find 10 problems a cable car can diagnose on its own is actually a lot harder to immobilise down than you might opine . Now that we ’re hard in the twenty - first 100 , a better question might be , " What problems ca n’t a car diagnose for itself ? " Other reasonable questions : " If my car know so dang much , why is n’t it as coolheaded as K.I.T.T. ? " and " Are cars really ourrobot overlords ? "
Cars today are surrounded by sensor – they ’re in the locomotive , the tire , the reservoir , the windshield , the electrical system , the can , your mastermind … wait . No , not your brain . Probably . All these sensors and the system that keep path of them are known as on - plank nosology , or OBD ( not to be confused with deceased knocker ODB ) .
The point is that vehicles of all sort can keep track of their own health . The problem often come when they endeavor to communicate their information with the number one wood . Like a cranky baby who cry no matter what is incorrect , from an ingrown fingernail to Hantavirus , car will light up that " service engine " light in the dashboard for nearly every trouble from a slack gas cap to an engine that ’s about to explode .
And that ’s where the diagnostic trouble codification come in . The car ’s computer spits out a computer code that can only be deciphered by a reader , which is unremarkably in the hands of your car-mechanic . He ’ll probably tell you your gas crownwork is loose , and you ’ll want to sound off in your own windshield to teach the railway car a lesson about what ’s important in this life . Robot overlords indeed .
But there are specific things a motorcar can diagnose and share with you in plain English . Here are 10 of the most vulgar and most interesting , in no particular order .
10: Change Is Good
Back in the bad old days , formal wiseness said everyone had to change theirengine oilevery 3,000 miles ( 4,828 kilometers ) ( or until their pappa bawled them out for leave alone that filth in the locomotive engine for more than three month . ) Thenengine technologiesand fossil oil conceptualisation meliorate , and that guideline was raised to 5,000 mile ( 8,047 klick ) , then 10,000 miles ( 16,093 km ) .
Miles are so old - school , yo .
All the cool kids now have sensor that can tell how filthy your oil is . car also monitor your driving habits and make oil change suggestion accordingly . Drive low and slow ? you’re able to squeeze out a few more miles . Treat every red light like the pull race in " Better Off Dead ? " You ’re go to need to change that oil colour often . And your overlord … er , railway car will severalize you about it . And if that car is a BMW with its fancy teleservice system , it ’ll rat you out to the principal by calling in the filthy state of your crude .
9: Under Pressure, You Hope
Tire air pressure monitoring(TPM ) is one of your canonical ego - diagnosing systems . In the simplest ( read : cheesy ) TPM systems , the car will say you when one of your tires is experience a little flabby . Not how flabby , or specifically which tire might be have a gloomy - ego - admiration day . That ’s up to you to figure out . favourable for you , you ’ve only got four choices .
Your more lah - dee - da luxury cars give you much more selective information . They ’ll secern you whichtireis downcast and by how much . They ’ll even draw you a little diagram in the center cabinet screen or right in front of your face in the fascia . And they ’ll blink and beep and deform the little diagram an angry Bolshevik if things get fearsome .
Your self-propelling robot master are very particular about their continued power to roll along the route . They ’re also quite vain . No flabby tires allowed .
8: Brake It Down
auto without fancy sensors have a low - technical school way to tell you that yourbrake padsneed changing : they oink like raging piglets . They screech like baby barefaced eagles waiting to be feed . They yell like your mother did whenever you come home after curfew . You get the approximation . It ’s not pleasant .
But thanks to modern sensor scientific discipline , your car can narrate you when the pasture brake pads are getting thin and losing their stopping power . well yet , your automotive golem lord will tell on you . BMWs and Acuras both will use their on - board communications capabilities to call the dealership to tell them that you ’re a menace to other drivers , and the carfears for its own safety . Or they ’ll relay a dim-witted code , and the dealer will call to set an appointee at your convenience . Whichever .
7: Cut the Crud
As more variety of fuel become uncommitted ( besides plain old gasolene ) drivers need to get used to entirely unexampled systems and problems . Electric cars are pretty much a pile of sensing element with a body , wheel and seats tie , so when they beep at you , it is n’t surprising .
Butdiesel vehicleshave been around for decades . They ’re strong and intimate and just like a gasoline machine , right ? Mostly , but diesel motor fuel spews out a lot of crud , roll in the hay more scientifically as " particulates . " This is why diesel had such a stinky reputation for so long and why the EPA requires particulate diesel motor vehicles to have filter these day .
It take a stack of engineering to get diesel fuel that clean , and a lot of the chore is still left to the particulate filter in the fumes system to keep as much crud out of the melodic line as potential . Since a clogged up filter ca n’t keep the carbon black out of the air , it has to be exchange in parliamentary procedure to abide by with emissions regulations .
Your railway car require to be compliant , so its sensors keep tabs on the particulate filter and it permit you know when it ’s gotten too nasty to go on .
6: I Get Misty
Cars do n’t just diagnose dangerous things . They can also use their sensors to make your life easier and more pleasant . Without you , who would your automotive automaton overlord lord over ? It ’s in the car ’s best interest group to keep you well-chosen .
Take , for exercise , the Acura RLX , which sense the humidness level in the cabin . If the interior gets too moist , it will turn on theair conditioningand recirculate the air to forbid haze or hoarfrost from collect on the windows .
Now , if the humidness is of a more " ruttish " nature , wink heartbeat , the cold-blooded blast of aura the machine sends out of the vents is due to a fit ofjealousy . guarantee .
5: Tighten Up
This one has cause well-nigh every driver to have a eye attack , followed by ease , followed by soreness that lasts for days . The gas jacket .
Thecheck railway locomotive lightcomes on while you ’re driving . Your heart stops . Should you pull over right now ? Is a piston about to add up flying through the goon ? What does your automotive golem overlord need you to do ? How do you appease him ?
You aim flat to the franchise in a panic . The mechanic assume out his symptomatic gimmick , plug it into the car ’s computer and then he gives you the spoiled word : the gas detonating machine is n’t screwed on all the way . You nearly faint with relief that it is n’t a $ 1,000 problem . You would n’t have lost your life had you proceed on your way .
Wait . You would n’t have lost your life . This was not an emergency brake . It did n’t have anything to do with theengine , which is important . It had to do with the gas cap , which is important , but hardly in the same conference .
If you ’re a BMW equipment driver , your gondola will give you a bit of a reprieve . If the service locomotive engine light come in on and you think , " Huh , I did just get flatulency . Maybe I ’ll retard that before I keep with my panic blast , " and jazz the cap on yourself , the visible light will go off without the assistance of a diagnostic tool to pass the code . Crisis averted .
4: Fluid Levels
There are more fluids in your car than just oil . There’stransmission fluid , bracken fluid , power steeringfluid , coolant and more . You used to be able-bodied to retard most of these by unfold the hood and fit the dipsticks or eyeball the reservoirs . Actually , you still could , but who has clip for that ? After all , you want to get home so you’re able to rewatch " Lost " from start to complete and really pay attention this prison term .
Good news program for you . Sensors can easily cover the level of these fluids and let you know when they ’re low or in need of a change .
3: Down the Drain
Sometimes when your carratsyou out to the dealership , it ’s for your own good . Take , for representative , your use of get out your lights on until your battery is dead and you have to call your brother - in - law , the one with jumper cables , who is starting to hate you a little number because you always call for assistance just as " The bachelor-at-arms " is starting the rose ceremonial , and he get laid that part .
sumptuosity car companies such as BMW also like " The knight bachelor , " and they want you to quell on your buddy - in - law ’s good side , so they ’ve got sensor to keep track of the drainage on thebattery . If thing are looking unfit – again – the car will , with its last electronic breath , communicate with the dealership rather than your brother - in - law . Then someone from BMW ( someone who ’s in all probability not all wrapped up in " The unmarried man " at that bit ) will give you a call to get you know that you need to keep out your light off .
2: Breaking and Entering
You know , your automotive robot overlord needs you as much as you need him . He acts like he know so much more than you , and without him you ’d be nowhere – literally – but he ’d like to stay put with you . And entire .
Some cars , including some Acuras , can separate when they ’re being kick downstairs into . They sense that someone is tamper with thelocks , and alternatively of going into a full - on freak - out , they quiet , calmly call you .
" Hey , Steve , what ’s up ? It ’s the RLX . How ’s your day going ? Yeah , Larry sure is a jerk . Hey , listen , I ’m down in the parking sight being broken into . guess you could call security or the cops or someone ? Thanks , buddy . "
If your Acura is actually stolen , it will have a completemeltdown , if you desire it to . you may turn on the lights using an app on your phone and track your loveable master down , LoJack - style .
1: Maybe Your Car Doesn’t Want You to Die
You know what people breathe ? Oxygen . You know what they exhale ? Carbon dioxide . You actually inhale and exhale everything in the atmosphere , but these are the authoritative parts . You and tree , working together to keep each other alive .
address of rest in thing you should n’t , you know what cars exhale?Carbon monoxideand nitric oxide – two very severe things . pass off these gases will not keep you alive . Cars are not trees .
But cars are not , as we ’ve discovered , evil automaton master , either . They want you to know ! Thus the sensor find in the interior of the Acura RLX that notice the comportment of exhaust system gases and alarm you to the peril . Open all the window and get thee to a dealership pronto .
Lots More Information
You may question how we author decide who to question for our article . The first criteria is that they do the thing I ’m write about , in this compositor’s case , establish self - diagnose engineering into their cars . The 2d standard is that they call me back .
In this case , I picked BMW as one of the manufacturers to question because I had a 7 - series examination machine a couple of years ago that was so advanced it made me experience like an extra on " Jersey Shore . " Not even one of the stars . It give me more information than I could ever use about the state of the vehicle , which I quickly ignored . There was selective information in the fascia , on the LCD concealment – everywhere . The car was smart .
Turns out it was also trying to tell me I had a flat tyre . Like , really categorical . It was making it pretty plain , with icon and chicken and red warning lights and everything . I finally take the gondola in to a franchise , where they fixed everything right up .
