable than you think. Have you ever used one? I doubt it, or you would not have this opinion.

I have one in each of 3 cars, 1 truck, and 1 motorcycle. The one in the truck has seen quite a bit of service (perhaps several cumulative hours of running). The one in my wife’s car is still in it’s clam-shell packing and has never been used. It takes about 15-20 minutes to fill an empty tire, maybe 5-10 to fill a low one. Not great compressors, but if you discover you have a low tire at an inconvenient location (funny how that works), they are better than a hand pump.

Besides, how much use do you think this pump is going to see? Many folks would never use it (I’ve seen lots of old cars with the original spare tire). If HF can sell them for $10, an automaker should be able to buy them for around $5. Even if covered by the warranty, if one failed it wouldn’t cost much to replace.

[QUOTE=jz78817]
so, the answer is, if you want the automakers to give you this stuff, it’s going to cost a hell of a lot more than that filth Harbor Freight sells.
[/QUOTE]

I am not asking them to give it to me, but $10 on the price of a $20,000 car doesn’t seem like a deal breaker to me.

Why the hate for HF? Sure, they do not sell many professional quality tools, but a lot of times, a homeowner doesn’t need professional quality. I bought a two-wheeler hand truck from Sam’s maybe 15 years ago. A great device, made in USA, pneumatic tires, ball bearings in the wheels and everything. Well, the tires finally developed dry rot and wouldn’t hold air. HF had a set of replacement 4.10/3.50 4" wheels for $4 each. Sure, I could have bought them from Amazon, but at $23 each and two days for delivery, I think I came out ahead.

7

26 pounds of Vanilla Custard.
And a Hat.

8

You’d also want the waterproof lining for the trunk.

9

Run-Flat tires.

Changing wheels is never fun, and we are now so culturally advanced that being visibly disabled on the side of a road makes you “easy pickings” for thugs.*

    • which is NOT a racial descriptor and I will never recognize it as such.
10

Silly Tatterdemalion! :slight_smile:

What good is a hat in a trunk?

11

Jeep has a nice design on in-the’bumper fog lights. Nissan has one for in-the-rack roof lights. I’d love to see both as factory options on any brand’s SUV.

12

Harbor Freight is a great source for tools if you know you’re only going to use them a couple of times … and in my case, that’s usually all I need.

There’s no point in spending hundreds of dollars for a drill if I’m only going to drill one hole (okay, I’m exaggerating, but not by much). I can’t speak for anyone else but I’m glad they exist.

13

MOPAR tickle charger $88.16. That’s seventy bucks more than a basic brand trickle charger. Trickle chargers last pretty much forever, so it would be silly to repeatedly pay many times more than what it is worth every time you by a car. One aftermarket purchase of twenty bucks v. ninety bucks every time you buy a car? That adds up to more than $500 over a person’s life.

14

MOPAR tickle charger $88.16. That’s seventy bucks more than a basic brand trickle charger. Trickle chargers last pretty much forever, so it would be silly to repeatedly pay many times more than what it is worth every time you by a car. One aftermarket purchase of twenty bucks v. ninety bucks every time you buy a car? That adds up to more than $500 over a person’s life.

15

I think that all vehicles should come with OEM cat chauffeurs.

16

I think the problem is that both of the features are useful for when something in the car fails. And manufacturers and dealers don’t want to talk about things failing so they wouldn’t want to bring up these features in a sales pitch. That’s why you see emphasis on car features like GPS’s or wifis or dvd players - luxuries rather than safety features.

17

The OP is hilarious.
Do a search on the threads about how someone’s new car didn’t come with a spare tire and read about how people here have totally lost their shit over having a pump and not a real spare.
As far as the charger goes I predict and will bet money that if someone announces this as standard equipment there will be a thread about look this car maker knows their batteries are such pieces of shit they include a charger in the car!

18

Excavating, it’s all about selling people what they want.

Start with a variety of vehicles to satisfy the basics.

Offer option packages for each vehicle.

Offer OEM aftermarket items for each vehicle.

All this makes it possible for most people to get all of what they want and little of what they don’t want without having to go outside the dealership.

Beyond this there are non-OEM aftermarket vehicle specific parts and non-OEM generic parts to satisfy people who have somewhat unique requirements or who want to cut down on cost.

Forcing people to purchase things they do not want is not a good thing. Giving them a wide range of options and prices from which to chose is a good thing.

19

Toonces?

20

here’s the thing. as an Original Equipment part that they have to give warranty coverage for, there’s a certain amount of durability/validation testing they have to do (and design for.) if it comes with the car and is not a wear item, it has to be warranted for at least the 3yr/36,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. That means it’s got to be a lot more durable and robust than Harbor Freight crap. a good rule of thumb is that every dollar of cost added to a car translates to another $10-25 on the sticker.

yes. twice I’ve bought a tool from them, first a torque wrench, then an impact socket. The torque wrench broke the second time I used it, and the impact socket cracked the fourth or fifth. I’m not giving them a third chance.

as I said above, automakers aren’t in the habit of giving stuff away. anything they put on the car for $10 will add $100-250 to the sticker to pay off ED&T costs.

because they sell knockoff garbage sourced from China. And have the nerve to tout themselves as an “American Company.”

this is not exactly a ringing endorsement.