As a long multi generational resident of east Maui I am uncertain if this writer is the best choice to represent the views of Hana or anywhere else on Maui. With all due respect to her past writing skills she just doesn't have the deep cultural historical awareness of Hana to be making not so thinly veiled indictments of "locals" as being the the main perpetrators of abandoning and/or torching said vehicles.
The abandoned vehicle problem goes back many decades and can be directly attributed to the transient nature of short-term mainland visitors who purchase "beaters" then discard them on Hana Hwy just before catching a plane back to where they came from. 
Perhaps the editors of CB can find a longer term real "local" resident writer who might better relay to readers more compelling stories with the vital pressing issues of our unique and tourist-beleaguered community here in east Maui and Hana.