HOOD PINS

the latest volley of keeping the D.I.Y.'s from under the hood of their own cars has been fired and this time the population never knew what hit them; chances are they never will either, wearing green coloured glasses, the lemmons herded to the cliff sides, demanding so called "green" cars and trucks have fallen prey, with open arms to the manufactors in a war fought and won by the auto industry, in front of their very own eyes and wallets.
for years, the aftermarket companies, without alliances tied to the auto production companies, have lobbied and pushed, kicking and screaming, laws preventing the big and little three, from keeping information on the systems on their cars and trucks from the public domain, and filtering down to the back yard guys and girls, to be able to fix their own cars.
well, guess what happened along the way; in all the hoopla and media attention to the $4 a gallon and more price of fuel oils, public transits, high fuel mileage cars and trucks, the crowds have placed their bets (ie;money) on the very same people who have put us in the position we are already in, and are willing to accept any and all means of doing it as well, even at the cost of future loss of liberties and information that may come from it. what has the potential of happening here makes microsoft look like a girlscout compared to the locked down hoods we will be seeing in the near future, alas on our own respite and dime. how did we get here? just look at the ODBII systems we allowed the car companies to install on 1997 and up cars and trucks in our country; unless you have been driving 1965 ford falcons up to now, most DIYers already know, or have faced, the lack of any real help on understanding the matrix of the systems with out any "paid" factory help. no swapping parts until it fixes the problem here tricks, the software systems, with consent of the voting public (ie; congress) has taken higher mileage demands, and kept the software from the auto public's eyes and hands; and guess what? its goona get a whole lot worse and even goona be paid for by you whether you do so directly or indirectly, and thanks to our own best interests, the new technologies will even be harder to access let alone be able to repair by untrained, licensed techs.
the opening salvo was fired by the hybrids; those media darlings; so wonderful and good for us; sure, they still have a gas motor and brakes and tires and such, but you won't go buy a $29.95 battery at walmart to put in those cars and the $12.95 oil changes are over as well; low friction motors and higher underhood temps now require full synthetics as well...brakes, ha, don't get me started on those either...i doubt you'll find $12.00 rotors and $10.00 pads for them at autozone either....wait until the third or fourth generation owners drive these cars and trucks..then we'll see the fireworks, people unhappy with dealer only technologies and for a 8-12 year old car...
i can remember 30years ago hearing about cars who's complete driveline power pack when faulty, would be take out from underneath the body and replaced by a remanufactured unit already to go, at the dealership, whether it was gas or electric, i am not sure, but i do know, the pudnicks were screaming monopolies at the mere thought and quietly, these ideas went away...or did they?
well, while the chickens were yelling about the sky is falling and we need electric or higher mileage cars, the manufactures have been saddling their selves up with the devil(big brother) and in our own best interests, have made these new cars a tantalizing reality on the horizon; but at a future cost. do you think the first or second owners of these cars will care? no, but like i said before, by time the 3 owner gets to them, BAM, locked out of the hood or driveline as a whole.folks, this future isn't bright and shiny, looks and smelly fishy to me and i don't even fish.
we need to imbrace our futures, not sell them out just to provide the means to better ourselves for a brief period of time. ensure the future of our industry and your local mechanics as well, demand open protocal and systems, for all of our sakes.