What is "Drive by Wire" technology

I have a 2002 Accord SE, we are thinking of trading in and getting an end of season 2007-SE. I noticed in the sales stuff, Drive by Wire technology. What is this? And is it good? Do the 2007's 2.4 4 cylinder engines perform better then the 02.

How are the 07's. still well made????

Thanks

Reply to
Firebird
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Instead of the gas pedal directly increasing and decreasing the flow of gasoline, it is connected to the computer which then decreases in increases the flow of gasoline. Advantage can be better performance and emissions. Some people claim their engine hesistates though as the computer decideds whether or not you are serious when you pound on the gas pedal.

Reply to
Art

Controlling things electrically rather than by tugging on a steel cable; e.g. when you depress your gas pedal, it sends an electronic signal to the fuel injectors to increase the fuel flow rather. In the old days, the gas pedal was connected to the carburetor by that steel cable that always stretched when you stomped on it repeatedly to go faster.

Reply to
Slacker

art & slacker

in a fuel injected car, gas flow is /already/ controlled by the computer

- amount injected does not necessarily depend on throttle position.

a better definition is that the /throttle/ is controlled by electronic signal rather than pedal linkage. that way, the computer decides air flow as well as gas injection.

advantages include better economy and better shifting for automatics, as well as easier implementation of cruise control. doesn't make a whole heap of difference to the driver experience unless you have a sports car with paddle shifters.

Reply to
jim beam

The gas pedal is connected not to the engine, but to a computer. Your foot is telling the computer what you want; the computer is telling the engine what to do so that you get what you want.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

I've found this hesitation to be there on my 2007 Civic LX, FYI. Annoying, but I suppose I can live with it.

brian

Reply to
Brian Beuchaw

No timing belt, I think it has a chain...don't have to worry about the belt snapping, but I suppose the chain can go too!>

Reply to
Andy

Have not had or heard of any problems with the 07s, been driving the EX4 since November, after driving a 2004 EX4 for three years. The engine and suspension are both tuned a little differently, I seem to be getting about 2mpg less on the 2007, but it has somewhat better low-end response.

Great cars, they go right where you point them, no problems. :)

J.

Reply to
JXStern

BUT, it runs Microsoft Windows CE, which is known among programmers to have ~15 bugs per hundred lines of code.

Imagine trying to merge on the high speed interstate road, and the computer gets a blue screen and needs to be reset!

Remember the Shanandoah, the US stealth ship, an, Arleigh Burke class destroyer that was stranded out to sea for three days waiting to be towed to port, because of a software bug in the kernel that shut down the engines, even though Microsoft programmers and engineers were aboard on trials, they couldn't fix it!

Similar problems with British Class 45 ships...

Guys, switch to Linux! NASA proved it, when they switched! All robotic missions run Linux! System updates can be done remotely, and have, for all the Mars Rovers!

Reply to
Oldtech

No it doesn't.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

Can't speak as to whether it has a chain or belt, but generally chains last *lots* (tens of thousands of miles) longer than belts.

brian

Reply to
Brian Beuchaw

a lot of interior electronics modules do, but the engine management systems definitely don't.

Reply to
jim beam

and it's pointless. chains stretch. when that happens, timing goes out. and when timing's out, fuel efficiency goes down. so the vehicle costs more to run and is more polluting. much better to have belts and just stick to a maintenance schedule. with over 100k miles between changes, it's not like this is a major scheduling problem. if a belt change costs $500, that's 0.5 cents per mile. pretty small beer in comparison to other running costs. pretty small beer in comparison to bad timing costs as well.

Reply to
jim beam

Chains stretch when bathed? I thought oil film prevents any kind of metal-to-metal contact.

Reply to
Phil

only way to achieve separation is to exceed a certain velocity or to use forced lube. it's called hydrodynamic lubrication. the sliding parts of chains are neither forced nor move fast enough. rate of stretch is not high, but on a long chain run, like you get with overhead cams, you can get quite a lot of timing drift.

Reply to
jim beam

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