Full Disclosure!
I just went through my maintenance files, and realized that I did have two “electronic failures” over the years.
A few months after I got my 2000 Outback, a solenoid for the evaporative emissions system failed, and was replaced under warranty. The dealership got me back on the road in less than 1 hour, even though I drove in w/o an appointment.
When my 2011 Outback was a little more than 1 year old, the fluid level sensor inside the windshield washer tank went bad, and the tank was replaced under warranty. If this had happened after the warranty expired, I would have just ignored the “low ww fluid” warning light, so I don’t consider that one to have been a real problem.
The evap solenoid problem would have prevented me from passing state inspection, so I guess one could consider that to be relatively serious, even though it would have been a cheap repair if it had happened after the warranty expired.
Luckily, both took place well within the time limits for warranty coverage, and–at least so far–I have never had to pay for an “electronic failure”, even after 10+ years of driving.
You will. Add trans shift solenoid and a couple of vehicle speed sensors to the list for me. In my experience, sensors and electronic parts have failed at about the same rate that mechanical parts have. Your results may vary. Generally (but not always) the electronic parts are cheaper and easier to replace, though. Add more sensors and electronic parts (to an auto with a gas engine and a trans), it just stands to reason, more chances of failure. How could an argument be made otherwise? No “proximity sensor”, no “proximity sensor” failure…right? No TPMS, no TPMS failure. I’m not saying that I’d want a vehicle with none of these features. But some of the newer tech added in recent years, I’d prefer to avoid.
How many of these people who are complaining about vehicle electrinic controls have - Smart Phones - Auto heat and air thermostates ( with WiFi connection ) - Security systems - remote for the HD TV - and other things that they may use daily at work ?
I’m not complaining, necessarily. Just stating a fact. More complexity, more failure. Hence, I avoid the refrigerator with the built in WiFi and shopping list! And the majority of the other items you mentioned other than smartphones and tv remotes.
I sent in my 6 month old DVD player. Needed pre approval. Then paid $15 to ship it to New York. Then they evidently sent it to Toronto, then notified me they were shipping it to me. Toronto to Detroit, then back to Canada, then back to Detroit and on to Ohio. Last I heard it was in Illinois. I figured they would just send me a new one instead of fixing it but we’ll see what I get. They said to expect delays due to Covid.
Incidentally I noticed UPS was hiring in Minneapolis for $32 an hour.
hope they didn’t use the post office. I don’t know what’s going on with them lately. it took a month for them to get a small package to me shipping from a few states away. I worked for the P.O. for 20 years and the package’s we got in went out the same day or the next day depending on when they came in. you can not blame everything on Covid when other companies can get packages to you in a couple of days.
In case you haven’t been following the news for the past year or so, the postal problems originated with the appointment of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General in May, 2020. His removal–and sledgehammering–of sorting equipment (plus other changes) have literally devastated the USPS. His new target for the delivery of First Class mail is 3-5 days, rather than the old 1-2 day standard.
If you Google his name, you will be able to catch-up on Mr. DeJoy’s “improvements” to the US Postal Service.
Interesting!
My LG BlueRay player died after ~6 months. Luckily, they are paying for shipping it to CA for repair, and for its return to me, but I wasn’t impressed with its short lifespan.
sorry, I guess I am a little disgruntle. LOL
I try not to follow anything with the post office. I had enough of their antics all the years I worked there.
See, you should’ve gotten one of those mechanical video players with the hand crank.
Just kidding. I don’t purposely avoid new tech. I do, however, try to kind of keep a little balance and avoid the froo froo tech like the fridge that does the shopping list for you. Some of that stuff seems a little more gimmicky than useful. Blind spot monitoring and other new tech on cars should be more useful. But I’d rather be a late adopter and let them perfect it. The first versions of ABS kinda sucked hard. Likewise, I figure they’ll improve upon whatever they’re doing now with blind spot monitoring, lane, assist, etc. Not that I’m in the market right now anyway with the crazy prices.
This was coming UPS not USPS so not much to do with the postal service except sometime they hand off final delivery to them. No big deal, I expected it to take months and bought another one in the meantime. I do have a chain saw part coming USPS though and so far made it to Atlanta.
I have a postal truck story though that I won’t bother to tell for fear of offending someone again. I’ll just say our Affirmative Action Officer was scared to death of a guy because he drove an old postal jeep. Talk about stereotyping.
Forgot which conversation this was but Scotty Kilmer had a Utube on electric cars. I don’t put much credence into what he says but he did mention that the batteries will be warranted for 10 years. After 10 years though, replacement cost could be $14,000. So who would put $14,000 into a 10 year old car which means that a disposable car and little used car market. I’m content to let the market shake things out if we can keep the do gooders out of it.
I would call those electrical component failures… more mechanical issues than electronic ones.
I had an instrument cluster develop a parasitic drain on my '84 Corvette when it was 6 years old. I’ve had several cheap replacement radios do the same in my truck - my fault, cheap radios! - but no other major electronic failures. None that left me stranded.
Thinking back to dozens of cars over many decades… only 3 of my cars ever left me stranded. The Corvette when its alternator locked up solid, a Ford Taurus SHO that murdered 2 batteries and one crankshaft position sensor and a Saab 9-5 for a tossed belt and bad fuel pump.
Yup!
The only times that I have been stranded were the result of a fuel pump failure on my POS Volvo, and a “mystery” stalling that occurred about 20 minutes after having my '81 Chevy Citation serviced at the dealership.
Both of those incidents took place in–I guess–“the Good Old Days”–prior to modern electronics. The Volvo incident was just one of many with that rolling disaster, and at least the Chevy dealership paid for the towing, even though they would not reveal what led to the sudden stall, right after they had serviced it.
When the Citation stalled, I walked to a nearby home and the elderly woman very generously allowed me to enter her home in order to phone the Chevy dealership. (This was many years before the advent of cell phones).
I’m sure that this nice old lady is long gone, but the thought of her having admittied me to her home is–in light of recent history–almost amazing. I really hope that no elderly ladies would do likewise today!
In any event, both of those situations took place before the advent of modern electronics.
Subsequently… Zero stranding problems…
dont knock the good old days. there were some good things. like all the good memories, appliances lasted longer than todays. granted we did not the extas like toaster oven vs just a toaster. and, and, and…and I had a memory. LOL
There has always been some sort of “electronic” component to cars. Even my dad’s old 6 volt Chevy 3100 that I plan to get my hands on again soon. 6 volts of electronics! That’s some whizz bang stuff right there.
I thought the original post was generally geared towards entitled warranty/recall (two separate things that are often grouped together)work, though? Then it diverted.
When we replaced our appliances, the guy warned us that they would not last as long. He blamed the energy efficiency components. So far so good and I like them. The dishwasher is so quiet I can’t tell if it is on compared to the old one.
Yeah I said Scotty Kilmer said that about batteries.
After a million and a half miles, I have been left stranded a few times. Points in my VW. 3 or 4 fuel pumps in my Buicks. A couple crank sensors, a timing chain, water pump. Might have been more. Hobbled home a few times with head gasket, leaky radiator hose, water pump, and I don’t know. Just glad to be out of the daily grind.
I had to replace the dishwasher that was installed in the house we built in 1989 in January of 2000. We replaced our washing machine we bought in 1992 this past January along with the clothes dryer that we purchased in 2001. Our freezer, which was new in 1981 gave out in 1999. We replaced it this January. Our refrigerator, which we purchased in 1995 still works perfectly.
My parents bought a new refrigerator in 1950. It only lasted 7 years. They bought a new freezer in 1955. It quit in 1973. The washing machine purchased in 1954 died in 1966.
I think many things last longer today than they did in “The Good Old Days”.
Some things I replaced because the technology improved. I replaced my cathode ray tube Zenith TV set with a flat screen TV even though the old Zenith worked fine. The Zenith went to our church rummage sale.
One item that has lasted a long time is a Eureka upright vacuum cleaner purchased new in 1977. I am not certain vacuum cleaners madecm today will last as long.