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Jaguar Recalls 18,000 Cars Over Major Software Fault
DMandPenfold writes with this excerpt from ComputerWorld UK "Jaguar has recalled nearly 18,000 X-type cars after it discovered a major software fault, which meant drivers might not be able to turn off cruise control. The problem lies with engine management control software developed in-house by Jaguar. The problematic software is only installed on diesel engine X-Types, which were all produced between 2006 and 2010. Some 17,678 vehicles have been recalled, as a result of the potentially dangerous problem. If the fault occurs, cruise control can only be disabled by turning of the ignition while driving — which would mean a loss of some control and in many cars also disables power steering. Braking or pressing the cancel button will not work. 'Jaguar has identified that should an error with certain interfacing systems be detected the cruise control system will be disabled and an error message displayed to the driver on the instrument cluster,' the company said in a statement."
That third pedal is getting harder and harder to find these days. On anything, at least in the US. I think I can count on one hand the number of friends that I have that currently own a car with an actual clutch that's not a computer controlled dual clutch setup.
Also, with the improvements made in the dual clutch setups and slushbox efficiency, the maintenance and skill demand of that third pedal is waning quickly. There will always be purists who search it out, but we'll be paying a premium for it.
It's still the other way around in a substantial part of the rest of the planet. In Europe for example, it's only by special request that you get an automatic. By default all cars I've seen on a dealer lot in every country in Europe I've been to are manual shift. Some automatics are available, but they are certainly not common. I see the same when I am in Africa... almost all cars/trucks are manual shift.
Sounds like a driver issue.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Considering they're Jag's the owners are already very familiar with the garage so no need for something like WiFi =)
Hell most of them will be updated during the next visit, not because they received the notification.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
As a software developer of another major car manufacturer (actually doing cruise control among other things), I can tell you that there are plenty of very very complicated systems in a car - much more complicated than what I would have dreamed of before starting here. The complexity cannot be put into hardware simply because of the weight of it the cables required between the interacting components.
Cruise control is like most other components (in a modern car) connected to everything from crash detection systems to head up displays to mention a few. Cables between all components are not an option, so central gateways receives all signals and performs the logic instead.
And yes of cause there are standards... Even though cars still have 4 wheels their development didn't stand still the last decades.
If the fault occurs, cruise control can only be disabled by turning of the ignition while driving â" which would mean a loss of some control and in many cars also disables power steering.
Public Service Announcement time from a decade-long car geek.
SHUTTING OFF YOUR ENGINE WILL NOT CAUSE YOU TO LOSE CONTROL OF YOUR CAR. You'll somewhat slowly come to a stop. You won't "endo". You won't flip over and crash in a ball of fire. Your wheels won't even lock up. Furthermore, once your car is moving at a walking pace, you no longer need power steering. Try it some time in a parking lot. And no, you won't lose your brakes, unless your braking system has been poorly maintained. Test this by shutting off your engine in your driveway and seeing how many times you can press the pedal before it suddenly goes hard. That's where you have lost braking assist. Even further: loss of braking assist does not mean you can't stop the car - you just have to press much, much harder.
What is dangerous: if the ignition lock on the steering column activates and you need to steer. This is why you should turn the key to the accessory-only position.
Braking or pressing the cancel button will not work
Second PSA:
BRAKING ALWAYS WORKS. With the exception of some ultrapowerful cars like the Veyron, there is an order of magnitude difference between the maximum torque your brakes can generate, and the maximum torque your engine can.
The key is that you have to stop safely but quickly, firmly, and completely, and STAY STOPPED until you've shut off the engine. If you ride the brakes, you'll keep heating up the rotors, pads, and brake fluid. If the brake fluid boils (or more accurately, the water in the brake fluid, since it's hygroscopic and people aren't good about changing their brake fluid as often as they should) or you exceed the maximum operating temperature of the brake pads (passenger vehicle pads are designed for "cold" bite, ie to be useable for panic stops), then yes, you will not have effective brakes.
Please help metamoderate.
Not only that, but manual transmission cars sold in the US often have the bizzare feature that the headlights go off if you put the handbrake on. How are you supposed to do a hill start in the dark, for goodness' sake?
1. Apply handbrake while keeping clutch pushed in.
2. Move foot from brake pedal to accelerator.
3. Slowly release hand brake while simultaneously easing off the clutch, and pushing the accelerator.
Without a hand brake, you'd start rolling backwards if the hill is too steep.
On a more gradual slope, you don't need the hand brake. Just release the clutch enough that you can let go off the foot brake.
With modern vehicles, letting the engine rotate while powered off may damage the catalytic converter when it is reached by non-burned/liquid fuel.
If the ignition switch is off, the fuel injectors won't be injecting.. Still, it's probably not a great idea
It's called daylight running lights.
Headlights are basically on all the time.
It's stupid.
Putting the hand brake up one click disables the feature.
Hollywood uses this trick all the time to ensure daytime scenes aren't littered with stupid out-of-place headlights.
I have to assume you have no real idea what benefits there are to a manual transmission ( or even what the real differences are ), or the whole idea of putting a fake pedal on the floor would *never* have occurred to you.
And cars have been designed to accommodate both an automatic and a manual since time out of mind, so, no there would be no modifications, and the car would not be a modified custom car.
emt 377 emt 4
"The auto was the "modified" version, hence more expensive, hence reserved for the luxury or executive version"
and
"So for the manual, they need to produce an entirely unique production line"
Not really, the car is designed to accommodate both, it is just a matter of what is fitted. The automatic is more expensive because there is more to it ( in general ). There is no different production line ( except for the transmission itself, of course ).
"And as dual-clutch autos increasingly filter down to the base model in more and more brands, do you expect to see more manuals?"
Manuals as in not dual-clutched autos? No, I don't expect to see more of them.
emt 377 emt 4
The goal of a journey is not always to arrive. There is something to be said about the joy of driving. Not everyone appreciates it, but there are many that do.
A few decades ago you may have had a point. But guess what - an automatic transmission is smarter and better than anything you as a meatbag can do. You may have more direct control over your transmission, but you're shit compared to a machine.
I will concede that automatic transmissions are--within the last 5 years or so--finally approaching the fuel economy manual transmissions have give drivers for decades. However, until my car can read my mind, I prefer to control when my car shifts. Without traction control or the like, you can prevent a car with a manual from slipping on ice by putting it in a higher gear, etc... Traction control has it's uses but in certain situations--muddy, rutted roads for example--it's also a good way to get stuck. The road I live on is crap. It's a sloppy mess every time it rains and it takes the plow several hours to get there after a snow storm. Having the extra control is nice.
It's the same mentality as people who are against anti lock brakes.
Anti-lock brakes are great on the highway or on a paved surface. Compare anti-lock to non-anti-lock on a gravel surface some time. On gravel, assuming it is not too loose, you can stop faster by intentionally locking the brakes.
Or people who hate fuel injectors and want carburetors.
I can replace the entire fuel system in any of my carbureted cars (including the fuel pump) for the price of the fuel pump alone on your fuel injected car. When you have to start diagnosing and replacing sensors on an EFI car using the guess and check method--the diagnostic computers don't work worth a shit. ever.--your repair bill can get out of control very quickly. I'll stick to the simple to troubleshoot and cheap to fix carbureted solution.
And don't tell me how bad my fuel milage is either. My '72 Volkswagen Type 3 automatic gets 35MPG and my full-sized '54 Plymouth with a 3spd manual gets 25.
Or people who demand to crank their engine manually.
[humor]With a crank a dead battery or starter will never leave you stranded.[/humor] Seriously though, sometimes a simple solution--while a little bit more work--is more reliable in the long run.
Any automatic transmission can disconnect the engine from the drive wheels by shifting into neutral or park (go to neutral so you keep power steering). There is no safety issue.
Wrong. Many newer cars use a drive-by-wire system to shift the transmission. I stopped to help a lady whose Prius got stranded a couple of months back. She was having some sort of electrical trouble and it took 20 minutes of fooling around turning the key on and off and pressing buttons to get the damn thing in neutral so we could push it off the road. The owner knew what buttons to press, but the computer refused to shift the transmission.
A manual transmission is by no means more reliable (indeed, it is subject to idiots manually wrecking shit up), and in many cases is not even cheaper any more.
Wrong. Manual transmissions do not need coolers in the radiator or coolant lines. Loss of coolant from a ruptured line or a damaged radiator can quickly kill any automatic transmission if it is not noticed right away. Automatics are a lot more complicated both electronically and mechanically and simply have more parts to fail. A manual transmission won't stop working because of a broken wire but a modern automatic (made in the last 25 years) will.
Performance and fuel economy benefits are slim at best, and are typically only there because manual transmissions are more finely tuned, and often have an extra gear vs the automatic counterpart, specifically in order to sell to gearheads
Or they have the extra gear because it is not as costly to install as it would be in an automatic and it results in better fuel economy.
"Frequently wrong, never in doubt."
Don't know where that is, but a hill start using the handbrake is part of the test in the UK. Except for Peterborough, allegedly.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."