The future of ALL drive by wire vehicles:
Lexus IS300 malfunction
The backstory according to
Jalopnik is that this guy and a few others have installed aftermarket HID kits on their car, and it interferes with the steering circuits causing a sensor to give the wrong inputs to the servos which run the power steering. This isn't really Toyota's fault because they installed non-oem parts which caused it.
It gets me thinking about the SVX (remember the car this thread was started about
). We can all agree that this car was ahead of it's time, but perhaps that is it's fatal flaw. In two years I've had to replace my MAF, TPS, CD Player and the circuits for the auto-seatbelt. The fact is that you can not trust electronic equipment for more than about 10 years. I wouldn't do my job today on a 10 year old computer, and I surely won't be a decade from now. The reason there are classic cars still on the road is because they don't have any irreplaceable computers controlling their longevity. My first car was a '73 Scout and with points ignition and a huge alternator it could have survived an EMP. I doubt a single car being sold today will be able to survive to become classic cars.
I figure I can keep this SVX running (with help from here) no matter what fate throws at it, but if SVXs were any more complicated I wouldn't have a chance.
We'll see what these folks with modern Toyotas will be driving when I'm still cruising in my 28 year old SVX in 2020.
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'92 LS-L "Bandit" #362 formerly dark teal, repainted by prev owner
Mods: ECUTune 2v7f, Earthworm bushings, Pioneer DVD/Bluetooth phone, Infinity Reference all around, tint, 17" wheels, custom seat belt computer, velcro visor
Buying parts is like car payments. Someday she'll be all mine.