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Re:They Used To Last 50 Years by CWuestefeld on Monday March 20, 2017 @11:54AM (#13915198)
The problem with modern vechicles is that automatic transmission--still. At around 135,000 those sensors, those plates, that OD unit just start to wear out. ... but when it's the Over Drive unit, or the transmission needs a rebuild ...

I don't think OD units are a thing on modern cars anymore. That higher top gear is just going to be another gear inside the transmission. Indeed, on FWD cars with a transaxle, there's really no alternative because it's all a single unit.

Re:They Used To Last 50 Years by ptaipale on Monday March 20, 2017 @03:42PM (#13917051)
Yes. I was very confused when I got a rental car in the U.S. in about 2004 and it had a separate switch and yellow indicator light for "OD". In Europe such a thing was so ancient history that I'd never seen one and I had to read the car's handbook to understand what it meant.
Re:They Used To Last 50 Years by Arizhel on Monday March 20, 2017 @06:26PM (#13918194)
I thought the entire reason to have an OD disable switch is for towing.
Re:They Used To Last 50 Years by brokenmachine on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @12:20AM (#13919848)
I seem to remember something in the manual of an old car I had with an OD switch about it making it not change gears repetitively when going up a slight incline?