Holy Crap

One problem with a light that's gonna be off for years, then come on if there's a problem: what if it's defective from the get go?

 

That's why all of the lights come on in a bulb check when you first power on. No light stays off for years.

 

That only works when the driver checks all 37 bulbs at every car start.

 

Different strokes, I suppose. My old pickup had a massive coolant overheat happen (radiator ruptured). Not sure why, but I lost power, and the instant I pushed in the clutch, the engine died. No damage to the motor, but somehow the system cut the fuel supply when it sensed something wrong, and this was a 1985 pickup where the computer only controlled the fuel injection system.\

I'm not suggesting your car needs to become a brick with 4 tires the instant danger is sensed, but an alarm with a gradual loss of power would be a good way to get you to pull over without being rear-ended by the guy behind you. Heck, it could even turn the hazard flashers on for you.

 

Decades back I had a phone conversation with a vet receptionist, and it stuck with me; she said that animals will hide symtoms, maintain appearance of being healthy as long as possible. As a defence against predators, made sense in the wild, but not so much now. Anyway:

Seems like cars these days follow the same strategy: I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok...., I'm dead.

 

Oil level warnings aren't unheard of.

My E36 BMW and Chevy Venture both had low oil sending units.

 

No, I'm talking about an oil level switch.

 

yup, toyota is way behind on proper ergonomics of dash warnings. i just bought a 2003 saturn for my child. while mechanically it's a POS, the cluster has very advanced functions with gong and alphanumerical explanation when some problems are present (like low fuel or high temp or similar).

contrast this with prius that when it senses a door not securely closed when moving, you get the silly "put in park" prompt. idiots!

 

2000 era Saturn known to , use, oil , besure to have saturn oil checked at each fill up , my daughters 2000sl is now toast

 

yes, the s-series with 1.9L engine had the oil burning problem, not unlike the 1998-2002 corollas. the one i bought is 2003 Ion with 2.2 ecotech. now ecotech is a misnomer, as it gulps gas.