Today I read an article about the technology behind the late 2000’s car vs a late 1900’s car. I found it interesting because all the cars made now are all computers and the cars that are made in the 1900s are just parts put together. The cars that are built from the computers are more unreliable because the cars that have ECU’s if one fails the whole car fails. The cars that are made from just parts are more enjoyable to own because if one part fails you can just replace it and have it on the road again instead of having it sit in a shop hooked up to computers downloading data.
For example, I was talking to some people who got a brand new car and they were talking about how when the guy was driving the new car, the gas pedal just was unresponsive and the car kept going even when the guy hit the break. The ECU that controls the transmission system must have broken down and therefore malfunctioning. In the late 1900’s car if the gas pedal got stuck, or did not respond to all you would have to do is take it out of gear and just e brake it to slow down the car.
In a 2020 car if that happened, and you put it out of gear, the gear would grind or strip and would break other components. If you freaked out and tried to shut off the car, there goes you steering too.
I found an article about how a guy had purchased a 2017 Dodge charger and months down the read the transmission ECU had fried because of computer failure. Carcomplaintes.com
Another example I found was A guy had a 2016 Volkswagen that had all the computers fail in it and the guy was not able to drive anymore.
In summary, I am the type of guy to own an old car and not have to worry about being able to afford a newer car then have all my money go down the drain just because a computer failed.
"Complex Car Software Becomes the Weak Spot under the Hood." nytimes.com, David
Gelles, Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew Dolan, 15 Sept. 2015, www.nytimes.com/
2015/09/27/business/
complex-car-software-becomes-the-weak-spot-under-the-hood.html. Accessed 17
Dec. 2019.
Richland, Mike J., editor. "TRANSMISSION TOTALLY DESTROYED 2017 DODGE CHARGER."
carcomplaints.com, Mike, 23 July 2017, www.carcomplaints.com/Dodge/
Charger/2017/transmission/transmission_totally_destroyed.shtml. Accessed 17
Dec. 2019.
2020 car
1900s car
Do such changes mean that it is more expensive to fix a car today than in the past? Are these kinds of changes impacting the training that mechanics need to have?
ReplyDelete