Monday, September 01, 2008
The eBay gas bandits are at it again
Sometimes I like to troll through eBay to see what the latest swindles are aimed at people who hate high gas prices. A recent search for "gas saver" turned up 8,200 hits. Perhaps one or two of them may actually save gas. Most won't, but there are a few that were good for quite a few laughs. I've noticed we're seeing a lot more "HHO" generators, which I've covered quite extensively in the past couple months.
One that I'd hoped would be a good laugh parade was this Petro-Mag attempt to influence gasoline with a magnet. I was pretty sure I'd seen an EPA paper where they tested the Petro-Mag and found it did nothing. Close, it's the Petro-Mizer instead. Not that many of the guys selling these are particularly creative.
From the severely delusional category, this auction promises "Up to 30+ Better Fuel Efficiency Guaranteed! 60+ Ft. Lbs. of Torque! Up to 100+ Horsepower!" (All capitalization is the original ad's.) And they're promising all these gains on... a Toyota Paseo. Adding 30 mpg to anything is quite a challenge, and adding either that amount of torque or horsepower to a Paseo calls for a well engineered turbo kit, not a 5 cent resistor in a 25 dollar package.
The Tornado Money Waster, er, Tornado Fuel Saver is bad enough, but look at this knock-off. They're too cheap to even bend it to shape; they leave it up to the buyer. Presumably that's so they can blame the installer when it self-destructs and the engine sucks the pieces. It doesn't look very sturdy. Another amusing point: They claim it affects the transmission's shifting. Maybe that's because it steals so much horsepower you have to give the engine more throttle.
One that I'd hoped would be a good laugh parade was this Petro-Mag attempt to influence gasoline with a magnet. I was pretty sure I'd seen an EPA paper where they tested the Petro-Mag and found it did nothing. Close, it's the Petro-Mizer instead. Not that many of the guys selling these are particularly creative.
From the severely delusional category, this auction promises "Up to 30+ Better Fuel Efficiency Guaranteed! 60+ Ft. Lbs. of Torque! Up to 100+ Horsepower!" (All capitalization is the original ad's.) And they're promising all these gains on... a Toyota Paseo. Adding 30 mpg to anything is quite a challenge, and adding either that amount of torque or horsepower to a Paseo calls for a well engineered turbo kit, not a 5 cent resistor in a 25 dollar package.
The Tornado Money Waster, er, Tornado Fuel Saver is bad enough, but look at this knock-off. They're too cheap to even bend it to shape; they leave it up to the buyer. Presumably that's so they can blame the installer when it self-destructs and the engine sucks the pieces. It doesn't look very sturdy. Another amusing point: They claim it affects the transmission's shifting. Maybe that's because it steals so much horsepower you have to give the engine more throttle.
Labels: Automotive Awefulness, Gas Mileage
