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Comment by ams6110 | Hacker News Reader

Would seem to me pretty simple to interlock the switch with the starter so that it would be impossible to start the car with the switch in the wrong position.

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That's Tog's point. It could have been designed to make it much easier and safer to use. The people who made it just didn't think those kinds of considerations were worth putting time into.

> Calling the company was of no help. The engineer who answered responded that nothing was wrong with the design of the switch that extremely careful operation would not overcome. He’d been using it for months with no problem.

How this analogizes to software is left as an exercise for the reader.

If a lawyer would look at the contract, he would say we fulfilled the requirements of the contract.

If a customer would look at the contract, he would say "Never again, and will warn everyone i meet".

I don't know about more recent vehicles, but on older cars it would have been as simple as man-in-the-middling the ignition wire which runs to the solenoid. Switch is in tow, the key won't start the car but things like accessories will still work.

That still wouldn't stop you from towing the car with the switch in the wrong position, which also destroys the transmission.

Correct me if I am wrong but with the switch off (i.e. in position for driving) the lubrication does not occur same as if the modification had not been added. So wouldn't it still be an improvement as functionality is just as good as before and 50% of the failure modes are eliminated? Obviously you want to find a solution for that other 50% but at least you've made an improvement without any regressions.

Yeah, a 50% solution is definitely better than nothing (but you'd still need to be very careful since a mistake could still fry your transmission).

Towing will destroy the transmission in most automatic transmission cars. That is why most of them specify flatbed towing in the owner's manual.

1. If a car has front-wheel drive, why would towing it with the rear wheels on the ground destroy the transmission? The rear wheels aren't even connected to the transmission. (I can see that it might be a problem for four-wheel-drive vehicles.)

2. The article specifically states that Lexus originally thought that towing this car would be OK:

"Lexus didn’t know they had a problem when they released the car, so they put a four year warranty on the transmission, specifically certifying it for towing."

Relevant:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronization_gear

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