mmarshall

Yeah, those carb restrictor-plates were blamed for a lot of serious accidents by limiting top speed on the biggest tracks like Daytona/Talladega and forcing everybody to be bunched up together three and four abreast in turns. They probably caused more accidents than they saved by limiting speeds.


Well, OK...that may be a valid pojnt. Most of us here in Car Chat are not average motorists in that regard.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

Have you seen the 4C's dash?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Hadn't seen that, but neat. Looks sort of like a video game and not the highest res kind either

Cruiter

The new 2014 C7 Stingray Corvettes all have the virtual instrument cluster/dash that can easily be configured from touring to sport to even track configurations and showing a variety of gauges that you can change and move around simply with the buttons in the steering wheel. The display shown below is the 'Sport' mode with the bottom one featuring the individual tire pressures. The top one was part of my 'builders' album showing '0' miles as the engine was fired for the very 1st time on the line in Bowling Green.

In the center of the dash 'atop the console' is another HD screen that can be configured from the NAV system to music to weather, or a settings display to change the way just about anything on the car operates. Even the radio and HVAC system is actually a computer interface operated from steering wheel controls or the screen or buttons below it.

It's a whole new world

Nospinzone

As long as it was completely configurable by the user, I think I would like that kind of dashboard.

What would be great is if you could save several different dashboard layouts. So for example if I drove the car it would have certain readouts like coolant and oil temps, and if my wife drove it would be different readouts, you know like speed and ETA at DSW Shoes!

UDel

Not a fan of this new trend, give me buttons and switches any day, I hate touchscreens, totally pointless and complicated to use in a moving vehicle.

pbm317

This is talking about gauge clusters... so there wouldn't be buttons/switches.

I like having the ability to choose different menus/info being shown, and normal speedometer vs. a digital read out.

UDel

Sorry, when I saw dashboard I thought they were also talking about hvac, audio, other functions all going touchscreen. I don't mind gauge clusters going digital as much but I still like the look of traditional dials, especially with chrome or aluminum surrounds.

Cruiter

I admit it took some re-programing of my brain but in reality we're just catching up to the glass cockpits that came out in aircraft two decades ago. It won't be long before you don't have a choice unless you keep your old car with dials and analog gauges running for 10-20 years. I'm believing they're more dependable than analog every day.

Lil4X

There's no reason why HVAC, navigation, and infotainment systems couldn't be displayed on sub-panels in the center stack in addition to the conventional engine information on the driver's panel.

But where is this technology leading? There is a marriage of new engine electronics that will be part of future Engine Control modules that's just over the horizon. If you want a preview, look at the aviation industry. Just as single panel instrument displays were pioneered in commercial aviation, another digital development foreshadows a new engine management system.

Called FADEC, for Full Authority Digital Control, it was developed to manage the dozens of parameters required for safe and efficient operation of turbojets and turboprops. It soon became obvious that the same sort of management could be applied to reciprocating engines.

On a turboprop, FADEC integrates ignition, fuel flow, prop pitch while reading RPM, torque, inlet and exhaust gas temperatures, as well as ambient temperature, humidity and air pressure. The computer then manipulates engine controls to deliver thrust required for a number of flight regimes most efficiently.

Now the same technology that integrates a variety of instrument readings and control functions, placing all under the authority of a single lever. Whether you start, ground idle, taxi, takeoff, cruise, or descend, you move the power lever to the selected detent and FADEC issues the engine and prop pitch commands to achieve your wish quickly, with optimum safety, and economy. What's more, it maintains those optimal settings even when temperature, altitude, or even headwinds change.

OK, your present ECM does do some of that, but development for piston-engine aircraft along similar lines point toward some new possibilities for your car that can offer greater flexibility and economy. Think about your fuel injectors delivering timing and pulse width that will not only replace a conventional choke and throttle, but tailor those commands to each cylinder individually.

Magnetic valve actuation, including both lift and timing can be similarly optimized for EACH cylinder separately, potentially eliminating cams and cam drives, as well as fuel and ignition controls. It's all going to be under your right foot, BUT it can now be tightly controlled to produce more power AND better fuel economy - out the same or lesser displacement. At the same time, this ground-bound FADEC can select transmission gear, torque converter slip, or clutch and gearbox integration - and all with sets of sensors, and chips. Watch this space . . .

mmarshall

I'm with UDel here. An all-electronic dash is OK if it LOOKS analog.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

with cars gaining features each year, all buttons and switches, or even electronic displays with all 'features' displayed at all times is impossible.

feedback is helpful though, so interfaces will evolve, but the days of dedicated buttons for everything are pretty much gone and not coming back.

customers will get to choose what frequently used info and controls they want immediate access to, and what things can be more 'hidden' (unless a problem arises). this is pretty much the same as a smart phone.

LexFather

Is it just me or quite a few cars have customizable gauges? Get with the times, it's the future. If you want old gauges and buttons there are plenty of used 1995 Civics to drive.

The S-Class and XJ look great as the Stingray, LFA and F sport IS/ RC. The Tesla is amazing as well.

mmarshall

One reason analog dashes lasted as long as they have is that when auto firms first tried them in the 1980s (if my memory is right, some Cadillacs, Lincolns, and upmarket Chrysler K-cars were the first to have them), much of the public rebelled, and they were forced to go back to analog just to keep new cars selling.

Lil4X

Back in '86 my business partner was driving one of the last of the massive 1977 Town Car coupes. She'd purchased it new and was reluctant to part with. Then the optional "digital dash" went haywire and finally failed altogether. It was not really digital, just a LCD display of speed, miles, and a few bar graphs for gas and temperature - that's all. But the COST to replace that 4" X 10" display was $1500 - and that was just the part. The labor was close to that number because it wasn't designed for access and the entire dash had to be disassembled just to reach the offending display. Sadly, her beautifully-maintained white on white Lincoln went to the crusher; the cost of repair had exceeded it's wholesale value and, with the odometer inoperative, it couldn't be sold.