Why some people are too stupid to own a car

[ROUSTABOUT]

Last year I tried to remove the spare from my company Silverado. (2018) Luckily I didn't have a flat because I couldn't do it. I finally gave up and when I got home took a hacksaw to the cable. It turns out that the plastic tube which is supposed to guide the tool so that you crank it down had broken loose. There is no way I could have gotten the tire down without cutting something.

My brother was on the road one day. Has a diesel tank in the bed. Nozzle handle come unaloosened and when it fell over side of truck, hit the valve stem and broke stem off. Insta flat. He couldn't get his spare out either. Finally cut the cable. I saw it had a thing like goes on lug nuts to keep folk from stealing your wheels. Told him the key is in your glove box. I ain't got nothing like that in my truck, he said. Looked in the glove box and there was a bag with the little adapter in it. He bought a new winch to fix it back. We left that lock thing off though.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I'm surprised there hasn't been more of an outcry on the increasing complexity of autos. I thought technology was supposed to make our lives easier.
Or maybe most buyers are younger people who are used to non-intuitive tech gadgets.

If you think cars are complex, try operating a newer agricultural tractor. Automotive is pretty intuitive in comparison.

 

[rScotty]

I cuss technology all the time. My 81 year old father is being forced into a smartphone by his company now. He's not happy about it.

There is no cell phone service in many rural areas in the Western US. Not much incentive to have a smartphone unless a person spends a lot of time in big cities. I take mine to town when I go. The rest of the time it just sits in a drawer.

 

[deserteagle71]

If you think cars are complex, try operating a newer agricultural tractor. Automotive is pretty intuitive in comparison.

Absolutely!

I grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania in the 50s and early 60s. Oliver 70 and Farmall H tractor and simple implements. I'm totally amazed at how much agriculture has changed since then. Check out all the screens in this new Fendt. This thing is a rolling computer! Me, I was happy when my Dad bought a new tractor in 1959 that had power steering.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3479286049024953

 

[masseyrider]

Absolutely!

I grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania in the 50s and early 60s. Oliver 70 and Farmall H tractor and simple implements. I'm totally amazed at how much agriculture has changed since then. Check out all the screens in this new Fendt. This thing is a rolling computer! Me, I was happy when my Dad bought a new tractor in 1959 that had power steering.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3479286049024953

I remember the first time going with my father to buy a new pickup. It was a big deal to have power steering/brakes because my mother would drive it to.
Still had 3 on the tree.
A rear bumper was an option because it wasn't considered a safety requirement.
Pa grudgingly sprung about $35 so I could have an AM radio to listen to.
Now a new vehicle competes with the Starship Enterprise for electronics, computing power and gizmos.
Even the cheapest one out there would have sent NASA to the moon and beyond.
The new vehicles don't even come with regular old school wind up/down windows.
My neighbor still has an old Cavalier and he was taking his girlfriends kid somewhere. He noticed her looking around and asked what's wrong. She asked him how to lower the window. She had never seen a winddown window.

 

[Oaktree]

My bicycle ride took me 11 miles down Route 66 to Albuquerque then I would reverse and ride back home. About 6 miles into my ride, I passed a man that had pulled off I-40 onto the off ramp with a flat tire. I notice it because it was the exact same model and color Dodge minivan my mother-in-law owned. Well, I returned from ABQ about :30 min later and the guy was still trying to figure out how to get the spare from under the rear of the van. I stopped to ask if he needed help. "I don't know how to get the spare tire from under the car" says he. "Where is your owner's manual?" Says I. I knew how to get it our because I had read my MIL's manual but, I wasn't going to tell him. He found it and tried to hand it to me. "Look up how to change a flat tire." Says I. When he went to the rear of the van and lifted the hatchback, I got on my bike and left. You think he will read any more of the manual?

Why couldn't you have just explained it to him instead of being a dick about it?

 

[Oaktree]

I read that going back to flip phones is part of an emerging trend by people that have had enough of smart phones.

Trouble is, we're getting smart phones shoved down our throats whether we want them or not. Just saw an article recently that Alaska airlines is doing away with boarding pass kiosks and requiring people to use their aap to board a plane. Back in January my wife and some friends went to Boston to see a play...again, all ticketing was via some sort of link you needed a smartphone for to access.

 

[kenmbz]

Last time I went to the airport the app failed and out of 12 scanners to do the passport checkin, only one worked.
Most people had to go to the understaffed checkin counter anyway.
Ah, technology.

Even the lights on my Jeep have their own computer.
That had failed under warranty, hoping it never fails again as that system is about $750....

 

[pmsmechanic]

Why couldn't you have just explained it to him instead of being a dick about it?

I don't agree with that assessment.

 

[5030]

I read that going back to flip phones is part of an emerging trend by people that have had enough of smart phones.

I don't find 'smart phones' to be all that smart in the first place other than loaded with Apps I don't need or want anyway. Only want to do 2 things, send and receive calls and infrequently text. Don't need or want all the rest of the useless (to me) junk.