Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
Your ventilated car seat may be vacuuming you
You might assume those fancy ventilated seats are blowing a cool, refreshing breeze directly onto your back. In reality, many systems work in reverse. They…
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How to start a car with a dead key fob
Panic sets in when your key fob battery dies, but automakers planned for your sheer negligence. Inside the fob is a passive RFID chip that requires zero…
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Spare donut tires limit speeds drastically
That tiny spare tire in your trunk isn't a permanent replacement; it's a desperate cry for help. 'Donuts' are significantly smaller and have almost zero tread…
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Hot air balloons use woven wicker for the baskets
Despite all the advanced materials available, balloonists still prefer baskets made from woven wicker branches. It isn't just for a rustic aesthetic; wicker…
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Headliners consist of fabric glued to cardboard
Staring up at the plush roof of your luxury sedan gives you a false sense of opulence. That 'headliner' is literally just a piece of cheap fabric haphazardly…
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Floor mats use locking hooks to prevent sliding
It turns out that a rogue piece of carpet bunching up behind the gas pedal is a spectacularly bad thing. To prevent drivers from accidentally pinning the…
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Your car's carpet may be one enormous piece
If you spill a gallon of milk in your car, you can't just replace a single patch of flooring. The entire cabin floor is covered by one single, massive piece…
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Why your rear car window cannot roll all the way down
It isn't a child-lock feature keeping your rear windows from rolling down all the way. It is purely physical space. The glass has nowhere to go because the…
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Car visors feature hidden vanity mirror lights
In case you needed to see your exhausted face in high definition, many modern cars have tiny micro-switches that activate a glaring light the second you slide…
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Camper slide-outs run on a simple geared track
Expanding the living room of an RV feels like futuristic architecture, but it relies on primitive brute force. A tiny electric motor blindly turns a metal…
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How ordinary sedans become limousines
There is no special factory building ninety-foot cars. Limousines start as perfectly normal luxury sedans that are literally sliced completely in half with…
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Fuel caps dangle from a cheap plastic tether
Because millions of people used to routinely drive away leaving their gas caps sitting on the pump, automakers had to treat us all like toddlers. They…
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Why Airstream trailers are built like vintage aircraft
That iconic shiny silver bullet you see at campsites isn't just wrapped in aluminum; it is painstakingly built using thousands of individual metal rivets,…
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Monster-truck tires are carved with hot knives
You can't just buy a monster truck tire off a shelf. Teams order massive, heavy agricultural tires and spend hours aggressively shaving away huge chunks of…
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Pop-up campers utilize heavy canvas side walls
Buying a pop-up camper is just buying a really expensive tent attached to a trailer. The rigid roof raises up, but the walls are nothing more than thick…
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Why hearses have rollers under the coffin
To avoid the incredibly awkward situation of a casket getting stuck halfway inside the vehicle, the cargo floor of a hearse is lined with heavy-duty metal…
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Rear window defrosters are painted wire grids
Those copper-colored lines obstructing your rearview mirror aren't internal wires buried inside the glass. They are literally just a metallic resin painted…
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The hidden pin that locks your car headrest
Getting your headrest to lock perfectly into place isn't black magic. One of the metal poles has tiny notches cut into it, while the plastic collar on the…
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Swamp buggies ride on six-foot-tall tires
Navigating deep mud requires pure absurdity. Swamp buggies completely abandon standard wheel sizes, opting for massive tractor tires that stand up to six feet…
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Leveling jacks keep parked motorhomes from rocking
Without deploying heavy-duty steel jacks, walking around inside a parked motorhome feels like being on a ship in a storm. The suspension is so soft that every…
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Your keyless car fob can unlock doors through walls
You probably assume your car is perfectly secure when your keys are sitting on your kitchen counter. Hilariously, those keyless entry fobs continuously…
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Your car may be faking its engine noise
Nothing screams raw automotive power quite like an MP3 file. Because modern cabins are so well-insulated, manufacturers realized drivers felt disconnected…
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RV toilets drop directly into a vile black tank
There is no magical plumbing treatment happening underneath an RV. Flushing the toilet simply opens a plastic flap, allowing gravity to drop everything into a…
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Why car engines hide under plastic covers
Popping the hood on a modern car reveals absolutely nothing mechanical. Automakers now slap a giant, molded piece of black plastic over the entire engine…
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