Vehicles today can surf the web, link to your phone, stream music and videos, etc.. but they still can't perform a simple database lookup to tell you what the check engine light is on for.

Dont you think your client demographics skew your perception? If I had the money to comfortably drive an Audi why would I want to waste any time on maintenance? I'm a firm believer in time being money and there is zero happiness to be had in maintaining a car unless you are a special kind of nut. I am someone who loves to have the knowledge of everything I have to deal with in life from doctors visits to clanking sounds. In the past I've googled myself to the conclusion of an intake manifold gasket leak with no symptoms other than an overheating car and basic elimination skills. I didn't even know what an intake manifold gasket was beforehand. My point is that there is a huge "market" of us that would save loads of money with crowdsourcing all of our problems with better info given by cars as to what their problems could be. I'm not saying we would then fix them ourselves, but there would be a huge influx of educated customers knowing what they want done so they can maximize their time and money. There would be absolutely no money in it for the dealers though. They already argue with me over what the car's own manuals say about the lifespan of oil.

/r/Showerthoughts Thread Parent