Posted on 08/19/2025 6:52:01 AM PDT by Red Badger
Smart and dumber
Here’s something used car dealers and private sellers won’t shout from the rooftops.
The average new car has 1,400 to 1,500 semiconductor chips. And high-end EVs? Try 3,000. Those computer chips power everything from heated seats to emergency crash alerts.
The problem: When the car’s network or software support ends, so do those fancy features. We’ve been here before.
Remember the 3G shutdown in 2022? Overnight, millions of cars lost remote start, navigation and emergency call functions. Owners of certain Volkswagen, Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, Toyota and Lexus models from 2012–2019 suddenly found their “smart” features dead in the water.
⏳ Déjà vu? More like Déjà-VROOM.
Fast-forward to 2025: Acura pulled the plug on its AcuraLink services on cars as recent as 2022. Yes, even the NSX supercar. Goodbye, app-controlled locks. Sayonara, stolen vehicle tracking. So long, digital concierge.
Mazda owners with 2016–2018 models saw remote start vanish with no fix in sight. Subaru’s early Starlink system? Dead since 2022.
It’s not just about network shutdowns either. Cadillac and other GM EVs are ditching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for their own systems. Even if you paid for these features, there’s no guarantee they’ll be there tomorrow.
😳 Why does this even matter?
Let me break it down for you. The average car on U.S. roads is 12.6 years old. Many connected-car systems only last seven to 10 years. That’s bad news for used car buyers. A mechanically perfect car could have worthless tech. It’s dead, Jim.
Millions of used cars out there have ticking tech clocks. If you’re shopping for one, ask how long the remote start, safety systems and other features will last.
Before you buy that “fully loaded” dream car, ask what happens when the tech stops calling home. Features age out faster than engines. Check the manual, the app and the forums. If the tech relies on a soon-to-be dead network or discontinued service, you might be buying a VHS player on wheels.
Things go bad that shouldn't - like steering rack at 110,000 - that's 4k+ and the brake calipers in the 3 series are garbage, all 4 replaced and one that was replaced went bad in 2 years. Not to mention the X3...
I’m not a computer savy, techy by nature person at all, but I used to enjoy listening to Kim Komandos radio show several years ago. Back then, she called herself “America’s Digital Goddess”. Kim made it a fun computer advice program to listen to.
I understand that there are guys purchasing older vehicles and basically building their own out of after market parts or salvage parts.
No bullshit computer crap. Cars just like they used to make before all this stuff.
I know my 09 pickup is gonna get rebuilt. I aint ever gonna purchase any new vehicle.
Kim has a way with words. I love her. She brings out some sobering details I didn’t know about. Just wow!
The average car on U.S. roads is 12.6 years old. Many connected-car systems only last seven to 10 years. That’s bad news for used car buyers. A mechanically perfect car could have worthless tech. Millions of used cars out there have ticking tech clocks.(that's me!) Recently I started getting a lot of scratchy sound and drop-outs on the Expedition sound system when I play Spotify streaming music. It happens randomly. It started after the last IOS update on my iPhone 16. Full factory reset of the entertainment unit and the phone made it better for a couple days, but the problem returned.
I researched the problem and most sites said to get the firmware in the entertainment system updated. I called Ford and they said they would 1) need to do a $100 "diagnostic" test and 2) update firmware if that's what the diagnostic showed. That's ANOTHER $200 on top of the $100.
This is small potatoes compared to the car being completely dead, but it's annoying as hell to me. As a work-around, I can plug the iPhone into the 3.5 mm jack in the car, but I lose a whole bunch of features (steering wheel controls, voice control, and others).
It had never occurred to me before that these aging car electronics issues wold arise, but here we are.
Also, these “high tech” cars have REALLY bad re-sale value.
I also find that fewer people are able to fix them.
Having been taking my cars to a friend's shop for 20 years. I see him turning away business more often because his young techs aren't as good as the old ones, there's A LOT more for them to learn, and the old guys are retiring.
The Stealership must not give them a very good percentage of the $200-250 labor charge or they'd have an incentive to learn the ropes.
Maybe I am lucky, but my experience has been the opposite. For example, I recall that in the '50s and early'60s a car that reached 100K was a phenomenon. Today, a car will easily hit 200K with simple routine maintenance. In fact, I have a 2002 and a 2004 CRV which both have in excess of 200K, and which require little attention, and run like tops. I put this down to (1) Electronic Fuel Control (ECF) which is far more durable than the old carburetors and points, and better alloys, made better still with more precisely controlled temperatures in machining.
Not in Cuba.
I was actually in Havana in the early ‘90s. What I saw there were not so many of the classic US cars from the ‘50s, but heaps and heaps of Trabants and other Eastern Block trash-cars.
These days, there are around 60,000 classic American cars in Cuba. Experts estimate that about half of these cars hail from the 1950s, while 25 percent are from the 1940s and another 25 percent are from the 1930s.
I remember Kim, your right she was cool.
Look on Facebook marketplace and you will see a lot of 250,000 mile cars for sale. I just gave a 2001 Expedition to a friend that had 189,000 on it that ran like a clock. There are plenty of Toyotas on the road with 200,000 on the odometer. When I first started driving we ignore cars with over 20,000 because we figure they were about ready for a valve job, which in those days could cost you 50 or 60 dollars.
Didn’t tell my 2020 F150 about that. It crossed 100,000 miles a couple weeks ago.
Oh wait, at 99,000 it developed.a bad engine miss. I guess I should have scrapped it. Instead I changed a spark plug.
It started quite early. My 1987 Ford has an engine computer, digital speedo/odometer, digital tripminder, and digital keyless entry. At least I don’t have the electronic climate control, though even my mother’s 1984 Caddy had that. I have electronic cruise control but I took it apart and it’s all discrete components — transistors, but no chips.
Per Ms. Kommando:
The average car on U.S. roads is 12.6 years old.
What was the age of the average car on the road in 1995?
Does the average driver drive more miles or fewer miles per year, in 2025 compared to 1995?
I do know that Aluminum block engines are prone to warpage over time, and with warpage, head gasket leakage usually becomes a problem. However, Aluminum block engines were common well before 1995.
It seems to me the sheer complexity of modern vehicles is the primary reason they fail...
It's also a time/mileage component. Most people put 13-14k/year - so give your truck another 3 years and get back to me.
Certainly a part of it, tough to test 1,000 systems vs. 100.
Get back to me when you go broke from constantly making car payments. The 1970’s mentality of cars being worthless at 60,000 miles is long past.
My last personal car was a 2006 econobox. 300,000 miles. Biggest shop repair was $100.
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