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Carjacking attempt foiled by pesky manual transmission

A St. Louis man lucked out last week when a pair of carjackers abandoned his Nissan Altima because it had a manual transmission. According to KMOV, Dustin French was on his way back to his Benton Park home from a gas station around 11 PM on October 13th. When French pulled up to the curb outside of his home a silver Honda Accord quickly pulled in behind him. A passenger then hopped out, approached him, and flashed a gun. "A car came up right behind sort of half parallel parked behind me. A passenger got out with a firearm, told me to get out of my car and empty my pockets," French told the news station. Since he was alone at night and the nearest streetlight was burned out, French decided that discretion was the better part of valor and did as he was told. "All I got out luckily were my keys and I said what do I do now. I was asking for orders," French told the station. "He said get up and walk away. Face away and keep walking." French complied with the carjacker's demands. "I'm glad I didn't panic or threaten violence or make any quick moves," French said. "Kept my wits about me as best as I could. Asked thieves for instructions on what to do to prevent harm to myself." But then a strange thing happened. The carjackers apparently left French's car behind and took off without stealing anything. French told KMOV he believes that they did so because his car has a manual transmission and the gunman, who St. Louis Police say was in his late teens or early-20s, couldn't drive one. Thankfully, French wasn't hurt and his Nissan is still safely in his possession. Related Video: News Source: KMOV Auto News Weird Car News Honda Nissan Safety carjacking stick shift accord

Driving the BMW M2 Competition, Honda Odyssey and Toyota RAV4 Prime | Autoblog Podcast #651

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick. This week, they talk about driving the BMW M2 Competition, Honda Odyssey and Toyota RAV4 Prime. Then they discuss James' experience testing the new Yakima CBX cargo carrier, Autoblog readers' preference for the GMC Hummer EV over the Tesla Cybertruck, and Mercedes-Benz taking a larger stake in Aston Martin. Lastly, they help James' father find a new car in the Spend My Money segment. Autoblog Podcast #651 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2020 BMW M2 Competition 2021 Honda Odyssey 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime Testing the Yakima CBX Cargo Carrier on the Subaru Outback 75% of Autoblog Twitter follower prefer the GMC Hummer EV over the Tesla Cybertruck Mercedes-Benz to boost stake in Aston Martin to 20%, lend it some tech Spend JamesÂ’ fatherÂ’s money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Honda files a patent for device to shut off automatic wipers in car wash

Pardon the 3 A.M. infomercial phrasing, but have you ever had a problem with your automatic wipers running when going through a car wash? If you have, Honda may have a solution for you. The company recently filed a patent for a system that would allow a car to recognize when it is being driven through a car wash, and subsequently switch off the wipers. The primary reason for this is to prevent the wiper arms from being damaged by the spinning or dragging scrubbers used at so many automatic car washes. As Honda describes in the patent, this system would operate by using information from the car's various sensors. Among them would be a sensor that would pick up on the noise and vibration from the equipment in the car wash, as well as when the scrubbers come in contact with the car. The car would also use information such as the vehicle's speed, and the driver's throttle and brake inputs. With all of these sources combined, the system should be able to shut off wipers only when it's in a car wash, and not during an extremely heavy thunderstorm. How soon this technology becomes available is anyone's guess, but we'll be happy whenever it comes to market. We would be even happier if Honda, or another automaker, takes the idea a step farther to create a car wash mode that would automatically fold in the mirrors and deactivate the parking sensors. Something along those lines could prevent even more accidental damage, and keep the parking system from going into conniptions. Related Video: