Hacker News Reader

Comment by alexis_fr | Hacker News Reader

The same was probably said 15 years ago about the computerization of the car engine and their rapid deprecation. Did the average lifespan of a car decrease since then? How ridiculous is it to drive a 4WD into the desert, full of electronics that can’t be repaired and where a single chip can cost 300$ and has to be shipped from mainland America...

So yep, with car computerization they reduced the lifespan from 30 to 12 years, and with infotainment they’ll reduce it to 8 years. Same length as a Tesla warranty.

View on HN

Vehicle manufacturers are just giving customers what they want.

My family recently bought a new car (a Volvo FWIW) and for the first time we really didn't care about horsepower or fuel efficiency or anything really related to vehicle performance. It was all about the electronics and safety features.

"Vehicle manufacturers are just giving customers what they want."

...and they're giving it to them good and hard.

There has to be a balance. Electronic fuel injection (EFI) is far more reliable and adaptable than even the best carburetors. Electronic safety systems may have reduced some of the longevity of a vehicle, but the alternative is higher chance of injury or death.

I think that the EFI argument is something of a red herring, no one is suggesting a return to the Quadrajet.

OTOH, EFI can be done as a modular (and replaceable) product rather than as part of monolithic whole-vehicle design, but that last bit of goodness or regulatory need is likely not met.

I just think of it all as being Peak ICE. The last generation of piston engines is going to be crazy complex and probably deserve to be usurped by it's battery-powered successors.

> The last generation of piston engines is going to be crazy complex and probably deserve to be usurped by it's battery-powered successors.

My car-loving boss just got a hybrid RAV4, and he absolutely loves it; combines the best features of both with (presumably) the only downside of lower maintenance (but even then there's less wear-and-tear on the ICE side). I suspect we will see quite a slow, gradual transition through hybrids to battery-only.

Of course, this is Australia (and I'd imagine similar in the US and Canada) where it's more common to drive long distances.

I have a car with EFI and it's 28 years old. We can the best of both worlds. Simple and reliable electronics, instead of a full computer running Android.

I’ve got a 91 Ranger (EFI) kicking around here and have the exact same experience. It has been nothing but reliable in the last 5 years I’ve had it. A couple small mechanical things that had to get changed, but electronically there has been zero complaints.

"where a single chip can cost 300$ and has to be shipped from mainland America..."

that assumes that the failed part is even available.

I'd sure be irritated to have the controller board for a Cadillac XLR convertible top fail and have to shop junk yards, no doubt the wrecking yards are hip to small things of value that they can store on a shelf somewhere.

To be fair, I know more than one purchasing guy, usually in boutique electronic product companies, who spend a fair amount of their time tracking down obsoleted parts on eBay to repair or build one last batch of a metal box with circuit boards inside. It's just the nature of modern times I guess, but luckily we can often pick the era we want to live in in our personal lives.

I just need to stock up on old Thinkpads, avoid home automation, and carefully choose any car purchases.

Unfortunately there are very few car electronic controllers made in the last 20 years where you can replace modules without re-coding them... a $2 part from the scrap yard is useless without the manufactures re-coding software and a couple of hours at the dealership. Unless you're rich I doubt there will be any "classics" from 1990 onwards you can maintain yourself.

This is exactly why, instead of buying a new vehicle, I'm repairing my 15 year-old one myself. I hate the thought of something so expensive and resource-intensive being thought of as disposable.

That, and I hate car payments :-)

It kinda depends on the manufacturer. Some have done a better job than others.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com