The study made some strong remarks about the kind of people who would modify their car’s exhaust. If psychopathy and sadism aren’t bad enough, apparently loud truck owners would do even worse.
- A professor in Ontario, Canada, has released results of a study of people’s attitudes toward loud vehicles.
- Having asked undergraduate business students whether they think such vehicles are “cool,” the result, not totally surprisingly, was that many of them do.
- Respondents also scored high on the “psychopathy and sadism” scale, but the study was only for cars. Truck and motorcycle owners, the study suggests, might score even worse.
A new study by Western University in Ontario says that if you’ve got a car with a modified exhaust system, odds are you’re a guy and probably also psychotic and sadistic. Slapping a Cherry Bomb glasspack on your Monte Carlo doesn’t (necessarily) mean you’re a Ted Bundy–level psycho, but the data someone points to a personality that enjoys inflicting unpleasantness on others. The study—catchily titled, “A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism”—was commissioned by professor Julie Aitken Schermer, who heard many a loud car in London, Ontario, and wondered what kind of person would want their car exhaust to be louder than normal. She probably could have saved a lot of time by simply looking up Cadillac Escalade-V registrations. …
You removed the muffler and reduced CO2 emissions? Isn’t that the point of the catalytic converter?
Older diesel truck. Less restrictions on the exhaust system means higher mpg. Cat converters help with other emissions, but you can’t magic away CO2. It’s a work truck and I run it on biodiesel, so I’m covered in both Use Case and better emissions away.
edit: Also, mufflers aren’t the same as cat converters. Mufflers only smooth out the acoustics from pulsating pistons. Turbo chargers also do that to a degree. Cat converters are designed to chemically change the exhaust gas. Specifically, the NOx emissions associated with acid rain. It does nothing for CO2 emissions.