Articles and Videos of Interest That Don't Merit Their Own Threads

[bartflossom]

More body panel theft fearmongering.

 

[Dorbiman]

Funny, as that seems like such a non-issue to me. Many front or rear bumpers can be removed without needing to pop the hood or trunk. Some screws and clips and boom, they're off.

Foglights on many cars are held in by two screws, directly accessible from the front.

Roof rails are mounted directly to the top of the vehicle with a few fasteners.

 

[AZFox]

More body panel theft fearmongering.

The panels will have what Slate calls a "Dual-Layer Fastening System" to prevent the kind of theft he's fearmongering about.

 

[AZFox]

Here's an interesting piece from Forbes:

Why Electric Cars May Soon Become Cheaper Than Gasoline Cars

The long-awaited moment where electric vehicles move from “nice-to-have” to “must-own” is finally arriving—powered by collapsing cost, intensifying competition and rising scale. For consumers, that means EVs may soon be cheaper to buy and operate than gasoline cars. [...] The EV surge isn’t over—it’s simply entering its affordability phase.

 

[KevinRS]

One of the main reasons Hondas and similar were such big targets was the cars were very popular, so there was a huge market for the parts. Unless Slate is REALLY popular and they expand production way past their estimates really quickly, it would take some years before there were enough on the road to become a "honda" scale problem.
Also, the panels we see exposed fasteners on, besides the light covers, have more fasteners hidden by the locked hood, doors, and tailgate.
If the parts are relatively cheap to buy new, it's even less likely to be a problem, and coming in only 1 color, cheap to buy replacement parts are more likely.

 

[Adam W]

Came across this article that has absolutely nothing to do with Slate, and was surprised to see a casual Slate mention at the end as a company that might save us from these kinds of anti-consumer moves. A sign that awareness is breaking through?

HYUNDAI PAYWALLS BRAKE PAD CHANGES
https://hackaday.com/2025/11/15/hyundai-paywalls-brake-pad-changes/

 

[KevinRS]

Came across this article that has absolutely nothing to do with Slate, and was surprised to see a casual Slate mention at the end as a company that might save us from these kinds of anti-consumer moves. A sign that awareness is breaking through?

HYUNDAI PAYWALLS BRAKE PAD CHANGES
https://hackaday.com/2025/11/15/hyundai-paywalls-brake-pad-changes/

Yeah, even with electronic parking brakes, there should be a sequency of actions to do that retracts the calipers, without any special tools and subscription. Not only paywalling it, but revoking the license because you aren't a service center is going way too far. Like class action far.