Hacker News Reader

Comment by traderj0e | Hacker News Reader

These drivers aren't in critical situations, and their mods aren't designed for that

If my car fails while I'm driving over the mountain in the winter and leaves me stranded outside of cell service in sub zero weather, that would be a critical situation.

If my car fails while I'm driving through the desert and leaves me stranded in 100+ degree heat in the summer, that would be a critical situation.

If my car fails while I'm driving on a busy part of I5, that could be a critical situation.

I get that the rolling coal mods or whatever aren't designed to improve reliability, but things like deleting EGR or modifying the control logic for the DEF system are and can prevent a vehicle from failing in a situation that could be life threatening. Again, the government already knows this which is why they order their vehicles with those exact modifications already done.

Honestly, how do you know? Regardless, it's completely unfair. The government knows emissions control tech takes one of the most reliable workhorse powerplants in the world and neuters it, weakens it, and makes it more susceptible to failure. A lot of folks delete their diesel trucks not to "roll coal" or own the libs, but because it makes their vehicles more reliable.

Modern trucks, even with emissions controls, are more powerful than anything older. Engines are more reliable if anything, though there are plenty of pesky non-engine electronics ruining the useful lifespans of modern cars.

If you're talking about black smoke out of the exhaust, no it doesn't help reliability. If you just mean tuning to optimize not for emissions, yeah it can help if you know exactly what you're doing or screw it up if you don't, either way you'll only find out later. Doesn't seem to matter because most professionals already make their living without messing with their trucks.

idk who downvoted you, that's not appropriate, so +1'd you to avoid comment death

So what? It's anti-social behavior. What thought does the deleted diesel truck driver give to his fellow citizens, whose otherwise reliable respiratory systems are weakened and made more susceptible to failure by toxic fumes and particulates?

I'm realizing a lot of folks in this thread do not understand diesel emissions systems at all and why you might want to delete one.

Maybe they don't, but I get it. Optimizing for lower emission doesn't mean highest reliability, or even necessarily highest fuel economy. Emissions parts can fail and be expensive to replace. That doesn't mean people should be allowed to delete emissions. Last time I had my cats fail, the cheapest option was to saw them off, I didn't do that.

I understand and I don't care. Your personal interests as a diesel truck driver don't override others' interests in health and clean air

Refusing to understand something and are making an uninformed decision as a result isn't a great thing to brag about.

The fact is, emissions regulations in many ways have nothing to do with health or clean air. I don't drive a diesel truck myself so its not like I'm trying to defend my own behavior or anything. I'm a former automotive engineer who is unfortunately very familiar with the regulations and how nonsensical they are.

So you’re trying to tell me that NOx and diesel particulates are not harmful to human health?

Site full of hackers who would fight to the death over open source and their ability to run their computers the way they want to, but when it’s about car enthusiasts instead of computer enthusiasts, suddenly nobody cares.

Idk if this makes it better or worse, but I won't fight to the death over open source/hardware, I've got Apple stuff. It's also not the same thing because computers don't pollute like cars.

Right to repair, unless it’s got a carbon footprint.

What a ridiculous false equivalence. Even libertarians(!) can object to other people blowing smoke in their face.

I think if you want to modify your car that's great, you should be able to do literally whatever you want... so long as it's still safe to the people around you. Rolling coal is not. I think thats very reasonable.

What are your thoughts on climate change?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com