Each week I bring you the top stories in the auto industry along with my commentary or sometimes amusing thoughts about the craziness that goes on in the world of cars.
Stories you’ll find today:
Zero to Arrested in One Hour Flat. A Ford Mustang GT owner managed to live out every stereotype in record time after getting arrested less than an hour after buying the car, proving once again that horsepower plus poor judgment is still a combustible mix. According to police, the freshly minted owner was allegedly clocked at wildly excessive speeds, turning what should have been a proud “new car smell” moment into a rapid introduction to the back seat of a patrol car. The Mustang, meanwhile, didn’t even have time to cool its exhaust before becoming evidence. It’s a reminder that while automakers spend millions engineering traction control, stability systems, and warning chimes, none of them can override impulse control. The lesson here is simple: the first hour of Mustang ownership should involve learning the infotainment system, not explaining yourself to a judge. The car didn’t do anything wrong — it just met its owner too soon.
Rest in Peace to the Guy Who Stopped Us From Guessing Our Fuel Side. Sometimes the smallest ideas make the biggest difference, and this week the automotive world paused to remember James Moylan, the Ford engineer who invented that little arrow on your fuel gauge that tells you which side the gas cap (or EV charge port) is on, a feature now so ubiquitous that almost every driver takes it for granted but every time you pull up to the wrong side of the pump you curse the world until you remember it’s there; Moylan came up with the concept back in 1986 after getting soaked in the rain when he misparked a company car at a gas station, pitched the simple suggestion when he got back to the office, and by the 1989 model year it was standard on some Ford cars before spreading across the industry — and now as cars get more complicated with EV charging ports and dual fill systems, that tiny arrow still saves us a few seconds and a lot of frustration at the pump or charger even though most drivers don’t know his name.
Those Weird Road Stripes Are Trying to Trick You. You’ve probably seen stretches of highway painted with alternating black and white stripes and assumed they were some kind of modern art installation or a late-night traffic engineer prank, but there’s actually a pretty sensible reason for them: they’re optical illusions used in places where drivers tend to overshoot curves or drop their speed too slowly, because those “zebra stripes” create a visual sensation of acceleration or increased density that subconsciously nudges people to slow down or pay attention; in practice they’ve shown up near roundabouts, on downhill approaches, and at other spots where conventional warning signs sometimes don’t get the job done, essentially making stripes do the mental heavy lifting that drivers won’t always do for themselves, which is both a hopeful reminder that human brains are hackable and a slightly terrifying demonstration of how little we pay attention until someone messes with our eyeballs.
Stop Signs Are Not Suggestions South of the Border. If you ever decide to cross the border and treat yourself to tacos, beaches or overpriced tourist parking, beware: some of the driving rules in Mexico aren’t just suggestions with a sombrero on them — they’re actual ticketable offenses that can leave your wallet lighter without warning, because yes, blowing through a stop sign can get you pulled over just like back home, but so can things that feel counterintuitive to U.S. drivers such as rolling stops at certain intersections, honking your horn in restricted zones, or turning right on red when a sign explicitly forbids it; the whole thing is a reminder that geography doesn’t automatically confer cultural training, and a driving style that flies in Texas can get a gringo saluting the local constabulary before you even finish saying “guacamole,” which feels like a bummer until you remember that obeying the rules means you get to spend more time enjoying your destination and less time explaining to a cop why “we do it that way back home."
Editorial Use Only: Ford Instrument Cluster: Fancey Media/Shutterstock.com.