This is a problem I am encountering more and more frequently with “new tech.”
With old tech, the system would degrade - a little bit at a time, you could tell that something wasn’t right but it was still functional. You’d have warnings, often 1000 miles or more of clear warning that you need to get it serviced before you get stranded somewhere. Sure, not always, but often.
More often these days, my vehicles go from “everything is awesome” straight to: refuse to start or move mode. Sure, there are some “limp home” modes, but I have gone from zero warnings on the dash, zero unusual behavior, straight to no longer running / will not start, 3 times in the last 5 years (on 3 different vehicles) - each time it was “something new” that had that binary mode: working / not working and you’re gonna have to get a tow. I have been towed in the past with “old tech” that failed on the highway (blown radiator hose, rusted ground point on the fuel pump wire), but not for such picayune little electrical/software details like these recent failures.
This is a problem I am encountering more and more frequently with “new tech.”
With old tech, the system would degrade - a little bit at a time, you could tell that something wasn’t right but it was still functional. You’d have warnings, often 1000 miles or more of clear warning that you need to get it serviced before you get stranded somewhere. Sure, not always, but often.
More often these days, my vehicles go from “everything is awesome” straight to: refuse to start or move mode. Sure, there are some “limp home” modes, but I have gone from zero warnings on the dash, zero unusual behavior, straight to no longer running / will not start, 3 times in the last 5 years (on 3 different vehicles) - each time it was “something new” that had that binary mode: working / not working and you’re gonna have to get a tow. I have been towed in the past with “old tech” that failed on the highway (blown radiator hose, rusted ground point on the fuel pump wire), but not for such picayune little electrical/software details like these recent failures.