Smart Car Tipping Trending In San Francisco 371
First time accepted submitter hackajar1 (1700328) writes "Is it a crime of opportunity or another page in the current chapter of Anti-Tech movement in San Francisco? Either way, the new crime trending in San Francisco invloves tipping Smart Cars on their side. While they only take 3 — 4 people to tip, this could just be kids simply having "fun" at the very expensive cost of car owners. Alternatively it could be part of a larger movement in San Francisco against anyone associated with HiTech, which is largely being blamed for neighborhood gentrification and rent spikes in recent years." This sounds like a story that would catch the ears of veteran reporter Roland Hedley.
It happened one time in a spree. Trending? (Score:3, Insightful)
A lot of things are trending if they only have to happen 1 time for that to be said.
Re:It happened one time in a spree. Trending? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not trending. (Score:5, Insightful)
This wouldn't even be an issue if the damn local news didn't report on it. 3 cars?! A night of drunken stupidity. Now it's going to be trending.
Re:It's not trending. (Score:5, Funny)
If it were Tesla Motors, the NHTSA would be starting an investigation.
Re:It's not trending. (Score:5, Funny)
I should say, I am biased, being a Tesla stockholder.
Re:It's not trending. (Score:5, Funny)
If it were Teslas being tipped, I think the NFL and/or the military would be the ones investigating. Those things weigh over two tons and have a very low CG, making them nearly impossible to roll over without some heavy duty lifting apparatus.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
If it were Teslas being tipped, I think the NFL and/or the military would be the ones investigating. Those things weigh over two tons and have a very low CG, making them nearly impossible to roll over without some heavy duty lifting apparatus.
General "Thunderbolt" Ross would be investigating it, since he's brought in any time The Hulk might be involved...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:It's not trending. (Score:5, Insightful)
It looks like a group of people with mental problems
Or, you know - teenagers.
The only "mental problem" necessary to find joy in such an activity as vandalizing cars is adolescence.
You did stupid shit when you were a kid, too. We all did.
Re:It's not trending. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, like stuff that put me in danger.
I didn't cause property damage to other people.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
No. No I didn't. I knew of a quite a few incidents where classmates did things that were dangerous to themselves, or unintentionally caused damage. I can even think of a couple of times when classmates did some vandalism to someone they knew personally. But I can only think of one occasion when my classmates deliberately did some noticeable damage to strangers' property, and they got arrested for it.
Admittedly, my high school experience may not have been typical, since I went to a private school in a fa
Re: (Score:3)
I never went out destroying people's cars, and I doubt that you did either.
Re: (Score:2)
I never went out destroying people's cars, and I doubt that you did either.
Does smashing car windows count? Yeah, dumb stuff happened in the teen years.
Re: (Score:3)
The males of the species are completely insane until age 25.
I keep telling my daughter, "boys are not only incredibly stupid, but they are complete idiots until age 25... and then only SOME of them will grow out of it. Some will stay completely stupid for the rest of their lives."
I also let her know, because she is so pretty and is very well endowed on the chest, that boys will go extra stupid the closer she get's to them.
Re:It's not trending. (Score:5, Funny)
No kidding. Back in the 80's 4-5 of us would pick up compact cars and move them onto the sidewalk out of drunken stupidity.
One of my friends had an MG back then. A couple of people lifted the rear end off the ground right before he was getting ready to drive off. While they were all laughing, he put the car in reverse and stepped on the gas. While laughing himslef, he asked them how long they thought they could hold it.
Re: (Score:3)
PS. I can't stop mis-reading the summary title as "Smart (car tipping)" instead of "(Smart car) tipping"... better read that way.
Re:It's not trending. (Score:5, Interesting)
My girlfriend at the time drove a Geo Prism. *2 people (big) could pick up and move that car... which they did... to a number of increasingly hilarious places :-)
I had 2 of them (both 1992 models!), and yes, they were incredibly easy for 2 people to move around. I used to "impress" girls by deadlifting the ass end.
Also, apparently Toyota wasn't real big into key security in those days, as I recall one incident where I walked out of a store, unlocked and hopped in my Prism, started it, then realized as I was backing out, "holy shit, this isn't my car!" Someone had parked one the same year and color a few spaces down from mine, and the key worked without a hitch. mind blown.
Re: (Score:2)
Teenagers are usually idiots though, they don't usually have the foresight to disguise themselves.
Re: (Score:3)
A 12-year-old friend of my nephews was busted recently for sneaking onto a country club's grounds and driving a handful of their golf carts into a lake. He took the last one for himself, possibly missing the fact it wa
It's not the Midwest (Score:5, Funny)
There is a shortage of cattle in San Francisco. These might be the only alternative.
Re: (Score:3)
This wouldn't even be an issue if the damn local news didn't report on it. 3 cars?! A night of drunken stupidity. Now it's going to be trending.
Eh when I was a wee lad we used to do the same thing with the Honda N600 [wikipedia.org]. Boys will be boys. The tricky part is sneaking out into the pasture without getting any dung on your shoes. And heaven help you if you tip the thing onto you!
Re:It's not trending. (Score:5, Insightful)
Gentrification may also be an issue. When I was growing up one thing I noticed was the my friends who lived in more affluent or gated neighborhoods would talk about being taken home to their parents instead of arrested. They might be doing drugs, selling drugs, breaking into cars, whatever. We have seen a case where a teen has stolen beer, gotten drunk, and killed some people while driving, has gotten probation. The parents would pay reparations. So if a lot of wealthy parents are moving in, and protecting their kids, then those kids might be less motivated to not commit crime.
Re: (Score:3)
Now that it's been in the news, it might become a trend...
Rreachtions (Score:2)
1) BAHAHAHA
2) Damn people are thoughtless jerks
3) Someones insurance rates are going up
Re: (Score:3)
3) Someones insurance rates are going up
Anyone know how much damage a Smart Car can be expected to suffer when tipped like this?
(I'd imagine some crush/scratch damage to whatever body panel(s) are now supporting the car's weight, plus my co-worker says that various fluids are likely to drip out into places they aren't supposed to be)
tipping them on their sides is lame (Score:2, Flamebait)
But tipping them up on their ends, now THAT is hilarious!
Re:tipping them on their sides is lame (Score:5, Funny)
First link, second photo. [ktvu.com]
HA!
Try thinking. (Score:3, Informative)
Smart Cars = HiTech ??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering a Smart Car is like 12k, gets good gas mileage, and is easy to street park in the city how in the world does this equal HiTech? HiTech workers definitely make enough to afford more spacious and expensive cars along with garage parking.
Is this another example of terrible Slashdot editorial comments distorting original story to "make news" as this alternative theory is not in the original source?
http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/... [ktvu.com]
Re:Smart Cars = HiTech ??? (Score:5, Funny)
36MPG is not good gas mileage, especially for a tiny car like that. I think that's what is bothering the vandals.
Re: (Score:3)
That is bad. Odd really given that the European petrol version is 47mpg and the diesel version is 70mpg.
Do American's detune their cars or something?
Re: (Score:2)
No, they just give short measure in volumetric units.
Re:Smart Cars = HiTech ??? (Score:4, Informative)
US gallons are smaller.
1 US gallon is 0.8 of an Imperial (UK) gallon.
47mpg * 0.8 = ~37mpg, ergo we're talking about the same numbers for Euro and US Smart cars.
Caught me out when I moved from the UK to the US.
On the other hand, paying $4 a gallon rather than [quick conversion litres->US gallons] ~$8.50 is most welcome.
Re: (Score:3)
Just to be clear - it's the same as 6.5 L/100 km rigth?
Who's brilliant idea was it to have two slightly different gallons, or to use a different gallon than the one already invented?
Re:Smart Cars = HiTech ??? (Score:4, Informative)
That would be because the UK uses a different metric for measuring octaine ratings. North america uses Anti-Knock Index (RON+MON)/2 and Europe uses just RON. This difference can account for a difference of 4-10 points.
Re: (Score:2)
1. Car makers usually equip their cars with bigger engines and more features as standard for the US market. In case of Smart Car, the engine is tuned for faster acceleration instead of gas mileage.
2. UK uses imperial gallon which is bigger than US gallon so you have to be careful to compare like with like
3. Different testing standards. EU standards are surprisingly less strict than the US and allow manufacturers more room to cheat. Same car will show "considerably" better fuel economy when tested according
Re:Smart Cars = HiTech ??? (Score:4, Funny)
Do American's detune their cars or something?
No, the passengers just weigh more.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My diesel Smart averages 55 mpg.
Re: (Score:2)
That's more like it. But the US guvmint apparently hates diesels.
Re: (Score:2)
That's still absolute shit economy relative to its size, given that a VW Golf/Jetta TDI (which, being an American, is about the only Diesel I know to compare to) is only about 5 mpg lower.
Actual good fuel economy is a 15-year-old Honda Insight at 70 mpg (US), or, for a non-hybrid, a 22-year-old Geo Metro XFi at 50 mpg (US). Smart should be fucking ashamed of itself!
Re: (Score:2)
Actual good fuel economy is a 15-year-old Honda Insight at 70 mpg (US), or, for a non-hybrid, a 22-year-old Geo Metro XFi at 50 mpg (US). Smart should be fucking ashamed of itself!
the insight was cool, but battery etc.
The Geo Metro was a beercan deathtrap.
A VW Lupo, which is basically a more modern Geo Metro made by VAG (did they stop making Lupos?) will make 70 MPG with its cute little diesel, if you baby it. But it's a miserable thing to have to do. And they didn't sell them in the USA because if you get hit by an Expedition or whatever, you're dead, baby.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
HiTech workers definitely make enough to afford more spacious and expensive cars along with garage parking.
As a HiTech worker I can only say - I can't afford shit with the current rental prices.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe when you move up from 1st tier help desk?
WTF does HI-Tech worker really mean?
Re: (Score:2)
I think it is an issue of applying a stereotype to the driver without any logical information behind it.
Oh look it is one of those Hippy Tech workers with their Green cars that makes them seem so pretentious and better then us.
I drive a Prius, and I get a lot of cars that seem to be more aggressive towards me (especially ones with Right leaning bumper stickers) then they were when I had the sporty convertible. They don't realize that I have a long drive and my main factor for the Car was price of fuel (I h
Re: (Score:2)
In the US, cars inevitably make a statement about you. Sorry, it's not just about functionality. You chose the overlap of hipster, hippie, and really slow driver, so you should only expect some people to be unhappy with you.
Re: (Score:2)
Is this another example of terrible Slashdot editorial comments distorting original story to "make news" as this alternative theory is not in the original source?
You must be new here.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought you were wrong, but apparently the price ahs dropped a lot in the last decade or so. They were close to 40K.
I bet they are still horrible to drive.
Interesting, there website say 12,400 fro an electric, but when you actually find a price, it's 25G
http://www.smartusa.com/models... [smartusa.com]
http://en.ta64.smart.com/is-bi... [smart.com]
So the Swatch/Mecedes ART piece is still way over priced for what you get.
Re: (Score:2)
Smart cars are fine, if you put a hyabusa engine in it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's pretty much what I was thinking. A Corolla gets 30/40 mpg, is just shy of $17K starting, and carries at least 4 people. I just don't see anyone buying a Smart car unless they are trying to be trendy.
Or they are parking it in SF where street parking is scarce and driving a car that's 6 feet shorter (106" versus 182") than a Corolla is a huge advantage. Parking a SmartCar means that a lot of the narrow spaces between driveways that used to be too narrow for a car can now fit your SmartCar. It's small enough to park perpendicular to the curb, but state and local laws prohibit it.
Really? (Score:3)
It takes more than two people to tip over a smart? Guess they must be little girly men.
Re: (Score:2)
It takes more than two people to tip over a smart? Guess they must be little girly men.
What do they weigh compared to a vintage VW Bug?
One person could flip an old Bug by himself, granted he was sober enough to pick up the right end.
Re: (Score:2)
Go out and actually try it. Make sure you've got health insurance cause you'll hurt yourself. Bugs are lite, but not that lite.
So 2001 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Technically that fad was pushing them into rivers/canals.
San Francisco: crazy again (Score:2)
While I understand the social frustrations -- they aren't unique to SF and where I live there are very similar issues around gentrification -- the reactions I've been hearing about in that area are rapidly reaching the "crazy" level. Sounds like it's time to avoid San Francisco.
Re:San Francisco: crazy again (Score:5, Interesting)
Gentrification to me means turning filthy, crime ridden ghettos into clean and safe neighborhoods. I haven't heard any reasonable argument against it that doesn't include hidden racism or prejudice against poor people being morons who like living in dirt.
Here's some: (Score:2, Insightful)
Excessive gentrification raises housing costs to the point where only wealthy professionals
can afford to live there. There are several disadvantages to this: first, everyone works,
no stay-at-home moms, so there are no eyes on the street during the days. Second,
anyone without a professional-level income can't stay in the neighborhood. Like my
kids music teacher.
Part of your assumption is that gentrification starts with filthy crime-ridden gettoes. It
can also destroy stable, safe, lower- and middle-class
Re:San Francisco: crazy again (Score:5, Informative)
I mean, it sounds reasonable to me. Not compelling enough for me to not move to a gentrifying area (which I have before and don't feel particularly guilty about), but I understand why it upsets some people legitimately. I do think a lot of it is simply entitlement or making excuses for envy. Obviously tipping over someone's car isn't a rational way of trying to keep prices for long-term residents down: people who have already moved in are just going to hire more cops which will increase taxes which will hasten the poorer residents being priced out. No, those idiots were either simply troublemakers or at best angry because they didn't have a nice shiny smartcar while their neighbors did.
N-word, please (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
You go ahead and stay in your padded cave if that scares you.
Re: (Score:3)
We have crime. The building are run down, we need work.
OK, here comes business
WHAT? they're bringing in new business, reducing crime., and bringing in jobs?
the EVIL gentrifying BASTARDS!
double take.. (Score:5)
reading the headline, i thought the story was going to be about people dropping change and dollar bills on smart cars as a way to, i dunno, show their support for eco-friendliness?
Moo (Score:2)
In other news, the local cattle herds have never been less paranoid!
Tipping over a smart car to fight the man (Score:2)
Put these in the car (Score:3)
Owners in the area need to put these in their cars:
http://i1.squidoocdn.com/resiz... [squidoocdn.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Used to be with it, but they changed what "it" is (Score:3)
Vandalism and pranks are not new. And this particular form (tipping/inverting/moving_to_weird_places any unusually small/light car) is something I've heard of going back to at least as early as the 1960s. Your grandparents were doing this when they were kids (assuming your grandparents were assholes).
Next on slashdot: someone spraypaints the screen on someone else's phone! It's all part of the new Anti-Tech Movement!! You are totally a square and working for The Man and thinking-inside-the-box and not-cool, if you aren't doing this yet. You probably don't even have an onion on your belt, lamer. Get with it, man!
Re:Used to be with it, but they changed what "it" (Score:4, Insightful)
We didn't tip them. We put them between poles so the had to do a 300 point turn to get out.
We also came back and removed it when the teacher went inside to call a tow truck.
Synergy (Score:5, Funny)
I've seen discussions of having electric cars play an audio track of engine noise to reduce accidents with pedestrians.
And now, when the kids tip it, it will go "MooOOOOOOooo"
Re: (Score:2)
I think the meaning is less profound (Score:5, Insightful)
Speaking as someone who when they first saw a smart car said to themselves "I wonder if i run out into the road and shoulder check it if it would tip over" I don't think the vandals in question are doing this to make a statement. I think its most likely that they had a similar thought combined it with youthful enthusiasm and the great decision making power that only a group of teenagers can have.
Re: (Score:2)
Yup. According to the linked story, we're talking about four cars, all in the same area, all tipped over in the same night. It's probably one group of rowdy young guys.
As the divide grows... (Score:2)
This will become a more common occurrence. Why do you think the rich want to spend so much more on Police and the Military?
The rich do not own smart cars (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Wow, it's like the exact opposite of what happened in Detroit. Prices are going up because business are moving in... Detroit declared bankruptcy and rent is dirt cheap there... so what part are you talking about - the vandalism?
Re:San Fran = the new Detroit (Score:5, Insightful)
Detroit was once a very nice city. This exact sort of behavior made Detroit the smoking crater it is today. If you drive everyone with money away from your tax base, there won't be anything left. There was a deliberate effort in Detroit's case, and while it took a decade or more to drive out the middle class, and another couple decades to run out of money, it was inevitable from just a few years in.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
" This exact sort of behavior made Detroit the smoking crater it is today. " The decline of American manufacturing is felt in manufacturing centers.
You're no economist. You're no sociologist. You're no historian.
Re: (Score:3)
But what caused the decline in American manufacturing? I can point to certain self-destructive behaviors on both the management and labor side that drove the Detroit auto sector into the ground. Heck, I can even point to the city management and city unions for their fair share. Did they face some hard external challenges? Yes, they did – but the ultimate responsibility of their failure lays in Detroit.
And I can say this as a trained economist and historian. (armature status today, but still.)
Re: (Score:2)
The professional economics and historians point to globalization and automation as the major factors in Detroit's decline.
Re: (Score:3)
No – those are challenges to Detroit. They might explain why Detroit is no longer the undisturbed, preeminent auto manufacturing center of the world. The rest of the world got better. Those are some of the external factors that I was eluding too. It does not explain the failure to evolve and adapt. The failure to respond is an internal factor that lies on the doorstep of Detroit and the Big 3 - these factors they did have control over.
Re: (Score:2)
You're an electrical engineer too?
Re:San Fran = the new Detroit (Score:4, Interesting)
"But what caused the decline in American manufacturing?"
Unadulterated GREED.
Allowing rich assholes to move manufacturing offshore for free dramatically increases profit margins. The ones that stayed here, those are not assholes.
Re:San Fran = the new Detroit (Score:4, Interesting)
So, the German and Japanese bosses who move manufacturing plants to the US are assholes? If that is true, since they are exploiting lower American wages for their unadulterated greed, how come they are not failing like American manufactures?
Re: (Score:3)
Re:San Fran = the new Detroit (Score:5, Insightful)
> This exact sort of behavior made Detroit the smoking crater it is today.
Not really.
There may be some parallels, but Detroit was mostly a different situation. The Detroit lower classes did not actively try to push away those with money the way the SF leaches are trying to do. In Detroit, there were decades of major race relation problems that culminated in black riots in the downtown core. This scared the white middle-class who pretty much all picked up and moved to the suburbs willingly.
In SF, the complainers are a small group of mostly young, white folks who are bored, unemployed and looking for handouts to sustain their leach-like lifestyle.
Re:San Fran = the new Detroit (Score:4, Funny)
Exactly, I did this in SimCity and eventually a volcano erupted in what was otherwise a geologically stable area. And simulations don't lie.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
4 cars in a fairly small radius tipped on one evening != a trend
it was a single group of probably young men, deciding to do something stupid.
Now if it continues to happen over a larger area, for some time, then it will become a trend.
Re: (Score:3)
One more piece of evidence that San Francisco needs to be nuked to a smoking crater.
Some people there apparently don't like Smart Cars (or maybe those who drive them), and that's a reason to nuke the city and start over? Would you rebuild SF to make it more friendly to Smart Cars?
Re: (Score:2)
Oh...I thought this was a quote from the boondocks or something..I love that show.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I think several points are off. For instance, if I look at new cars on cars.com around me, the cheapest fit is $14,370. If I check out the cheapest Civic, it's $18,980. That's 25% less than an already cheap car. The Smart gets 34/38 mpg; the Civic gets 28/36. The Civic is a manual, the Smart an automatic transmission. (At least in the US, many people w
Re: (Score:2)
Stop comparing to Civics; they're overpriced too.
Also, the Smart "automatic" a)isn't really; it's an "automated manual" with a clutch, and b) is absolutely terrible compared to either a torque-converter automatic or a manually-operated clutch.
Do yourself a favor and buy a used Hy
Re: (Score:3)
I wonder if it's third worlders... jealous of white man's technology...
Oh, wait... that was 'racist' of me, wasn't it. Pointing out the truth - that non-whites hate their own kind, and will do anything to live around 'racists' - sorry - whites...
Well, being factually incorrect in racial claims does make you appear racist. The "third world immigrants" in Silly Valley are upper middle class, for the most part. There's a reason that the average income of Hindus is far and away the highest of any religion in America (well into 6 figures).
Re: (Score:3)
... in my [favored "grassroots" propaganda organization], the die-hard ["other" group of political extremists] seem to be rooting for and seem to be very satisfied by the friction between the masses of [Group A] and [Group B].
Universalized that for ya.