I did have electronic door locks fail. On a trip. First one side, then a few days later, the other side. Had to be towed 50 miles to the nearest dealer.
Plus lots of embarrassment when the horn went off in the middle of a crowd’s July 4th celebration. Luckily there was a mechanic in the crowd who could get the hood open and disconnect the battery for me.
“I have had MANY ebrake problems over the years from cables frozen with corrosion to snapped cables to worn out mini brake pads”
Yup!
Among the design mistakes on GM’s “X-cars” of the '80s was an e-brake cable that was much more prone to freezing-up as a result of corrosion, as compared to other cars.
Over my lifetime, I have owned 10 cars, and the only one that ever presented me with e-brake problems was my Chevy Citation. After paying to replace the e-brake cable twice within ~3 years, I opted to drive without a functioning e-brake for the last few months that I owned the car, due to low funds at the time.
That cable problem was with a conventional e-brake.
I did have electronic door locks fail. On a trip. First one side, then a few days later, the other side. Had to be towed 50 miles to the nearest dealer.
You refuse to drive a vehicle without functioning power door locks?
If the horn was sounding you probably had an alarm problem.
Nevada, in more detail:
When I could not unlock either door (Jetta, 95) Someone jimmied the door open for me, which caused the alarm to go off. I could not turn the alarm off, as the key didn’t work any more. Had to disconnect the battery to stop the alarm. After tow, dealer replaced some mechanism inside each door. This was 13 years ago, my memory is a bit vague.
I would expect the alarm to sound after breaking into a car. If the key won’t turn in the door lock cylinder isn’t that a mechanical failure and not a power door lock failure?
The key turned in the lock, but didn’t unlock the door. That is an electric function.
This car did not have RF keys, just a mechanical one, but a double “tap” or rotation of the key in either lock unlocked all the locks. So the mechanical function enabled an electric/electronic signal that unlocked the locks.
What I never figured out is why they both failed within a few days of each other. The first one failed, but that no big deal as I could unlock the door from the other side. Then the second one failed, tow truck time.
The second turn of the key is an electrical/vacuum operated feature. The door lock cylinders are connected mechanically to the door latches as a primary method of unlocking the doors. This is necessary if the battery is dead or a lose of vacuum in the central locking system.
That makes sense, but I was unable to unlock the car at all, either lock, with the key. I don’t remember trying the second key… But I would have, assuming I had it with me on this trip.
Power door locks, windows, even wipers are not safety critical. At worst, you can simply park it on the side of the road and call for help. Brakes and steering are critical items as they are what gets you safely to the side of the road and these should have multiple redundant systems. If Nissan installs an emergency clutch for its steer by wire system, that should tell you how much confidence it has on electronic controls. I wouldn’t mind having electro-pneumatic parking brake, so long as there’s a way for me to physically activate the pneumatic system
I have always wondered why as a safety feature they do not have a back up system. Maybe two separate systems for the front and back.
I’ve considered that the brakes do have a backup. The primary system is the brakes you use; this is an excellent system as you have to use them frequently (so you can see how they’re doing) and they are subject to periodic maintenance. The back-up system is the emergency or parking brake. Although it should be used and checked periodically, it’s not uncommon for drivers to not do this (I’m guilty as charged).
Steering really doesn’t have a backup system, but you do use it and it is maintained, too.
from the internet: Most modern cars are fitted with twin hydraulic circuits, with two master cylinders in tandem, in case one should fail.
Sometimes one circuit works the front brakes and one the rear brakes; or each circuit works both front brakes and one of the rear brakes; or one circuit works all four brakes and the other the front ones only.
^
Ummmm…yeah…dual hydraulic circuits have been federally-mandated in The US since 1968.