Top 5 car owner misconceptions
Despite the total availability of technical information on the Internet, many car owners continue to trust the judgments of some acquaintances and their own “inner conviction” in matters of car operation, ignoring objective data.
One of the most enduring automotive myths is that a car with a manual transmission is more economical than its counterparts equipped with a different type of gearbox. Until recently, this was the case. Until modern 8-, 9-speed "automatic machines", cars with hybrid power plants and "robots" with two clutches appeared. The smart control electronics of these types of transmissions, in terms of driving efficiency, gives odds to almost any driver.
SAFETY STUD
Another driver's "belief" (reinforced by the same Hollywood action movies) scares us with the imminent threat of explosion and fire in case of smoking near an open gas tank. In fact, even if you throw a smoldering cigarette directly into a puddle of gasoline, it will simply go out. And in order for the “bull” to ignite gasoline vapors around the smoker, they need such a concentration in the air at which not a single person, let alone smoke, can breathe properly. It’s really not worth it to light a cigarette and at the same time scatter matches without looking close to open containers of gasoline. In the same way, it is highly recommended not to bring a burning lighter to the filler hole of the gas tank or to the filling nozzle.
WE CONFUSE THE DRIVES
Another - downright unkillable myth - says that an all-wheel drive car is safer on the road compared to front- and rear-wheel drive. In fact, all-wheel drive only improves the car's patency and makes it easier to accelerate on slippery surfaces. In regular situations, an all-wheel drive passenger car brakes and is controlled in the same way as a “non-wheel drive” one.
And in abnormal conditions (when skidding, for example), it is more difficult to control an all-wheel drive vehicle. Although now, with the current total spread of electronic driver assistance assistants, it almost doesn’t matter what kind of drive your car has. Electronics does for the driver almost everything that is needed to keep the car on a given trajectory.
ABS is not a panacea
Cars equipped with only one anti-lock braking system are practically no longer produced, even on the most budget models, smart stabilization systems are often installed, which prevent, among other things, blocking the wheels during braking. And drivers who are confident that all this electronics “shortens the braking distance” are more than enough. In fact, all these smart things in the car are designed not to shorten the braking distance. Their most important task is to maintain driver control over the movement of the car in any situation and prevent a collision.
DON'T TAKE A DRIVER
However, the most idiotic is the belief that the safest place in a car is the passenger seat behind the driver's seat. It is for this reason that a child seat is usually pushed in there. It is believed that in an emergency, the driver will instinctively try to dodge the danger, substituting the right side of the car under attack. This nonsense was invented by those who have never been in a car accident. In an accident, the situation, as a rule, develops so rapidly that there can be no talk of any “instinctive dodges”. In fact, the safest place in a car is in the right rear seat. It is as far as possible from the front of the car and from the oncoming lane located to the left.
