3 ms·

The internet didn't fix these things, fuel injection, electronic ignition, and digital signal processing / denser silicon integration did.

• stickfigure 6y ago
  Irrespective of why, cars and phones did not function in a more reliable manner back then. The statement is false.
  • denimnerd42 6y ago
    While it's true that cars are way more reliable nowadays. There are still engineer tradeoffs being made against reliability. Lightweight (fuel efficient) oils are being used, gas tank emissions capture (a system of rubber hoses and solenoids which fail easily), EGR systems, etc all are a detriment to reliability even if they have other positive uses. Today's cars could be far more reliable if that was a bigger design goal.
  • ardy42 6y ago
    > Irrespective of why, cars and phones did not function in a more reliable manner back then. The statement is false. You're missing the point, and misinterpreting that statement to mean something far broader than it actually says. The article is about unnecessary internet dependency, not about the mechanical reliability of cars, and it's a derail to make it about that. Also, you're interpreting "a time back when the Internet didn't exist" as the 80s. For most people, the internet didn't exist as late as 1995, and I've driven some pretty reliable cars from that era.
  • mywittyname 6y ago
    They could be fixed using low-tech tools though. Something you're overlooking with your concept of "reliability" is that cars produced before 1980 can be fixed using pretty basic tool. It's conceivable that a car from that era could continue to work well into the 2100s. Because most of what can break on can be remanufactured by a reasonably-skilled machinist. Yeah, cars need to be fixed much less often, and they are substantially less fickle vis-a-vis temperature and operating conditions. But the moment the software to repair newer cars is gone, so too goes our ability to easily fix them. This isn't some far-flung dystopian idea either. It's totally possible that the hardware & software used to repair today's cars is difficult or impossible to come by in 30 years. Some of this stuff is five- and six-figure investments. Maybe stuff for GM or Honda vehicles will be accessible, but what about smaller companies like Mazda or Subaru?
    • CountSessine 6y ago
      "Easily fix" is relative though. It was never a majority of car owners that fixed their own cars. I would never have maintained a thousand-dollar toolbox to fix and maintain my car - not then and not now. I'm just not mechanically inclined. For us, there's no difference - we need to take the car in to be serviced either way. The complexification of automobile engineering has disenfranchised a small minority of car owners. But for the rest of us, we just don't need to bring the car in for servicing as much. It's a huge win for the majority.
      • mywittyname 6y ago
        Having a machine that can operate for 30 years with minimal or no maintenance is a type of reliability. Having a machine that can operate for 200+ years with refurbishment is type of reliability. There are pros and cons to each. The former is good so long as your country continues to grow, remains wealthy & educated, and retains the ability to constantly produce better replacements. Not every country has that luxury. The VW Type 2 (what Americans call the "VW Bus") remained in production for the Brazilian market until 2013. That's a poor country and cars are expensive, so the ability to have a vehicle last a lifetime is very important. The Type 2 is something that can be repaired by almost any machine shop with basic fabrication tools. You'll see this a lot in developing countries. Where "new" automobiles would be recognized as a 1980s or 1990s model by those living in developed countries. Manufactures keep them going because the tooling is cheap and easy to keep going. Those 80/90s cars are dead reliable too. Once the spare parts for an American 2020 Honda Civic are exhausted, it's unlikely that new parts can be fabricated. That's fine, so long as there's a 2050 Honda Civic or similar to available replace it, and that such a vehicle can still be afforded. > I would never have maintained a thousand-dollar toolbox to fix and maintain my car You might be surprised by how much work you can do on a 90s-era Japanese car with a 14mm wrench and a screwdriver.
    • ryandrake 6y ago
      Yes! To me, reliability goes hand in hand with repairability. Id rather have something that breaks every 2 years that can be fixed with a wrench than something that breaks every 10 years and cannot be repaired without a $2000 trip to the dealership where they use a $20,000 diagnosis computer to troubleshoot.
  • maya24 6y ago
    Your argument is a strawman. Car and phone or bad examples to prove your point because car reliability improved because of factors unrelated to the internet, and phone reliability improved because a better reliability of satellites and computer networks. Better examples are things like watches or desktop applications which seem to work fine before they were connected to the internet.
• pas 6y ago
  Most cars are still not Internet connected. And most Internet-enabled cars still run perfectly fine without access to the Internet.
  • mywittyname 6y ago
    Depending on your definition of "internet connected," I'd disagree with your first point. Most new cars come equipped with the hardware for a data-enabled cellular connection and many have been for years. While it's not a feature you necessarily see or know about, it's there. Presumably, the ones that are used by a service like OnStar are constantly polling in the background to get status updates for the account the vehicle is associated with. But yes, to my knowledge, most (all?) operate fine without a cell signal.
    • sliken 6y ago
      I have heard of various ride share services stranding folks in the middle of nowhere because of lack of signal. Not heard a single story of an internet connected car not having basic functionality work without internet.
      • pas 6y ago
        There was a story about a rental car stopping when it crossed a border, because the rental package was domestic use only.