**The Trade-Off Between Safety and Convenience Features**

When it comes to vehicle safety features, there's often a trade-off between convenience and caution. For example, plowing packed snow and ice requires specific tires with studs, which offer excellent traction but may compromise on dry grip and ultimate handling during the eight months of the year when temperatures are warm. Similarly, modern vehicles equipped with semi-autonomous systems like cruise control require drivers to stay attentive and focused on the road.

This balance between safety and convenience is crucial in ensuring that vehicle owners use these features responsibly and safely. Mr. Jake Fisher's experience with a state-of-the-art car equipped with supercruise technology highlights this issue. Despite having a sophisticated system designed to monitor his attention, he found himself distracted by reading from the backseat while driving at 70 miles per hour on the highway. He eventually realized the danger of not paying attention and unbuckling his seatbelt.

This incident underscores the importance of driver attention and responsibility when using advanced safety features like cruise control. It also raises questions about the design and functionality of these systems, particularly in relation to seatbelt usage. Mr. Fisher's concern is valid, as the assumption that drivers will always wear their seatbelts may not be accurate for all individuals.

The development of new vehicle technologies like supercruise technology and semi-autonomous systems has brought about this balance of safety and convenience features. While these innovations aim to enhance driving experiences, they also require careful consideration and attention from drivers. As Mr. Fisher's experience demonstrates, the responsibility lies with the driver to stay attentive and focused on the road, even when relying on advanced safety features.

**The Importance of Common-Sense Solutions**

In light of concerns like Mr. Fisher's, it's essential to prioritize common-sense solutions that address these issues. One such solution could be a feature that alerts drivers if they remove their seatbelts while using certain systems. This would help ensure that drivers remain attentive and focused on the road, reducing the risk of accidents.

The development of such features is crucial in addressing the trade-off between safety and convenience. By incorporating common-sense solutions into vehicle design, manufacturers can create a safer driving environment for all users. As technology continues to advance, it's essential to prioritize responsible and safe design practices that balance innovation with driver responsibility.

**A Call to Action**

To address concerns like Mr. Fisher's, we encourage drivers to be mindful of their seatbelt usage while using advanced safety features. If you find yourself in a situation where you're tempted to remove your seatbelt for convenience, take a moment to pause and reassess your actions. Your safety is paramount, and responsible driving practices can make all the difference.

For manufacturers, incorporating common-sense solutions like seatbelt alerts into vehicle design can help mitigate these concerns. By prioritizing safety and responsibility in their designs, they can create a safer driving environment for all users. As technology continues to evolve, it's essential to prioritize responsible design practices that balance innovation with driver responsibility.

**A Final Word**

The debate surrounding the trade-off between safety and convenience features is ongoing. While innovations like semi-autonomous systems and advanced tire technologies aim to enhance driving experiences, they also require careful consideration and attention from drivers. By prioritizing common-sense solutions and responsible design practices, we can create a safer driving environment for all users.

As dragon's experience highlights, the importance of driver responsibility cannot be overstated. By being mindful of our actions and taking steps to ensure our safety, we can mitigate risks associated with advanced safety features. As we continue to navigate the complex landscape of modern vehicle technologies, it's essential to prioritize responsible driving practices that balance innovation with caution.

**Consumer Reports' Approach**

At Consumer Reports, we're committed to helping drivers make informed decisions about their vehicles. We encourage our readers to share their experiences and concerns about advanced safety features like semi-autonomous systems and cruise control. By providing a platform for consumers to voice their opinions, we can help manufacturers address these issues and create safer driving environments.

If you have any concerns or questions about your vehicle's safety features, please submit them via video to Consumer Reports org slash the talking cars. We'd love to hear from you and provide guidance on responsible driving practices that balance innovation with caution.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enbaby it's cold outside and today we talk about how the cold affects your car your comfort and your safety we also talk about what's new here at the track Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition as well as take viewer questions on cruise control and tires next on talking car give us two minutes take off some extra layers here welcome to talking cars I'm Jennifer stock burger I'm Jake Fisher and I'm my Quincy so chances are if you live anywhere in the United States other than the very very southern tip of Florida or the very very southern tip of California you're probably freezing your butts off right about now as are we so we thought it was timely to talk about tips and focus on how the cold weather affects your car your comfort your safety so as the temperatures drop there's so much misinformation what do you do and a lot of these people are experiencing cold that have never experienced it before don't get it very often what are some of the things and tips about you know how to handle your car in cold weather well some people say that they want to go out and warm up their car and we've seen last 10 or 15 years a preponderance of people buying remote starters oh yeah so they want to go from their warm house to their warm car but generally speaking and we published it we publish stories on this is your car gets warmer as it's being driven for me what I try to do is when my car's is covered with snow I go out and I get it running turn on the seat heaters turn on the defroster and then make sure I scrape the windshields so you get you know so you get improved visibility so that's that's generally what I do right and I think that's huge even if there's no snow when it's very cold you will get a frosted windshield and you do need to warm up and run the defrost not just to give you a little window but the clear visibility both front and rear so I think that's important I mean a lot of people ask you know should you warm by your car before you drive right you know is it safe you know and or it doesn't do anything for fuel economy is a warm engine better than a cold one right so I mean the thing is is that if you take your car and you just turn it and let it idle right I mean look I'm not gonna say like you know click-click it over like floor it you don't want to be that little boost when it's cold but you can get driving your car pretty quick I mean look there's not a lot of you know engine you know you're not pushing the engine really hard if you're especially if it's a it's a you know slick roads or whatnot right but the thing is is that you're not going to warm up your car very quickly if you just let it sit there the the other day I had the remote starter we had the Honda Odyssey minivan that was parked outside and I I click the remote starter and the thing once were like 5 minutes it shuts off got the car I think full ice cold right he's like do any warm-up it's not warming up as soon as you get in the car start moving yes yeah you're you're you're working the engine and it's kind of like I went running last weekend out and it was like eight degrees I'm running and I'm wearing debility everyone thinks I'm nuts but I'm wearing this like a thin jacket I'm wearing you know it's thin gloves and it's eight and I was fine you know why cuz I'm running up and down like crown right you're by now if I wore that and I stood there I'm not gonna warm up you know it's like oh you should warm up before you run you're not gonna warm up you're just standing there and that's the same thing with the car so get it moving you're gonna get the heat a lot quicker now I add to this too you didn't recently worked on a piece that we did some online about maximizing the comfort and the efficiency of your heating system what were some of those tips in there because I think they'll surprise some people sure it was a couple a couple of things that you should know about I mean one is research mode bad yeah okay so a lot of people are really confused about like what do you use the research you know is gets a little car and the arrow going around and if you put in research mode you don't get the outside there now on the one hand it'll stay warming in the car right which is like you know close in your window is it whatnot and I'll heat up quicker the problem is is that your winners are gonna fog up because you're exhaling water vapor and that's gonna stick to all your windows and if you a couple people in the car and you have the thing on on research you're gonna you're not going to see out so keep it on outside air in the cold weather that's that's really important and keep the AC mode on that was another tip that was it if you're down below 32 degrees it doesn't really doesn't matter but if you're at 40 yeah put the ACE make sure the AC is on because what this doing is dehumidified the air getting all that moisture out again keeping your windshields clear but it really does make a big difference and doing that and it doesn't use much gasoline at all and when it when I was a kid we used to get in the car it would be freezing cold would say dad turn on the heat turn on the heat and he'd say I but it's just gonna blow out cold air and that's still that's still the case all right this is especially taste with a lot of the automatic climate control right so if you automatic climate control a lot of people are like you know it's not put it was waiting for it to warm up before it starts blowing air at you now you can go manually and take an automatic climate control and move it till high or 90 or whatever it is and all its gonna do is go blow cold air on you it's not gonna heat you up any any better but it works like a thermostat so leave it at 72 turning it up it's not gonna get you warmer any quicker leave it to 72 or 74 whenever your comfort zone is and it'll start blowing air once it's apartment once it gets to that right so it's actually better to keep it not a reasonable it's been a lot of time designing these things and making sure the warmup time is optimized with you setting that at basically 74 somebody's who were two things you haven't covered our heated steering wheel certainly in our region they're super popular our tip is if you have about now right about now couple other things we talked about wipers and not running them while they're still stuck to your window you can actually damage them rip the rubber right off if there's heard that noise right you have the wiper or the or there's there's you know froze there's one box you can burn out the motor but what's going you're just destroying the rubber but your wipers and they're not going to work yeah go out and scrape them no you take your nail on it just take all that ice off right and it'll wiggle it off well the other thing is tire pressures you know we see it a lot when we start to get cold water cold weather sorry in New England but a lot of people for what people don't realize is that tire pressure is relative to outside ambient temperature so for every ten degrees the temperature drops it drops one pound per square inch psi entire pressure so a lot of people come out on these cold mornings in all their tire pressure lights are on it nice to see that that those the the two cars I've driven recently the Kia Niro the BMW x3 both have the tire pressure monitors and they they're very specific about what the tire pressure is not all right and I thought I find that incredibly convenient and and but you know no-fault against the car or the tires but both of them were Oh untitled but if you look at do the math right so I mean you know if if you haven't checked the tire pressure from 60 degrees from 60 right and it's zero and and say you know it's 30 is the nominal pressure that's we're supposed to set of that it's a 24 right right I mean that is low that's gonna affect your handling this can affect emergency handling that's gonna affect the fuel economy fuel economy and braking a lot of different things yeah yeah so we say you know and again a lot of people are experiencing the cold that are in areas that don't normally but for people that generally have a bump them up a few PS right or the winter to accommodate but if your car doesn't have the electronic monitor is telling you they're low do that away right do that anyway the other tip we talked about is being prepared you know I envision the people and I'm probably guilty of it myself is you go in your slippers and your sweats and sweatshirt you're going out the duncan for a coffee you know think about what your kid missed the bus right exactly so have even if you just have the things in your car some additional clothing we just did some piece on a great gift was emergency kits that have you know some jumper cables and a blanket and I scraper they people are scraping their whether what right yeah we've all been there it's a credit freeze you know it's oh my god I mean it's like I'm yelling at my kids the credit freeze a flashlight tow straps maybe extra food right you know a bar you're traveling I mean if you're and check the the the fuel gauge yeah yeah you know when you're driving around with you know under under a quarter tank yeah yeah so we talked about safety one of the interesting things was news this week that we talked about so if you want to share oh well I mean one of the news pieces that came out was talked about there was in commercial airlines right out of the entire world in 2017 the amount of people who died in mercial Airlines was zero and and okay that's that's pretty amazing but actually if you look at United States the year before was zero right and the year before it was zero and why that's kind of you know why we're talking about this on a car show right is because if you're gonna take a trip and if you need to go I mean of you know you know we're in Connecticut go to Washington DC or go to Detroit or something like that you can drive but you could fly and you're gonna be a whole lot safer flying statistically I mean the point is that you know a lot of people were scared fly right man the last nine years not a single person is that whereas last year 37,000 people around 37 right died in car crashes so you're gonna be thinking that trip and you know the roads could get bad it could be a snowstorm you know think twice I was just looking at where we're going to DC and right you weeks we don't drive we drive $150 yeah from you know right middle of middle of Connecticut Harvard and it's like you know any minute later run the risk in this this you know season of getting trapped somewhere in an airport right but still better than being frozen paper we're talking pure safety of being trapped on the highway but it's some of the pictures of Atlanta last year remember they were in complete gridlock for 24 hours but but if anything it's a kind of a testament of human psychology my father-in-law used to say well I do like to fly so he said well I like to be in control so as we talk more and more about autonomous driving cars cars that drive themselves is that going to be a road you know a big bump in the road yeah for autonomous cars because people want to feel like they're in control so they don't want the cars to do more for them you know I mean yes yes just like just like being an airplane okay so I think you got away how far you're traveling you know what's the weather conditions where you're going versus the flight travel I agree I agree so news from the track here we have a couple new vehicles big vehicles the Lincoln Navigator and the Ford Expedition max so why are these of interest Mike well I I was actually assigned to buy the navigator for the test program spike my hundred and thirty six car that I bought III find the whole car-buying experience really fascinating because every dealer is different right and honestly the vast majority of cars that I've bought for the test program the deals have gone really smoothly no issues this particular buy of the navigator was just fraught with problems from the minute that the dealer said the dealer said say well they had they had what we want they had the car in stock listen with very aggressive pricing I like great what's the price and they said we're very aggressive pricing so they kept refusing to tell me the price of the truck and my approach is usually all right there's the sticker price there's your cost there's there's a number in between there let's just go right to that number and we'll be done with it and they kept dancing around it you know I I think we've talked about our car buying is may be very different than than the people in the audience we typically are getting a brand-new car a lot of times we know more than the dealer does we want it very very quickly so we're willing to put up with self but I think for the average buyer maybe walking out of that dealership would have been good advice and trying somewhere else because we do see that the experience can be vastly different from say one Ford dealer Lincoln dealer to another Ford Lincoln dealer the other tools are maybe a building by program we have that building by program where you solicit by an email and get the prices back from the dealers and and kind of avoid a lot of what you went through hopefully that that that program working as you said Consumer Reports has their own building by where you go and configure the car you put in your information dealers that kind of pass the sniff test of us are allowed to kind of bid on your on your on your business and it can be an easier more seamless experience and again the vast majority of the cars I bought have gone really smoothly there's a lot of hard-working honest dealers out there and I've had the pleasure of working with a whole bunch of them but once in a while it seems like we're back to the 1970s bad apples yeah so with the Lincoln Navigator and the Ford Expedition we will be testing them both literally just hit our Lots yesterday and these are interesting because they're kind of adopting some of the aluminum body from they're f150 cousins so the be interesting both enormous they're still enormous they're low light or not but they're a lot lighter maybe more fuel-efficient obviously will help first drives and videos coming so stay tuned on those um we also have some questions from our viewers so I'm gonna take the first written one so from episode 129 this person says if you live in an area that has just a bit of snow each year and you don't want to go through the hassle of buying a completely separate set of tires then get something called all-weather tires they suggest the Nokian WR g3 they are halfway between all season and winter tires and they actually perform pretty good better than half the pure winter tires so let's start to get to answer that question with a little tires no no was that a question or was that well it's it is a new segment so it may be of interest to people so we have all season tires which are kind of what they say and all tires have compromises those are meant to give a monocle of performance in all weather can you use my like that and it is out there then you have your dedicated winter tire design truly to give you absolute traction in snow and ice they actually have rubber compounds that are more flexible in cold temperatures they even work even if there is no snow and ice a little better then a few years ago we saw the introduction of models like the Nokian WR g3 the Toyo Celsius we have tested both of those but it's just like this person says they are halfway between dedicated winter models and all season agreed they do a good job but - we've tested and there's more coming of snow and ice grip but they compromise just like a winter tire does the dry the wet grip that's for most of the year for most of us in this country so yes they do do a good job if you don't want the hassle of changing to winter tires but we would still say if you're a person that has to be out in winter conditions particularly snow and ice you know I think of a nurse or a first responder of any sort we still say the winter tire the dedicated winter tire is the best traction for that condition take them off in the spring and get back to the all season dry and wet grip no is there any place that still allows us studded tires they still allow them most are very limited in terms of this season because they do damage the pavement and where we see studs working is on hard hard pack snow you think of those very northern areas where the road is really never clear right they're plowing packed snow and ice that's where studs really have an advantage but but the issue with these types of tires is that that was eight months out of the year where it's dry and warm you're getting an inferior tire right you're you're you're compromising by your dry grip you're compromising ultimate handling and all those different things right so I mean it's definitely a trade off it is a trade off and just like when people talk about the insists they need all-wheel drive right that's the same kind of response that I give them unless you're an emergency room nurse or you're a dedicated radio guy but you don't have to be out in the crazy weather it you don't you don't really need it I mean mr. Jake Fisher has a crazy state driveway and no you know permanent all-wheel drive cars in you and you're in your house well my wife has snow tires again right winter tire right yeah so that's great so the second question we're going to kind of do a little bit different we've asked you to send in video clips your own experiences your own questions so we have one today from dragon his name's is dragon that highlights a concern of his but it also relates to some concerns of ours so let's take a listen hey guys my name is dragon what's happened to me I was driving on highway may be I 70 miles an hour on the cruise control and I had to turn around and read something from my big backseat so I was unable to read so I had a unbuckle my seatbelt and down when I turn around I just realized I was driving 70 miles an hour with cruise control on and I was don't not paying attention on the road I was thinking why does cruise control doesn't disengage if you are buckle your seatbelt okay so dragon has some concerns about his seatbelt use and its cruise control I just want to weigh in first and say dragon and anybody we'd prefer you not unbuckles while you're driving and particularly if you're gonna reach back whether you have your cruise control engaged or not probably best in this situation if you pulled over and that's my safety hat but it brings to light this balance of safety and and convenience features which we've talked about well look I mean first of all I think obviously you shouldn't do something like that but I mean you know props the hem for admitting that he's doing this right a lot of people do this they just wouldn't but this is something that people do because when a car can do things for you like hold the speed for you what not you physically don't need to be there as present and I'm talking not should but you could and if you're on cruise control you're gonna continue on that road at 65 miles an hour whatever it is and what he's proposing is completely logical that if you are taking your seatbelt off or something like that it's like whoa hold on let's not keep on driving the car straight right and we've talked a lot about this in terms of these semi autonomous systems the systems that control speed and your fury and it's it's just too easy for people to not completely stay in control and look where they're going you know and to get sidetracked on your phone or whatnot but I think he's completely onto this because the issue is is that there are common-sense simple things now now we're seeing there's going to be a future where you know we're gonna see more cars like the saddle Cadillacs supercruise where it monitors you is making sure you're paying attention but this is a simple one right yeah you know I mean they have sensors to know if your seatbelts coming off why not say okay we're not gonna let you - I'm in in we could go try it but I mean on these you know I'm sure if you go into a car with somebody time versus technology you take the seat belt off it's not necessarily stop but it's you know it's watching your eyes why not to make sure you're I think so many people do buckle automatically now then we Eve us make the assumption that people are riding around with their seatbelt on it's so automatic for us yep there's there's a group of people that just don't and I think he is on to something that it would be such a simple check you don't get to use all this convenience if you're not being safe while growing it correct there it was even a time when you couldn't get your car started unless you think was probably interlocked so yeah and that went away so thanks to dragon we really appreciate if anybody else would like to submit their experiences their questions please submit them via video to Consumer Reports org slash the talking cars we'd love to see them and as always thanks for watching stay warm youbaby it's cold outside and today we talk about how the cold affects your car your comfort and your safety we also talk about what's new here at the track Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition as well as take viewer questions on cruise control and tires next on talking car give us two minutes take off some extra layers here welcome to talking cars I'm Jennifer stock burger I'm Jake Fisher and I'm my Quincy so chances are if you live anywhere in the United States other than the very very southern tip of Florida or the very very southern tip of California you're probably freezing your butts off right about now as are we so we thought it was timely to talk about tips and focus on how the cold weather affects your car your comfort your safety so as the temperatures drop there's so much misinformation what do you do and a lot of these people are experiencing cold that have never experienced it before don't get it very often what are some of the things and tips about you know how to handle your car in cold weather well some people say that they want to go out and warm up their car and we've seen last 10 or 15 years a preponderance of people buying remote starters oh yeah so they want to go from their warm house to their warm car but generally speaking and we published it we publish stories on this is your car gets warmer as it's being driven for me what I try to do is when my car's is covered with snow I go out and I get it running turn on the seat heaters turn on the defroster and then make sure I scrape the windshields so you get you know so you get improved visibility so that's that's generally what I do right and I think that's huge even if there's no snow when it's very cold you will get a frosted windshield and you do need to warm up and run the defrost not just to give you a little window but the clear visibility both front and rear so I think that's important I mean a lot of people ask you know should you warm by your car before you drive right you know is it safe you know and or it doesn't do anything for fuel economy is a warm engine better than a cold one right so I mean the thing is is that if you take your car and you just turn it and let it idle right I mean look I'm not gonna say like you know click-click it over like floor it you don't want to be that little boost when it's cold but you can get driving your car pretty quick I mean look there's not a lot of you know engine you know you're not pushing the engine really hard if you're especially if it's a it's a you know slick roads or whatnot right but the thing is is that you're not going to warm up your car very quickly if you just let it sit there the the other day I had the remote starter we had the Honda Odyssey minivan that was parked outside and I I click the remote starter and the thing once were like 5 minutes it shuts off got the car I think full ice cold right he's like do any warm-up it's not warming up as soon as you get in the car start moving yes yeah you're you're you're working the engine and it's kind of like I went running last weekend out and it was like eight degrees I'm running and I'm wearing debility everyone thinks I'm nuts but I'm wearing this like a thin jacket I'm wearing you know it's thin gloves and it's eight and I was fine you know why cuz I'm running up and down like crown right you're by now if I wore that and I stood there I'm not gonna warm up you know it's like oh you should warm up before you run you're not gonna warm up you're just standing there and that's the same thing with the car so get it moving you're gonna get the heat a lot quicker now I add to this too you didn't recently worked on a piece that we did some online about maximizing the comfort and the efficiency of your heating system what were some of those tips in there because I think they'll surprise some people sure it was a couple a couple of things that you should know about I mean one is research mode bad yeah okay so a lot of people are really confused about like what do you use the research you know is gets a little car and the arrow going around and if you put in research mode you don't get the outside there now on the one hand it'll stay warming in the car right which is like you know close in your window is it whatnot and I'll heat up quicker the problem is is that your winners are gonna fog up because you're exhaling water vapor and that's gonna stick to all your windows and if you a couple people in the car and you have the thing on on research you're gonna you're not going to see out so keep it on outside air in the cold weather that's that's really important and keep the AC mode on that was another tip that was it if you're down below 32 degrees it doesn't really doesn't matter but if you're at 40 yeah put the ACE make sure the AC is on because what this doing is dehumidified the air getting all that moisture out again keeping your windshields clear but it really does make a big difference and doing that and it doesn't use much gasoline at all and when it when I was a kid we used to get in the car it would be freezing cold would say dad turn on the heat turn on the heat and he'd say I but it's just gonna blow out cold air and that's still that's still the case all right this is especially taste with a lot of the automatic climate control right so if you automatic climate control a lot of people are like you know it's not put it was waiting for it to warm up before it starts blowing air at you now you can go manually and take an automatic climate control and move it till high or 90 or whatever it is and all its gonna do is go blow cold air on you it's not gonna heat you up any any better but it works like a thermostat so leave it at 72 turning it up it's not gonna get you warmer any quicker leave it to 72 or 74 whenever your comfort zone is and it'll start blowing air once it's apartment once it gets to that right so it's actually better to keep it not a reasonable it's been a lot of time designing these things and making sure the warmup time is optimized with you setting that at basically 74 somebody's who were two things you haven't covered our heated steering wheel certainly in our region they're super popular our tip is if you have about now right about now couple other things we talked about wipers and not running them while they're still stuck to your window you can actually damage them rip the rubber right off if there's heard that noise right you have the wiper or the or there's there's you know froze there's one box you can burn out the motor but what's going you're just destroying the rubber but your wipers and they're not going to work yeah go out and scrape them no you take your nail on it just take all that ice off right and it'll wiggle it off well the other thing is tire pressures you know we see it a lot when we start to get cold water cold weather sorry in New England but a lot of people for what people don't realize is that tire pressure is relative to outside ambient temperature so for every ten degrees the temperature drops it drops one pound per square inch psi entire pressure so a lot of people come out on these cold mornings in all their tire pressure lights are on it nice to see that that those the the two cars I've driven recently the Kia Niro the BMW x3 both have the tire pressure monitors and they they're very specific about what the tire pressure is not all right and I thought I find that incredibly convenient and and but you know no-fault against the car or the tires but both of them were Oh untitled but if you look at do the math right so I mean you know if if you haven't checked the tire pressure from 60 degrees from 60 right and it's zero and and say you know it's 30 is the nominal pressure that's we're supposed to set of that it's a 24 right right I mean that is low that's gonna affect your handling this can affect emergency handling that's gonna affect the fuel economy fuel economy and braking a lot of different things yeah yeah so we say you know and again a lot of people are experiencing the cold that are in areas that don't normally but for people that generally have a bump them up a few PS right or the winter to accommodate but if your car doesn't have the electronic monitor is telling you they're low do that away right do that anyway the other tip we talked about is being prepared you know I envision the people and I'm probably guilty of it myself is you go in your slippers and your sweats and sweatshirt you're going out the duncan for a coffee you know think about what your kid missed the bus right exactly so have even if you just have the things in your car some additional clothing we just did some piece on a great gift was emergency kits that have you know some jumper cables and a blanket and I scraper they people are scraping their whether what right yeah we've all been there it's a credit freeze you know it's oh my god I mean it's like I'm yelling at my kids the credit freeze a flashlight tow straps maybe extra food right you know a bar you're traveling I mean if you're and check the the the fuel gauge yeah yeah you know when you're driving around with you know under under a quarter tank yeah yeah so we talked about safety one of the interesting things was news this week that we talked about so if you want to share oh well I mean one of the news pieces that came out was talked about there was in commercial airlines right out of the entire world in 2017 the amount of people who died in mercial Airlines was zero and and okay that's that's pretty amazing but actually if you look at United States the year before was zero right and the year before it was zero and why that's kind of you know why we're talking about this on a car show right is because if you're gonna take a trip and if you need to go I mean of you know you know we're in Connecticut go to Washington DC or go to Detroit or something like that you can drive but you could fly and you're gonna be a whole lot safer flying statistically I mean the point is that you know a lot of people were scared fly right man the last nine years not a single person is that whereas last year 37,000 people around 37 right died in car crashes so you're gonna be thinking that trip and you know the roads could get bad it could be a snowstorm you know think twice I was just looking at where we're going to DC and right you weeks we don't drive we drive $150 yeah from you know right middle of middle of Connecticut Harvard and it's like you know any minute later run the risk in this this you know season of getting trapped somewhere in an airport right but still better than being frozen paper we're talking pure safety of being trapped on the highway but it's some of the pictures of Atlanta last year remember they were in complete gridlock for 24 hours but but if anything it's a kind of a testament of human psychology my father-in-law used to say well I do like to fly so he said well I like to be in control so as we talk more and more about autonomous driving cars cars that drive themselves is that going to be a road you know a big bump in the road yeah for autonomous cars because people want to feel like they're in control so they don't want the cars to do more for them you know I mean yes yes just like just like being an airplane okay so I think you got away how far you're traveling you know what's the weather conditions where you're going versus the flight travel I agree I agree so news from the track here we have a couple new vehicles big vehicles the Lincoln Navigator and the Ford Expedition max so why are these of interest Mike well I I was actually assigned to buy the navigator for the test program spike my hundred and thirty six car that I bought III find the whole car-buying experience really fascinating because every dealer is different right and honestly the vast majority of cars that I've bought for the test program the deals have gone really smoothly no issues this particular buy of the navigator was just fraught with problems from the minute that the dealer said the dealer said say well they had they had what we want they had the car in stock listen with very aggressive pricing I like great what's the price and they said we're very aggressive pricing so they kept refusing to tell me the price of the truck and my approach is usually all right there's the sticker price there's your cost there's there's a number in between there let's just go right to that number and we'll be done with it and they kept dancing around it you know I I think we've talked about our car buying is may be very different than than the people in the audience we typically are getting a brand-new car a lot of times we know more than the dealer does we want it very very quickly so we're willing to put up with self but I think for the average buyer maybe walking out of that dealership would have been good advice and trying somewhere else because we do see that the experience can be vastly different from say one Ford dealer Lincoln dealer to another Ford Lincoln dealer the other tools are maybe a building by program we have that building by program where you solicit by an email and get the prices back from the dealers and and kind of avoid a lot of what you went through hopefully that that that program working as you said Consumer Reports has their own building by where you go and configure the car you put in your information dealers that kind of pass the sniff test of us are allowed to kind of bid on your on your on your business and it can be an easier more seamless experience and again the vast majority of the cars I bought have gone really smoothly there's a lot of hard-working honest dealers out there and I've had the pleasure of working with a whole bunch of them but once in a while it seems like we're back to the 1970s bad apples yeah so with the Lincoln Navigator and the Ford Expedition we will be testing them both literally just hit our Lots yesterday and these are interesting because they're kind of adopting some of the aluminum body from they're f150 cousins so the be interesting both enormous they're still enormous they're low light or not but they're a lot lighter maybe more fuel-efficient obviously will help first drives and videos coming so stay tuned on those um we also have some questions from our viewers so I'm gonna take the first written one so from episode 129 this person says if you live in an area that has just a bit of snow each year and you don't want to go through the hassle of buying a completely separate set of tires then get something called all-weather tires they suggest the Nokian WR g3 they are halfway between all season and winter tires and they actually perform pretty good better than half the pure winter tires so let's start to get to answer that question with a little tires no no was that a question or was that well it's it is a new segment so it may be of interest to people so we have all season tires which are kind of what they say and all tires have compromises those are meant to give a monocle of performance in all weather can you use my like that and it is out there then you have your dedicated winter tire design truly to give you absolute traction in snow and ice they actually have rubber compounds that are more flexible in cold temperatures they even work even if there is no snow and ice a little better then a few years ago we saw the introduction of models like the Nokian WR g3 the Toyo Celsius we have tested both of those but it's just like this person says they are halfway between dedicated winter models and all season agreed they do a good job but - we've tested and there's more coming of snow and ice grip but they compromise just like a winter tire does the dry the wet grip that's for most of the year for most of us in this country so yes they do do a good job if you don't want the hassle of changing to winter tires but we would still say if you're a person that has to be out in winter conditions particularly snow and ice you know I think of a nurse or a first responder of any sort we still say the winter tire the dedicated winter tire is the best traction for that condition take them off in the spring and get back to the all season dry and wet grip no is there any place that still allows us studded tires they still allow them most are very limited in terms of this season because they do damage the pavement and where we see studs working is on hard hard pack snow you think of those very northern areas where the road is really never clear right they're plowing packed snow and ice that's where studs really have an advantage but but the issue with these types of tires is that that was eight months out of the year where it's dry and warm you're getting an inferior tire right you're you're you're compromising by your dry grip you're compromising ultimate handling and all those different things right so I mean it's definitely a trade off it is a trade off and just like when people talk about the insists they need all-wheel drive right that's the same kind of response that I give them unless you're an emergency room nurse or you're a dedicated radio guy but you don't have to be out in the crazy weather it you don't you don't really need it I mean mr. Jake Fisher has a crazy state driveway and no you know permanent all-wheel drive cars in you and you're in your house well my wife has snow tires again right winter tire right yeah so that's great so the second question we're going to kind of do a little bit different we've asked you to send in video clips your own experiences your own questions so we have one today from dragon his name's is dragon that highlights a concern of his but it also relates to some concerns of ours so let's take a listen hey guys my name is dragon what's happened to me I was driving on highway may be I 70 miles an hour on the cruise control and I had to turn around and read something from my big backseat so I was unable to read so I had a unbuckle my seatbelt and down when I turn around I just realized I was driving 70 miles an hour with cruise control on and I was don't not paying attention on the road I was thinking why does cruise control doesn't disengage if you are buckle your seatbelt okay so dragon has some concerns about his seatbelt use and its cruise control I just want to weigh in first and say dragon and anybody we'd prefer you not unbuckles while you're driving and particularly if you're gonna reach back whether you have your cruise control engaged or not probably best in this situation if you pulled over and that's my safety hat but it brings to light this balance of safety and and convenience features which we've talked about well look I mean first of all I think obviously you shouldn't do something like that but I mean you know props the hem for admitting that he's doing this right a lot of people do this they just wouldn't but this is something that people do because when a car can do things for you like hold the speed for you what not you physically don't need to be there as present and I'm talking not should but you could and if you're on cruise control you're gonna continue on that road at 65 miles an hour whatever it is and what he's proposing is completely logical that if you are taking your seatbelt off or something like that it's like whoa hold on let's not keep on driving the car straight right and we've talked a lot about this in terms of these semi autonomous systems the systems that control speed and your fury and it's it's just too easy for people to not completely stay in control and look where they're going you know and to get sidetracked on your phone or whatnot but I think he's completely onto this because the issue is is that there are common-sense simple things now now we're seeing there's going to be a future where you know we're gonna see more cars like the saddle Cadillacs supercruise where it monitors you is making sure you're paying attention but this is a simple one right yeah you know I mean they have sensors to know if your seatbelts coming off why not say okay we're not gonna let you - I'm in in we could go try it but I mean on these you know I'm sure if you go into a car with somebody time versus technology you take the seat belt off it's not necessarily stop but it's you know it's watching your eyes why not to make sure you're I think so many people do buckle automatically now then we Eve us make the assumption that people are riding around with their seatbelt on it's so automatic for us yep there's there's a group of people that just don't and I think he is on to something that it would be such a simple check you don't get to use all this convenience if you're not being safe while growing it correct there it was even a time when you couldn't get your car started unless you think was probably interlocked so yeah and that went away so thanks to dragon we really appreciate if anybody else would like to submit their experiences their questions please submit them via video to Consumer Reports org slash the talking cars we'd love to see them and as always thanks for watching stay warm you\n"