Toyota Recalls 1 Million Vehicles
Listen, nobody is a fan of a recall. Getting one is always an inconvenience, but following up with them is always important for the safety of you and anyone who rides in your car. In some ways, recalls are a necessary evil. It might not be most fun to get that piece of mail or text message, but a recall is always there to protect you.
Most of us will deal with recalls throughout our lifetime. I remember getting one for my current car a few years back. My hood always did this thing where it looked like it was going to fly open when I hit a certain speed on the freeway. It was pretty scary, imagining that thing flying open on the freeway and potentially causing a wreck. Thankfully, that never happened and a recall was eventually sent out. I was able to get it repaired at no cost to me and my car hasn’t had that issue since.
Today we’re learning that Toyota is recalling about 1 million vehicles. It’s due to a potential problem with the passenger airbag. This recall affects 15 Toyota and Lexus models, such as the Camry, Sienna, and RAV4, as well as the Lexus RX350 and ES250 types. The affected vehicles are from recent years. The model years 2020 to 2022.
According to Toyota’s website, the reason for the recall is a possible problem with the occupant classification system sensor. They’re saying it could short-circuit. This sensor is responsible for determining whether the person in the front passenger seat is an adult or a child based on their weight. Due to this potential issue, the airbag may fail to deploy in certain types of crashes when it should.
Toyota says that owners of the affected vehicles will be notified by Toyota by mid-February. It’s important for owners to pay attention to this notification and take their vehicles to a Toyota dealership for inspection and any necessary repairs. Safety is a top priority. If you drive a Toyota, and would like to see if your vehicle has an active recall, click HERE to check.
Vintage Gadgets: Outdated Tech That Still Sparks Joy
A Physical Calculator
You probably haven’t seen a calculator in ages, but a Reddit user chimed in to say that, for them, the old-school scientific calculator beats the one on your phone or any app. They simply put it like this, “Honestly, a standard scientific calculator is just easier to use than your phone’s built-in scientific calculator.” It could be the fun button-tapping sound or the nostalgic thrill of typing in cheeky words with numbers that makes this person prefer calculators.
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Watches That Only Tell The Time
Smartwatches may pack in loads of features, but there’s a catch – they need regular charging and maintenance, and their battery life is shorter. On the flip side, traditional watches are a low-maintenance choice with longer battery life. In fact, a Redditor mentioned they still rock a “a lovely, inexpensive, bombproof, analog, big face Casio.” They also pointed out that smartwatches aren’t allowed at their job, so their trusty Casio gets the job done.
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CD Player, MP3 Player, and Vinyl Albums
If you’ve put a ton of effort into collecting CDs and vinyl records, and creating some killer playlists, why ditch them, right? One person told their story about growing up in the ’90s, building a massive CD collection, and stashing them all in one of those Case Logic CD binders. They fondly shared, “I still keep it with me in my car and it’s a wonderful trip down memory lane every time I open it. I laughed and cried a little when my kids friend asked me what it was and I said, ‘CDs’ and they followed up with, ‘What’s that?'” But also: not everything is available on streaming services. That obscure soundtrack or tribute album from the ’80s? Licensing issues may have prevented it from hitting the streamers. Love Joni Mitchell? Well, Spotify doesn’t have her catalog. Sure, you can subscribe to another service, but if you kept your old vinyl and have a turntable, you can listen to it the old school way.
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"I Love Wires"
You have people who can’t stand a tangle of wires in their tech setup, and then there’s that Reddit user who’s all about the wired life. They firmly believe that wired networking is “not obsolete or outdated.” According to them, it’s superior in every aspect, except for the mobility it lacks compared to wireless. They put it simply, “Wired is the ideal, you only go wireless if running cable is unfeasible for the situation.
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A Regular Doorbell
A regular doorbell does its job well. It lets you know someone’s at the door. On the other hand, a video doorbell does the same but with the perk of letting you see and hear the person at your door, even if you’re not home. Someone mentioned they’d be up for a smart doorbell if it kept the data local. They said, “I don’t want anything being sent online, so I might need to set up my own system… I’ll just stick with the traditional kind.”
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Physical Buttons
A Redditor shared their affection for good old physical buttons, arguing that not everything needs to go the touchscreen route. They stressed the importance of having car radios equipped with buttons rather than screens, believing it’s a safer choice. They explained, “It’s easier for me to push a button to change the music while keeping my eyes on the road/ I can’t do that if my car has a screen. It increases distracted driving incidents.”
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