(People that) dont know anything

[dean0044]

My brother is 17 and almost 18 and is pathetic. Me and my freind quizzed him on cars and we pointed to the belt and we asked him " what is that thing thats moving?" he said oil. He didnt know how to pop the hood/find the latch to open it. and when I asked him where is the battery? He didnt point to the box with energizer printted on it but he pointed to the air filter. I'm just sayin people shouldn't be driving if they dont know the basics of cars. Its just redicoulous.

[MagicRat]

Swell.
Give your bro a break. We all had to start somewhere.

Your comment about people should not driving unless they know something about cars is ridiculous.
Do you know how your stereo works? Can you take the back off a television and identify the difference between, and the function of a transistor, resistor, capacitor, IC or diode?
No?? Well, maybe your bro should take away all your electronics........

[GreyGoose006]

yeah, but being ignorant on how to operate a tv or playstation properly ususally wont kill innocent people.
It wouldnt be hard to implement some basic automotive knowledge tests into the licensure process.

IMO its not really a huge deal, but people should know some basic things about how the car they are driving works.

[dean0044]

actully i can tell the difference between a transistor capacior etc...

[GreyGoose006]

if nothing else, it would help people avoid being ripped off by mechanics for things like having the halogen in their headlights changed.

[GaryFenza]

well....this guy is like an idiot(im deans neighbor/friend), he dont know shit about Cars or anything but textbooks for that matter. People who dont like cars or just have cars for status symbols just piss me off. Thats strickly my opinion, but i cant understand how some people seriosly dont even know what OIL does in a engine. ITS COMMON SENSE!!

[UncleBob]

hehe. I can just imagine, on some MD forum, there's a doctor laughing at their neighbor "....and he didn't even know what a 'laceration' was! What a moron!"

Finding things people are ignorant on is never hard. Granted, I wished people felt obligated to educate themselves more about cars, but I'm also a realist.

[beef_bourito]

you might think it's common sense but if people have no experience with engines and have never thought about it how are they supposed to know? and just because people don't know about cars doesn't mean they shouldn't drive them. sure if you don't know how to change a tire it'll cost you money to get a tow truck if you get a flat, but it's not dangerous. i know plenty of people who know alot about cars who shouldn't be driving because they're terrible, i also know people who don't know the first thing about cars that are better drivers than most. knowledge about how something works has nothing to do with ability to operate it.

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by dean0044

My brother is 17 and almost 18 and is pathetic. Me and my freind quizzed him on cars and we pointed to the belt and we asked him " what is that thing thats moving?" he said oil. He didnt know how to pop the hood/find the latch to open it. and when I asked him where is the battery? He didnt point to the box with energizer printted on it but he pointed to the air filter. I'm just sayin people shouldn't be driving if they dont know the basics of cars. Its just redicoulous.

how's it ridiculous? if he's not interested in cars, then there's not really any reason for him to know about them. i'm not interesting in knitting, so i don't know anything about that.

he could've just been screwing with you because he didn't care. you ask what something is and he sends you round in circles giving wrong answers because he just doesn't care.

the requirements for driving are that you are a competent and safe driver. that's it. you don't need to know any more than that. most modern cars dictate that most people have little technical knowledge of them. they're getting so reliable that we don't have to do any maintenance ourselves.

if everyone knew lots about their cars there wouldn't be jobs for people like me. don't forget, the more people know, the more they can do themselves. and that means less jobs for auto techs and mechanics.

so i'm quite happy that he doesn't know anything about cars.

[KiwiBacon]

Originally Posted by GreyGoose006

if nothing else, it would help people avoid being ripped off by mechanics for things like having the halogen in their headlights changed.

Dude, muffler bearings.

[curtis73]

C'mon, my Mom is 60, she's an excellent driver having never been in a wreck and she often drives while towing RVs, driving motorhomes, and towing boats. Just last month she called me to ask what a dipstick was and where to find it under the hood. It doesn't make her a bad driver.

I can write HTML in my sleep, but if you ask me to find the processor on a motherboard I'd probably point to the cooling fan. It doesn't make me bad at HTML.

You can enjoy the music without understanding how it was written.

[E Hagen]

well think of it this way, yeah we know things about cars, other wise you wouldnt be on the forum. but do we know things about rockets, the bone structure of the body, anything in a different field, we all now some things that other people dont.
true, knowing somethings about your vehicle is important but some people just dont car about that kind of stuff...

[drunken monkey]

guys, i think that he is trying to say that just because he might know what the names of the parts underr a bonnet are called, that he should be allowed to drive....

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

guys, i think that he is trying to say that just because he might know what the names of the parts underr a bonnet are called, that he should be allowed to drive....

That, and that people who can't identify certain parts shouldn't be allowed on the road.

[ice745]

My Physics professor once said that you should know how things work to be able to use them. Realistically it's more of a perfect world philosophy. Most of engineering in devices that reach end-user market is 10% innovation, and 90% user-friendly. (Not exact percentages) But basically the products we buy are innovation wrapped in layers of "ease-of-use", and are built so a monkey with a screwdriver can use them.

If you think about a microwave, the magnetron inside it is very dangerous. If you were to run the microwave with the door open and stand in front of it, you could die. Solution, a switch that shuts off the microwave with the door open. Thereofore you need not know anything about the magnetron to operate a microwave.

If you don't understand the relation between acceleration and braking vs. traction, you can wear tires pretty badly. Solution, traction control systems and ABS.

If your brother claimed to know stuff about cars, then said what he said, that is definitely one thing. But knowing what parts are what in the engine isn't going to affect his reaction time or anything else that is actually important in driving.

Really the best driver would understand every system and how it works, so he could calculate exact pressure to use on the throttle, and take into account the ambient air temperature in relation to internal combustion chamber temperature, along with the exact octane rating of the gasoline, and come up with an exact air/fuel ratio to maximize fuel efficiency without sacrificing desired engine performance. Then he would be able to adjust this each time an additional varible comes into play like a gust of wind, and it's velocity, and be able to recalculate an optimal ratio again to compensate. Meanwhile keeping an eye on the velocity of all surrounding vehicles in order to be able to drive bumper to bumper and never crash. He would also be able to take into account the current wear of brake pads and rotors and the temperature and softness of tire treads and put precise pressure on the brake pedal to sustain a safe distance from the car in front. Also this information can be calculated to judge the best time to start braking to come to a complete stop to maximize brake pad life and minimize fuel cost. Also taking into account current road conditions in judging time needed to stop.

Should you be allowed to drive because you don't do all that? I certainly don't do all that. It's practically impossible.

Edit To Curtis: As long as you point to the right cooling fan, the CPU cooling fan, it would be acceptable! Being that the CPU is underneath the CPU fan; nobody would know you're pointing to the fan and not the CPU under it