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LED 'running' lights

I completely disagree. Desired, but not required. All that stuff just increases costs with little to no benefit in my mind.

Maybe Yugo will come back. 8^P


And this is how you know your are getting OLD......get off my lawn...back in my day....what's wrong with my horse. Heck you get fertilizer as a by product....those damn smelly horseless carriages...can kill somebody.
 
I bought a Boss 302 steering wheel for my 2011 when I had it and it required a VIN update with a valid Boss 302 VIN to the audio control module just to get the control switches to operate the radio. Somebody was paid to design and code it to work like that.

This chart was done about 4 years ago. The space shuttle had 400,000 lines of code, the Chevy Volt had 10 million. Most cars have more than that and it's only increasing. All that code comes at a cost that adds to the cost of a motor and a switch.

https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/million-lines-of-code/
 
A bit more research into the "code" thing will tell you the volume of programming in a modern car is greatly exaggerated as little has been done in the interest of consolidation. As it is, brake systems and avoidance systems and radio controls are all written as standalone pieces which creates ridiculous volumes of overlapping and redundancy. Saying 10 million lines of code sounds enormous until you consider what actually makes up that mess. And lets not forget much of that programming was done by VERY cheap labor. And each bit finds its way into likely every model of car made by that manufacturer to spread across millions of sales. There is no doubt many of the newest safety features and such add to the cost but those costs drop off dramatically as the latest becomes the new standard.

At the core of the escalating costs of modern vehicles lies something much simpler. People are willing to pony up the money. They are able to because lenders (arms of the manufacturers themselves) realized they could stretch things out to keep monthly payments lower and still make lots of cash. Signing up for 72 and 84 month payment contracts has become the norm. I still remember the first time I signed onto a 4 year car loan. It felt dirty to me. Look where things are today.

As long as the public is willing to pay the price, manufacturers will keep adding in the latest and greatest gadgets. They have to if they want to survive. A modern car has a VERY LONG life span. People do not need to buy new cars every three to four years. They can't when their loans are 5 and 6 years anyway. At least they shouldn't! Getting the customer to pony up for a new car sooner is the only way to keep the sales volume (profits) rolling. That latest must have gadget on the Jones' car is what brings the Smiths' in a few years sooner than necessary for their next financial misstep.
 
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