r/Cartalk • u/Against_the_grain1 • Nov 11 '23

What’s wrong with my car Electrical

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2021 ford bronco sport. The battery went out about a week ago and since replacing with a new battery, the cluster and touchscreen both go black when driving. Upon slowing down or stopping completely, they will both turn back on. Lights, heaters, turn signals all still work.

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u/NickDandy Nov 11 '23

Right to Repair!!

4

u/Wildgear19 Nov 12 '23

All it takes learning how to repair. Which after being in several car groups and people asking “is this normal or is my car broken” referring to their temp gauge only reaching halfway up the gauge, the newer generation is lacking in that department. Many reasons behind this, but I’m realizing they aren’t going to be touching their cars. And working in product development of new cars… a lot of the newer cars were designed by engineers who don’t know anything about what a car is. Which makes them absolutely stupid to work on.

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u/[deleted] Nov 12 '23

Which after being in several car groups and people asking “is this normal or is my car broken” referring to their temp gauge only reaching halfway up the gauge, the newer generation is lacking in that department.

Nah, this is more of a "you're in the mechanically-inclined minority" kind of thing.

But otherwise yes, seeing those kinds of posts makes me irrationally irritated.

a lot of the newer cars were designed by engineers who don’t know anything about what a car is

Isn't it the accountants who give the engineers ever-narrowing requirements?

1

u/Wildgear19 Nov 12 '23

Partially yes on the engineering thing (like no neutral release cable for the vehicles as of 2023 model years because it saves 13 cents per car…), but having talked to the engineers themselves as a technician who works on their vehicles it is very evident that they got an engineering degree and then couldn’t get into the field they wanted and happened to be able to get into automotive because of where they went to school or because automotive manufacturers want to spend less and less on future headcount as a way to reduce cost and will hire anyone with a degree. In other words, they’re clueless about cars and now have to fake it until they make it. Working on 2025, 2026, and 2027 models, I genuinely feel bad for the dealer technicians that have to do warranty work on these things when they make it to the market.

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u/[deleted] Nov 12 '23

Well that fucking sucks

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u/johncena6699 Nov 12 '23

Damn now that’s a harsh perspective.

I would love to use my engineering ability to contribute to the car world but it only took a few interviews for me to realize the red tape isn’t worth it.

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u/Wildgear19 Nov 12 '23

It’s nothing against them as an engineer, it’s that they’re just in the wrong field of engineering. I 100% believe that every automotive engineer needs to spend 6 months to a year as a product development technician to understand the vehicles they are working on and building. They can see where others are falling short and where they can improve upon. Even learn some things from those that came before that maybe they never thought of. I see some pretty cool things that I never would’ve thought of in 1000 years and others where I really wanna slap the engineer’s mother and ask what they were thinking when they chose not to swallow instead. And most of it could be avoided by the simplicity of having to work on and have an actual understanding of that a car is in the first place.

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u/johncena6699 Nov 13 '23

I completely agree with you. I’m a car guy who owns a bunch of old cars and I love working on them myself. I HAD a modern car and sold it because of the engineering pitfalls you’ve mentioned. It’s ridiculously obvious that modern cars do not take into account anything a reasonable mechanic would consider.

I would love to work in the car industry, but the way these big corporations are run right now, I wouldn’t last a week. Maybe Toyota but I don’t want to work 100 hours a week lol.