Tuesday, September 10, 2024

The blessings of technology

Well, there’s an update to my adventure last week with Das Auto. My neighbor, who will be returning from a month in Turkey this weekend, asked me to take the Tiguan to his mechanic. (They’re local and also have a shuttle service.) The remit was to check the battery situation and do an oil change.

The gods of German engineering were with me yesterday morning, as the car started without needing to be jumped. I got it to the garage and came home via the shuttle.

Then the garage guy called to give me the estimate: around $470.

That’s largely because of the car's battery performance management system (AKA: computer). Apparently you can’t just swap out an old battery for a new one. No, you have to inform the BPMS that it now has a new battery, and program it to not overcharge what it thinks is an old one. That would fry the thing.

Well, my neighbor wasn’t happy about that. Had me call the garage where I take my Saab. (They told me the same thing about the BPMS, quoted a similar cost and added, for good measure, that they’re backed up on the German side of things, so they wouldn’t be able to get to Das Auto for several weeks.) Then he asked me to call the VW dealer to find out if the battery is still under warranty. Ah. It turns out that all VW battery warranties are for three years or 36K miles.

So, no.

Still waiting for my neighbor’s decision, but the thing is: there is no way anyone can get him, his wife and all the luggage they took to Turkey in my Saab. So I think he’s going to have to bite the $470 bullet before the weekend.

Also—I’m so glad my car is too old to have a computerized system around the battery. When it dies, all you have to do is pull out the old one and drop in the new.

 

©2024 Bas Bleu





 

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