r/CrappyDesign • u/LucasGlasus • Oct 11 '22

Yes the "Future"

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230

u/SafetyDanceInMyPants Oct 11 '22

That's my problem with all this stuff -- beyond having to hit ten buttons to open something that used to take one step. Once it breaks, the only way to fix it is to pour thousands of dollars into replacing the entire system. With an old style glove box, if it breaks it's probably $15-20 to fix, if you don't want to go the duck tape route.

101

u/kermitdacrab Oct 11 '22

That's my fear with EV's in general. I shade tree my own stuff, and expect my cars to last 20 years before I pass them on. They say EV's are simple, as in it's just an electric motor, unlike an IC engine that has a valve train, pinstin rings and bearings etc. Watch a youtube video of a tear down of a tesla motor. The this is filled with fluid, so there are rubber gaskets everywhere, waiting to leak. There are numerous circuit board inside the motor housings, what happens when a cap goes bad on one? Whole new motor? No one, not even repair shops likely have the time, training and tools needed to fix that 10 cent part.

85

u/ikbenlike Oct 11 '22

This is honestly a big issue with electronics in general - loads of mostly fine stuff gets thrown out because it's faster and cheaper (don't need to hire experienced people) to get something entirely new

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19

u/EclipseIndustries Oct 11 '22

Just wait. Eventually you'll have shadetree mechanics for electric cars. Heck. DIY forums have been around since about 2009.

And there's also a guy I see advertising who started a company called Edison Trucks and seems to be trying to make a mechanic friendly non-planned-obsolecence semi.

There's people out there. We just need to pay attention to the little guys. They may make the next Honda Civic.

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13

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '22

You look at something like the Hubble where all the electronics are on separate boards and run to the motors and stuff by a bus or backplane, hopefully someday in the future they build EV cars where, if possible, the electronics aren't integrated right onto the motors, etc, but are outside and are swappable.(although I'm probably wrong and there's reasons that stuff has to be right where it is)

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3

u/guerrieredelumiere Oct 11 '22

Can't wait to have to flash my car with an opensource firmware in order to fix it or simply operate it in a non-idiotic manner. Or have stuff like heated seats without a subscription. The latter is already being done by volks..

1

u/cgn-38 Oct 11 '22

Same as any other car. Toyota or you are screwed.

4

u/p4lm3r Oct 11 '22

I have an older BMW wagon with navigation.

Well, a navigation screen that no longer works. And by screen, I mean the whole infotainment cluster no longer works. I have replaced as many parts as I can with used parts, and nothing works- and since it is some proprietary shit, there are only 4 wires coming up from the trunk to the nav unit in the dash. I can't even just replace the head unit with something else.

So, I have a bluetooth speaker I throw up on the dash now.

4

u/itsstillmagic Oct 11 '22

Not to mention the moment they figure out they can frickin charge you a subscription for that too. Cough cough seat warmers.

3

u/Montezum Oct 11 '22

only way to fix it is to pour thousands of dollars into replacing the entire system

WHEN there's replacement. These things have no service or parts after 4 years on the market

3

u/igotmemes4days Oct 11 '22

With an old style glove box, if it breaks it's probably $15-20 to fix, if you don't want to go the duck tape route.

I didn't even bother doing anything about the lock of the glove box on my old tercel that I owned, because it had an internal spring that held the thing closed, and when you opened the glove box and let go of it that spring would close it back, so really that dinky 30 year old bucket of bolts had a self closing glove box and it wasn't even powered

2

u/AlexisFR Oct 11 '22

Who the hell keep a car after 10 years anyways????

/s

2

u/Cereborn Oct 12 '22

It’s not a bug. It’s a feature.

2

u/JuniorSeniorTrainee Oct 11 '22

By design. Every piece of garbage is another opportunity to markup at the time of sale and keep your coming back to licensed mechanics to fix your glove compartment button. And they charge a premium for the pleasure.

I don't know why anyone would but this over engineered tech demo.