4 ms·

I'm going to armchair and guess that your brother needed a new battery. My (GM) car gets really funky startup behavior when the battery gets old. It will often

I'm going to armchair and guess that your brother needed a new battery. My (GM) car gets really funky startup behavior when the battery gets old. It will often turn the starter fine, but the electronics can get stuck in weird states until I disconnect the battery (essentially a hard reset).

Filligree 3y ago
If it was surrounded by a crowd of engineers, surely someone would have tested the battery?
- roel_v 3y ago
  This is the point where I would tell the story of how I once got lost in Porto, while in a group of 25 geographers
  - HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
    But zero cartographers.
- vGPU 3y ago
  The problem with having a bunch of experts is that experts usually forget to check the basics. I’m sure we’ve all been caught trying to troubleshoot a problem where the actual issue was a loose cable.
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    I worked tech support that included a device for software developers that had Ethernet connectivity. I learned very quickly to say "Try reseating the Ethernet cable" because if I said "Is the Ethernet plugged in" about 1/3 of the people would respond very negatively (e.g. "I'm not a fucking moron") but by having to reseat the cable, they would sometimes discover it's not plugged in.
    - dotancohen 3y ago
      The classic way to get the consumer to power cycle the hardware is to ask them which color ring is at the base of the DC plug. It doesn't really matter what color it is, what matters is that it was removed and the hardware definitely restarted.
    - datadrivenangel 3y ago
      I once has this happen with my father's new standing desk. He, PhD with an Electrical Engineering degree, couldn't get it working. Turned out the C13 power cable was only 90% inserted, and felt firmly in place but did not have enough connector to power the desk.
    - fragmede 3y ago
      The other technique is to ask the customer to turn the cable around.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  A friend who is an automotive engineer shared once that most colleages were not so great with cars. Engineering new cars is one thing; fixing them is another. It's like asking a programmer to do system administration - two different jobs.
  - SkyPuncher 3y ago
    It's not much different than computers. Lots of programmers that would struggle to diagnose basic stuff when their laptop when it goes wrong.
lotsofpulp 3y ago
Subaru just had a class action lawsuit about their stupid car infotainment systems draining the battery. https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/ https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/ The dealers wanted a ton of money to diagnose the issue, even though I suspected it must have been the infotainment system draining the battery. I just ended up replacing the infotainment system with a cheap CarPlay compatible one and the problem went away. Problem is I cannot get money from the class action settlement since the original infotainment system is already out and I fixed it myself.
- xethos 3y ago
  > Problem is I cannot get money from the class action settlement since the original infotainment system is already out and I fixed it myself. You only fixed it because it was a problem though. Not a/your lawyer though, so good luck and have fun navigating the American legal system!
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    But I cannot prove it without reinstalling the original infotainment system. That is many, many hours of work for little gain. What I do not understand is how the settlement did not require Subaru to compensate all Subaru owners for the faulty design. Why was there proof required, other than the purchase of their car with the faulty components?

Filligree 3y ago

If it was surrounded by a crowd of engineers, surely someone would have tested the battery?

roel_v 3y ago
This is the point where I would tell the story of how I once got lost in Porto, while in a group of 25 geographers
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  But zero cartographers.
vGPU 3y ago
The problem with having a bunch of experts is that experts usually forget to check the basics. I’m sure we’ve all been caught trying to troubleshoot a problem where the actual issue was a loose cable.
- aidenn0 3y ago
  I worked tech support that included a device for software developers that had Ethernet connectivity. I learned very quickly to say "Try reseating the Ethernet cable" because if I said "Is the Ethernet plugged in" about 1/3 of the people would respond very negatively (e.g. "I'm not a fucking moron") but by having to reseat the cable, they would sometimes discover it's not plugged in.
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    The classic way to get the consumer to power cycle the hardware is to ask them which color ring is at the base of the DC plug. It doesn't really matter what color it is, what matters is that it was removed and the hardware definitely restarted.
  - datadrivenangel 3y ago
    I once has this happen with my father's new standing desk. He, PhD with an Electrical Engineering degree, couldn't get it working. Turned out the C13 power cable was only 90% inserted, and felt firmly in place but did not have enough connector to power the desk.
  - fragmede 3y ago
    The other technique is to ask the customer to turn the cable around.
wolverine876 3y ago
A friend who is an automotive engineer shared once that most colleages were not so great with cars. Engineering new cars is one thing; fixing them is another. It's like asking a programmer to do system administration - two different jobs.
- SkyPuncher 3y ago
  It's not much different than computers. Lots of programmers that would struggle to diagnose basic stuff when their laptop when it goes wrong.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

Subaru just had a class action lawsuit about their stupid car infotainment systems draining the battery. https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/ https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/ The dealers wanted a ton of money to diagnose the issue, even though I suspected it must have been the infotainment system draining the battery. I just ended up replacing the infotainment system with a cheap CarPlay compatible one and the problem went away. Problem is I cannot get money from the class action settlement since the original infotainment system is already out and I fixed it myself.

xethos 3y ago
> Problem is I cannot get money from the class action settlement since the original infotainment system is already out and I fixed it myself. You only fixed it because it was a problem though. Not a/your lawyer though, so good luck and have fun navigating the American legal system!
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  But I cannot prove it without reinstalling the original infotainment system. That is many, many hours of work for little gain. What I do not understand is how the settlement did not require Subaru to compensate all Subaru owners for the faulty design. Why was there proof required, other than the purchase of their car with the faulty components?