It looks like it's equivalent to the emissions tests that most American drivers have to do once every year or two

Emissions test?

Never had one of those...I would guess that's a California thing mostly?

But I've been in some states with a brake tag inspection...which is nothing, you roll in , turn on lights and wipers and you're good.

So, do they not let you mod your cars over in Europe? Flash new ECUs or aggressive cams, high flow exhausts, etc?

Are you sure you actually own your car over there if you can't play with it?

No...I have insurance....I think my deductible is like $3K and after that, pretty much everything I covered.....

About a year or so ago, had cancer surgery, over $100K bill...cost me about $3K and done...after that, every other visit and procedure, I paid for office visits $25 and that was it...everything else major covered.

You can do that in the USA too, but it costs extra.

Yep I was going to say mostly the same thing.....the car on the LOT, is one I can haggle over and get the best price.

I can't haggle on a made to order car.

And these days, for the most part...there aren't THAT many things you can order custom...I find few options on many cars, like Mazdas, etc....but in general I find a car on a lot that is the color and has most all options offered that I want I go to haggle and hopefully drive off with it that or the next day....

I see you've never been in one.

Google and Waymo have explicitly and repeatedly said that they are fully liable for accidents caused by their vehicles.

Intelligence is much more a function of environment than genetics. One's genetic contribution, in theory, sets an upper limit on intelligence potential, but to actualize that potential one needs a solid education. Someone with genius level IQ born into poverty and with no access to education will wind up just as superstitious and backwards as all of their peers.

This goes doubly so for critical thinking, because critical thinking is not natural. Our brains naturally operate on a survival program that relies on logically fallacies and snap judgments because these are right enough most of the time to keep a person alive out in the wild. This is normally combined with learning from pack mates, which is how our species endured for millions of years. So, without the right education, critical thinking is very difficult for us.

The same is true of scientific knowledge. To someone who has not received the necessary in-depth education to understand clearly why science is better than religion, it looks like just another religion, and even worse, a religion with government backing. Governments are notorious liars, so when you combine that with the unintuitive conclusions of science and no foundational understanding, something like a vaccine looks like an outright trap.

Anti-vaxxers are still wrong, and the misinformation they spread is still harmful, but I must have a drop of compassion for them, given that they clearly haven't had the advantages that I've had.

Why a republican? There's literally no difference between parties at this point.

There's a BIG difference between what it appears is taking over the Democrat party, the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America)...aka US Communists....and the Republicans, and even the traditional Democrats.

It isn't so much they are "progressive"...looking at their platform they are mostly communists AND are actively wanting to burn down the US and how it is run and put together by our forefathers and the Constitution, etc.

I don't know if this Kansas candidate is one of them.....but right now, there is definitely a BIG difference in how much of the Dem party is rolling....

Oh sidenote: If I disconnect the TSCM module from my car it will fail the next roadworthy test. In most of Europe a functioning SOS system is mandatory and checked during roadworthy test as part of the e-Call directive

What exactly is a "roadworthy test"?

Not familiar with those...a European thing?

The radio always switching on at startup is a real bugbear of mine in my mazda too. I just don't understand why they do it , it would be so easy for the system to remember the state at shutdown and leave it there , but no, switch on each feckin time. FFS

My Mazda remembers the state it was last in upon restart of the car......

Not sure why yours doesn't...?

You won't buy a car that shows you ads, but you would ride a bus that shows you ads.

Err...I have a CAR...why the fuck would I ride a bus with a bunch of smelly bums?

Not in europe, they come free with the car plus they trigger in a serious accident where you might be unconcious when phoning the emergency yourself isn't an option.

My phone and watch have this built into them already....yours don't over there?

If you're in an upsidedown car and unconscious, it's nice to wake up in a hospital because your car automatically called 112 for you.

Don't you folks have smart phones and smart watches there?

I mean,, my iPhone and Apple Watch Ultra both have fall/crash detections and will call if activated and I don't respond that I'm ok.

I had this happen last year just walking and I tripped and fell and hit the ground somewhat solidly....nowhere near the force of an accident tho...

But my watch went off on fall mode detection and countdown started prompting me to acknowledge if I was ok, otherwise it was calling 911 and also notifying my emergency contacts.....

I had left my phone at home just walking the dog...but the watch sure caught it.

I thought pretty much all smart phones and smart watches had this capability by now?

In principle, it should be possible to develop a vaccine for certain forms of mental illness. Regrettably, no such thing currently exists and antivaxers are probably too far gone.

Thank god europe is a whole different world to the US where you don't have to get out a credit card before someone hauls you into an ambulance.

Thank God that's not the case in the US either.....

Unfortunately doing that will also break the built in breakdown/emergency services auto call system if you have a crash not to mention you won't get any further software updates.

Well, thankfully...I've yet to have to buy and live with a car like this, with connected all the time, updates, etc.

I can tell you confidently, I've not missed it.

That being said, pretty much everyone these days, buying a car at this level, already has auto crash/fall detectors in our PHONES and smart watches.

And for the life of me...it's a fucking CAR why would I need software updates?

If I want to flash a ECU I'll do it myself. And if it was something that had to be done, I'm 99% sure I could drive it into the dealership and they could hook up a USB somewhere and upload any emergency fixes?

I do not want a connected car...ever.