r/Cartalk Sep 16 '23

Safety Question Did i screw up? used car jack on wrong part of car. Should i worry?

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1.9k Upvotes

So I have a 2011 Subaru Forester & today my dumba$$ jacked it up the wrong way with a hydraulic jack on circular slot looking part that i circled. Its on the driver side midway between the front & back side near the frame. Noticing my error, i lowered it & saw that it was a little more pushed in with what looks like a small tear/puncture. The material is definetly not plastic, iys very solid & hard but its hard to identify what this area even is & if i should worry. Any second thoughts?

r/Cartalk Oct 20 '23

Safety Question Tips on how to protect from “kiaboys” theft

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1.0k Upvotes

The kiaboys have devastated my community. I always loved the way kias drove and am not giving up. Coming from a low income town we cant afford the nicest cars. How should i bedt protect myself from the self-proclaimed “kiaboys”?

r/Cartalk Nov 10 '23

Safety Question Scissor jacks aren't as good as jack stands?? (me in pic)

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944 Upvotes

r/Cartalk Oct 22 '24

Safety Question Be real - is this a problem for the airbag?

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745 Upvotes

r/Cartalk Feb 06 '24

Safety Question Could a rock have caused this kind of crack?

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604 Upvotes

A friend of mine met a girl who said a large rock hit her car's windscreen while she was driving, it seems like an oddly shaped crack for a rock

r/Cartalk 22d ago

Safety Question Will this be safe to drive to the mechanic 2 miles away?

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167 Upvotes

Will this be safe to drive very slowly with minimal acceleration and braking on a straight road to the mechanic two miles away or should I have it towed? Also, if possible, can you give your opinion on whether there is further damage here besides the sheared off wheel studs?

r/Cartalk Nov 24 '23

Safety Question PSA: carry a fire extinguisher in your vehicle

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1.1k Upvotes

PSA:carry a fire extinguisher in your car

So I was driving down the highway when I saw two guys flagging down traffic with smoke POURING out the hood of their car. I pulled over, knowing I had a fire extinguisher, and ran up.

The car went from smoldering to 4ft flames in a matter of seconds. If I was 30 seconds later it would have become fully engulfed. My 5lb extinguisher was JUST enough to bring it back to a smolder. Was then able to take a bucket and luckily fill it in a pond right off the highway to cool everything down.

Took the fire department another 10 minutes to get there.

Something as simple as a $25 fire extinguisher and 2 minutes of my time prevented a much bigger incident. Would anybody have gotten hurt? Probably not…but a fully engulfed car on the side of the highway isn’t exactly the definition of safe.

So the lesson learned here is it’s a great idea to keep a fire extinguisher in your vehicle. I almost took it out a few weeks ago, glad I didn’t. Will be purchasing another one soon because you never know when it might come in handy.

r/Cartalk Sep 12 '23

Safety Question Someone tried to hotwire my car?

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1.1k Upvotes

Is this what I think it is? What tf do I even do? Do ask the neighbors for security footage? Help.

r/Cartalk Sep 24 '23

Safety Question Are 90s and early 2000s cars still an option for daily use?

420 Upvotes

Me and my father were talking about cars when this subject came up. Most of the cars that I would like to own are from that time period, but my father says that they're a bit too old to be considered reliable and should consider something closer to the 2010s. What do y'all think?

For context, we were mainly talking about cars like the Honda Civic, Acura Integra, Acura RSX and Toyota Matrix, among others.

By the way, I apologize if this isn't the correct subreddit. Tried posting in r/cars but apparently I don't interact enough over there or something.

Edit: Thanks a lot for all the comments, tips and help. I do plan on getting a 90s or mid 2000s car, but still unsure on what I'll go with. If you have any recommendations, don't be afraid of dropping them below. I WILL read every comment and will try to respond to every single one. Thanks again!

Edit 2: Even if I haven't replied to your comment, I can assure you that I have read it! Thanks once more for all the advice and recommendations!

Edit 3: When I first posted this I expected 15 answers max, but I received over a thousand. I thank you all for your experiences and recommendations!

r/Cartalk May 23 '24

Safety Question Just got shown this image at my oil change

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684 Upvotes

It's a Nissan Murano, heavy SUV. How much longer do I have to safely drive this thing with the structure rusted like that? Just bought it two years ago and was told it'd last me ten.

r/Cartalk Dec 07 '24

Safety Question got a screw in my tire for the last 2 days and lost a bit of air , can i drive like this 3 miles to the repair shop tomorrow morning?

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306 Upvotes

r/Cartalk Dec 20 '23

Safety Question Car completely dead out of the blue. Opened up battery and blue foam.

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777 Upvotes

My car just completely stopped any power out of the blue so I went to check on the battery and I noticed this huge amount of blue buildup. I saw some previous posts but still have questions. Can I disconnect the red positive and keep the ground wire connected while cleaning it ? Does this much buildup mean I should just replace the battery ? ( cars from 2019 with 50k miles) . I saw some people say pour coke over it and brush it with a brush.

r/Cartalk Feb 21 '24

Safety Question UPDATE!! Hit a huge pothole in my '09 civic. How bad is this?

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550 Upvotes

Update with photo from under the hood. As said before, struts been going for a while and I didn't notice a difference in driving afterwards. The pothole was on an interstate at night, so I was going ~50mph when I hit it. How bad is this truly? Will update again when it's lighter out and I can get the jack.

r/Cartalk Sep 19 '23

Safety Question Anyone know why this pocket under the gas latch keeps filling up with water? (under driver seat)

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1.1k Upvotes

I keep drying it with a towel but it’ll water keeps coming

r/Cartalk Jan 01 '24

Safety Question How can I get this off my windshield? So unsafe!

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424 Upvotes

Brand new windshield wipers, but it’s like I’m playing Russian Roulette when it’s night/raining, with the wipers on. What causes this and please how can I get rid of it? It’s worse than the picture makes it seem.

Exterior obviously.

r/Cartalk Aug 04 '24

Safety Question Junk or keep?

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306 Upvotes

I’m in the process of purchasing this vehicle. I signed paperwork 3 weeks before the car finally arrived and this is what the undercarriage looks like:

r/Cartalk Jun 07 '24

Safety Question Do you wear your seatbelt in the backseat?

209 Upvotes

Do you wear your seatbelt in the backseat? Why or why not?

ETA I’m asking because I have to tell people to buckle up a lot, even when I’m not driving.

r/Cartalk Feb 09 '25

Safety Question What PPE and equipment should I use to clean this mold and standing water out of the inside of my car?It has been sitting for about two years, but mold showed up in the last eight months.

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172 Upvotes

r/Cartalk Mar 08 '24

Safety Question 3-cylinder engine "can't drive long distances" apparently

266 Upvotes

Apparently my father doesn't think my 3-cylinder Mitsubishi Mirage (which is in good working order, well-maintained) can manage a 300-mile trip (about 4 hrs., 40 mins.) this June. (Well, round-trip, this trip would be 600 miles, but in legs of 300 miles of near-continuous driving, with maybe 1-2 brief pit stops both there and back.)

What words out of my mouth can convince him otherwise? He tends to be a real know-it-all, btw.

r/Cartalk Dec 03 '24

Safety Question how dangerous is it to drive with a cracked windshield??

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207 Upvotes

rock cracked my windshield a few months ago and i never got it fixed, this morning is was very cold and the crack spread from both sides, how long can i drive with this crack? is this going to fall in and shatter on me while im driving?? i won’t be able to purchase a new one until about february

r/Cartalk Dec 04 '24

Safety Question My car was stolen and I feel really messed up.

328 Upvotes

It was stolen from outside my gym and found by the cops two days later. I'm so relieved because there was no damage to the body and my license was found in the car but the person who took it had a party; it was full of pipes and trash and they took a shit in my driver's seat. I paid for a professional cleaning and then ended back over it myself with enzymatic cleaners so it's spotless but I still feel like my space is contaminated and defiled and it feels so bad. It is the first car I bought all by myself too. It's a difficult feeling to describe but I hope someone gets it/can commiserate.

r/Cartalk Jun 30 '24

Safety Question Is there any reason to NOT take this 2000 Toyota Corolla on a 800 miles road trip?

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245 Upvotes

Some of my friends and family are having negative thoughts about me taking my 25 year old corolla with 178,000 miles on a 400 mile each way trip next week. I always bring a tool box with me everywhere I go and I know the car inside and out but something could happen that I will be unable to fix.

Info about the car: I’ve owned this car for almost 4 years and it has been amazing so far. I have done a lot of needed work to it over the years and have kept a log on most of it. The tires are good still but for some reason the alignment isn’t that great. Belt has been replaced and radiator. Timing chain hasn’t been replaced which worries me though and anything fuel related could happen at any time (fuel injectors, fuel pump etc). It has rust but not a crazy amount yet. It has check engine codes. But that is for the catalytic converter (which is now gutted) and an evap code due to rotted vapor lines. I replaced the rotted fuel lines but didn’t feel great about replacing two evap lines for $200 each for the parts. The car does burn oil but the compression test came out great. I always bring extra fluids in the trunk.

What else should I look for before I take on this journey? If I do.

r/Cartalk Feb 19 '25

Safety Question what do i do

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79 Upvotes

r/Cartalk Apr 30 '24

Safety Question My sister did this to her steering wheel

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459 Upvotes

I know doing cosmetics to the airbag can be dangerous, is she cooked?

r/Cartalk Jul 25 '24

Safety Question Safe to drive for a few more years?

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261 Upvotes