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Do the auto makers need a collective "reverse beep"

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Mendel Leisk, Jun 14, 2015.

  1. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Maybe two decades back, before I became a professional loafer (like Bisco), I was I guess the go-to guy for a structural department, where conveyors were concerned.

    A work buddy, who'd gone through the same community college as me, the same dates, but in the day class instead of night, was on a job with me. I had 2~3 conveyors on the go, and they'd set him loose on one, not that big, but cantilevering and a little tricky.

    He was taking over from someone who'd manage to near completely mash it up, and then went on vacation or something. In that situation, I'd just print out the previous efforts, and start fresh. There's no way I'd trust it in AutoCad, and that route afforded no efficiency, just guaranteed you'd end up with an even bigger mess.

    But he was a nice guy, more cognizant of office politics, so was persevering with the previous files. And telling me the horror stories: lines that should come to a common intersection, but didn't, for example. Or slopes that were off, just a leetle bit. The head scratcher was that it truly was HARDER to make it sloppy like that.

    Couple with this, he was kinda green with conveyors, and there were eager engineers with lots of fluid, half-baked ideas on his back. In short a recipe for disaster.

    My buddy was the kind of guy who never blew his horn, didn't excel at anything, but was a behind-the-scenes people person. Kind of the opposite of me...

    Anyway, we're discussing the sorry state of his baby, the tug-of-war with the engineers, the material handling department's edicts, the shambles of the files, and he comes out with:

    "We're moving backwards."

    Now this is office politics dynamite. On the face of it, makes no sense. You put in your 40 hours, something good must come out of that? Right? If not, if all that time and effort moved us further from our goal..., shudder.

    I kept thinking about that. It corroborated with a thought I'd had, on more than one occasion: that in hindsight, I could have gone away for a week or two, gone on vacation, and come back, not missed a beat. With the right timing.

    Anyway, regarding the Prius and the auto industry in general I guess, which direction are we moving with:

    1. A "fob", that's at least as bulky as the old key, does more-or-less the same thing, but costs upwards of $400 if you misplace it, if you just walk into the dealership?

    2. A TPMS system, now legislated as mandatory in the States, where a car, or even loose rims with snow tires, cannot leave a tire shop without functional sensors, properly introduced to the car? And with every tire swap the handshake must be redone. With sensors somewhere between $50~100 each, and each handshake procedure about $50~100.

    3. An all-eggs-in-one-basket touchscreen control center, that rivals a smart phone for distraction factor, and once out of warranty will surely be big bucks to replace? Currently the Prius v has one that's failing in droves. Under warranty, for now.
     
    #1 Mendel Leisk, Jun 14, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2015
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yes? or no.

    i like the sks, so i put up with the fob. would a credit card or phone app be better? absolutely.

    i check my tyres, so, although i don't have issues with tpms, i would rather not have it. but maybe it's a worthwhile safety feature, judgement call i guess.

    hate the touch scree, but i'm a knobs and buttons dinosaur.:p
     
  3. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    1) It's because people don't like reaching into their pocket or purse. Don't get me wrong, smart key systems are niffty, but I see them far down the list of 'must haves'.

    2) GM's used to to let you 'handshake the TPMS to the car by just restting in the right menu, and letting air out of the tires in the right order. Now you need a 'tool' to do it. Since my dash alerts to a low pressure, and doesn't specify which tire, I haven't had it done with the self tire rotations.

    3) IIRC, early gen2s had early MFD deaths also. There should be controls that you can use by touch, at least for back up. After the distraction factor, the worse part is how it affects aftermarket head unit installs. My Sonic doesn't even have the touchscreen, and I think swapping out the radio means losing the blinker clicks and alert beeps.
     
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah our Canadian Touring dash looks like this:

    Capture.JPG

    Of course I'm still not happy: miss the click-stop knobs and sliders that afforded adjustments without needing to take your eyes off the road, once you got familiar with it. (Still has the back up camera, displayed in a portion of the rear view mirror, kinda brilliant)
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i do like the gps (not toyota's) but it's still nice to have. 'must have's'? idk, that sounds like a can of worms. have you seen the size of the thread on gen IV wish list?:cool:

    in massachusetts, the dealers/manufacturers tried to get a bill passed keeping indies from accessing trouble codes. so, i suppose they will look for other ways to get us to the dealer.
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    All good points, agree, but: your first edit (just: "Yes?") was uproarious. I've lost count of the text message conversation me and one of my sons have, just like that:

    I'll launch into a 50 line tirade/novel, and he comes back with "k". :ROFLMAO:
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    exactly.
     
  8. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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  9. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    [QUOTE="bisco, post: 2196401, member: 5889"in massachusetts, the dealers/manufacturers tried to get a bill passed keeping indies from accessing trouble codes. so, i suppose they will look for other ways to get us to the dealer.[/QUOTE]

    At least Massachusetts eventually went the other way, and passed a right-to-repair act making sure that indies can get the information (... and the manufacturers associations have now decided to regroup behind that one and agree to it nationwide, hoping to make it harder for any other state to come up with a stronger one ...).

    -Chap
     
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    right, so you can be sure they will do everything they can in the design process to cause the indie to tell the customer, 'you better take this to the dealer'. even the dealers can't figure it all out.
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yes, there's nothing cheap about sks. but i still love it after 10 years and 5 hybrids, we have never lost a fob. so no cost except original purchase. i love electric a/c too. is it a must have? for me, yes. civic/insight where a/c shuts down or engine keeps running is unacceptable.
     
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  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    To be fair, I can recall procrastinating, with a (mechanical) ignition and a sticking key. Until the fateful day when the key stuck in the "start" position, ie: continuously running the start motor, even after the engine was running. Sounded terrible. It failed soon thereafter. Replacement was a pretty penny. :oops:
     
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  14. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    FOB's are nice, but there is absolutely no reason to charge $400 for that small chip and a flash. Problem is you have no choice. Just another big rip off.
     
  15. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Electric A/C could yield efficiency improvements in an ICEV, and likely will become the norm with more start/stop systems becoming standard.

    SKS once saved me from locking myself out of the car at a mall. The flip side is that I wouldn't have left the key in the car if I had to put it in an ignition, and not left it in a jacket pocket, that I took off during the drive. Aside from coming to expect your house door to magically unlock for you, SKS is a nice convinence though. I just don't see it as a 'need' like air conditioning that would get me to pay extra for. On my 2005, I was paying for VSC. The SKS was just a bonus.
     
  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's true of most things vs a la carte, we all have different must haves, and some are government mandated.

    driving old cars can be expensive. so can misplacing things. agree with the ripoff, but only when i'm the victim.:p