by Brian Carr on February 22, 2010
The trading price of a barrel of oil climbed above $80 for the first time since early January based on the believe that the United States Federal Reserve will be forced to keep its key federal funds rate at record lows for an extended period of time.
The Federal Reserve will likely have to keep interest rates low in an attempt to help keep credit expenses down for consumers while helping to allow businesses to cheaply borrow money to begin bringing down the unemployment rate.
A low federal funds rate often aids in economic expansion, which in turn, puts upward pressure on the price of commodities, especially things like oil and gold, due to the increased expectation of inflation and devaluing of the dollar. In international trading, the price of oil is valued in dollars.
Despite the nearly 15% increase in the price of oil over the past two weeks, the price of gasoline has remained relatively flat, jumping less than one percent (two cents) over the same time frame.
However, with climbing oil prices and the busy summer driving season not that far away it seems a near certainty that the price of gasoline will climb significantly higher in the weeks to come. In fact, it’s not a stretch to assume that this summer most of us will be paying $3 or more per gallon.
Currently, only Alaska ($3.25) and Hawaii ($3.37) are reporting state-wide average prices above $3 per gallon. Wyoming has the lowest state-wide average price of gasoline at $2.37 per gallon.
What are your thoughts on where the price of gasoline is headed? Leave your comments below.
by Brian Carr on February 17, 2010
One of the most painful things of any person’s day is the commute to and from work.
In the morning, you’re half asleep, stuck in traffic surrounded by a bunch of idiot drivers, and heading into a job you’d rather not be at. In the afternoon, you’re drained from sitting through boring meetings, being stuck in traffic surrounded by a bunch of a-holes, and probably heading to a hectic situation at home.
Driving your car used to be a release. Now it’s just an added stress.
Fun!
Thankfully, according to a recent poll, it appears that most of us don’t have to spend a “significant” amount of time blowing a gasket while bonding with our fellow commuters.
When asked “How long (on average) does your roundtrip commute take?” nearly 250 Daily Fuel Economy Tip readers responded with the following answers:
- 44% – Less than 30 minutes
- 26% – Between 30 minutes and 1 hour
- 19% – Between 1 and 2 hours
- 11% – Greater than 2 hours
A roundtrip commute of less than 30 minutes really isn’t all that bad. I know I’d enjoy that.
And with a one-way commute of about 15 minutes, it sort of begs the question: how many of these people walk or take mass-transit? Nothing like letting someone else do all of the driving.
What’s your commute like? Leave your comments below.
by Brian Carr on February 4, 2010
It looks like Toyota’s recall problems and attacks on its reputation for quality and safety might be on the verge of becoming worse.
According to an article by Peter Whoriskey, published in the February 4 issue of the Washington Post, back in 2007, investigators discovered that “at least three of every 100 Lexus ES 350 owners in Ohio reported experiencing unintended acceleration.”
According to the Washington Post’s article, James C. Fell, former chief of research for traffic safety programs for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, went on to say:
“Anything over 1 percent would raise a red flag, particularly for the manufacturer.”
Considering the reported incidences of “unintended acceleration” was at least 3 percent, or three times the red flag threshold, it’s starting to look as if more should have been done earlier.
Granted, I’m sure the population size of Lexus ES 350 owners in Ohio is pretty small, especially if you’re going to use it as the basis for a mass recall.
If this were the only sample population, it’s easy to see why the investigation might not have received the attention it truly deserved from Toyota’s engineering team and federal safety regulators, and why the problem with sticking gas pedals might have been misdiagnosed.
The Washington Post’s article states:
“After the engineering review, Toyota and the regulators decided that the cause was that the accelerator had been stuck in the grooves of the all-weather floor mats some owners had put in. It was shown that the floor mats could trap the accelerator, so the company declared a recall of approximately 55,000 such floor mats and the case was closed.”
I’m no engineer, but that seems like quite an odd misdiagnosis. After all, wouldn’t it take just a few stuck accelerators in vehicles that didn’t have the grooved floor mats to demonstrate the the problem likely didn’t stem from the mats, but from some sort of design or engineering flaw?
Then again, it’s entirely possible I’m looking at this too simplistically.
Either way, it now appears Toyota could have saved itself a lot of trouble and lost market-share had it been more aggressive in trying to pinpoint the true cause of sticking accelerators when the problem first surfaced two and a half years ago.
by Brian Carr on February 4, 2010
As I stated last week, Toyota’s woes have been exactly what Detroit needed.
According to an article released by the Associated Press, General Motors and Ford both saw double-digit sales increase for the month of January. Toyota’s sales fell 16% for the month.
Not coincidentally, January was the month that Toyota announced a massive recall of some of their most popular vehicles due to the fact the vehicle’s gas pedals could stick.
And, considering the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, stated people should, “stop driving it [their Toyota] and take it to a dealer,” it wouldn’t surprise me if February is worse for Toyota, and better for the other car makers, than January was.
(Note: LaHood later explained his comments saying he meant owners should get their cars fixed as quickly as possible, not to completely give up on their Toyota.)
As I’ve stated before, I think we’re in the midst of a giant shift back to the idea that American cars are quality cars and, at the very least, on par with their foreign counterparts. Obviously, situations like this only further that argument.
What are your thoughts? Do you own a Toyota? Are you now thinking of buying an American car? Do you not care either way? Leave your comment below!