The Curse of the Do-it-Yourselfer

ST1100Y said:
Early attempts for proprietary solutions...
Latest peak that the ECU's of current vehicles must be connected to an expensive, MFG only supplied computer terminal, with proprietary software on expensive annual lease, which must be online to phone home for simple things like resetting the service interval warning, "train" in a new battery, a replaced headlight bulb, or free the ABS modulators/valves for fluid change...
OTOH are there numberless Chinese sites offering tablets with hacked OBD software for the ambitioned DIY fella...
The spiral speeds up...
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This is going to become much worse with EV's.
I've often wondered why we are so willing to trust our daily lives and security to a group of folk who are unable to work in a productive profession.....over half are incompetent at their common profession, law. That hasn't sunk into enough skulls yet.
 
Oldbikefixr said:
This is going to become much worse with EV's.
I've often wondered why we are so willing to trust our daily lives and security to a group of folk who are unable to work in a productive profession.....
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Yeah that "woke" oxymoron of constantly lamenting over CDPA and those bad, mean corporations out to steal our data to make a fortune on them, while they intensively use social media of their propaganda... like we all now have buy an EV...
For a couple of years they're trying to sell us those omni-online vehicles like the second coming, OnStar/Ecall, autonomous operation, etc...
Combine that with face recognition and you've a hitman's cruise missile...
 
mello dude said:
Throwing it out there....
The real issue is how cars are designed in corporate world. There is an engine group, a suspension group, an electronix group, an airbag group,
a brake group, a intrument panel group, interior group... group of groups. And engineers are in the bottom part of the funnel, beholden to
marketing, purchasing and effn senior corporate management to design, develop, and manufacture the vehicle with as little money as possible.
I have personally been in a spot where I have been asked to design and manufacture something new (fun) and know that it will cost to do it,
and then I am told to do it for less than half that. (F!) Compound that times 50 groups and not all that comunication for how it all works together....
And you get where you have to take the engine out to replace a speedo cable. I am still amazed at how really it does come together in the manufacturing plant.
Such is life in automotive engineering.

Cheerz
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I was working at Dodge when the first Durangos came out. Within a year or so all the upper ball joints were on recall. At a Dodge tech class it was explained to us that when designing the Durango each department had to reduce its production costs. Suspension department made the biggest cost savings. Head of that department received the bigest bonus for the largest % of savings. A few years later warranty and recall claims cost Dodge dearly.
 
Al st1100 said:
I was working at Dodge when the first Durangos came out. Within a year or so all the upper ball joints were on recall. At a Dodge tech class it was explained to us that when designing the Durango each department had to reduce its production costs. Suspension department made the biggest cost savings. Head of that department received the bigest bonus for the largest % of savings. A few years later warranty and recall claims cost Dodge dearly.
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You nailed another component of the equation.... too many peoples bonuses are tied to cost reduction.. Especially purchasing group.... then years later engineering gets slammed for warranty costs. Way too often, a groups cost reduction shoves the burden onto another group... over all design quality suffers.
 
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My old saying is you can screw your vehicle up just as well as a mechanic:rofl1: just had my brothers car oil changed by a fast lube place send it out with oil leaking from the pan drain bolt.
 
mello dude said:
You nailed another component of the equation.... too many peoples bonuses are tied to cost reduction.. Especially purchasing group.... then years later engineering gets slammed for warranty costs. Way too often, a groups cost reduction shoves the burden onto another group... over all design quality suffers.
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I spent most of my working life in the aviation business where rules are supposed to be king....they're even specified by the FAA and military contracting. BUT.....most of the reliability/safety issues I discovered and fixed (with much talented help, for certain) were from just two sources....engineering patent holders and purchasing agents. Long story very abbreviated here but we had to remove a number senior engineers who were protecting their garbage for the royalties, and several purchasing agents who were encouraging suppliers to reduce the price of their components to an unreasonable levels by shortcutting their manufacturing requirements and testing......again, seeking bonuses. I learned quickly that these thought processes don't become extinct even in light of severe legal consequences.
 
ST1100Y said:
But the shareholders are satisfied... and that's all that counts these days...
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For a while anyway....'til the customer tires of the expensive crap. But, they reorganize and do it all over again. We need a 'corporate mug shot' system of some type. Otherwise they will continue to bankrupt one business and move along to another 'victim'.
 
red one said:
My old saying is you can screw your vehicle up just as well as a mechanic:rofl1: just had my brothers car oil changed by a fast lube place send it out with oil leaking from the pan drain bolt.
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None of the fast lube places hire mechanics. :thumb: In fact I'll bet most of them never worked on cars before.:eek:

Oldbikefixr said:
I spent most of my working life in the aviation business where rules are supposed to be king....they're even specified by the FAA and military contracting. BUT.....most of the reliability/safety issues I discovered and fixed (with much talented help, for certain) were from just two sources....engineering patent holders and purchasing agents. Long story very abbreviated here but we had to remove a number senior engineers who were protecting their garbage for the royalties, and several purchasing agents who were encouraging suppliers to reduce the price of their components to an unreasonable levels by shortcutting their manufacturing requirements and testing......again, seeking bonuses. I learned quickly that these thought processes don't become extinct even in light of severe legal consequences.
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The Boeing CEO that was responsible for the mess there got a 33 million severance package... no consequences just more money
 
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