Hyundai and Kia Develop Shape Memory Alloy Integrated Snow Chain Technology
hyundai.news
hyundai.news
> Sudden heavy snow
> Press "Snow Chain" button
> "You don't have enough credits on your Hyundai wallet to use this feature"
> Awwwwww SHHHH....
My guess is they’ll have some sort of postpaid system without verification gatekeeping, or they’ll just fold the cost into 4-year iPhone ownership and eat the loss for those that upgrade slower.
I answered the question humorously. If it was a silly question, that's not my fault. :)
No "Begging the Question" here. Nice try.
That’s exactly begging the question.
Oh please. Again it's my answer to the question.
"[The difference is that this is] slow encroaching market takeover by artificially crippled products for blood-sucking rent seeking."
Hope this helps.
that's the point that's up for discussion, but that's just being asserted with no supporting arguments.
Seemed self-explanatory enough to me.
I see you didn't take Econ 101.
Since this is what you're reduced to, I see real discussion is finished now. Thank you for contributing.
Okay but practically speaking you're not changing your tires for fun. You're changing it specifically to improve winter driving performance. For all practical purposes changing your tires is the same as activating the feature on these smart tires, even if the former involves the tires being removed/added.
I get that they're logically equivalent, but it goes against my world view to pay per activation on something like this. I have great disdain for the subscriptionication of everything.
Do you feel the same about software/SaaS that gate features to different license tiers? After all, the functionality is already in the code.
It’s not free to do pretty much anything, even sending a single HTTP request, so curious how you calibrate.
1. Non-standard tire - More expensive, won't be stocked, difficult to replace.
2. Reduced tire tread - Those grooves will receive more wear, overall the tires has maybe 1-5% reduced tread and contact surface.
3. Bumps/knocks - These pieces of metal are likely to be damaged and/or worn before they ever get used.
To me it would make far more sense to literally just bolt a cage to the alloy encase of snow, with some sensor to detect presence (reduce speed for safety) and knocking to indicate the user no longer drives on a snowy surface.
Another option could be to have some form of extension to increase the surface area of the tire.
They don't have spare tires. Instead, they have some kind of tire that continues to operate in a degraded mode, until they get to a dealer, who swaps out the flat for a new tire.
He blew a tire, in rural Upstate New York.
In today's lesson, we learn that upstate dealers don't stock S580 tires, and he's forced to leave his car that costs as much as some people's houses, at a podunk dealership, while a buddy gives him a ride.
Then, a week later, the dealer insists that he drive 400 miles, to pick up the car.
I believe that he did some screaming to Mercedes corporate, and got them to drive it down to Long Island.
For a flat tire.
There's nothing special about the wheels, so you can mount an appropriately sized "regular" tire and continue on your way. Worth the $250 to get on your way, I think.
I'd guess any non-dealer tire shop would have just sold your friend the tire and sent him on his way.
I'm a little sceptical. Snow is less of a problem than ice, in my opinion.
Studs provide excellent lateral and longitudinal grip on icy surfaces, and wear well. This design doesn't look convincing for lateral grip. I am also worried about wear.
Black ice surprises you, so you need to have winter tires active.
It would be neat to somehow get both behaviours maxed.
No? Then when is that coming?
(And yes, I know it's only their old cars, but those cars are still on the road, killing people)
Next I wonder how reliable this is over even months. Specially in freezing conditions and in areas where salt is used. Small ingress of water in freeze/thaw cycle could probably freeze whole thing when it starts to snow thus making it inoperable...
My 2015 Sorento developed the same issue, and the engine suddenly seized about 20k miles later. No warning lights, nothing - I was driving down the road and lost power. The engine fully seized and wouldn't even turn over. Ended up being a $8k repair all told, and I was extremely lucky to even find a crate engine for it. Three mechanics shops couldn't source one and I ended up having to find one myself.
My first new car, a 2000 Elantra was an affordable and reliable car that I sold to a teen for a decent amount. Probably the best financial deal on a car I'll ever get.