5 ms·
> Because the days of a service manual and a backyard shed are over They really aren't, as much as the manufacturers like to tell you they are. Sure, the shee
by King-Aaron 9y ago
> Because the days of a service manual and a backyard shed are over
They really aren't, as much as the manufacturers like to tell you they are.
Sure, the sheer amount of sensors/vacuum systems/electronics/etc make it look too complex for the layman, but as long as you've got an OBD scanner and a laptop, you can make quick work of most things. The biggest issue is manufacturers currently having an obsession with inverse torx head bolts in unusual and frustrating places (i.e. pull the top end off the engine using only a 10mm, 14mm and 17mm, and then juuuust at the last step, there's a sudden 6.5mm inverse torx bit needed to be fetched from Narnia.). But you can always get parts.
Electric cars will be just the same - in fact, I think they'll be easier for the home electrician to work on. Most of the modular manufacturer-specific parts can be interchanged for other components (inverters, batteries, etc). It won't look as neat and clean, but considering that electric cars are fundamentally less complex than internal combustion engines I don't think people will struggle.
- tty7 9y agoSure - I don't disagree, but in reference to > possibly waiting on parts that are being overnighted. I can not manufacture at home the parts I need for my 2003 petrol engine, my 1986 - I can.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoSecurity screws on purchasable goods really need to be banned for anything that doesn't pose an immediate and extreme health and safety hazard.
- njarboe 9y agoAnd I don't think anything sold in the US today, not to the Department of Defense, has anything that poses "an immediate and extreme health and safety hazard".
- j_jochem 9y agoI’d say cars to belong to that category. Oh, and guns sold to private citizens maybe?
- rebuilder 9y agoI don't know, an electric car seems like it would contain a few items you don't want to be poking at if you don't know what you're doing. Security screws could a pretty good job of keeping the casual DIYer from electrocuting himself, essentially a "can't open this? Maybe you shouldn't."
- jldugger 9y agoMicrowaves have high voltage capacitors the size of your hand, which you should absolutely discharge during maintenance.
- Mchl 9y agoSmoke detectors contain highly toxic Americum 241 isotope. It's not that hard to remove it from the ionization chamber.
- saagarjha 9y ago…while it remains sealed in a layer of gold. It's not easy to get the Americium out.
- Reason077 9y agoMost modern domestic smoke detectors are now photoelectric, rather than ionization based. Not only do they not contain toxic Americum 241, photoelectric smoke detectors are also both more sensitive to real fires and less prone to false alarms. (The later is actually really important, as people will often disable smoke detectors in response to a false alarm - and then forget about them)
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoWe had a kitchen smoke detector in college that was kept swaddled in plastic wrap at all times because it went off every. time. we tried to cook something. Absolutely a safety hazard, yeah.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoI'm mostly thinking of high-voltage capacitors. Basically, if sticking a screwdriver in the wrong place could maim or kill you, I'm okay with having security screws there. Otherwise, no.
- 0xfeba 9y agoAirbag assemblies/controllers tend to have these.
- gok 9y agoParticularly in the era of self driving cars, wouldn't vehicle parts qualify for that?