13 Sept 2016

And Then, Deflation...

Did I mention the car had one of they services and MOT do-dads a couple or three months ago? Part of that fun , to get a pass in the MOT exam, was the ‘need’ for four new tyres.

Now this car has a computer fitted, if  ‘fitted’ is the right word, wot alerts you to various bad stuff that has started happening and I’d had tyre deflation warnings and the required reflation fun for a few weeks prior so I wasn’t in the slightest bit surprised, and more than happy, to get new tyres.

So far, so boring. Then, a few days ago, with all new tyres fitted, up popped the deflation warning again. This required another trip to the garage. Faulty tyre? That would be a new, free puppy, right?

Over the past few days I traced the problem to the front right simply by checking pressures all round daily  and wondered why my on-board Mr cleaver computer couldn’t give me this simple breakdown of the facts rather than the blanket Deflation Warning.

Never mind. End result was the fitting of a new tyre that cost me money as they found a nail through the ‘old’ guy. Puncture repair? Nah; new tyre. Of course there’s absolutely no chance what-so-ever that the garage whacked the nail in so’s to circumvent the need to go through all that pesky warranty claiming thingy from a huge tyre manufacturer, right? Never crossed my mind - other than to wonder, too late, why I didn’t look at the tyre in more detail.

Anyhoo, all done so I set off for home. I hadn’t driven but fifty yards when that damn computer started beeping at me again! Looking down at the screen it wasn’t tyres this time; it was warning me that I still had the hand-break on. A quick glance in that little mirror that hangs down over the front windscreen confirmed this to be true and I was so glad of the timely warning as I look absolutely ridiculous in a hand-break.

See? Mr cleaver clogs computer can’t tell me which tyre’s in trouble but knows what I’m wearing. There must be an App to sort that.

Quote;  J. G. Ballard.

“After being bombarded endlessly by road-safety propaganda it was almost a relief to find myself in an actual accident.”

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