The downside of automotive technology

[Deesse23]

Great, got the scene from fight club in my head. 

Thats exactly how it works.

I remember sitting in the office of my super-super-supervisor (director and boss of overall electronics of brake systems), telling him that we really need this new transistor type, which costs 2 additional cents* compared to the one we currently have in use. He asked me why we need it: i told him its smaller and performs better. He asks if the current one fulfills requirements. I tell him "barely, and in case of field returns we lose $ (if proven its our design fault and not random component error)". His final answer: and how many ECUs with the old transistor do we have to produce/sell until we have saved enough money for this?

Ever since then i never ever entered his office again without any new idea that wasnt cheaper and better.

We use componens for 135°C requirements which actually are, per datasheet of supplier, only qualified for 120°. We just apply pressure on our suppliers until they agree to make (up) a paper stating that the component can...probably, hopefully, whatever also withstand 135°C....under certain conditions.....mostly at lower temps, with long time not powered up.....
thats how cheap we are, and now please think again about systems with multiple layers of redunancy. Does it sound like a company with the attitude i just decribed will make something like a PROPER system with multiple layered redundancies?

The solenoid valves OLB mentioned, of course they fail....they get hot like fuck if some ABS function (actually TCS puts most strain on an ECU, it is the control function that produces most power dissipation) is active for an amount of time. They get in excess of 170°C and we overmold them to mitigate this problem (better dissipation of heat). Otoh we make careful calculations and tests to figure out in which ECU variants exactly we can leave out the overmold, because.....its fucking expensive, several cents per ECU!!!!!

*make your own calculations: we are indeed selling ca. 20mio ABS and ESC systems each year. 2c per ECU amounts to 200k$, just for this one, single, electronic component. Then consider how many components an ECU has (in excess of 200 discrete components) and how many mechanical and hydraulic parts.
Then let it sink in for a while......

Looking at Ed N. and the burnt up car:
Fucking hell...do you know that words like "fire" and "burn" are not allowed to be used in relation with burnt up ECUs (and often the vehicle burns down as well) for over 10 years now? The japanese customers were the first ones who got *concerned* when we told them about these risks. Ever since then, such an event is called "rapid corrosion", and management suddenly felt much more comfortable, on both sides.