Did you know you can buy a really good toaster for $29? Choice, the leading consumer advocacy group in Australia, recommend the Kambrook 2 Slice wide slot toaster. Best of all, if the 2 Slice wide slot catches fire, doesn't start or stops mid-toast you can return it and get your money back. In other words, you have more consumer rights when you buy a $29 toaster than you do when you buy a $40k or $200k car.
And talking of fires, if you are one of the 16,850 Australians who own a BMW X5 or X6, there's a pleasant surprise coming your way this winter. Yup, forget turning up the aircon: the plug connection from the wiring harness to the blower controller may short circuit or overheat, causing a fire. Product Safety Australia says: "A vehicle fire could increase the risk of an accident, serious injury or death to vehicle occupants, other road users and bystanders, and/or damage to property."
Now let's go back to 2017. BMW of North America issued two recalls of one million cars. That only came after an ABC News (US) investigation discovered "dozens of incidents in which the luxury cars caught fire even though owners reported they had parked their cars and turned them off". After initially saying they were unaware of any such incidents, a BMW spokesman said the company had investigated the fires brought to its attention by ABC News and has "not seen any pattern" related to a "product defect".
BMW told ABC it had nothing to apologise for. In a written statement, it said that with almost five million BMW vehicles on US roads, such fire incidents were rare, and based on its investigation, "we have not seen any pattern related to quality or component failure. Vehicle fires can result from a wide variety of external reasons unrelated to product defect." A spokesperson suggested several other potential causes of car fires other than a manufacturing defect, including a lack of maintenance, improper maintenance by unauthorised mechanics, aftermarket modifications, rodent nesting and even arson.
Seven months later BMW recalled the cars. In 2018 South Korea's Transport Ministry fined BMW about $14m after a five-month review concluded that the German carmaker deliberately tried to cover up technical problems and moved too slowly to recall vehicles after around 40 of its cars caught fire.
Talking of miracles, the 2004 to 2006 Ford GT is one. The fact that the giant automaker was able to turn out a limited production (4000) supercharged 410kW, 32-valve V-8, mounted in a hydroformed aluminium and composite chassis that classic auto insurer Hagerty says is possibly the finest American car developed during the past 30 years, is an extraordinary and welcome event. Yours to buy online from Goodings next month is a final year model in concours condition with less than 1km on the speedo.