>>As far as the difficulty - yeah, that is just the way things are with
>>today's cars - they are so compacted and integrated (for weight,
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> probably driven by lowering manufacturing costs regardless of later
> maintenance costs.
I disagree. His diffucilty was due to things being very crowded - the
proverbial 10 pounds of stuff (sensors, modules, wiring, pipig, hoses,
etc., etc., etc.) being forced into a 5 pound bag (shape and size
envelope). The pressure switch had to go where it was because of the
existing engine design. If you routed the switch to another location
(piping), then you would simply have compounded the problem (weight,
volume, complexity, cost). If things weren't so tight space-wise,
perhaps the shield would not have needed to be removed, or perhaps could
have been deleted entirely. Stick that switch any place else, and
chances are there would already be another thing (or two) in that place
that would have to be relocated. It snowballs.
Bottom line: In any design, everything is a compromise. With things so
tight, you can't fix one problem without making three others a lot
worse. With things being jammed so tight, maintenance considerations
have to take a back seat. Size, weight, power, fuel economy, initial
cost, ease and cost of maintenance *cannot* all be 9's or 10's.
Priorities are set - on any given vehicle, some aspects are a 3 so that
others can be maybe 6 or 7. Start pushing any one aspect to an 8 or
higher, and something has to give (in the opposite direction).
Add even more stuff at the factory (full blown workstation computers,
refrigerant loops in the seat cushion, and other crap that are being
added to cars now), and all the numbers across the board will drop
incrementally, and we'll keep wondering why a "simple" repair costs $500
or takes 3 trips to the dealer to be properly diagnosed.
But we've done it to ourselves.
Did I mention that this is one of my hot buttons? :)
Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')
Steve - 03 Jul 2007 21:28 GMT
> Add even more stuff at the factory (full blown workstation computers,
> refrigerant loops in the seat cushion, and other crap that are being
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Did I mention that this is one of my hot buttons? :)
You and me both. I get into arguments here all the time with people who
like to claim that modern cars are "so much more reliable" than older
cars.... but my 13 year old car is already getting almost
un-maintainable because of parts going out of production, semiconductor
obsolesence, etc. whereas parts for my FORTY ONE year old car are still
readily available. And cheap, too! So what if a modern engine can last
half a million miles? The automated butt-scratching accessories and the
cheap plastics all over the car will fall to bits around it in 10 years
even if it only has 50,000 miles on it by then. I doubt any car made
after 1990 will be maintainable when its over 40 years old.
philthy - 04 Jul 2007 02:51 GMT
my 72 cuda is full of plastic that is just fine
> > Add even more stuff at the factory (full blown workstation computers,
> > refrigerant loops in the seat cushion, and other crap that are being
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> even if it only has 50,000 miles on it by then. I doubt any car made
> after 1990 will be maintainable when its over 40 years old.
Steve - 04 Jul 2007 16:38 GMT
> my 72 cuda is full of plastic that is just fine
So is my '73, actually. The '66 has NO plastic, the 69 R/T has some, and
the 73 Satellite is all plastic as is the 93 Eagle. But its kinda funny-
they can now make the dashboard vinyl last a lot longer than the old
dashes did, but all the hard plastics in modern cars get brittle as
potato chips after 10 years or so. My 73 has one big dashboard crack,
but all the hard plastic is perfect. The 93 on the other hand has a
perfect dash, but every AC vent is falling apart, the cupholder is
cracked, and all the hard panels and trim around the door handles are
breaking apart.
who - 29 Aug 2007 07:03 GMT
> Add even more stuff at the factory (full blown workstation computers,
> refrigerant loops in the seat cushion, and other crap that are being
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Did I mention that this is one of my hot buttons? :)
I agree with you here. Too much stuff is being built in and it costs too
much to add. Unfortunately the packages tend to force one into this.
* I didn't tell Chrysler I wanted a large hard disk in my next car, nor
* did I say I want a built in GPS.
For both devices I definitely don't want them locked into my car.
I want them portable so I can take them when I travel to far away places
and rent a car.
Please Chrysler just provide a jack for input to the cars audio system.
I discussed this with a Chrysler rep at our annual Auto Show.
He was all excited about these devices in the new cars and appeared a
bit depressed when I told him why I and most of my friends don't want
these devices locked into one car.