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I have a 2015 pickup, in the US, and its the speed up changes with the electronics that worries me. My touch-screen controls most features of the vehicle. (after some nice jeep hacks, I learned it controls much more than I thought) but they only used that model for a year or two.

The Axle, drive line, brakes, etc, have been used for at least a decade on my model of pickup, and Cummins engine parts are the same across trucks, generators, marine engines, and easy to find my size.

I just worry about the 'cost' of finding a working computer module in 2030, for my 2015 pickup, if it fails. At $2500 now, I'm not going to buy a spare.

older diesels are valuable because they came before a lot of emissions regulations and will run on dirty fuel, desirable in Africa, this could be the issue the OP is actually describing.

very very tangentially related, but I think interesting.

US Sherman tanks were not very good tanks. But there were a lot of them, and they were crewed by kids who grew up on farms. Those kids likely spend a fair amount of time keeping the tractor running.

Two big things going for them. 1, a ready supply of spare parts, from other tanks that didn't make it. 2, some understanding of the system, allowing people to macgyver solutions out of bubblegum and bailing wire.

As to your side note, I agree. I'd want something dirt simple, partly because, even though I might be able to pull off an amazing feat of engineering, I'd rather have the solution be obvious.

Since we're wishing, I'd also like everyone in a 1000 mile radius to have the same car, so I can find a dead one to strip if I need parts. (but that's not realistic given the implicit remoteness of the situation described).

The Sherman was a good tank for its role it wasn't as "Gucci" as a Panther or a Tiger.

And fixing a Sherman is far more complex than a tractor but a hell of a lot less of a PITA than a German tank.

Of course if you had a major malfunction you said "oh dear my tank/jeep/rifel is buggered" get me a new one.

There is the secondary q of should they have up gunned the US Sherman's quicker and had more hot ammo.

"US Sherman tanks were not very good tanks."

The main person's opinion[1] has been debunked by multiple authors. It was a very good tank and fulfilled the American objectives. Particularly when you take into account the US Army's belief "tanks shouldn’t take on other tanks". The later gun upgrade even took care the of late war tank-on-tank battles.

1) ‘Death Traps’ by Belton Cooper

I would add that better is the enemy of the good. It is better to have a good tank in large numbers than a better one but so expensive that you can only have limited numbers of it. Germans had better tanks but it did not help because they were expensive to produce and were heavily outnumbered.

The Germans also committed the criminal sin of tinkering on the production line. Consistency is the foundation of logistics. Its amazing how some lessons from WWII might benefit software developers in the present.

I tried to repair some electronics on a modern car and it was impossible for me to buy a new SIM card holder of the same sort. The dealer would happily take £3k off me for a new unit. I’ve now got a salvaged waiting to go in

I have a car where a mechanical component with a electronic controller board was broken. When you swap the mechanical component you also end up swapping the electronics. I had to send the car to the dealership after being rejected by two independent mechanics because they are the only ones with the authorized electronic repair tool.

These days, garage owners need a licensed computer for diagnostics.

And only official ones can get them and a high cost.

Most of the faults can be diagnosed without the computer, if you know how.

Diagnostics is nice because it gives you readout in one place, but the output is what the computer sees, not what actually happens.

Also, where is your licensed computer to diagnose mechanic problems? There isn't any? What a shame... how can you fix a mechanical problem without car telling you which part broke...

The computer diagnostics is a response to mechanics having no knowledge of electronics (also because it kinda make sense if you already put computer in).

This is just straight untrue. You can throw parts at the car while taking educated guesses, but to cost and time effectively fix the car you absolutely need the diagnostic software.

Crank position sensors, cam position sensors, EGR, Fuel system pressure, per-cylinder electrical failures, etc, etc., etc.. can all be guessed at by a shade-tree mechanic. But good luck fixing it quickly and without buying a bunch of parts. My 2010 Mercedes van require parts to be electronically "mated" to eachother, so even if I know the right part, I need the Mercedes software to tell the computer to hook up with the new part.

I've been a "shade-tree" mechanic for most of my life. I would say '98 is roughly correct when full fuel injection became pretty standard. Once you have that, you need a half dozen or so other sensors to make the system work. And you need precise fuel pressure. It just gets more complicated from there.

You wrote it yourself:

> "but to cost and time effectively fix the car you absolutely need the diagnostic software."

> "etc, etc., etc.. can all be guessed at by a shade-tree mechanic. But good luck fixing it quickly and without buying a bunch of parts."

That was exactly my point. Car CAN be fixed without the software.

It just takes more time (and knowledge).

If you are an owner of a repair shop then that is probably deal breaker. You can't hire actual engineers to fix cars, the cost would be prohibitive.

But nothing is stopping you to fix the car (except if manufacturer like John Deere makes it their mission to stop you from repairing it).

If electronics is broken your mission is to find the broken part and replace it, not reprogram it, which is basically the same as with mechanical faults.

I too am a shade-tree mechanic. It's worth noting that early electronic fuel injection didn't require any external software or device. Rather, you would use a model-specific technique to put the vehicles computer into diagnostic mode, and it would blink codes at you from the check engine light, or perhaps show the code on an LCD that was normally for another purpose. This was late 80s and early 90s stuff using OBD1, the earlier diagnostic standard.

On my Toyotas, I would need to jumper a couple pins in a connector under the hood with a paper clip, labeled T1 and E1, I recall. On my BMW, I had to turn the key to ON and then stomp the gas pedal 5 times in a few seconds. After counting the blinks, the meaning of the codes could be found in manuals. IMHO this was a great system and every bit as useful as what you get with basic OBD2 scanners, just without the scanner investment. I needed no tools to be told my catalytic converter or primary o2 sensor failed, etc.

All these things have known resistances and waveforms. They can all be diagnosed with a $5 multimeter and $50 scope. Fuel injection became standard closer to 88. It's not complicated. The systems are pretty tolerant and only need a few sensor to operate (albeit not perfectly). The precision required from various sensors and things is far less than what internet commenters will lead you to believe. Though if someone is gonna build something finicky of course it will be the Germans (requiring software resets when changing basic things is but one example).

I don't need anyone to tell me which mechanical part broke because I already know that. It doesn't change that I still need the licensed computer to do a simple mechanical part swap because there are electronics embedded into the mechanical part.

That's not even true.

Eg. Sometimes you can fix the issue, but you still need a computer to reset the "error light" on your dashboard.

In general, the direction is clear. While you can still have some manufacturers that aren't requiring it now. It will be in the future.

Source: a family member has a "non-brand" garage shop with specialization in one brand and now he can work better on cars, because he bought the computer when an official shop went bankrupt ( that was ~2 years ago).

Last time I saw him ( 1 week ago), there was a big similarity to Jhon Deere and the Ukranian developers that have unofficial software to work on the machine)

Actually, anyone can get an OBDII scanner. The trick is figuring out what the code means, and hope you bought the service manual and have a space to remove half the bloody car based on the part that died, because (if you have say, a 2000 Chevy Venture with a cracked oil pan, you have to pull the frigging engine out of the car to get to and replace it) auto manufacturers build for automated assembly, not service and easy access..

I got a cheap chinese interface and modified the software so it works for me.

It all depends on how much effort you’re willing to invest

I wish you were right, I truly do

It is completely true, unfortunately.