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People choose what to outsource and, as cars have become more complicated and require more diagnostic equipment, they go to a dealer/mechanic. Personally, I've

• jeffbee 1y ago
  Cars are both more complicated and way more reliable. You used to spend a Sunday changing your plugs and points. Now your car lacks points and if the plugs last less than 100000km it's a disappointment. You used to need new clutch plates on the regular, now nobody ever needs them or if they do need them the car is a total loss because good luck getting to the clutches. On my current car the closest I ever came to working on it was replacing the wiper blades.
  • asdff 1y ago
    They were already this reliable by the 80s and 90s. Where new cars get shitty is the electronics that get shoehorned in to control systems that were previously controlled by a button or dial.
• giobox 1y ago
  > cars have become more complicated and require more diagnostic equipment For the consumable stuff every car owner has to deal with, nothing has really changed in 40 years, honestly! A brake service is still done the exact same way, same with virtually all the fluid services. I just find far more people parrot "modern cars are so complicated" today and don't even consider that in fact, it is relatively simple to change a brake pad and disc, or your own oil, perhaps an air filter, even on most brand new cars. Fluids filters and brakes are like 90% of most people's maintenance needs nowadays. YouTube has also massively lowered the barrier to working on cars, given there are multiple easy to follow guides for just about any car service for any car model you can think of.
  • Jnr 1y ago
    Except many new cars are locked down in software, for example not allowing to release rear parking brakes without authorized service subscription, keeping the electronic keys for each VIN unique and stored in the cloud. Yes, there are workarounds on releasing the brakes manually but it is a burden. Also similarly as with iPhones, many cars require connecting to the authorized service to change headlights and other parts since they are paired with the MCU. I know how to work on my car but I am not able to because someone decided to lock it down.
    • deleted 1y ago
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    • rconti 1y ago
      I don't follow. Every time I drive my car I release the parking brake. On the cars with electronic brakes, you use a button rather than a lever. I'd do it the same way to service the brakes.
      • giobox 1y ago
        A lot of electronic parking brakes do have a service mode. For most modern Fords, there is a procedure, as one example of many: > https://www.brakeandfrontend.com/quick-answer-electronic-parking-brake-deactivation-procedures-ford-vehicles/ https://www.brakeandfrontend.com/quick-answer-electronic-par... You typically need the piston fully retracted to replace pads, which very rarely happens just by disengaging the park brake. If you are old enough to have changed a manual handbrake pad, you normally had to screw the piston back in before you could fit the thicker new pad with a "caliper rewind tool" even if the handbrake was off, the electronic parking brake service mode essentially does this for you, or unblocks the piston permitting a rewind tool to work. > https://www.thedrive.com/guides-and-gear/how-to-use-a-brake-caliper-wind-back-tool https://www.thedrive.com/guides-and-gear/how-to-use-a-brake-... FWIW, I've never found an electronic parking brake I couldn't rewind myself after a few minutes on google.
        • rconti 1y ago
• rconti 1y ago
  More complicated and more reliable!
• tomcam 1y ago
  Not sure that tracks. Cars became infinitely more complex due to compliance with federal regs and the chicken tax.
  • olyjohn 1y ago
    I mean... cars have definitely gotten more complex since 1964 when the Chicken Tax became a thing...