[Diesel_Dave]

RANT WARNING!

Okay, so what's the deal with gauges on cars these days?

I recently found out that the oil pressure "gauge" on my truck really isn't an oil pressure gauge after all. As it turns out it has a low oil pressure switch but not an oil pressure sensor. So, if there's low oil pressure it will trip the gauge low, but otherwise it just displays an estimated oil pressure (I'm guessing it's estimated from engine speed and coolant temp).

At this point I'm not going to debate whether there should actually be a sensor vs. a switch. But what's the point of even having the gauge?! Why not just have a low oil pressure light? That would be simpler anyway. Adding the gauge adds nothing and just gives the driver potentially bad information.

The other thing that bugs me is the way gauges a) don't have units and/or b) have very few or no numbers. How does not adding numbers and/or units save any money? Are they afraid they'll confuse people? The easily confused aren't looking at their gauges anyway. Most of those stupid gauges just have a red area so people know if things are bad. I'm okay with colors, but why not add numbers and/or units?