Technology Makes New Cars Too Expensive to Fix

securitas writes "The CSM's Eric Evarts reports on how technology makes new cars too expensive to repair, which may lead to disposable cars. The increased use of expensive electronics, air bags and advanced, lightweight body materials are causing costs to rise. Add to it the cost of specialized training and equipment (for an aluminum-body repair shop: $200,000) or even the cost of new parts alone (xenon high-intensity-discharge headlights: $3,000 each), not to mention the knowledge base required (over 1 million pages, available only electronically vs. 100 pages 20 years ago) and a labor shortage. From the article: 'Specialist technicians need advanced reading, problem-solving, and basic electronics skills.... The best people to find are those who have worked in the IT [information technology] industry.'"

Yay! Disposable cars!

[Anonymous Coward]

We've got plenty of resources and landfills with tons of space. These are perfect. I hope they also get less than 1 mile to the gallon, because efficiency sucks! Yeah!

my 84 vw rabbit...

[hyperstation]

goes faster than your new car, handles better, has a real transmission, and is easy and cheap to work on...

power steering is for pussies.

Don't change jobs yet.........

[MrIrwin]

Before long people will be sending thier cars to India to get them fixed ;-)

I thought disposable cars were already out there..

[castleguardian]

...Pintos, for example. Problem with them was that they disposed of the owners too...

When did this start?

[teamhasnoi]

According to my wife, every car I've had is too expensive to fix.

Thank you! Thank you! That would be post 2000! w00t!

Independence Day...

[MosesJones]

Ahhhh so THAT is why the spaceship had an RS232 port.... everything had to be accessible via a Mac to enable proper support.

And I thought it was rubbish....

How will this affect MTV's Pimp My Ride?

[Anonymous Coward]

Will there be less ride pimping the future? This concerns me, because I think all cars need shoe racks, waterfalls, and Playstation's (Whatever the current version) in the back. You also can't have enough DVD players or speakers in a car.

Fixing a car is cheap and easy!

[thebra]

This author is crazy, its easy to fix a car [octanecreative.com], just need a roll of duct tape.

Hey I don't need technology for that!

[Anonymous Coward]

Whenever my wife drives my car there's a 10% chance she breaks something. Mirrors are ductaped on, car has long scratches in the bodywork on both sides, bumpers are cracked. Cost of repair is already more than resale cost of car.

Re:Oxymoron?

[TykeClone]

The other thing about that mount is that if the truck catches fire and it is hot enough to ignite the magnesium - ouch!

Re:Disposable cars?

[jcostantino]

I'll try that tomorrow on my way into work. :)

This all started when we stopped building them...

[Anonymous Coward]

...out of wood. And replaced horses with engines. Can't grow one anymore. Gotta buy a whole new one.

Re:Its Too Easy To Fry!

[Deraj DeZine]

As these cars get more and more advanced its getting harder for doityourselfers to even attempt to modify or maintian them.

Someone please tell my dad this. He's always trying to fix cars that are a little too complicated for anyone to figure out in a weekend. The cars slowly start to have problems more frequently until, at long last, the car stops running on the highway and I'm 20 miles from claiming my lottery ticket on my way to marrying Britney Spears. You could say I'm bitter.

Re:Oxymoron?

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Entertainment while you wait for the ambulance to arrive. That's not a bug, it's a feature.

Re:Disposable cars?

[the_other_one]

Good Idea.
We'll put an eBook reader in the center of the steering wheel in our next model.

Re:I thought disposable cars were already out ther

[Tablizer]

...Pintos, for example. Problem with them was that they disposed of the owners too...

Don't tell me, they were popular in Soviet Russia

Re:my 84 vw rabbit...

[Xzzy]

my '66 vw bug

goes slower than your 84 rabbit, handles worse, has a real transmission, and is even easier and cheaper to work on.

It's also exempt from emissions checks.

Take these two posts, and I think the moral here is that the best option is to own the oldest car you can get your hands on.

Re:guess what

[Anonymous Coward]

Kind of getting to sound like MS's business model huh?

Re:Disposable cars?

[Ruprecht the Monkeyb]

Hmmm.
DVD -- one hand to hold my coffee, one hand to gratify self while watching DVD porn, one hand to hold cell phone, one hand to gesture rudely at other drivers. Hands free to steer: -2

Book -- one hand to hold my coffee, one hand to hold the book, one hand to turn the page, one hand to hold cell phone, one hand to gesture rudely at other drivers. Hands free to steer: -3

Clearly, car DVDs are safer than books.

Re:Bic Cars

[Pfhreakaz0id]

a person after my own heart. I once had a nissan sentra with 270K miles when the odometer stopped, and I drove it for another year.

Best thing was when I took it to the shop to get the breaks fixed (got a cheap break dude who would do it for $40, so why do it myself). He said "you know you head gasket is leaking oil right? you should get that fixed, but it's like $600-$800. You'll blow the engine and get stranded" (he knew I had a long commute). My response " guess it's time to get that cell phone I've been thinking about.."

Re:Bic Cars

[Anonymous Coward]

But were you scorin with the ladies? Cause that's all a car is, an extension of ones mental Johnson.

Re:Bic Cars

[Fammy2000]

Replacement cars are too much of a pain for me. No way I would want to rewire my car with CAT5 every few months. Maybe I'll upgrade to wireless on my next car and go junker. Is the G standard overkill?

Re:Don't change jobs yet.........

[schtum]

It's tough to squeeze a mechanic or a plumber through a data pipe, no matter how fat the pipe.

Tell that to Nintendo!

Re:Disposable cars?

[corbettw]

DVD -- one hand to hold my coffee, one hand to gratify self while watching DVD porn, one hand to hold cell phone, one hand to gesture rudely at other drivers.

Wow, that's a lot of hands. Zaphod, is that you?

A job less likely to be outsourced

[nomadicGeek]

Look on the bright side geeks. If you become an auto mechanic, you will always have work and it isn't very likely that it will every be cheaper or practical to ship a car to India to be fixed.

The icomes of most high end mechanics aren't too bad either.

That's not true!

[cnelzie]

Just ask the Earth Liberation Front...

They found out, in the news, after they lit a Hummer Dealership on fire, that Hummers, ONLY when lit on fire, put out more pollutants then they EVER would through normal usage and eventual PROPER destruction at the end of their lives...

Re:yea for neaderthal-tech!

[vjmurphy]

"Disadvantages
- no cup-holders
- no airbags
- no cup-holders"

Sheesh, how much do you drink?

What? Get my HANDS DIRTY?

[DrDebug]

One of the reasons I studied computers and not 'shop' was because I *HATED* the idea of getting my hands dirty. I just couldn't handle that phobia. Yuk!

Now they are enlisting IT personnel to service AUTOMOBILES??

iiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Re:my 84 vw rabbit...

[micromoog]

why not alcohol fuel and synthetic lubricants?

Sounds like my last date. ZING!

Re:Why blame technology?

[Pig Hogger]

My dad said many years ago that Detroit (you know that used to be the car capital of the world) was trying to make a throw-away car. He was saying this in the 60s and 70s so his spin was a little different than technology. His assessment of the situation was that they would lay down the first part, then attach the second part. When the third part was addded, it would be added in such a way that you couldn't remove the second part without removing the third part. The third part couldn't be removed until the fourth part was removed, etc. Then finally they would weld the last piece into place with a link all the way through to the first part. In that manner, you could not work on or repair the car. Once anything quit working, even as simple as a spark plug or a tire was low on pressure or the oil needed changing, you would have to get a new car.

The simple fact that there are engineers who worked on such a project is a good indication that engineering profession needs a serious kick in the ass.

A good start would be to require that every engineer, in order to keep their license, should be required to shoot and kill (with as much pain as possible) one MBA per fiscal year. This would have the added side-benefit of making MBA think twice before proposing such schemes.

Re:Bic Cars

[jred]

That's too bad. I was talking to my gf the other day about engagement rings, and how many months of salary you're "supposed" to spend on them. Her comment? "That's like, 3 or 4 cars!" :)

Re:Don't change jobs yet.........

[esnible]

Ten years from now when your pipes break you'll get a tele-operated robot in the mail.

The robot will curse in Hindi as it finds problems.

Re:my 84 vw rabbit...

[operagost]

Yup, I'm sure your 85 HP engine is faster than anything out there. I also agree that the catlike handling of P155 R13 tires is greatly underrated!

My car just needed a new lamda probe

[Rogerborg]

I tried whipping it with a buggy whip, but no, the shop computer still insisted that it needed a new lamda probe. I have stripped a car down to a pile of nuts and bolts and rebuilt it in a different shape, but I do not know what a lamda probe is, nor why I should need one. That makes me sad.

Re:Don't change jobs yet.........

[joshmccormack]

...and when the authorities caught up with them, and tried to figure out who was dealing in the manhold covers they determined, who ever smelt it, dealt it.

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress!

Re:Not true

[Anonymous Coward]

It also produces more OOOOHHH's and AAAAHHH's.

You've confused the Hummer with a hummer.

Cats?

[PTBNL]

Hmm...and I thought it read:

"Technology Makes New Cats Too Expensive to Fix"

Guess it's time for another cup of coffee!

Re:How much energy does recycling a car take?

[NighthawkFoo]

When the world ends, the only things left afterwards will be cockaroaches and the Mopar Slant-6.

Re:How much energy does recycling a car take?

[GreyPoopon]

When the world ends, the only things left afterwards will be cockaroaches and the Mopar Slant-6.

Don't forget...Hostess Twinkies. After all, the cockroaches need something to eat while driving around.

Re:How much energy does recycling a car take?

[Anonymous Coward]

IMHO americans stopped making good cars around 1975-1979 and have preceded to make crap ever sence. but thats just my opinion....

Americans build Hondas, Mexicans build Chevys, Canadians build some Fords. Looks like AMERICANS are still building the best cars. :)

Just Imagine

[ReidMaynard]

"Flying" disposable cars! I can't wait! I'm sure they are just around the corner!

Re:How much energy does recycling a car take?

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolute bullshit.

I own a Porsche as well as a '69 Dodge Polara.

Granted, driving the Dodge is more like driving a spaceship (set the vector then burn), but Eleanor starts every damn morning, and Helga runs whenever she feels like it.

It takes a Mopar to catch a Mopar. You really can't beat 'Merkin steel designed when we were putting humans on the moon.

Bite my shiny (well, primered) metal ass. And don't even tread on the flight I took in a B17 yesterday. I wish there were more than 4 160 mph ragtops still in the sky; Oh, right. We burned those up saving Europe's ass...

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