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Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

> What does your poor choice of ICE cars have to say about Tesla though?

That one of the tricks Tesla is figuring out is how to cook the books on these figures.

I drive an ICE Subaru, and I love it. But some friends visited and didn’t tighten the gas cap once, which put the infotainment system into a fit, which put a bunch of other systems into a conniption, systems totally unrelated like ABS. (?!) The issue persisted across restarts and ultimately required servicing.

How was this recorded? User error. In part because there is a dealership between me and the manufacturer that is responsible for servicing the vehicle.

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A loose gas cap triggers an EVAP leak code + check engine light on pretty much every car made since the early 2000s. Now depending on said car, all traction control and ABS might be half-disabled as soon as the CE light turns on. Usually newer cars will disable more systems to bring you back to the dealer.

ex. my current car had an intermittent O2 sensor issue, which would turn the traction control in lazy mode and try to kill me in snow/ice conditions by reenabling itself at the worst possible moment when detecting slippery conditions. My previous car had traction controls completely independent from engine faults.

No fan of Tesla(rented one, hated it), but you have a point. Subaru had two different firmware issues that caused us to be stranded two different times(the battery charge issue and the fuel gauge issue). Both were known issues when we were stranded, but Subaru failed to notify us. I had to go to the dealer and specifically request the firmware updates.

Now, granted, my Subaru has a wonderfully designed interior, doesn't require using a touchscreen, has consistent panel gaps, etc...

I'm willing to bet a lot, that there was no causation between youe ABS having issues, and a loose gas cap. These events just happened at the same, general timeframe.

> there was no causation between youe ABS having issues, and a loose gas cap

I wouldn’t have linked the two had the dealership not told me that was what caused it.

Wouldn't be the first time the dealership was telling customer complete BS assuming that they don't have a clue in order to either get out of a warranty repair or to inflate an invoice.

Also dealerships not having a clue is not rare either. Many garages these days only connect a computer to the diagnostics port, download whatever error codes are shown and tell the shocked driver that half of their car is kaputt with the repair likely going to be several thousands of euro.

All the while the real problem is a blown fuse for one of the control units or a wire has chaffed and broke somewhere - and the diagnostic codes come only because the ECU can't talk to some sensors because part of the vehicle's CAN bus is down.

As another commenter mentioned, this is actually expected behaviour [1]. Because it’s precedented, it’s treated as okay [2].

To me, the car broke. Plainly and simply. And had Tesla had a similar fuckup, I don’t think they’d find sympathy. (Reasonably.) That’s something that comes with a longevity.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38762366

[2] https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/loose-gas-cap-causes-e...

It's an emissions violation, that's why.

Yes it should be better documented. I ran into this as well on my Subaru, but once the cap is on proper it -should- turn off within ~1hr of driving (constant or short trips)

To wit; if you don't put AdBlue in a diesel it will eventually outright stop working altogether even though it's only there for emissions.

Yes but by saying those particular words, thousands of dollars left your bank account and entered theirs. Is it possible that is the only reason they said them?

> How was this recorded? User error.

This is clearly BS, since it was either coincidence or an electrical/systems problem. The shamelessness of making that claim that is incredible.

Some might question that this could be an electrical or systems problem, but the gas cap on my Kia, a relatively flimsy piece of plastic, will disable the car if not replaced properly. How does this manifest itself? With a check engine light on the dash.

This is the most stupendously idiotic misfeature in an otherwise well designed (and reliable) car.

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