Stolen minivan smashes into front porch of Etobicoke home: Van was stolen as it was warming-up in driveway – Dec. 17, 2014 CBC article

A Dec. 17, 2014 CBC article is entitled: “Stolen minivan smashes into front porch of Etobicoke home: Van was stolen as it was warming-up in the driveway.”

Cars no longer have carburetors and chokes

The first moral of the story is: “Don’t leave it idling to warm-up while you go inside.”

The second moral: “In general, most cars today don’t require a winter warm-up.”

The opening paragraphs of the Dec. 17, 2014 CBC report read:

“A vehicle theft in Etobicoke early this morning ended with a stolen minivan crashing into the front porch of a house.

The incident occurred shortly after 5:30 a.m. on Twenty Second Street, in the Kipling Avenue and Lake Shore Boulevard area, after the owner of a minivan left the vehicle in the driveway to warm-up.

“When the owner went inside, someone jumped in the van and attempted to drive off. Instead the minivan ended up driving across several lawns, smashing into garbage and recycling bins, hitting a parked pick-up truck on the street before crashing into the front porch of a nearby house, police said.”

[End of excerpt]

Idling totally unnecessary

An excerpt from a Dec. 2, 2014 Yahoo Canada article entitled “8 facts and myths about warming your car up in winter” notes:

“But idling is totally unnecessary, which is why many communities have enacted ordinances against the practice. Don’t take my word about idling being ineffective, but do listen to my mechanic, Rob Maier, who runs Maier’s Garage in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He says, ‘You don’t really need to idle your car, because of the efficiency of modern fuel injection, which eliminated carburetors and chokes. The only reason to let the car idle at all is to get the oil circulating, but after 30 seconds that’s a done deal. My truck has 150,000 miles on it, and I just throw it into gear and go.'”

[End of excerpt]

 

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