Dear Tom and Ray: My fix-it-type father is offering to give my 16-year-old daughter (and new driver) his old car. It will be in perfect running order, with new brakes and a sound engine. He is even offering to pay for insurance. She is the apple of his eye. Unfortunately, his car is a 25-year-old GM sedan without any of today’s safety features, such as air bags or anti-lock brakes, etc. He dismisses the lack of safety features by saying the car is “as solid as a rock,” “you know where it is on the road” and “they don’t make cars like this anymore.” My maternal impulse is to say “Thanks, but no thanks.”
– Donna
Tom: Gee, that’s really nice of your father. But I have to side with you, Donna.
Ray: Me too. He’s right that they don’t make cars like that anymore. And I, for one, am grateful. Modern cars are much safer.
Plus, they drive better, stop better, are more reliable and are easier to handle. That’s especially important for a relatively new driver, who has enough to concentrate on without worrying whether the starboard outrigger is clipping a mailbox.
Tom: So here’s what I’d do. I’d tell your dad that it’s a wonderful gesture. But you want her to drive a car that has modern safety features.
Ray: If he’s game, you can suggest that he sell the old heap, and then he and his granddaughter can make a project of using the proceeds to find her a newer used car. He’d get to help her check out and buy her first car, and he’d probably enjoy that.
Tom: And you can say it has to have a driver’s air bag, anti-lock brakes and a five-star crash-test rating. The more air bags (side, curtain, rear side, rear end), the better.
Ray: And if he doesn’t bite, maybe he’ll let his granddaughter drive his new Lexus once in a while (we know he’s getting one with air bags, stability control, anti-lock brakes and seat heaters as soon as he figures out a way to dump his old clunker).
…
Dear Tom and Ray: I have a 2004 Honda Accord, which I recently took to the dealer for the 30,000-mile service. The dealer tells me that my oil-pan underneath the car has a large dent, though there is no oil leaking.
He says that I should spend $400 on getting this replaced ASAP, since otherwise my oil pressure could drop to zero. I am not sure how big this problem is, since there is no leak. How urgent is it? Why would a dent affect oil pressure if the pan is intact? Thanks.
– Amit
Tom: You’re fortunate to have a steel oil pan on this car. Steel often can survive a dent. As long as there’s no actual “crease” in the metal, you’re probably OK.
Ray: But the other potential problem is that the dent itself may be pushing up against, and blocking, the oil pickup tube. The tube that sucks the oil out of the pan and delivers it to the pump sits close to the bottom of the pan. If the dent were in just the wrong place, it could create a phenomenon called “oil starvation” – especially at high engine speeds or on hills.
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