Drive by wire on cars... does it work well?

[Crazy Cooter]

I'm a pretty big Honda enthusiast and in the latest Honda Tuning magazine it says the new si will be drive by wire.  Anyone have a car like this?  I think the mini's are (Stingray I'm looking in your direction).  I'm curious how well it works.  Is there "lag" between smashing the pedal and actually going?

And the big question is... why have this at all?  If you can't control a car without drive by wire, you really shouldn't be driving.

[Stingray]

I think the mini's are (Stingray I'm looking in your direction).

Don't look at me man, my Mini was built 31 years ago. There's a cable much like a bicylcle brake cable that runs between the gas pedal & the throttle linkage on the carb. About as low-tech as it gets.

-S

[ChadTower]

My Civic is annoying.

The engine just runs, smooth and easy, with very little maintenance.

The front end has been swiss cheese the entire time I have owned it.

[shmokes]

Why would there be lag?  Is there lag when you flip on your light?  At any rate, no there is no lag.  Cars have had partial drive-by-wire for years with Antilock Brakes and more and more often we're getting dynamic stability control that adjusts the speed of the wheels to compensate for slipping on wet roads or for taken corners too fast.  These adjustments are made hundreds of times per second, and all without the driver knowing it.

As to the big question, that's easy.  Because whether or not someone should be driving has very little influence over whether they will be driving.  And even most good drivers are probably safer in a dive by wire car.

I can see, perhaps, a possibility of making ourselves dumber, in the same way that calculators have probably had a negative impact on our ability to do basic math in our heads, or to do division even on paper.  A person who learned to drive in a car with ABS doesn't learn how to properly brake suddenly in a car without ABS, for example.  But overall our roads will be safer, just like overall calculators have advanced our ability to perform mathematics.

[Crazy Cooter]

Why would there be lag?

Beats me, it says there is in the magazine.  Do other cars not have it?
"The lag between throttle input and power delivery is noticable and annoying when you're deep into a bout of spirited driving."

It mentions the throttle sensitivity  .  I've never been in a car that was drive by wire.  I could see maybe traction control in cars so it doesn't "kick" your foot...  But it doesn't say anything about traction control for the civic.

[shmokes]

Well....I don't know.  I would be hard pressed not to believe that the lag was in the guy's head, or deliberately designed in, which seems crazy.  But what do I know.  I've never been in a full drive by wire car either.  There's no reason that there would have to be lag.  Can you imagine the law suits that would result if there were lag on the steering, which is also "by wire" or on the brakes?

[TOK]

No lag... I have a Nissan Titan which has an electronic throttle position sensor.
The action is slightly lighter than any conventional cabled throttle I've used. One neat feature is that the gas pedal is less sensitive when you're backing up. Makes it easier to steer a trailer, etc.

[danny_galaga]

I think the mini's are (Stingray I'm looking in your direction).

 There's a cable much like a bicylcle brake cable

 

see, drive by wire!

[danny_galaga]

No lag... I have a Nissan Titan which has an electronic throttle position sensor.
The action is slightly lighter than any conventional cabled throttle I've used. One neat feature is that the gas pedal is less sensitive when you're backing up. Makes it easier to steer a trailer, etc.

when i see the term 'drive by wire' i think of aircraft systems. since there are a lot of servos etc to activate things in fly by wire, of course there is some sort of lag. a throttle position sensor isnt really any sort of 'drive by wire' device. it purely tells the computer the throttle position so that it can adjust the fuel mixture. the throttle is still worked by a mechanical linkage to your pedal. theyve been around probably as long as stingrays mini!

[Samstag]

I have a "drive-by-wire" throttle.

The "lag" is misleading.

[Stingray]

Corvettes have been full drive by wire for years. I've never heard anyone mention lag, and I read up a lot on those cars. I've never driven a DBW 'Vette myself, though.

-S

[TOK]

No lag... I have a Nissan Titan which has an electronic throttle position sensor.
The action is slightly lighter than any conventional cabled throttle I've used. One neat feature is that the gas pedal is less sensitive when you're backing up. Makes it easier to steer a trailer, etc.

when i see the term 'drive by wire' i think of aircraft systems. since there are a lot of servos etc to activate things in fly by wire, of course there is some sort of lag. a throttle position sensor isnt really any sort of 'drive by wire' device. it purely tells the computer the throttle position so that it can adjust the fuel mixture. the throttle is still worked by a mechanical linkage to your pedal. theyve been around probably as long as stingrays mini!

It is what you're thinking of as drive by wire. It has no cable or direct linkage. The pedal position is sensed and transerred electronically to the butterfly on the intake where an actuator moves it.

There is no lag, unless you have reflexes that can detect the lag of an electronic flow down 10 feet of wire. If anything, the Nissan throttle feels more sensitive than the traditional setup on my other truck. It took some time to get used to.