Modern Cars Complexity

Could it be because "modern cars" are worse in some ways?

"I am not car aficionado"This tells me that his level of understanding of the wide range of cars and features. Are their bad cars and bad UIs, yes.However, as someone who has been driving for 30 years, cars are better in every way now than they were before (From a driving, efficiency, reliability and safety perspective).The only thing that is arguably "worse" is self servicability. However this is a function of complexity that exists throughout all technology.Al

We recently replaced our 23 year old car with a new one. Seems to me that modern cars are overladen with gratuitous tech. Not only does it make them more expensive to buy, but then to maintain and service. I used to service my cars as a teen, but now I just marvel the engine bay and give up at the thought of even changing the engine oil.I fear that with the millions of lines of code lurking in dozens of ECUs it might end up being more like a cheap smartphone.

I don't think that's necesairily true for HN people?I regularly get mind-blown by the number of anti-features of modern cars v.s. my 32 y/o Camry.Some that come to mind: no physical buttons, no right/possibility to repair the car yourself, can't replace the car stereo by something else, extremely slow unusable navigation systems even in 2024 models (I just use my smartphone and put it where the screen would be in a modern car), beeping when not wearing seatbelt eve

I was shopping for a new car and could not fathom why would you buy one that is heavy on electronics and especially software. Software does not age well unless it is designed in a controlled environment like aviation, which is not what happens with car systems. Besides the risks of being locked out of bugfixes in the future the software features are marginal to the overall experience and utility of the car. I would argue that cars made today are hardly any better than the ones made a decade ago.

Message to the World Auto Industry:I've been customer of yours for decades. For all that time, one of my main concerns was ease of maintenance, and for that I regard a pillar to be SIMPLICITY. This article is an extreme example of why I don't like your electronics in your cars -- an exception for the fuel injection and ignition system and, sure, a radio.Otherwise, for ANY electronics, I don't want it. Get rid of it. To me a car with more electronics is MUCH less d

Modern cars are so up their own arse in those kind of things that everything costs an arm and a leg to service or replace. I'm probably sticking to 90s/earlier cars as long as I can.They've regressed in so many ways - touch screen radios are an abomination, exorbitant key replacements/servicing in general, annoying gas flaps you can only open from inside the car, digital pedals that are usually way over-responsive.Too many over-engineered points of possible failure - wh

It's things like this that make me enjoy older cars from the 80's and 90's.I used to own an old Datsun truck. If anything went wrong, I knew that I'd most likely be able to fix it myself, or if I couldn't my mechanic could. There was no software to break, no security vulnerabilities that would cause the brakes to fail, no DRM requiring Genuine Datsun© lightbulbs for the lights to work.Sure, the thing was a deathtrap, but I owned everything in that truck.Things a

You mean modern cars aren't designed to be easily serviceable?

We have a ten-year-old car and the only complexity in the headlamps is a ratchet to adjust vertical and horizontal axes whilst in a garage.More modern cars are becoming so complex so quickly that I am reluctant to embrace one even if full EV. Car reviews that state "packed full of technology" are like a warning sign to stay clear.