Our Webmaster Ed Sanchez posted in the forum about CARB's latest idea to "help" residents of the Golden State. This rule would require all vehicles to have advanced window glazing that would keep interiors cooler. If implemented, this would mean California residents would have to say goodbye to the Jeep Wrangler soft top, one of the reasons these vehicles are so much fun.
Yes, CARB wants to require windows to be coated with microscopic specs of metal oxide. This glazing would not only block sunlight, but would render useless GPS, cell phones, satellite radio, computers, and other RF devices inside the vehicle that didn't have antennas mounted outside. It would also keep convertible vehicles from being sold because the coating wouldn't work on plastic windows.
The reasoning is that since vehicle interiors would be cooler, air conditioning wouldn't have to be used as much, cutting vehicle emissions. It's my opinion that CARB employees have nothing else to do and are justifying their jobs by thinking up new dim-bulb rules.
Honda said the new requirement is simply not feasible.
California is a very large market. I wonder what would happen if all vehicle manufacturers just said "NO," and quit building cars that complied with CARB rules. California would become like Cuba and no new vehicles would be sold there. In 2060, you could travel to California in your brand new, solar electric 4x4 and find classic, patched-together 2010 and older (ONLY older - no new) vehicles still chugging, puffing and wheezing down the highway.
Of course, if California passes the law that requires old vehicles to be crushed, then the 2060 visitor would find residents riding horses. Oh wait - environmentalists say livestock are a major source of greenhouse gasses, so they'll be legislated out of existence by then, too.
Bicycles are a great way to get around, anyway.