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If The Problem Persists, Reboot The Car
prostoalex writes "Ever-increasing presence of high-tech devices in modern cars is a double-edged sword, the New York Times discovers. Software from different suppliers brings up to some peculiar bugs, such as a heater turning itself on during a hot summer day. In December last year ABI Research estimated that roughly 30% of all warranty issues with new cars were microprocessor- and software-related. The NYT article also quotes an interesting prediction from IBM, saying that by 2010 almost all cars will have the same mechanical systems (hardware), and the differences will be primarily on software level." (That prediction seems as accurate as the IBM prediction that there was a worldwide market for 10 or so computers.)
Coincidentally, the microprocessor is usually freaking expensive to replace. And garage tend to do a lot more 'replace' than 'fix', especially when it involve buggy software.
Eureka Science News - automatically updated
Take a car with electronic steering control, electronic braking control, electronic suspension control, and tie it all together with an adaptable vehicle stability program, and you can change the dynamics of the car competely by changing settings in the conrol software.
For those poor uninitiated souls, this funny is a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two. A superior alien intelligence increases the weight of Jupiter to cause it to collapse into a star to speed the evolution of intelligent life on its moon Europa.
A really, really good book. The space odyssey series is essential reading for any fan of science fiction. Particularly interesting with all Clarke's works are noting how many of his fictional technological creations have come to exist in one form or another today.
I guess you used flint stones in place of spark plugs?
Technically, you could have a car without spark plugs. It's called diesel. Granted, many diesel cars have "glow plugs" which are basically a way to heat things up so the damn thing can start when it's cold outside, but it's not required to operate the diesel cycle. I'm sure the original poster simply forgot spark plugs, but please realize that they aren't strictly neccesary.
First: He didn't say anything about turning the key to start, just off/on. More accurately, it is off/run. You do not need to start the car to bring up the trouble codes. Second: While this would have worked on his vehicle, being a 2002, there are pre-OBD-II cars which this trick works on. Many other cars have similar procedures. Most parts stores don't screw with non-OBD-II stuff much. On my Nissan you can either dismount the ECU (PCM is OBD-II terminology) and twiddle a knob, or ground out some pins on the check connector. If you dismount the ECU you can see red and green lamps, and red is tens while green is ones. Otherwise you just have to watch the CEL flash the tens and then the ones like a GM car or something.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This stresses hardware a lot.
Personally, I like the way old cars worked. There is no need for a computer in a car.
It's the emissions controls that necessitate onboard computers. They need to measure fuel mixture and exaust O2 levels to make sure thay they're not putting out too many hydrocarbons or CO.
Old cars are easier to fix. They also cost less to fix.
True enough.
They are also immune to electromagnetic pulse should a nuclear bomb go off.
No, there are plenty of electronics in an old car to get fried by an EMP. You've still got ignition coils, starters, alternators and Heating/Air Conditioning components that wouldn't survive.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
No, they blow up in TV shows and movies because producers and probably the audience think it looks cool. As far as I know, real cars typically don't explode.
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Have you ever heard of an immobilizer? Many modern car security systems have them. My ex's 1995 Thunderbird has one. Immobilizers make it impossible to start the car if the security system detects a breach. Resetting the security system using the key fob is not usually allowed while it still detects a breach.
What happened here is that the security system was triggered, engaging the immobilizer. The system would only reset once it detected that the car was secure. This is how it is designed to function.
I think this prediction may go to far saying that all mechanical systems will be the same, but at this time we're seeing some parallelisms in modern electronics.
I belive it may be Toshiba that sells three DVD+R DL capable drives that have the exact same hardware, but some are crippled at the firmware level so that the drives will behave as if they can't handle a DVD+R DL. I've also noticed that certain Power Macintosh G5 computers ship with a Pioneer DVR-108 SuperDrive and do not burn DVD+RL as they are crippled in firmware. I own that same model drive and it works fine for DL burning. I would imagine that making a single hardware solution would be cheaper than designing and manufacturing many products at varying functionality and price points. Then why not just sell one model that does it all? Royalties. By crippling functionality in software/firmware, the manufacturer does not have to pay sometimes obnoctious royalties thus reducing the bottom line. Oh yeah, and you also get to market one product as being functionally superior and thus deserves a premium. I can't recall prices exactly, but a sunroof option on a Lexus ES300 costs more than it does on a Toyota Camry, although they are in essense the same car.
A few years back, I was looking at the differences between a Cadillac Seville SLS and STS. Although basically the same car, the price of the STS was US $5,000 higher due to a differently tuned engine, a shorter final drive ratio, and 5,000 lines of additional suspension code! So in essense, we have seen here a change of model based on a software difference.
But then, with IBM's prediction, all cars would have to look the same. You can't change the body styling by changing a few lines of code... yet... Ricers would love this...
I won't be impressed, however, until I see a car without an engine and without wheels, but something entirely different.
Interesting. I hear this over and over again, and I'm not really sure where it comes from. I suppose people don't want to be bothered learning new technology as things change, but speaking as a home mechanic who has changed fairly major components on a modern vehicle (clutch, suspension, brakes, etc), I can tell you that computers are 1% of what makes a car today.
Computers today are still used mainly to optimize things like fuel maps and ignition timing. This whole "mechanic opening the hood and connecting a laptop" thing is simply a myth. Of course it depends on the nature of the failure, but the vast majority of automotive diagnostic includes analyzing the symptoms, checking for worn bearings and bushings, bent shafts, burned plugs, loose wires, and bad sensors.
Computer diagnostics help locate the failing part sometimes, but most problems are purely mechanical. Computers, and in general, electronics, do not fail. Particularly on older cars, nearly *all* failures are mechanical.
And finally, this whole "proprietary systems" junk is nonsense. In North America at least, all modern vehicles conform to an open specification called OBD-II.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
"why should software be treated differently?"
excellent question!
one answer would be that the practice of writing software, unlike many other practices that involve moving physical objects around, is highly amenable to reflection (and thus improvement).
unfortunately, reflection requires visibility requires openness, and finding the right balance between that and the secrecy prevalent (in many cases sensibly so) in the physical-objects-munging world, is difficult for large organizations, especially those used to hierarchy and control.
reflection is difficult even for small organizations and individuals, but most programmers have overcome that diffculty (only to find other difficulties ;-)...