Electronic gas caps. why?

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I rented a vehicle a few days ago and while filling up the tank I thought it was missing the gas cap. It wasn't.

Instead of a simple gas cap that would cost $10 to replace there is an $800+ fuel filling unit with sensors connected to the computer(more error codes), a wifi unit to send a warning to my phone and a self sealing quick fill opening.

$800 is the replacemernt cost, $1200+ is the mechanics cost to do the work, it's complicated to replace. 2k instead of $10 bucks?!?

Fine, what do you get. According to the manual I get to fill my tank more quickly like it's a formula one racecar. This was an econobox with a 2.3 liter engine and a transmission that breaks if you even think of mashing the gas.

Why would anyone want such a feature?

[graeme_p]

You are looking at it wrong. Instead of why the customer would want it, think about why the manufacturer would.

It boosts the value of sales of spares, and is harder to find an after market replacement for.

It also shortens the life of the car to that of the software that runs it - a bug or a security issue that is unpatched (i.e. once the manufacturer decides the software is EOL) ends the life of the car. It increases future sales.

The wifi warning to your phone ties you in to the manufacturers services, which that they can charge a subscription for.

[Swanny007]

EVERYTHING is getting more disposable as time goes on. Just another example of when that sh*t box is 20 years old it will be in the junkyard because the repair bill for the gas filter is too high.

[lucy24]

Now, for those of us who have yet to understand why there isn't a standard location for gas tank access on all consumer vehicles... (“Oh, no, in this model the brake pedal is the one on the right, and the gear shift is on the left side of the steering column.”)

[coothead]

Hopefully all petrol vehicles will soon be obsolete and or totally banned.

Personally, I don't own a car and gave up driving nearly forty years ago.

coothead

[phranque]

for those of us who have yet to understand why there isn't a standard location for gas tank access on all consumer vehicles...

there is however a standard location for the fuel tank access indicator.
on most such cars there is an arrow next to the fuel gauge.

[ronin]

Hopefully all petrol vehicles will soon be obsolete and or totally banned.

Personally, I don't own a car and gave up driving nearly forty years ago.

I hear you.

I can't beat that, but I don't own a car and the last time I drove regularly was twenty-seven years ago.

It strikes me now that I was being naive. But when the 2000s started, it seemed to me that awareness of ecology, recycling, sustainable energy sources etc. had grown so much in the 1990s that I thought everyone - even individually or on a household basis - would be looking to reduce their car use and increasing their walking and bicycle use every year as the early 2000s progressed.

(Which possibly contributed to why I thought mainstream hybrid working (3 days WFH, 2 days in office) was only four years away in 2001, when domestic broadband was just around the corner... but it turns out I was 15 years out...)

I think we are getting there. Paris and Milan are doing amazing things with cycleway infrastructure.

Electric cars aren't terrible but, sometimes, they feel a bit like vaping instead of smoking.

[lucy24]

Electric cars aren't terrible but, sometimes, they feel a bit like vaping instead of smoking.

For bicyclists, they are alarming because they can silently sneak up on you. (That “closer than they appear” business makes mirrors negatively efficient, at least for me *.)


* “He’s operating at negative efficiency.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’s worse than useless.”

[tangor]

Tad more concerned with the increasing evidence that ebike li-on batteries spontaneously combust, most times inside a garage or domicile.