PDA

View Full Version : Computers chips in cars



spamzilla
November 11th, 2006, 11:05 AM
We all know computers are awesome, and an integral part of everyday life for many people. However, should cars be practically driven by computer chips? I say this because my dad drives a Mitsubishi Evo 8, and after a while he realised he's barely driving the car.

For example, he tried to go up a hill which marked as "30% steep." However, since the computer in his car thought it would never come across such a steep hill, it simply refused to climb the hill!* My bro's car (old rover coupe turbo) went up the hill with no problems! Now at this point dad was brinking it. He has just come down into a valley, and the road going either direction was the same steepness. Luckily for him, he managed to accelerate harshly up the hill and get on flat road before the engine cut out.

As I said, should cars be practically driven by computer chips? Sure they can be beneficial, but if they are made sub-par, they can be quite dangerous!

*(found out from a mechanic that this was the reason why the engine cutting out.)

Brynster
November 11th, 2006, 12:39 PM
I strongly suggest you take your dads Evo 8 back to Mitsubishi and ask them to fix the ECU as it is clearly faulty. I have driven evo 8's (I am a mechanic also) up and down hills well in excess of 30 degrees without a hitch. The evo is one of engineerings great feats of production with multiple computers managing various aspects of the card all feeding back to the central ecu, i would suggest that either the engine management component is faulty or the stability control component is detecting the car is in excessive trouble and killing power to help you gain control before proceeding where there is no trouble just a steep hill thus suggesting that is or causing the trouble you are suffering.

3rdalbum
November 11th, 2006, 12:41 PM
I doubt this is the case; there must be some other factor at work. Why would the computer shut down the engine because of a steep hill?

But I agree, computers shouldn't be allowed to drive our cars. When the year 2000 comes by, all computer-controlled cars are going to refuse to start anyway!

smoker
November 11th, 2006, 02:21 PM
hi,

*sounds like the same mechanic, when asked to look under the bonnet of a vw bettle, said to the lady driver "your engine has falled out! don't worry, there's a spare one in the trunk!" lol

Jiganto
November 11th, 2006, 04:22 PM
Doesn't seem right that the engine would be killed when going up hill. It's probably a problem with just your specific car, I've never heard of Evo's and other cars for that matter, do something like that.

Do realize that Evo's are rally cars to the bone and are designed to tackle hills far steeper than 30 degrees.