Automotive Work

People who know me personally,  know about my rather-extreme vocalizations while I am working on cars and pickup trucks.  This first started many decades ago,  when I was doing all my own maintenance and repair to various air-cooled VW vehicles. 

It has gotten more vocal since.  The more modern vehicles have just made the effect worse,  because they are so damned hard to work on (too much crap piled into too little space),  and they have proven far less reliable in so many multiple ways. 

I have spent the last 3 years working in a repair shop (after coming out of retirement to do that for two friends) on all sorts of cars and trucks.  Whatever walks in the door.  What I have seen is two-fold.  I have now gone back into retirement in the summer of 2022.  And,  I do not want to come back out!

First:

Of the widely-available vehicles,  I have not seen very many Toyotas or Subarus in the shop.  I have seen a lot of Fords,  Chevys,  Dodges,  and Jeeps.  I have also seen quite a few Nissans,  Hondas,  and Hyundais.  If you are interested in reliability and low maintenance costs,  then Toyotas and Subarus are the cars to look at.  Period.  End of issue.  Volvos,  etc.,  don’t count,  there are so few of them out there. 

Second:

Of the ones I have seen more often in the shop,  generally speaking,  the later models after about 2005 are the ones which are noticeably less reliable.  This takes the form of computer and sensor failures,  not so much mechanical failures like brakes and wheel bearings,  transmissions,  or engine failures!  The late-model sophisticated electronics are just not as reliable as the mechanical components,  and that’s a fact,  Jack! 

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In point of fact,  you can no longer splice wires back together after a rat or squirrel has chewed them,  because the idiot computer cannot accept the change in wire resistance,  after you splice it!  That is totally ridiculous!  But true!  And quite expensive.   You have to replace the wiring harness.

And the manufacturers are making mistakes that they simply should not be making!  One example (of many) is the 2-piece spark plug that Ford introduced for a while in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.  Why change something which has worked for over a century?  Ridiculous!  And very expensive to repair,  because it breaks apart when you try to remove the plug,  and it takes a special tool to get the broken stub out,  without enough room to work.

The Trend Toward Everything Computerized Is Bad

I am totally against this!  The term “artificial intelligence” (AI) is an oxymoron,  as far as I am concerned!  No computer is yet capable of responding to anything it has not been programmed for!  And the programmers simply do not know all the things the system must cope with.  And that’s another fact,  Jack! 

If the programmer did not anticipate something (and they so often do fail to anticipate common problems),  then people die in the real world,  as Tesla is learning so very reluctantly!  It’s utter bullshit to think otherwise!  Tesla is not alone in this mistake!  But they really have made this mistake!  It’s why they keep getting into trouble with the feds.

Don’t get me wrong:  Teslas are good cars!  Just do NOT use the auto-pilot feature!  It will get you killed,  sooner or later!

It's one thing to have a computer navigate for you.  I personally find that to be a serious driver failing,  but most folks today do not.  I like paper maps, myself.  But so be it.  It is quite another thing to have a computer drive your car for you,  while you dope off or nap.   That is what a computer cannot do,  unless and until it has been programmed for every possible contingency.  My contention is that we are still very,  very far from that!  That much is being proven by the current accident rates. 

There is (and has been for many decades) a garbage-in,  garbage-out law (GIGO law) relating to computers.  Computers quite happily process bad inputs,  and spit out the corresponding bad results data,  without any notation that they are processing bad input data.  That’s a very serious failing. 

You the human must be able to sort out the garbage output from the computer,  from the “good stuff” that is actually correct.  The only way to do that in a car is to drive the car yourself.  The current reliance on computer controls denies that unpleasant little fact of life.  And it is killing people!  So,  do not trust the computer!

I Recommend:

Dare trust nothing!  Learn to drive your car as if there were no automatic functions.  Do not trust any of the automatic functions,  except the automatic navigation functions.  Otherwise,  just do it for yourself.   

As for navigation,  look on the internet before you depart.  You may find the automatic navigation function is in some degree of error.  I usually find it delayed to the point of uselessness in real-time navigation,  myself.  Such as telling you to turn,  after you have already gone through the intersection. 

Warnings of exit and entrance ramps are too often delayed past the point of useful navigation.  You really have to be able to zoom in close on an internet map to see these things,  and once you are driving,  that is too late!

Do not buy a highly-automated car.  It’s just that simple.  Learn how to do it for yourself.  You will live longer.