THE HOTSEAT

[RIMSPOKE]

BUN WARMERS GONE WILD :

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-02-22-hotseats22_ST_N.htm?csp=YahooModule_Money

[f1reverb]

Remember this?

Full story at . . .

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD61338F933A05753C1A961948260

"October 30, 1987

IN PARIS CABS, LE HOT SEAT AWAITS THE MUGGER

BY YOUSSEF M. IBRAHIM

Correction Appended

PARIS, Oct. 29— Most times they ignore you. Sometimes, if they pick you up, they bend your ear with their right-wing views. Occasionally they spray you with tear gas. And now they propose to electrify you.

Parisian taxi drivers, in search of protection against thieves and muggers, have come up with the ''blazing seat,'' an electric cushion slipped under the passenger seat, attached to a powerful battery. At the touch of a button, the Israeli-made device delivers 52,000 volts of low-tension electric current to the back of the spine. It works.

''I just shot straight up and let out a tremendous yell,'' said Jon Silverman, a Paris-based correspondent who asked to try it out a few days ago for a BBC report. ''Gave myself a terrific bruise on the shin when my head hit the front seat as I jumped up to escape the shock. I don't think it's a good idea.''

The device is slightly more powerful than the police weapon known as the stun gun, which delivers about 40,000 to 50,000 volts.

Drivers' Union to Install Device

If it has its way, a Parisian taxi drivers' union proposes to install the device, which costs about $1,100, in most of the 14,300 cabs of the city. Already five taxis are equipped with it. The supplier, Lucien Cornescu, who represents a company called Recomex, says another 1,000 devices are on order." . . .

[Brandon]

I had this happen with an '88 Audi 80 quattro I used to have. The thermostat broke in the seat so the heater just stayed on, it didn't cycle on and off to maintain the set temperature. It happend one winter morning while I had the car idling in the driveway warming up...when I opened the car door I could smell a melting smell and when I sat down I figured out real quick where that smell was coming from!