Phone: 517 240-0773
Email: tomrahn@yahoo.com
Web: http://mrf.org/
Hello again.
In March, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) attended an event in Washington, D.C., hosted by Waymo, a self-driving car company. Titled “Every Mile Together: Waymo Safety Forum and Discussion,” this event included a panel discussion with executives for Waymo, the National Safety Council and the Governors Highway Safety Ass
Hello again.
In March, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) attended an event in Washington, D.C., hosted by Waymo, a self-driving car company. Titled “Every Mile Together: Waymo Safety Forum and Discussion,” this event included a panel discussion with executives for Waymo, the National Safety Council and the Governors Highway Safety Association. Waymo is a subsidiary of Google and is best known for its “robo-taxis.” These vehicles allow riders to hail a car and travel to a destination without a driver. Operating without a driver falls under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) definition of “Level 4” automation. That NHTSA classification means, “When engaged, the system is fully responsible for driving tasks. A human driver is not needed to operate the vehicle.” An important takeaway from the event was that Waymo agrees with the MRF that current advertisements and the lack of transparency involving this modern technology are unacceptable. Other companies are operating vehicles with Level 2 autonomy. Misleading advertising means consumers are unaware of what tasks that automation level can perform. The Level 2 automation definition states: “Driver is fully responsible for driving the vehicle while the system provides continuous assistance with either acceleration/braking and steering.” As a reminder, Waymo is operating in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, with plans to start in Austin, Texas. These vehicles are on the road now and their presence is growing. Waymo will soon begin testing in other locations, so, as always, we are keeping an eye on this.
The week of May 10th the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notified Tesla that the company must provide additional information about a recent software recall and update of the Autopilot feature. The recall was announced in December of 2023 and was intended to improve Tesla’s driver-engagement systems, which are used to monitor whether drivers are safely operating the vehicle. Failure by Tesla to respond before the July 1st deadline could result in fines of up to $135 million. This request by NHTSA comes on the heels of an April report in which NHTSA studied hundreds of crashes involving Tesla vehicles. The report found that Tesla Autopilot contributed to at least 467 collisions and 14 deaths from January 2018 through August 2023. The report said that drivers involved in those crashes “were not sufficiently engaged in the driving task and that the warnings provided by Autopilot when Autosteer was engaged did not adequately ensure that drivers maintained their attention on the driving task.” This issue should be on the top of all motorcyclists’ minds as just last month, months after the recall intended to address these problems, a biker was killed by a Tesla reported to be operating on Autopilot. Later this month, MRF members will be in Washington, D.C. for the 2024 Bikers Inside the Beltway event. You can be sure that this issue and the safety of motorcyclists on the road will be a topic of conversation with hundreds of Congressional offices. The MRF is working to ensure that every Member of Congress knows what former NHTSA official Missy Cummings said last year, “It’s very dangerous for motorcycles to be around Teslas.”
Also, Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are again trying to push back on new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules compelling over half of all new vehicles sold to be electric by 2032. The new bills, H.J. Res 136 and S.J. Res 75 would overturn the rules announced in April by the EPA. These bills were introduced with 114 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 48 in the Senate. Let’s grow the number of cosponsors and let the people in Washington, D.C. know their constituents want to save the internal combustion engine
The Right to Repair wrote by Bob Kay - IMA Chairman, affects all of us whether we work on our own bikes or have a shop work on them. The information and tools necessary to make repairs must be available to independent dealers and individuals. Not everyone who owns a newer motorcycle (under ten years old), wants to go to a franchise dealer (regardless of the brand), to get their bike serviced or repaired. We should not be penalized with the threat of losing our warranty for taking our bikes to our favorite independent dealer, whom we have trusted and supported for years. Furthermore, if your bike is over ten years old, most franchise dealers will not even work on that bike. Most bikers Bob met, enjoy working on their bikes as much as riding them. It is part of our culture to hang out with our buddies and help each other. Most franchise dealers would prefer to eliminate independent dealers and then charge us outrageous prices for parts and labor. Franchise dealers and manufacturers work hard to restrict parts and updated information from the Independent Motorcycle Aftermarket. Even worse than the high prices is the ridiculous amount of time they want to tie your bike up for service in the middle of riding season. The existence of independent dealers is essential for the survival of our culture, riding lifestyle and the future of motorcycling.
Harley stopped the production of carbureted bikes in 2007 and will not work on your carbureted bike because it is over ten years old. Few have the technicians on staff with experience to work on older bikes. If you own a 2007 – 2013 Harley, where do you go for an electronic fuel injection tune? Harley no longer supplies programable ECUs for these bikes and the EPA has restricted the Aftermarket from selling the current generation of modules to street bike owners. There is even a campaign to penalize any dealer willing to tune your fuel-injected bike. All this is supposedly to help create a clean climate. However, the EPA will not even publish emission standards/limits that are acceptable for the Independent Motorcycle Aftermarket so that it can manufacture the components that will be environmentally compliant. It may seem like motorcycle manufacturers would like to sell you a new bike, service it twice a year and sell you another new bike in five years, but End-of-Life Directives for motorcycles are another issue for discussion at another time.
The MRF has been fighting for our Right to Repair and has pledged its full support to the Independent Motorcycle Aftermarket to continue this battle. We cannot do it alone. We need your support by joining the IMA today so that we may continue fighting this attack on our rights and lifestyle. Bob will address our Right to Modify and build custom bikes in the next issue of the American Biker Journal... which we will report on.
In May I did a podcast with a 508 machine shop owner in St. Johns, MI. talking about all the above issues stated and Motorcycle Awareness. The owner also joined on with the MRF and Abate as our new “Sustaining membership program”. I also am going to be going to the Jackson County Commissioners to ask them to proclaim May as Motorcycle Awareness Month.
For the Bikers in the Beltway event in DC, we (our state assistant state reps and myself) came to an agreement that doing our meetings at home is going to be more productive as our Congressmen and Women are not sure if they are going to be back in DC on the Beltway dates. I am going to be asking each state rep, with the assistance of Ice Man and Mama Bear to help get our Congressional documents sent to each Assistant Rep, to take and hand deliver at their Congressional District offices. You will be getting updated on this when we receive our docs in the mail...
So for now we are keeping our nose to the grind and looking ahead.
Enjoy riding season and we will see you on the road!
Thanks for Giving a Shit
Jinx
May 20 - 21
Sept. 26 - 29
TBD
TBD
TBD
Ed "Bear" Schuitema
PHONE: 231 907-0710 edschuitema@gmail.com/buckman_4@yahoo.com
Jim Rhoades
PHONE: 734 578-6144
TBD
TBD
Jeremy “Lil Ice Man” Bouvrette
PHONE: 989 980-8842 the_iceman99turbo@yahoo.com
Tamera “Mama Bear” Feldhouse
PHONE: 989-975-9933 runt1181@yahoo.com
TBD
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