Software police

By: Nicol Louw

The costs associated with warranties are a big concern for automakers, especially if component failures result because of driver abuse. A way to curb some of the powertrain-related warranty costs is to programme in policing monitors in the software of a vehicle that will log a code to memory if abusive behaviour is detected. When such a code is found by the dealership, the warranty on the related component will not be honoured. Two such examples found mostly in commercial applications are starter protection and over-rev monitoring. After numerous starter motors had to be replaced under warranty on a certain model, it was found that drivers would run out of fuel and continue to “drive” the vehicles on the starter motor in first gear to move it around until fuel arrived. The software is now calibrated to allow only a certain number of cranking events (without the engine starting) of short duration before cranking is disabled for an extended period. Engine-damage costs related to over-revving will have to be covered by the owner, as an engine-abuse code will be set in memory when engine speed exceeds a predetermined threshold (above the red line) for a certain time.

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