Celebrating my Column’s 150th Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my ‘Keri on Driving‘ column!

Big milestone for me… that’s 150 different topics, 45,000 words, and am pleased to report since its debut 2.5 years ago in August 2012, I only took 4 weeks off.

Read it online at Autonet.

Happy 150th anniversary to my column!

We learned there’s no way out of paying the destination charge when buying a car, and the “Solomon Curve” parabola mathematically proves “speed doesn’t kill, slowness does.” We learned that Santa is a trucker, and Ford’s toughest F-150 test involved men hired from Craigslist.

We now know an Enhanced Driver’s Licence can be used to cross the border, and that while dancing in your car, air vents can double as a wind machine. We also found out it’s more difficult to obtain your licence in Germany versus Canada.

To those without a driver’s licence, “why design your life so that you’re always relying on someone else?”

Valets should be tipped twice, and you should clean your dirty car because “you wouldn’t sit in your living room surrounded by fast food bags.”

Best lines I got printed in the paper, just to see if I could: “my rats-nest hairdo” and “50 Shades of EyeRoll.

I rewrote the rulebook on “what to do after an accident,” investigated the mystery behind the checkered flag, and realized that motorsports boils down to concentration, which gave me the idea toput a monk behind the wheel of a race car.”

Safety aids are overrated, because “when was the last time you checked that the sensor was clean of debris?” And I’m still not excited about autonomous cars, and suggested everyone should “go get lost this weekend, while you still can.”

Did you know “there are over 100 computers (ECUs) in a car?” With the introduction of WiFi hotspots “we’ll all stream YouTube nonsense as we motor along.

We peered inside a car’sblack box(EDR), and its OBDII port, now let’s gowardriving.”

From armoured cars to cloaking a car in camouflage, I specialized in auto security. We solved crimes using car clues, warned thatstick family stickers are still a terrible idea, and the main takeaway on car hacking is that if someone who is that specialized is chasing you, you have bigger things to worry about than your car being hacked.

The most commented topic online (at 125 comments) wasFight Speeding Tickets,” but I’m more proud of my least-commented column, because angry hippies hidden behind a keyboard love to comment, andDown with hybridspublished to crickets. Logic!

One third of traffic is caused by people looking to park, and it makes no sense getting worked up about it since “you knew (the traffic) was there, and still pointed your car at it and drove right in.”

Thanks for reading – here’s to 150 more!

Favourite line:

All of it, because the whole thing is composed of all my favourite lines. If you read no other column by me, please make it this one.

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Updated my About Page on Autonet

Finally.

The old one was from when I started in August 2012, and it was terrible. Not funny-terrible, like I think my LinkedIn account is, but written-in-the-3rd-person-wtf-Keri? terrible.

New one is below: 

Hi I’m Keri –

Like cars, love driving.

Write the news, reviews and a weekly column, ‘Keri on Driving’ – 300 words on whatever I like. Recently celebrated its 150th anniversary!

For a sample of my reviews, read about the all-new 2015 Ford Edge, and Mazda’s 25th Anniversary Edition of the 2015 MX-5. Starting to specialize in auto security.

Or meet me via my blog, KeriBlog.com, which is how I ended up with this amazing job.

Thanks,

Keri

@KeriBlog on Twitter & Instagram

Here’s the paper page – Keri Potipcoe on Autonet – scroll the links to all my stuff.

Like cars, love driving – here.

 

 

How a Car is Conceived

Honda’s all-new HR-V goes on sale soon. During its launch in Miami a few weeks back, I interviewed Hayato Mori, Senior Manager of Product Planning, about how Honda dreamed it up.

I thought the process started with design, throw in a couple features and done – here is a new car that’s never before existed. I was very wrong. Research research research.

Read it online at Autonet.

Favourite line:

By now my eyes are rolling out of my head, “Hayato this is unreasonable! How can something be luxury inside, but for the lowest possible price?!” He just smiles, “that’s the game, Keri.”

Hayato and I.

You’ve met him before, when we talked about the differences between the original Civic and today’s: 1973 – When side mirrors were optional

Above is the presentation slide I’m talking about in the article. I’d have quit after this step, this is a dichotomy!  See last line of column.

Below is the all-new 2016 Honda HR-V.

Blog tag = Honda HR-V

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Using a Freezer Faraday Cage to Protect from Theft

New York Times journalist Nick Bilton’s Prius was almost stolen electronically three times, so he goes looking for an answer. He finds a clue from a Toronto Police warning, which leads him to a guy in Switzerland, who explains what likely happened.

The attack – boost the car’s keyless entry signal range to trick it into unlocking.

The defence – store keys in a makeshift Faraday cage (like a freezer) where signals cannot get in or out.

This was my Friday news story for the paper.

Read it online at Autonet.

Blog tag = Auto Security

 

 

Designing a Strong DRG and Graphic Signature

Know how there’s those kind of cars, you see one from a distance, it’s features can’t be made out but you can just tell – it’s a Whatever.

Design Speak: this vehicle has a strong DownRoad Graphic,
its Graphic Signature is solid.

Speaking with Kevin George – Ford’s Exterior Design Manager – we learn about the DRG, and how when confronted with an advancing object, the mind goes through “3 reads”, and how that fits with vehicle design.

Read it online at Autonet.

Favourite line:

Everything described above – this “graphic signature” – is happening during the day, but the designers also have to pull this off at night. 

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