http://www.silicon.com/public/door?REQUNIQ=940626625&6004REQEVENT=&REQINT1=33551&REQSTR1=newsnow

Friday 22 October 1999 4:24pm AA study reveals Y2K will stop cars in their tracks Drivers could be left stranded over the millennium period as thousands of cars fall victim to the millennium bug.

The warning comes following a study by the AA of all major vehicle and component manufacturers.

John Stubbs, head of technical policy at AA said the organisation put ten "tough but pertinent" millennium questions to the test. However, most of the manufacturers responded by claiming they could not see why their products would be affected.

The three areas of concern, according to Stubbs, are navigation and service logging equipment, engine management devices and embedded chips in various systems.

Stubbs conceded there is some good news. Safety related devices such as airbags and anti-lock breaking system are unlikely to be affected as they are designed to be fail-safe.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Y2KOK.ORG), October 22, 1999

Answers

Who is the "AA" ?

-- Don Wegner (donfmwyo@earthlink.net), October 22, 1999.

Friends don't let friends drive drunk.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), October 22, 1999.

This is pure bunk! It was disputed over a year ago. Who or what is this AA anyway? What phoney "news" organization is this website? I sure hope no one is falling for this crud....

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), October 22, 1999.

Maybe it's these guys... the AAA of the UK.

http://www.theaa.co.uk/

This is not good news.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), October 22, 1999.

It a more entertaining read as Alcoholics Anonymous.

And for those of you who know me and are amazed, yes, I did use the spell checker (and I had them right - yeah, sure).

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), October 22, 1999.

AA is the Automobile Assosciation Very big Organisation Downunder...

-- matt (matt@somewhere.nz), October 22, 1999.

This is why there will be no recession next year.

Tens of thousands of yuppies all over the nation will be fixing or buying new Ford Excrescence SUVs and the like. It'll be the biggest boom in the US auto industry since the V-8.

Seriously, how can you look at this as a bad thing?

JZ

-- Jeff Zurschmeide (zursch@cyberhighway.net), October 22, 1999.

"...unlikely to be affected as they are designed to be fail-safe."

Everyone's a commedian.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), October 22, 1999.

I just can't get this story to parse. Cars "will" stop but drivers "could" be stranded? Most manufacturers couldn't see how their products could be affected, yet they find both good news and problems? How? The areas of concern all use embedded chips, yet one of them is called "embedded chips". Uh huh.

This might be really good news, and it might be really bad. But for sure it's really garbled.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), October 22, 1999.

"Drivers could be left stranded... most of the manufacturers responded by claiming they could not see why their products would be affected. Yet, the headline states "Y2K will stop cars in their tracks"?!

This is the poorest reporting job I've seen to date. Seriously, even the tabloid US rags couldn't top this. Shameful.

Most, if not all, cars will be OK, based on everything I've read. Perhaps there will be a few minor problems. I don't know. But this reporting is pathetically bad.

-- call a (spade@sp.ade), October 22, 1999.

The year 2000 is a couple of months away, and were still getting articles about whether cars will work? Unfortunately, this is what we can expect as the newly aware check in with their new found knowledge, that is, a reshash of Y2K speculations circa 1997...

FactFinders Y2K Article: Cars will run. End of story.

Regards,

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), October 22, 1999.

Dang Factfinder, I was just about to post this:

Hoffmeister and Factfinder,

Save your hair. Do not pay any attention to this manure. Besides it stinks so bad the GI's olfactory senses can even pick up on it.

-- the Virginian (2KorNot2K@2000.com), October 22, 1999.

LOL Virginian, I knew that most of you regulars new better. Now those VCRs though, them thangs are hosed ... Regards,

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), October 23, 1999.

Have you been to the site? Nothere is right -- AA is the Automobile Association of the UK, very reputable. They actually have their own uniformed people come out and help you get your car started or towed. The article is datelined yesterday.

-- Francesca (--@--.--), October 23, 1999.

FactFinder has it COMPLETELY correct. There is to date, ONE car manufatured that has ONE system that is date sensitive, and it is NOT a critical system.

I work on these things day in and day out...don't believe this piece of hack journalism!

This notice comes from a dyed-in-the-wool "8". There are far more serious considerations to y2k than embeded systems in the automotive industry.

-- THE Mechanic (don'tbuythiscr@p.o-lah), October 23, 1999.

debunked a long time ago, do a DejaNews, oops Deja.Com search in group csy2k. lots of threads under autos and y2k.

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), October 23, 1999.