How did we allow this to become acceptable?! The only spanner you need is the one that operates the computer these days. A Haynes manual will just become a pamphlet telling you to go to a dealer for everything because you need to plug the effing thing in to do the most routine of service work...
Seems to be the way of the world. Modern boilers also need computer diagnostics
Would you rather fix a morris minor or modern tech at the side of the road?
I’ve not had a fixable breakdown in 20 years…. 1 driveshaft shear and 1 hydraulic pipe fail … even on a moggie that’s a tow home.Would you rather fix a morris minor or modern tech at the side of the road?
That's two extremes. There was a point where we had safe cars that were still fixable at the side of the road. OK, emissions kicked carburettors into the long grass but all that aside, having an ecu or bcu decide whether the lights or wipers can switch on is an unnecessary complication. Switches and relays do the job just fine and I don't need a computer to fix them. Back to the electronic handbrake, they bring no improvement to what a handbrake does for a living but it does bring many disadvantages, especially when you can't even perform routine maintenance on a wear item without needing to use a computer to get you going again.
Neither, both are unreliable crap!
I agree that cars are far too complicated. My neighbour’s new Audi had the light come on to STOP immediately, day before yesterday on the motorway and there was a clanking noise It’s done less than 2000 miles. It’s an automatic and they couldn’t even push it. Suddenly my old 56 Corsa which he’s always poo poo’d when I’ve offered him help, suddenly became rather attractive.
A justifiable whinge in my opinion.I still work by the KISS principle.
You mean Cresta surely
Hill start assist, Auto hold, Auto application of hand brake if you forget, are 3 I can think of.
In my opinion, handbrakes are for hill starts and passing MOT's. I never use it for parking, I much prefer to leave my manual car in gear.
Hill start and auto hold don't use an electronic handbrake to work. Both of my cars have this and both have manual handbrakes. This works using the abs unit to apply the main brakes.
Until it gets knocked out of gear . . .
Problem is, at the economies of scale in car manufacturing, and the need to make each car quicker and easier, and the design of car interiors, fitting a lever/pedal to a sufficiently strong structure somewhere in the car, routing a cable/cables, provide a means to adjust it, mechanism in the caliper to operate it (time consuming to assemble etc) and its cheaper to make it bolt on, plug in.
