They also know very little about how their vehicles work, and don't really care. I'm always seeing people sitting for extended periods in their parked cars, windows up on a nice day, engine running, A/C on, while they play with their phones. Wasting fuel? Pollution? Wear & tear? Who cares!

Can't count the times where I've pulled up to someone at a stop light and they have their windows down with the A/C running (can hear the compressor clicking on & off).

And when it's barely raining enough to have the wipers sweep about once every 30 seconds, people have them running at warp speed.

They simply don't understand how these things work.

Well...I'll raise my hand here and say that not only would I break out the OBDII scanner, but I've been known to use it on other people's cars who had "check engine" lights - if they ask me to of course. They know that I have all sorts of tools and am usually willing to help with everything from a brake job, to oil change, dead battery, flat tire, etc etc.

My 996TT say "take to workshop" or something like that.
Do not pass go!

Here in Houston in the summer, yes, sitting in the car, running, AC on. Absolutely.

But yes, most folks have no idea how their cars work and they don't care. As long as they continue to get from point A to point B. When the car turns into a pain, they'll trade it in on another appliance.

I love the rain sensor on my boxster. It adjusts the speed of the wipers based on how hard it's raining. It does a pretty good job.
Yes, I'll check my codes, and yes, I've been known to check codes for coworkers and family/friends as well.

AFAIK, CELs are thrown only by the standard emissions related codes.
The others are manufacturer specific e.g. brake/wheel speed sensors etc

https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/DURAENTH1.htm

$349 from our host is not bad in the p-car world.

No CEL here. It would drive me crazy to see one all the time.

The airbag light has been on on my Z06 for 2 years.

+930

I accidentally killed the battery in my Cayman. That turns on the airbag light. It took a while but I figured out the only way to turn it off was Durametric. I hated that. :mad: :mad:

Did you replace the steering wheel with a wheel that doesn't have an airbag? Or is it just something wrong?

Yes the steering wheel has an airbag. I had the seat out, it's probably a loose connection. I'm going to deal with it this spring before I take it out of storage.
Others on The Corvette Forum have the same issue, usually a loose connection.

Would love to have a diagnostic port in the cabin in every car where I can monitor the AFR, temp and other engine vitals using a $50 scanner ...


oh wait ...

In Britain cars over 3 years old have annual inspections that take 45 minutes. CEL and/ or airbag lights on are automatic fails ,and I think Traction Control is the same. Not only that, all fails, and even advisories, are documented forever in the Car's inspection history, which can be accessed readily online for future buyers to see.
From that information, one can deduce how well the car has been taken care of, eg if the same advisory appears the following year it doesn't look too good.

Should I drone on about old cars versus new cars? ... Probably not because that would be boring.

FWIW: New cars should be a whole lot "better" than they are.
It's almost like the manufacturer wants there to be problems so they can make more money fixing those problems.

My next "new" car will probably be a Tesla but my current daily will be here for a while yet.

What year did that start?

When I daily drove a 98 M3, my CEL was on all the time. I'd fix everything every two years to pass emissions. It'd usually come back on within a few months of that. Car always ran fine.

When I got my Cobra replica finished in 1995 I lived in Iowa and the inspection included the state trooper looking at the MSO and issuing a VIN. He then said make sure its safe before you drive it.

Wow. Talk about differences in levels of assurance. JB's Benz can go into auto sleep with an OBD code and you get a word of caution.

Was it titled as a newer year or 1965?

I pull codes and if it is something benign that may come back before the next smog test, then I drag it out. I never drive with it on without checking what's behind it.

Yep. P0420 (cat efficiency) present in my 2004 RAV 4 for over three years. Comes and goes. I get it emission checked when it's happy.

For whatever reason, traction control warning lights come on when that OBD code is present. It self cleared recently and I was driving in snow and spun the front tires. There was a beeping noise and a little message that said "Loss of Traction" or the like on the little dash screen.

First I heard that in those three years. A wonder I survived. :)

It's always nice to know that the light still works. :)