They're called IDIOT LIGHTS for a good reason!

[the toy guy]

They should design the cars so that, when one of the indicator lights is on, it screams in pain every time you hit the gas.

Seriously, though, they could make completely automated, self-driving cars, and people would still screw them up through sheer stupidity.

[Broomjockey]

I also say "hot water heater".

That's not redundant, it's oxymoronic. Oxymoronized. That thing where it makes sense but doesn't.

'cause you see, it doesn't heat hot water, it heats cold water. It makes it hot. So technically you should call it a cold water heater.

[Sonoma]

Or just the water heater.

[Automan Empire]

I swear, I cannot make this stuff up.
Customer this morning with a very urgent, concerned voice: "There's this thing on my dash, and I don't know what it MEEEEEEEANS!"
Me: Okay, what is this thing?
(referring to the text message box) "It says multiple bulb failures! What does that meeeeeeean?"

Okay, it means you're FRICKING STUPID, is what it means! To see this message, it means you've been driving around with a message saying position lamp failure or some such... driving around, not worried, for however long it takes for another bulb to get old and burn out.

It means you're too stubbornly stupid to get out and walk around the car and notice various lamps are in a state of bilateral asymmetry, meaning one side lit, other side dark. You've also got one headlight out, which any awake person ought to notice even from the driver seat.

It means, you need to call someone to do all of your thinking for you! And the icing on the cake? The fact that when you arrive, the owners manual is on the passenger seat, open and paperclipped to the page describing the warning lamps!

So, you tell me, what does it mean that you can't GET that?????????????

[cinema guy]

I have to admit to having a strange warning light come on on a car and ringing the garage straight away.

Garage: "What does the light look like?"
Me: "It is like a dustbin with a propellor on the front."

Turns out it was the coolant. How that indacted the coolant was low, I still don't know.

[Bosch]

I have to admit to having a strange warning light come on on a car and ringing the garage straight away.

Garage: "What does the light look like?"
Me: "It is like a dustbin with a propellor on the front."

Turns out it was the coolant. How that indacted the coolant was low, I still don't know.

If you got a owners manual with the car - RTFM, if not you did the right thing by calling..

The lady above same thing - RTFM!

[dalesys]

If you got a owners manual with the car - RTFM, if not you did the right thing by calling..

The lady above same thing - RTFM!

RTFM = Read The Flying Manual? But I'm not driving a plane...

[SpyOne]

In ... 1978? The Honda Accord had 3 little indicators on the dashboard to keep track of scheduled maintenance. I know one was oil change, I don't recall what the other two were. As the miles went by, they'd turn from green to yellow, and eventually red.

To reset them, you just needed to slide the ignition key into a slot on the dashboard: one slot for each indicator.
Those "Check Engine" lights should do the same thing: there should be an easy way for the operator to reset it, even if it is the foolish "I'm choosing to ignore that".

[AriRashkae]

My sexy little Yaris has one of those.

Half the places I go don't know how to shut it off.

It annoys my husband because he prefers to change the oil himself, but until he can reset his Yaris, he has to schlep it to the dealer. So I'm getting him a car geek toy for his birthday.

[Mister]

When every new car is fitted with more computers and electronics then the last one, wouldn't it be possible for an indicator light to indicate not only the problem, but the estimated cost for fixing the problem as well?

I imagine a bright display saying: "Fixing this problem will cost you approximately $XX" will prompt any driver to visit a garage. Having the number going up each second the car is still moving will prompt the driver to hit the brakes even on a railway crossing.

[Salted Grump]

I don't doubt that repairs gone wrong can kill and that racing and/or modified vehicles can be quite dangerous.

That being said, how many mass-produced cars or bikes are you going to run across that have a problem like this that will so quickly kill you without any warning at all?

(And I'm not being sarcastic here - I'm just really curious.)

Honestly, not that many. About the only way a car's engine will Kaboom on ya is if A: you're in a top-fuel dragster, or B: you're using damaged parts as if they were brand new. All things considered, to cause the Cylinders to try to exit the car post-haste is generally chalked up as a freak accident, because of the standards the parts get tested to.

I figure 99% of Vehicular fatalities can be chalked up to 'Operator error', though there are rare occasions where, for example, you can smack a pothole, and actually cut the brake line.

Or, you can point at a Pinto riding on Firestone 550 Bias-Ply tires. (Aptly called Ford's attempt to clear out the Gene Pool; that thing was unsafe at any speed)

And, finally, in the 'anecdotal evidence' category, many earlier SUVs (late 80's early 90's) had Low-hanging gastanks that would be hit first in a SUV-Car Collision from the rear. Bumpers would miss, so the car would ride under the SUV, clip the gastank, and well... there were several reports of the entire tank going up in a cloud of fumes and sparks. You can guess the result.

[Argabarga]

When every new car is fitted with more computers and electronics then the last one, wouldn't it be possible for an indicator light to indicate not only the problem, but the estimated cost for fixing the problem as well?

I imagine a bright display saying: "Fixing this problem will cost you approximately $XX" will prompt any driver to visit a garage. Having the number going up each second the car is still moving will prompt the driver to hit the brakes even on a railway crossing.

Devilishly clever! I love it!

[Bosch]

Devilishly clever! I love it!

however you forget that newer better idiots will still ignore since the cost no matter how cheap will be to expensive and they will wait for it to go "on sale".. Thus never getting repaired..

[Geek King]

however you forget that newer better idiots will still ignore since the cost no matter how cheap will be to expensive and they will wait for it to go "on sale".. Thus never getting repaired..

Also, imagine the SCs you'd get when the repair is over that amount. I can hear it now: "But the Caaar said it would only cost $xx!!"

[Pagan]

Me: "It is like a dustbin with a propellor on the front."

Turns out it was the coolant. How that indacted the coolant was low, I still don't know.

It's a fan....Fans cool things....Coolant