Technology Withdrawl

[WIMUSKY]

I'm still waiting for the flying car they promised me 50 years ago! :flypig: :laugh:

https://youtu.be/0Yn2uyQJ1jc

 

[MTboatguy]

I actually like the dimmer switch being integrated in the turn signal, since they moved them, I have not broken one dimmer switch, I used to break those floor ones all the time, when I would jump in and out of the car with my work boots on!

 

[dwco5051]

I actually like the dimmer switch being integrated in the turn signal, since they moved them, I have not broken one dimmer switch, I used to break those floor ones all the time, when I would jump in and out of the car with my work boots on!

Plus the snow and salt from your boots would destroy them. I replaced them many times on my trucks. Now vent windows are another story. I still miss them.

I am waiting for these self driving cars. I want to see how they function on the non paved roads I spend a lot of time on. Do they know to drive on the wrong side to miss the washboards, know enough to get you around a switchback when you are pulling a trailer full of logs, know how to safely pass a horse drawn Amish buggy on a back road, or know how to pass a combine. Does the computer realize that combine has a corn head on it and there ain't nothing but bean fields for the next half mile and he is unlikely to be making a left turn in front of me when I start my pass?

 

[Tim Frank]

And it is a FACT, those niceties are not designed to last the length of the vehicle life. .....I would much rather have a good solid transportation without any of the niceties then a loaded car that was iffy at best! JMHO!

If it is "JYHO", leading off with "it is a FACT..." is more than a bit misleading.... IMHO.

bruceb58, Some how I expected you to make such a statement once I posted something. ........ I know a lot more about electronics than you may think. 40 year career.

As an impartial 3rd party, I have to ask why you think BruceB58 is targeting your post. The way I read his comments he is just responding to the OP and topic....that too is not a fact, JMHO.

Even though I am a bit of an analog guy living in a digital world, I must admit that my 2001 Subaru runs better at its current age than any car I owned from "the good old days"....when brand new.

There are all kinds of "improvements " to favorite products, or even the discontinuance of some, that causes angst in some quarters; there are a number of consumer items that I regret are unavailable now. Simply blaming it on intrusive government and meddling insurance companies conveniently ignores the fact that environmental responsibility (a majority goal) sometimes must be legislated by policy makers, and safety issues can be influenced by actuarial tables, wielded by the underwriters who provide affordable insurance.

 

[MTboatguy]

wielded by the underwriters who provide affordable insurance.

Boy using affordable and insurance in the same statement is an oxymoron!

:laugh:

 

[jrttoday]

For YEARS! all I ever fished out of was my 1965 Sears 12' aluminum with a 1953 Monkey Wards 5h Seaking and a 2' skulling paddle. A co-worker had a brand new '95 Hydro Sports Bass Boat with all the bells and whistles. Wanted to know "why" I always caught fish and he was always getting skunked. Told him he spent too much time looking for what his equipment said was the place to find fish...... hmmmmmmmmmm

And the other day, a pharmacist tried selling me a blood pressure cuff that has "bluetooth connectivity". hah! Really? I guess some people might benefit from that

 

[sphelps]

I just wish the windshield wipers in my Caddy would act normal ... All the other stuff I hardly ever use other than the radio ..

 

[JASinIL2006]

I don't have problems with the electronics that makes my engine run cleaner and frees me from getting a tune-up every year. What I don't like are all the "luxury" gadgets and conveniences that minimally improve the driving experience and that increase the number of things that can go wrong. We bought our kids an old Cadillac Seville to drive to school and around town. That car has it all... power seats that are automatically adjusted differently depending on which ignition key is used, power mirrors that automatically change position when you back up (whether you want them to or not), multizone temperature control, heated seats, etc. Half that stuff is starting to fail, and while some things (e.g., seat heater) can just be ignored, other things have to be fixed to keep the car drivable.

The stuff that really puzzles me are the new multi-purpose touch screen controls, where one touch screen controls all the features in the car. It seems really dangerous to me that you have to take your eyes off the road to fiddle with a screen to access the radio, or the heating/cooling system, or the GPS. Since the screens offer not tactile feedback as to what feature you're trying to access, there is no alternative but to look away from the road. I think those systems are as bad or worse than texting and driving.

 

[aspeck]

Sounds like most of us (me included) are control freaks ... we prefer being in control of the technology ... whether it is buying it or to use or not to use it. We just aren't given that option too often and the control is taken out of our hands.

 

[jrttoday]

Went to a "landline" only some time ago and was asked, "how are you going to live like that?"
My response, "at peace..."
I finally figured out that I just don't need to be that accessible. No call waiting, no voicemail; the people I want or need to see know how and where to reach me

 

[dingbat]

The good ole' days where not that good and not that long ago.....

You can either embrace technology and find ways to make it work for you or..... you can reject technology and continue living in the good ole' days.

I've worked in Industrial Automation my entire career. Technology has improved the ability to control or troubleshoot a process ten fold in just the past 5-7 years.Things that took hours now take minutes. They'll pry my technology out of my cold dead hands

 

[garbageguy]

Interesting discussion. I do enjoy the VERY limited tech on my '03 Grand Prix. No ABS, fine with me - although I know it is ultimately safer, it is also something I don't have to fix. I made all my kids learn to drive the '45 Willy's (and boats) before driving a "modern" car - they sure appreciated the ease of that, and I told them that driving a "modern" car allows them to focus on what's going on around them since driving the car is really pretty easy.

 

[bruceb58]

Interesting discussion. I do enjoy the VERY limited tech on my '03 Grand Prix. No ABS, fine with me - although I know it is ultimately safer, it is also something I don't have to fix.

A 2003 Grand Prix did come with ABS.

 

[garbageguy]

A 2003 Grand Prix did come with ABS.

Not this one. It's been a great car for over 200,000 miles, and runs strong, drives great. Too bad the salt up here is going to force me into tough decision soon

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Let's see, the choice is to have a non electronic controlled engine that gets 10MPG and lasts 100K miles or a newer modern vehicle with an electronically controlled engine that gets 20 MPG and lasts over 200K miles! Gee...hard choice.

The facts are that engine electronics are super reliable and makes engine troubles shooting infinitely easier than the "old days".

Electronics are not designed to last a limited time. That is just laughable. EDIT: Maybe if you own a Chrysler product!

Let's look at other electronics in the car...willing to live without ABS? How about keyless entry? Traction control? Cruise control?

Your dead on the topic here, i work in the ind at the ground floor today (sales) and along with that i can say i grew up on the repair side of the ind and have seen growth and reliabilty grow at a rate that is astounding......think not want to go back to the day's of a tuneup every 15k and yes that was once mainstream.. today cars go 100k with a change of plug's. Electronics have been refined and redefined since the 80's...oil change interval's can now be spread up to 10k 300 hp from a v6 that can get 37mpg.....transmisson's that can reliably pull up to 14000lbs.....Its just mind boggling what's going on.

Now staying current with what's happening is a bit mind boggling...lets take navigation systems as a example they are now dinosaurs..soon your cell phone will stream not only audio to you sound system but video to and you will be able to talk (voice recognition) to you car via the cell and it will run every aspect of normal operation's...can you say beam me up Scotty...almost..

http://www.greenbot.com/article/2914...roid-auto.html :lol:.

The innovation is rapid and endless becareful though for some of us our age is begining to show.

 

[Tim Frank]

Boy using affordable and insurance in the same statement is an oxymoron!

:laugh:

I did look at that several times before I hit "post".
But in most cases, if you have it, you can afford it and I did not say "inexpensive".
There is a lot of insurance fraud....we all pay for that.

 

[gm280]

Well it seems this has presented the two different sides, like I was predicting! We seem to think all electronics and technology is either good or bad. However, my initial premise was to talk about the interior gadgetry being the problems, not necessarily the engine capabilities. But if broke down from there. The real question about troubleshooting newer cars is it really easier or not?

Case in point, you have a newer car, and you're driving down the road and magically the "CHECK ENGINE" light comes on. Okay, so what does the typical consumer do these days? How about take it to the dealer for a mere computer scan that tells them the O2 senor is bad. Okay, so the cost to get that tidbit of info just cost you about $75 dollars or more. And that would be great IF that was the true problem. But how many of you have had such things displayed and checked AND changed all the O2 sensors and it still had the "CHECK ENGINE" light displayed? Yes to have a total dealer's shop full of integrate computerized equipment that told exactly what was wrong is one thing. But go to the average dealer's garage and ask most any technician if they rely on those computer readouts. I can guarantee you they will say that from history they know what is the problem when certain codes are displayed and it isn't the fault that the computer tester stated as the problem ever time. I know that because I do have friend in the repair industry with the absolute latest and greatest computer test equipment. So while you pay for the technician to change out parts in both labor and part at dealer's makeup cost, it doesn't fix the displayed error code (who hasn't done that)! So the typical consumer can't repair his/her own vehicle anymore. So what used to be a vehicle you could diagnose and repair, is now a don't touch vehicle for dealers only option...and the huge expense a well! AND, I don't know if any of you have heard, but the dealer(S) got together and are presenting to Congress a proposal to make it illegal for anybody but factory trained technicians to touch anything under the hood of new cars, stating that the owner could do things to the car that would make it dangerous to drive! Honestly! Research it! So love technology or hate it, there are things that are good and a lot of things that aren't so good about modernization. And believe me I worked and actually designed both computerized testing equipment and programs to repair circuits and even designed new circuits for the war fighter aircraft in my career. So I am not against technology per say. But stupid needless vehicle gadgets I am...JMHO!

 

[bruceb58]

The code read by the average Joe is going to be the exact same code read by the dealer. It's the expertise of the person using the equipment that can determine what the code means.

Since you brought up O2 sensors, let's go with that one. I had a check engine light and I scanned and it told me an O2 sensor was faulty. With my code reader software, I can also also graph the O2 voltage. It was completely dead. I decided that was funny so I looked carefully and found a wire on the engine side of the connector had pulled out of its pin. Fixed that and I my problem was solved. A lot of techs would have just pulled the O2 sensor without fixing anything.

Bottom line is you still have to have troubleshooting skills to fix things.

The code read by the code reader points the specific O2 sensor that failed. There would be no need to replace all the O2 sensors when the code points at just one.

Just so you know, before OBDII, there were O2 sensors on cars and it was close to impossible to troubleshoot them. You just replaced them regularly.

 

[Tim Frank]

AND, I don't know if any of you have heard, but the dealer(S) got together and are presenting to Congress a proposal to make it illegal for anybody but factory trained technicians to touch anything under the hood of new cars, stating that the owner could do things to the car that would make it dangerous to drive! Honestly! Research it!

Early this year there was a bit of a flap because the Auto Manufacturers were appealing to the Patent Office for a ruling on whether 3rd party access and/or modification to some critical electronic componentry was protected under the DCMA. Not sure whether there is an update yet. Their outlook for success was not thought to be very good.

If that is what you are referring to, it is a FAR cry from banning shadetree-ers from getting their hands dirty at all.

If not, maybe can you post some links to a few of your reputable sources? I'd agree, that would be over the top.

 

[BWR1953]

The good ole' days where not that good and not that long ago.....

You can either embrace technology and find ways to make it work for you or..... you can reject technology and continue living in the good ole' days.

...They'll pry my technology out of my cold dead hands

Indeed! I remember having to do tuneups on my cars every 12k miles or even less. Ugh. I don't miss that at all.

But it's not only about cars. Technology is everywhere; completely ubiquitous.

Here's one example y'all may not have heard before. My wife got a new job a couple months ago. She's a regular hourly employee but she doesn't punch a clock when arriving at work. She has to use her smart phone in order to clock in! It's mandatory.

Previously she'd only had a flip phone since she doesn't use it very much but bought a new Android phone with her first full paycheck. Before getting that phone she'd had to go to her supervisor each morning and have him clock her in via his computer.

The world is changing and if folks can't adapt then they can't just hide in fond memories of their past... they'll be left behind for more adaptable folks. That's just the way it is.

As for me and technology... I'm a tech kinda guy and am enjoying the rapid pace of change. When I was out on the lake fishing the other day I took a break and ordered some boat parts and a new fishing bait with my phone right out there on the water. You betcha!

...soon your cell phone will stream not only audio to you sound system but video to and you will be able to talk (voice recognition) to you car via the cell and it will run every aspect of normal operation's...

... for some of us our age is begining to show.

I do believe that most of that cell phone stuff is already available.

And it isn't just age that's showing, it's the lack of adaptability to change. That includes members of my family and a couple of my friends, both young and old.