4 ms·

The more technology is built into a car, the more obsolescence shall quickly devaluate it?

paganel 7y ago
You would think so, but afaik there's almost no older smart-phones around (think 4-5 years-old) because they're expensive to repair, that is if you can repair them at all. That's why you don't see less-wealthy people commuting to their jobs in an early 2000s Mercedes S-Klass or in a VW Phaeton (even though they'd be able to purchase such vehicles at today's prices), but instead they use an older Honda or a Toyota or a slightly newer Nissan.
- Fnoord 7y ago
  Smartphones aren't cars. Cars are much bigger, therefore easier to make [somewhat] modular. Furthermore, the recent hype with smartphones was smaller, thinner, and more glue.
  - paganel 7y ago
    To judge by what I've seen lately cars have started becoming full of tablets and tablet-like screens, those things will be expensive if not impossible to repair in 10-years' time.
    - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
      The future is now. Sourcing a CANBUS module for a 10+yo car is already a roll of the dice. Take all the modules that are required for the vehicle to operate, are matched to the VIN, can't be re-flashed, aren't available aftermarket and aren't made by the OEM anymore and anything that breaks where those sets intersect turns the vehicle into a brick. The list gets a little longer every day and won't get shorter until we get right to repair legislation with teeth. You can drive a car without all the fancy electronic doodads. Everyone who drives a 20+yo car does it every day. You can't drive a vehicle that won't start because it doesn't see some quasi-essential (e.g. ABS) module talking on the bus.
      - anon73044 7y ago
        >Take all the modules that are required for the vehicle to operate, are matched to the VIN, can't be re-flashed, aren't available aftermarket and aren't made by the OEM anymore and anything that breaks where those sets intersect turns the vehicle into a brick. I'm starting to doubt this more and more. Dumping the ROM from a read-only chip and flashing a new one isn't rocket science. After watching stuff like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqWhId-tQXs&t=9m31s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqWhId-tQXs&t=9m31s and guys like Dave Jones and Louis Rossman, it looks like the entire repair industry is long due for disruption. Sure, finding old or obsolete parts will still be a problem, but not impossible.
    - sli 7y ago
      It's already expensive. The Entune head unit in my Corolla would cost me $1000 for an OEM replacement (they have a known touchscreen issue), but an aftermarket head unit with way more features may run me ~$400 including a mounting kit, and that's if I splurge on a nice one. I may give up a few features by switching, but certainly not $600 worth of features.

You would think so, but afaik there's almost no older smart-phones around (think 4-5 years-old) because they're expensive to repair, that is if you can repair them at all. That's why you don't see less-wealthy people commuting to their jobs in an early 2000s Mercedes S-Klass or in a VW Phaeton (even though they'd be able to purchase such vehicles at today's prices), but instead they use an older Honda or a Toyota or a slightly newer Nissan.

Fnoord 7y ago
Smartphones aren't cars. Cars are much bigger, therefore easier to make [somewhat] modular. Furthermore, the recent hype with smartphones was smaller, thinner, and more glue.
- paganel 7y ago
  To judge by what I've seen lately cars have started becoming full of tablets and tablet-like screens, those things will be expensive if not impossible to repair in 10-years' time.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    The future is now. Sourcing a CANBUS module for a 10+yo car is already a roll of the dice. Take all the modules that are required for the vehicle to operate, are matched to the VIN, can't be re-flashed, aren't available aftermarket and aren't made by the OEM anymore and anything that breaks where those sets intersect turns the vehicle into a brick. The list gets a little longer every day and won't get shorter until we get right to repair legislation with teeth. You can drive a car without all the fancy electronic doodads. Everyone who drives a 20+yo car does it every day. You can't drive a vehicle that won't start because it doesn't see some quasi-essential (e.g. ABS) module talking on the bus.
    - anon73044 7y ago
      >Take all the modules that are required for the vehicle to operate, are matched to the VIN, can't be re-flashed, aren't available aftermarket and aren't made by the OEM anymore and anything that breaks where those sets intersect turns the vehicle into a brick. I'm starting to doubt this more and more. Dumping the ROM from a read-only chip and flashing a new one isn't rocket science. After watching stuff like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqWhId-tQXs&t=9m31s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqWhId-tQXs&t=9m31s and guys like Dave Jones and Louis Rossman, it looks like the entire repair industry is long due for disruption. Sure, finding old or obsolete parts will still be a problem, but not impossible.
  - sli 7y ago
    It's already expensive. The Entune head unit in my Corolla would cost me $1000 for an OEM replacement (they have a known touchscreen issue), but an aftermarket head unit with way more features may run me ~$400 including a mounting kit, and that's if I splurge on a nice one. I may give up a few features by switching, but certainly not $600 worth of features.