Sunday Times driving section had a report saying that many spare parts fitted to a new model car may have to be coded to or recognised by the car's on board computer.
The only bit of the article I can copy says
Mechanics may have swapped spanners for laptops as cars have grown increasingly complicated to maintain, but at least there are still a few jobs that the self-respecting motorist can do — changing a lightbulb, for example, or fitting a new battery.
Or are there? The latest models require their on-board computer to be reset with specialised equipment when even the smallest component is replaced.
Anyone trying to replace the LED lamps of the “intelligent” lighting system of the latest Mercedes-Benz models, such as the A-class, will find they don’t work if their serial numbers have not been entered into the car’s computer.
Try to replace a battery on many of those cars that have a stop-start system to cut the engine when the car isn’t moving (such as the latest BMW 1-series) and you will find that the sop/start won't work if the battery is not recognised.
Also mentioned is replacement of a brake light switch in an automatic can prevent "D" being selected if the switch is not recognised. The computer etc costs £8000 + a subscription to the software and updates so not going to be easy for DIYers or the Indies
It is by one of their regular columnists Domini Tobin
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Isn't late capitalism wonderful Mellers? Can't imagine how we managed without it. Tchah!
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The manufacturers are not daft enough to price too many people off the road, neither are oil companies or governments. Motorists are the cash cows of the century.
Dacia anyone?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 18 Dec 12 at 17:29
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>>Motorists are the cash cows of the century.
If they were then life in the Motor Trade would be a whole lot more comfortable than it actually is.
But you're right, no-one is going to price themselves out of a market.
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The thing is though the main dealers will control the market and thereby extract more from that market because they will now have the majority share and will charge out at dealer rates. Not a win for the ordinary consumer I would suggest.
If, for example, your head light lamp fails do you go to your main dealer for a replacement and get them to fit it?
At present I would suggest not, you'll probably pop along to your local motor factor and pay them half the price for the lamp that your main dealer would want and if it's a difficult one to fit they'll probably do it for you or charge you the price of pint, your main dealer will charge it out at standard rates with a probable minimum half-hour charge.
In the future you will have little choice with the above scenario, you can't, legally, drive your car that cost you thousands without the headlights but you will now have no choice but go to your main dealer and pay through the nose.
I got a little taste of this recently, my old Mondeo had an autolock facility that locks all doors as you drive off, very useful for my wife when driving around some dodgy areas. This was achieved quite simply by pushing various buttons on the dashboard in a prescribed order. When she bought a new Focus she enquired about whether auto lock was available, 'Oh yes, madam, you will need to book it into the workshop as we now need to plug it into the computer to do that.'
Old cost = about five minutes of my time.
New cost = Minimum half hour labour charge as once computer is plugged into the car it 'has to go online and synchronise with the Ford mainframe to update the records and that takes at least a half-hour so allowing for any delay shouldn't cost any more than £40 + VAT....'
Hmmmmm, progress???
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>> I got a little taste of this recently, my old Mondeo had an autolock facility
>> that locks all doors as you drive off, very useful for my wife when driving
>> around some dodgy areas. This was achieved quite simply by pushing various buttons on the
>> dashboard in a prescribed order. When she bought a new Focus she enquired about whether
>> auto lock was available, 'Oh yes, madam, you will need to book it into the
>> workshop as we now need to plug it into the computer to do that.'
>> Old cost = about five minutes of my time.
>> New cost = Minimum half hour labour charge as once computer is plugged into the
>> car it 'has to go online and synchronise with the Ford mainframe to update the
>> records and that takes at least a half-hour so allowing for any delay shouldn't cost
>> any more than £40 + VAT....'
>>
>> Hmmmmm, progress???
>>
I always ask questions like this when ordering the car and make sure it is delivered set up and at their cost. Have never been asked to pay anything.
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>> I always ask questions like this when ordering the car and make sure it is
>> delivered set up and at their cost. Have never been asked to pay anything.
>>
When we swapped a SEAT for a VW last year I assumed the VW would auto-lock like the SEAT did, But it doesn't, and the salesman said as the car needs connecting the VAG-COM to activate it, and that takes some time, then they wouldn't do it unless we paid.
Not sure what would have happened if I'd realised before signing the order - I still can't believe the deal we got on the car and the salesman was a bit of an idiot.
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The Government have made a rod for their own backs by encouraging us to buy smaller and low emission cars which use less fuel and many people who own cars are using them less. The Daily Telegraph said, earlier this month
The Treasury last year collected its second highest-ever haul of fuel duty from UK drivers at £26.8 billion and this will probably be exceeded this year.
The AA, the motoring group, estimates that British drivers have cut their fuel consumption by a third over last 20 years, but contribute more than double the amount of fuel duty.
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>>Dacia anyone?<<
Yes please, diesel Sandero in top spec, in about 5 years when it is worth as much as a margerine tub.
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>> >>Dacia anyone?<<
>>
>> Yes please, diesel Sandero in top spec, in about 5 years when it is worth
>> as much as a margerine tub.
And will be working as well as one.
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Some of it is a scare story. You dont have to "register" the new battery to the car, merely tell the car what type it is for the correct charging parameters. As long as its the same type (amp hour/chemistry) as the old one, its no problem.
As for "smallest component" the led lightcluster on a car is not just a bulb these days, you aint gonna get one down halfords in the bulb section. So a lot of it is "sexed up" scaremongering.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 18 Dec 12 at 18:41
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The article is eggagerating to get it's point across. But there is some truth going forward. e.g. Audi models released after 2004 have Component Protection on many parts. If you replace say an amplifier, instruments or climate controls with used parts, they have to be programmed with the VIN number of the car before they will work. This requires the car to be taken to the dealer who connect it via their computer to a system named Gecko hosted in Germany. This negotiates authentication with the car and the part and gives the technician a password which lasts 30 minutes in order to 'marry' the part to the car. This makes running older cars from used parts very difficult or expensive. As more parts become 'smart' instead of 'dumb', this gets worse.
Last edited by: sooty tailpipes on Tue 18 Dec 12 at 19:58
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>> The article is eggagerating to get it's point across. But there is some truth going
>> forward. e.g. Audi models released after 2004 have Component Protection on many parts.
Not just going forwards - as you say, this has been the case for Audis (and BMWs, Mercs and probably others) for some years now.
I wonder what happens in the US? I thought it was a legal requirement there that cars could be fixed by any garage (I guess with certain universal tools).
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krustycola is at it again, giving away his email address in the subject line.
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>>Try to replace a battery on many of those cars that have a stop-start system to cut the engine when the car isn’t moving (such as the latest BMW 1-series) and you will find that the sop/start won't work if the battery is not recognised<<
S'not all bad news then.
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>> Sunday Times driving section had a report saying that many spare parts fitted to a
>> new model car may have to be coded to or recognised by the car's on
>> board computer.
There is more truth than fiction in that story.
A lot of problems in workshops today, are due to software 'issues'.....
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Regardless of the technology, the first thing a mechanic technician is taught when opening the bonnet in front of the car's owner is to take a sharp intake of breath and shake his head.
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Everything I read on this forum and elsewhere about modern cars just confirms my lifelong conviction that old cars are best.
I have no intention of ever again buying a car with software in it, apart from nice old leather seats of course.
As for manufacturers not wanting to price people off the road, they lead the market and can do no wrong. People are sheep, and will buy anything that they have been convinced they "need" in the interests of fashion.
Only this week there was another HJ letter in the telegraph from a reader;
"My 15 year old Boggs Oaf is in perfect working order, very reliable, and I love the comfortable seats and spacious boot.
Therefore I need to replace it, and have £20,000 to waste. What do you recommend?"
When he complains 2 years later that his car has eaten 2 gearboxes, the dual-mass flywheel has failed, it needs new brake discs, and has poor visibility, HJ replies:
"This is a known problem. You need to buy a Boggs Super Oaf GL Tdi Intercooler Turbo Spacewanger Crusader, £25,000."
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Strangely enough, I think neither Toyota nor Honda code components..
As for the US market, I can imagine the outrage...
There is a simple solution: do not buy German or French cars.
Waste of breath.
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>> There is a simple solution: do not buy German or French cars.
But some stories suggest other brands like Ford are also doing this.
We need to have a section here for list of cars/brands to avoid for this.
I guess that will filter out probably 90% of the cars in current market.
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We have only had one car radio stolen, many years ago. Could this be because they are now either built in or coded to the car?
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>> We have only had one car radio stolen, many years ago. Could this be because
>> they are now either built in or coded to the car?
>>
Yep.
Also, unique codes for each radio set, and the radios have to be rest after every time the battery is disconnected - with the reminder NOT to leave the radio book in the car!
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Scare Story - or Is It? - Armel Coussine
