Fly-by-wire: Bad for FE?

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I had a Ford F150, ~2005, with a failed throttle pedal sensor. Ford were clever enough to give the car a high idle limp home mode, where the computer opens the throttle just wide enough to allow the truck to putter along at 30mph, but not open so far that you can't easily outbrake the engine in D. You can't do that with a cable. But then, cables don't break nearly as often as throttle pedal position sensors do.

I've never had a throttle cable break. I would imagine that those who have are in a very small minority. However, this brings to mind reports of "unintended acceleration". The allegations of it seem to multiply suddenly and exponentially when there are prominent stories about it in the news media.

[eco86]

I think that part of the problem is that the Aveo is just a bad car to begin with. Its a rebadged Korean-market Daewoo, so the ergonomics don't fit well with the average American (so you can't see the gauges properly). Also, its a value designed car, where they should have gone with a cable operated, rather than DBW system. The throttle cable would be cheaper than having to engineer and program a DBW system, and would have a better feel than what they could program into the system given the price of the car.

[NeilBlanchard]

I don't think a cable operated throttle (with a carburetor or a fuel injection system) could meet the current emissions requirements?

Yesterday and ancient Pontiac (Catalina?) drove by in a parking lot and boy did it stink! All sorts of unburnt gasoline...

[bgd73]

I was just reading up on a genius named nikola tesla...and I stopped at the "tesla effect"...

may even the most stubborn electronics freaks pause for a moment too...

anyhoo, it is a subject involving invisible, that is scary for puny minds creating the hertz ..ya know, like edison.

Recently I added titanium center caps to the old scoob, the car was randomly shaking..for no reason what so ever. The caps not only stopped it, I am saving fuel with a smooth ride. the teslaeffect likes threaded axle ends...go figure..einstein...Mr.tesla also told off the paranoid schizo called einstein more than once, and righteously so with his two feet on earth.

There is no doubt every man made hertz meets a perfect enemy...may your throttle cable last a long time. I have never broken one either...

A fully grounded pc generated to 13.4 mhz, like alot of pcbs out there..still gets challenged fully grounded...cars are even more a frightening thought with it, pouncing around to who knows where on rubber wheels.

I am sincerely against fly by wire..

[Allch Chcar]

Oh great now, bgd73 you're still here. I know exactly what the "Tesla effect" is that "old scubie" is talking about. Nikola Tesla once hypothesized that given a large enough device to transmit the correct frequency he could destroy the earth, which was after he tested one of his devices on a steel framework for a building. But that was just a story bgd73, you're confusing this natural electrical activities with your old Subaru's tendencies. It's not that grounding is hard to do it's that it's usually poorly done and rust gets the better of it. Your old Subaru just needs better grounding. Some people have claimed their car felt more powerful or at least more responsive after upgrading their vehicle's grounds. Stop letting the Subaru do all of your talking and get your foot off of the bumper.

And yes to the emissions part, just like returning fuel systems I'd imagine. The cheap cars get the worst of it because of that. Anyone else notice that new compact and entry level cars base model's MSRP jumped $3k more between 2007-2009? I did, I'd imagine part of that was safety standards but there were some emissions changes if I'm not mistaken. The Ford Focus received Drive-By-Wire in the Current Generation. Which as a midgrade(not cheap but not luxury either) Compact that's actually surprising.