Ruining Cars

You need a subscription to read all of Matthew Crawford's How ‘Progress’ Ruined Cars, but what is public is similar to what I hear many people say about buying a new car:

That isn’t the world we live in. On this particular luxury pickup truck, moisture in the tail light caused the usual corrosion, making resistance on the circuit go out of range. This circuit is in communication with many other circuits, so electrical gremlins propagated (probably reading as ground faults), and eventually, the truck was completely dead. At this stage, identifying the root cause of the breakdown was no trivial task. But most of the $5,600 charge for getting the truck running was for parts confined to the tail-light housing, not the diagnostic and parts-swapping labor. Commenting on this case, another YouTube mechanic named Uncle Tony points out that salvage yards are full of recent-model cars that are in great shape—mechanically sound and rust-free, with good interiors and good paint—but underwater on repair costs due to electronic complexity.

I have chosen not to drive because I do not want the stress of making payments and upkeep. I am running up against the constraints I have imposed on myself, but not enough to overcome the feeling I am better off.

sch 12/12