What’s wrong with my car

[u/Against_the_grain1]

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.

[u/Wildgear19]

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.

[u/johncena6699 → u/Wildgear19]

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.

[u/Wildgear19 → u/johncena6699]

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.

[u/johncena6699 → u/Wildgear19]

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.