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Automotive News & Views Brand problems swept under the rug
1210 messages, Last post on Dec 05, 2009 at 9:18 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: 210delray (Nov 03, 2009 5:30 pm) Is it possible to reprogram existing powertrain control systems in the cars already sold to reduce or eliminate acceleration if the system senses acceleration request and braking occurring simultaneously. That would be an easy fix if it could be done in the field on existing cars! It may save lives.
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Nov 03, 2009 6:02 pm) BTW gagrice, only VW/Audi have had this system for "nearly a decade," 2001 to be exact. BMW came on board in the 2005 model year, and Mercedes hasn't been very forthcoming, last I heard.
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Replying to: 210delray (Nov 03, 2009 5:30 pm) I missed it.  Here's the link: Is There More to the Toyota Floor Mat Debacle? Safety Research & Strategies apparently does a lot of business with *surprise* lawyers. And the phones should be ringing tomorrow.
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Replying to: steve_ (Nov 03, 2009 6:32 pm) As I said before, the post was well done; kudos to your colleague Erin Riches! |
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Replying to: 210delray (Nov 03, 2009 6:15 pm) As long as the sensors give the right input to the computer... the safety feature would outweigh any argument over needing burnout capability at stoplights. I just saw an ad for the new LaCrosse with a start button. I wonder if GM has a logical OFF capability for it like two pushes within a second or something more logical, to me at least, than holding for 3 seconds.
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Nov 03, 2009 6:54 pm) I know there wasn't any obvious way to zero the twin trip odometers. I finally managed by pressing the menu settings to zero trip 2, but not trip 1. I could easily argue that cars are getting too dang complicated. The engine kill logic is a conundrum. . You don't want to make it too easy by accidentally hitting the button, but holding for 3 seconds may be too hard. I'm losing track of what was said on what thread, but Prius owners decided you could just push the Park button to immediately kill the engine (with no harm done, because the transmission just goes into neutral if the car is moving).
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Nov 03, 2009 6:02 pm) Good question. I'm would imagine that on some vehicles, the PCM isn't equipped to do that, and it would require an expensive hardware replacement and not just a reprogram to accomplish that. Plus, even with a simple reflash, a non-trivial number of modules will get "bricked" or simply won't take the update and then will have to be replaced. |
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Replying to: 210delray (Nov 03, 2009 7:27 pm)
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reminds me of last weeks episode of the Amazing Race. They were in some odd place (holland? Dubai?) and the teams had to jump in a car and drive to a challenge. well, MB seems to be the auto sponser this year, so they had a line of sedans (not sure if they were C or E class, I think E). One dude (younger guy) couldn't figure out how to ge the car started, or in gear! He had to get out, and find some local getting into his MB ML in the parking garage, and get him to come over to show him how to get the car moving. That is just ridiculous to overengineer (reinvent a wheel that worked just fine?) like that.
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Replying to: stickguy (Nov 04, 2009 7:05 am) It is beyond stupid. HUGE PICTURE I complained about it when it first came out because on cars with that shifter Mercedes has five separate stalks on the steering column. 1 & 2. You have the regular left and right stalks for wipers/blinkers/lights 3. Plus the power adjustment for the tilt/telescope. 4. Plus the cruise control stalk cause Mercedes gives you a whole separate stalk for that instead of putting it on another stalk or giving you buttons on the wheel. 5. The gear shifter wit its bizarre arrangement to get in and out of park/neutral. Oh and there are also paddle shifter buttons in the back of the wheel that don't require a separate button to be pushed to be activated. It is very easy to downshift by accident when going into a turn or worse miss hit the resume on the Cruise control stalk because it is right next to the blinker stalk. So you hit resume on a 35 mph corner when the Cruise Control was set for 65 and you downshift at the same time. That makes for a very interesting test drive believe me. 
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