Only skimmed this article so far. Astonished that no one else on this forum has brought it up for discussion yet today. But if true, this could be the best news I've heard in a long time:

Link to BBSpot News Item.

Well.. given the source..

Actually, I think that ruling it total crap. Yes, it'd be nice if automakers were forced to make their cars more "aftermarket" friendly (yet I can see reasons that'd be bad too), but making every car buyer source their own stereo is bad for the consumer. Car companies spend a lot of money on optimizing some of their stereos for specific cars. Sony or Kenwood can't provide that kind of tailored sound. But, most ridiculous of all, I don't see how this is "anti-trust". Ford, GM and Honda would make the same amount of money if you were to buy an aftermarket radio or not. In fact, GM and Ford don't even make stereos. They buy them from companies like Delphi and Visteon.

It'll be overturned.

EDIT: I have yet to see an aftermarket Sony that has the build quality to withstand a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty.

EDIT 2:

Quote:
McNeal counters that this ruling will result in an increase in the base price of all cars of about $1000 for the next five years. "While our cost for the stereo itself is only $15 the cost of retooling production facilities to meet the requirements of this ruling will be staggering. We have no choice but to pass these costs onto the consumer."

LOL, okay. This TOO is total crap! Being from Detroit, I'm flooded with industry news and I actually Tivo a bunch of Insider type shows all the time. There is no way it'll add $1000 to each vehicle. Lawyers.

EDIT 3: Okay, Mark's post just clicked in my head (and I had a little helper.) Can't we save this stuff for April 1st?

That's pretty funny. Almost Onion-esque.

-Zeke

The Onion has better quotes from "Area Man". I should have been tipped off when I went to all the Auto News sites and nothing was coming up. I thought maybe the story got burried by the North American Internation Auto Show.

Hey, if it makes you feel better, I didn't notice until I read the Related News links:

Quote:
Ford Testifies to Stop Ride Sharing
Automobile Virus Spreading Through Gas Nozzles
Marvel Sues Makers of Pens, Pencils

-Zeke

The headline from the main page that got me was: AMD Releases Socket 666 Athlon 64 CPUs

Wait. Did I just get Onioned?

Is that just a joke article that's written so close to straight that I didn't catch it?

You know, there should be a law against writing articles that are meant as jokes, but aren't funny enough to be obviously jokes. Makes people like me look like complete idiots when they link them.

Gah, I'm fatally embarrassed.

Wait... I mean... I knew it was a joke all along and wanted to see if you guys got it. Yeah. That's it.

Perhaps some of the other stories on linked on that page should have given it away:

"Ford Testifies to Stop Ride Sharing
Automobile Virus Spreading Through Gas Nozzles
Marvel Sues Makers of Pens, Pencils"

Tony,
I just figured your first post was written as straight as the article, it made it funnier.

-Zeke

I thought it was serious too, until i read the article about the nozzle condom.

Okay, now I'm just curious what you guys clicked on in the "What's your IQ?" quiz-ad that sometimes comes up at the bottom of that "story"!

But it must be true, I read it on the Internet!

I mean, really folks.. automakers don't make car stereos.. they buy them from Sony, JVC, Alpine, and the like (or from whoever owns those guys).

Cheers

Really. If there's a joke there, I don't get it.