Latest grab by auto manufactures

[JasperFrank]

While diving in italy on a motorcycle we used no maps. There is the sun. Its in that direction, so the road we are on is parallel to the main road. Okay, we could always get back. Never used a GPS on the 1000s of miles riden in the forest lands, and BLM lands of the US.

 

[Jstpssng]

No I am saying when it is 101 degree and the "Ice Ahead", Bridges Ice Before Roadway Sign" is flashing it is time to let that appendage called a head we have sitting on our shoulders go to work and stop being along just for the ride.

Information we receive on GPD (Navigational Units) was inputted by a human. Humans make mistakes. Also companies or personnel inputting GPS traffic and roadway condition have Boiler Plate responses. If one of the Boiler Plate winter responses is accidentally deployed in the summer we as a prudent driver must be InControl of the vehicle not following the instructions provided by a electronic device.

So what's your point? When the sign says "Reduce Speed to 45" I reduce my speed. For all that I know there's a 20 car pileup ahead.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

While diving in italy on a motorcycle we used no maps. There is the sun. Its in that direction, so the road we are on is parallel to the main road. Okay, we could always get back. Never used a GPS on the 1000s of miles riden in the forest lands, and BLM lands of the US.

That reminds me back to 2012 we had been in the Northeast restoring power for about a month after Hurricane Sandy and we were heading home for Thanksgiving, as we pulled out of Paramus New Jersey the boy that was riding with me says after about an hour of being on the road How do you know with all the twists and turns that you have made that we are going in the right direction? I laughed and said you feel that sun coming up over there on the left side of your face? He said yeah what's that mean? I said it means we are headed South sonny boy, and that is the way home.

 

[Jstpssng]

That reminds me back to 2012 we had been in the Northeast restoring power for about a month after Hurricane Sandy and we were heading home for Thanksgiving, as we pulled out of Paramus New Jersey the boy that was riding with me says after about an hour of being on the road How do you know with all the twists and turns that you have made that we are going in the right direction? I laughed and said you feel that sun coming up over there on the left side of your face? He said yeah what's that mean? I said it means we are headed South sonny boy, and that is the way home.

Power companies have gotten pretty good about calling in reinforcements, often before the power goes out. I sometimes see convoys of trucks, chippers, and bucket trucks with New Brunswick plates headed south in anticipation of a storm. A few weeks later I see them on the way back through, headed home.

 

[paulfun9]

Sorry your more recent post got 86'd... tried to like it but couldn't

Well that tells me the mentality of the moderators, as it clearly wasn’t political and was the absolute truth!

Janet

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Power companies have gotten pretty good about calling in reinforcements, often before the power goes out. I sometimes see convoys of trucks, chippers, and bucket trucks with New Brunswick plates headed south in anticipation of a storm. A few weeks later I see them on the way back through, headed home.

Yes sir, power company's have reduced positions down to the point that they can't handle much more than a good thunderstorm so they get on the horn well ahead of time to try to get as much help as they can just in case, then if they don't need you they can release you and usually you get picked up by someone who did get some damage, we started out in 2012 in Baltimore but they had minimal damage and before they could cut us loose we got a call from New Jersey PSE&G so that's where we went and stayed until a couple of days before Thanksgiving, it was about wrapped up and most of us had already heard a bunch of wining from home about having been gone a month and not being home for Thanksgiving.

 

[paulfun9]

In this case, the manufacturer is building the car with premium features that are not activated in a base-price car. It is cheaper to build one premium vehicle than a variety of feature plus-or-less models.

I have been thinking about this part of your statement for days and think you are being very short sighted on things.
There may actually be things that might not be cost effective to leave out from the companies perspective but you are still paying more to have it in there even if you can’t use it.
Then look at the long term and the cost of said thing, once that company starts actually installing more the demand goes up, the cost goes up. Does the company then start leaving it out? No they simply raise the price of thier product more to cover it even for those not using it to avoid any possible loss.

If anyone thinks they are getting an unusable feature for free hidden in thier car or truck, I have some swamp land and a bunch of bridges I can sell you for very fair prices. Cash only!

Janet

 

[Hay Dude]

To anyone who is concerned or scared of being guided by GPS technology I would say this: Most of today’s cars trucks and tractors are driven by a computer via input from the driver.
Don’t believe me? Look up the acronym “PCM” or “ECM”. They’ve been this way for 20+ years.
Your “gas pedal” is just a potentiometer connected to nothing physically on the engine but wires to a computer.

Sure, you can still drive from point a to point b with a Rand McNally atlas or a AAA road map, but the very vehicle you are driving is operated by wires guided controls to a computer.

And YES, I do agree that not learning basic orienteering and NSEW basics by over reliance on GPS HAS dumbed-down our population in general.

 

[paulfun9]

Oh god the dreaded electronic throttle!

One of the worst things they ever did. I haven’t found one that works to my liking yet. Always a lag and no feel of the car. Didn’t people stop liking not having a feel of what the car was doing in the 50’s?

The only one still in use on our cars is in my BMW because it’s the only one my husband hasn’t been able to circumvent properly. He has installed a real throttle in everything else and everything is much more of a pleasure to drive. By the way I actually gained MPG once they were disabled.

Janet

 

[Hay Dude]

Yes sir, power company's have reduced positions down to the point that they can't handle much more than a good thunderstorm so they get on the horn well ahead of time to try to get as much help as they can just in case, then if they don't need you they can release you and usually you get picked up by someone who did get some damage, we started out in 2012 in Baltimore but they had minimal damage and before they could cut us loose we got a call from New Jersey PSE&G so that's where we went and stayed until a couple of days before Thanksgiving, it was about wrapped up and most of us had already heard a bunch of wining from home about having been gone a month and not being home for Thanksgiving.

Was that the storm where those clowns were throwing rocks at the non-union power company workers that drove 1500 miles to save people’s lives & property?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Was that the storm where those clowns were throwing rocks at the non-union power company workers that drove 1500 miles to save people’s lives & property?

That was the storm, I never saw any of that other than what the media reported, but we were in NJ and that was reported to have happened in New York, I have rarely ever had a problem in all my travels occasionally you will have that one that is a butthole 365 days a year, I don't argue I just drive off , it's hard to help someone who just won't have it. We were finishing up on a hurricane in S Carolina and had 3 or 4 broke primary poles in this one neighborhood that has slipped thru the cracks and everything was fine until we got the power on and needed to replace one service pole that was broken and the man came out and said we couldn't use his drive to set the pole as it fed his neighbor and he proceeded to tell me he planned on keeping his neighbor without lights as long as he could , well once I walked back up the drive to the main road there was about 10 people from the neighborhood telling me what a butthole the guy was and the guy who needed power said he appreciated us trying to get his lights on, so i decided we weren't leaving without getting him some lights, so we climbed two pine trees and tied collar ropes in them and stretched the man a new house service attached to the pine trees and it pissed the other neighbor off , he ranted and raved and I told him he could take it up with Santee Cooper as we were going back to Florida in the morning. I never have understood going out of your way to hurt your neighbor, even if you don't get along don't go out of your way to do him harm, some people you just gotta love from a distance.

 

[Buggs67]

While diving in italy on a motorcycle we used no maps. There is the sun. Its in that direction, so the road we are on is parallel to the main road. Okay, we could always get back. Never used a GPS on the 1000s of miles riden in the forest lands, and BLM lands of the US.

In 2012 we toured the Austrian and Italian Alps by MC. Our leader rented a European GPS. I brought up the rear and checked our route each morning on detailed maps. And each day I'd watch the leader drive past our turnoffs. And then we'd pull onto the shoulder to try to figure out where we went wrong. He followed that GPS up some small side roads and we ended up driving up the sidewalk to an elementary school. Those kids had a nice laugh at us.

We once had a lady going from Vernon, NJ to Paterson. Her GPS took her on a side road, it turned into a dirt road, and then an old logging/mining trail. It's passable by ATV or a good Jeep, but not a Honda Accord. She spent the night there and her car was badly damage being towed out by a heavy towtruck.

And I've had youth who used their cell phone as a GPS get fully lost when the lost their signal.

I can do without all the bells and whistles. Just more to go wrong. A stick-on-windshield GPS is a nice tool to have in addition to good maps. Our newest car is a 2011 ad it's fanciest features are a bluetooth radio with USB and headphone inputs for a MP3 player or flash drive music inputs. And my '06 Jeep has rollup windows and no CC.

 

[Jstpssng]

And I've had youth who used their cell phone as a GPS get fully lost when the lost their signal

That doesn't even make sense, as all they need is a satellite for it to work.

 

[WM75Guy]

That doesn't even make sense, as all they need is a satellite for it to work.

Cell phones don't use satellite GPS. They triangulate off the cell phone towers. No signal, no GPS. Same principle is used for 911 to determine a cell phone's location.

 

[MossRoad]

Cell phones don't use satellite GPS. They triangulate off the cell phone towers. No signal, no GPS. Same principle is used for 911 to determine a cell phone's location.

Cell phones do use satellite GPS. If you have the maps loaded already, they need no cell signal.

How GPS Phones Work

With the right software or service package, a GPS phone can pinpoint your location, give directions to your destination and provide information about nearby businesses. Find out how a GPS phone works.

electronics.howstuffworks.com

 

[MossRoad]

 

[Hay Dude]

Cell phones do use satellite GPS. If you have the maps loaded already, they need no cell signal.

How GPS Phones Work

With the right software or service package, a GPS phone can pinpoint your location, give directions to your destination and provide information about nearby businesses. Find out how a GPS phone works.

electronics.howstuffworks.com

Yeah but the paper atlas is better

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah but the paper atlas is better

Absolutely!

 

[Paystar]

I have a simple solution. Keep what I have and don't buy any more new ones. They already have too much electronics and fluff in them for my liking anyway.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I have been thinking about this part of your statement for days and think you are being very short sighted on things.
There may actually be things that might not be cost effective to leave out from the companies perspective but you are still paying more to have it in there even if you can’t use it.
Then look at the long term and the cost of said thing, once that company starts actually installing more the demand goes up, the cost goes up. Does the company then start leaving it out? No they simply raise the price of thier product more to cover it even for those not using it to avoid any possible loss.

If anyone thinks they are getting an unusable feature for free hidden in thier car or truck, I have some swamp land and a bunch of bridges I can sell you for very fair prices. Cash only!

Janet

I just have a couple observations to add to this. You are correct on something like an engine or transmission. However, there are other things at play. Economies of scale are a real thing. Lets use a headlight switch in a Ford Mustang as an example. Every automobile has to have a headlight switch.

There were 52,414 Ford Mustangs sold in 2021. So we will assume the same number of headlight switches and that these switches are only used for the mustangs.

There can be multiple options:
1. Manual headlights no fog lights
2. Manual headlights with fog lights
3. Auto headlights no fog lights
4. Auto headlights with fog lights

Automated tooling is very expensive. I would estimate that tooling for each switch *could* be in the $200,000 range, regardless of options.

Assume 80% of the cars use all options. 41,931 cars. $4.77 per switch for tooling.
Assume there is $5 worth of material and labor in each. $9.77 each switch total.

Now assume only 5% use the manual option with no fog light. That makes $76.31 in tooling per switch.
Even if the cost of labor and material was half for this switch, they would still cost Ford $78.81 each.

In this situation it would make more sense to use the "more expensive" all option switch in all vehicles and not enable the software on the lesser ones. But it would probably still be cheaper not to add the fog lights themselves to all cars that don't need them. Not taking into account of economies of scale on the bumper openings for the lights... There are more variables at play for example some of the tooling could probably be used on all 4 options etc. Also the inventory carrying cost of holding 2 options and slowing product turnover. But this illustrates that there is more beneath the surface than some expect.