Monitor mettle

Q: We wanted my senior-citizen dad to get one of those new cars with the backup camera/monitor because he has a little arthritis in his neck and we thought this would be a good safety feature. He called and told us he'd tried them in two cars and they were "worthless," that they didn't perform as billed and he sees no point in getting one. Have you heard any such complaints?

A: Yes. Some of these monitors are better than others. But a fairly frequent complaint is that the picture in them is just not very clear.

This is why it's really important to make sure that you actually drive a vehicle long enough to put every add-on to the test. Good for your dad for doing so.

That said, I've got two thoughts: One is that he (like many of the rest of us) may not be real open to new technology, and he may have to practice with it a little longer to feel that he can make it work for him. The second is that he should keep trying other makes and models to see if what they've got seems any better to him.

Q: I heard a snippet on TV stating that the teeny-weeny Smart car actually got the highest safety rating recently, and it was the only car to get it. Can that possibly be true?

A: The Smart fortwo was the only mini-sized car to get the top rating in one category: a new roof-strength test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The roof-strength test is a measure of how the vehicle will hold up in a rollover crash.

Of the other almost-as-small cars tested (in the mini category), the Mini Cooper, Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Hyundai Accent got the second-highest mark and the Chevrolet Aveo got the second-lowest rating. All of the cars put to the test were 2009 models.

The roof strength matter has become a topic of significant attention in recent months. New regulations were issued earlier this year to increase roof strength (prompted by the 10,000 people who are killed annually in rollover accidents). The new standards won't be mandatory on all vehicles until the 2017 model year (though some will begin phasing in the stricter standards by 2012). The changes require that the vehicle be strong enough to withstand (without collapsing) three times the weight of the vehicle; the current regulation, which hasn't been changed for more than three decades, is 1.5 times.

The institute's test, however, is far more demanding; some would say it's conducted at a level much more likely to save lives, given the speed at which vehicles travel today and the intensity of the impact that occurs when vehicles fly off the road and begin to roll, often over and over again.

Readers to the rescue: Several readers wrote to offer recommendations to the older gentleman who was concerned because he can't bend down for extended periods to check the air pressure in his tires, and, even when he pays someone at the service station to do it he's not 100 percent convinced that person is actually checking air pressure carefully and properly filling tires that need it.

Readers from across the country said when it comes time to buy new tires he (and everyone with similar concerns) should buy only from a dealer that offers, as part of the deal, free pressure checks and, in many cases, rotations, for as long as the tires exist. Excellent advice.

That doesn't solve the problem of the person who hasn't reached the point that new tires are needed. But it's possible some of those same places will be open to doing the service for free even without a tire purchase. My friend Joe recently took a tire requiring a nail extraction and repair to a local tire dealer. He paid $18 for that, and then asked how much they would charge if he were to come in every few weeks to have the air pressure checked. Not a thing, he was told. "We just hope you'd keep us in mind if you or your family members ever need to buy new tires." Now that's the way to build loyalty. I'm figuring many other places will do the same if you just ask. And if the first one says no, find a place that says yes, then support their customer sensitivity with any future purchase you might have to make.