Modern stuff and Volvo

@CALNNC posted:

I have mentioned before that in my retirement biz, I fix the latest tech radio gear, full of SMD devices which make tech function wonderful but repair a pain beyond belief.  Parts for this gear are not available at the normal parts houses or the manufacturer, being marked 'obsolete', parts that are still being installed in gear still being made and sold.  I have to buy them all from China and Taiwan, that is the scary part of how fast the tech changes.

I hear you about parts availability.  None of my stuff that I make is more than about eight years old.  However, I already have to scout around for substitute parts for things when I have a new batch manufactured.  Many of the parts we used to repair Lionel and MTH boards are already out of production and marked obsolete, so I get those from the Far East.  I'm working on a new board, and I'm trying to be careful to pick "generic" parts that have plenty of drop in substitutes so that it won't be immediately obsolete before the first run!  Just that selection process is a mini-minefield.

For years before I retired, I worked in avionics design, we had to plan on a 20 year service life for anything we manufactured.  I don't even want to think about the complexity of doing that in today's component climate!  We had shelves and shelves of "last time buy" parts for stuff that was going obsolete so we'd have parts for twenty years of production and repairs.  And people wonder why avionics cost so much...

It astounds me that with such expensive equipment there aren't parts available. Okay, I can see a 99 buck microwave oven not being fixable or the like, we know that is throway junk, but it is amazing how much high end stuff is not repairable. I had that with a Kohler whirlpool tub, the main valve base might need to be replaced, when I talked to Kohler they were like "We stopped carrying that part 5 years after we discontinued the tub model"...meanwhile, you don't replace a tub every couple of years and Kohler is notorious for their fixtures being 'exclusive' parts. Yeah, I realize we are talking small production items, no third party support because it is small, but wow.

And yeah, it would be kind of nice if there was some sort of limp home capability in the trains, that they might revert to being able to be run conventionally or something. Cars have that with the ECU, it has "limp home mode" similar to what the OP mentioned on Volvos, that won't allow you to go fast but will allow you to get someplace usually.