"TrackRatMk1" (trackratmk1)
08/16/2013 at 18:33 • Filed to: Safety First, tips
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"TrackRatMk1" (trackratmk1)
08/16/2013 at 18:33 • Filed to: Safety First, tips | 1
| 6 |
Many of us liked SuperBlue brake fluid because it was easy to see your sweet, fresh stop juice. Retailers across the country received notice yesterday that they were to stop all sales and are required to inventory remaining merchandise for a massive buy-back program. So why was it banned?
A quote from the letter:
"The specific color requirement for brake fluid in the standard is to permit easy differentiation of brake fluids from other types of motor vehicle fluids before they are placed in the vehicle."
Ah yes, this makes sense. Because it's easy to confuse blue brake fluid with all those other blue liquids that fill out cars. Thank god they took that out of my hands, otherwise I'd be dumping windshield washer fluid into my brake lines and squirting SuperBlue all over my windshield. Seriously? So the legal color for DOT 4 brake fluid is clear to amber, apparently.
Comments from other places indicated that the decision was from Continental, not NHTSA, because their lawyers were afraid that the blue goo looks too damn tasty for little kids to pass up. I don't buy that. I'm certain NHTSA sent Continental a letter asking them to stop production and rescind all bottles in the retail pipeline... why else would Continental all of a sudden stop production after however many years? NHTSA has thousands of employees. I wonder what triggered the investigation.
The FMVSS regulations have been around since 1967. Is that not an acknowledgement that all the years this catastrophically dangerous fluid was for sale it was actually perfectly safe? NHTSA exists for consumer safety, but in this case all they have done is ruin a product line that found a niche in the market. Going to put some Dexcool in my brake lines now... oh whoops!!!
Andrew Daisuke
> TrackRatMk1
08/16/2013 at 18:38 |
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Cloud81918
> TrackRatMk1
08/16/2013 at 18:46 |
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Can they not state the it is for "Off road use only"
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TrackRatMk1
> Cloud81918
08/16/2013 at 18:53 |
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Good point, lot's of places sell equipment that doesn't comply with local/state/federal laws. Probably. It's more the sudden concern for something so trivial that surprised me.
GasolineLollipop
> TrackRatMk1
08/16/2013 at 19:41 |
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Isn't power steering fluid clear/amber. I'd think having a blue or purple brake fluid would be better than a clear amber fluid.
Next they'll ban Royal Purple since its purple/black.
Edit: BTW DOT 5 silicone based fluid is blue out of the container.
6cyl
> TrackRatMk1
08/16/2013 at 22:25 |
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This is so absurd, it must have some up in conversation at least 10 times today. What next banning certain washer fluids because they are the same color as coolant? or what about BMW blue coolant? Can I still buy that or will I get it confused? At least one person I talked with said he would be picking up a case Ate Blue first thing in the morning ...if he can....
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6cyl
> TrackRatMk1
08/16/2013 at 22:29 |
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this post should be tagged with "Tips" as it is more news worthy than many of the articles on the front page today