Downtown Rotary
Heidi Doerhoff Vollet
. . . or Ford or Chevy or Dodge or pickup. Today's vehicles pack a lot of technology under the hood, and in other places too, and that technology was the subject of remarks by Jim Brandon to the Rotary Club of Jefferson City at its December 12 meeting. Jim is chair of the Automotive Technology department at Linn State Technical College.
"The average car now contains 15 to 20 computers," he said, which control everything from ignition timing to air bags to the radio to global positioning devices. The need for specialized equipment and training to interact with those computers is among the trends pushing auto maintenance toward dealerships, which specialize in a limited number of automotive makes. While requiring less maintenance than older vehicles, new ones require more specialized maintenance. Jim discussed the pros and cons of new and emerging technologies, most of which are aimed at making cars and trucks safer and more fuel efficient. Although imports have a reputation for technological advancement, he said, "new automotive technology usually starts in the United States, and a lot of what we think of as overseas technology actually came from right here at home." Click here to view the slides from Jim's presentation.
