A New Era in Car Repairs Could Usher in Substantial Changes in the Future

Car repairs can be a major hassle for consumers. That's why there are laws in place to protect buyers whose vehicles turn out to be defective. A California lemon law attorney can offer to help car owners who need to take advantage of consumer protection laws due to repeated problems with their cars.

While repairs are a pain because motorists need to take their car to a dealer – or other mechanic – and wait for fixes, that could soon be changing. In fact, Turn to 10 recently reported that Consumer Reports is exploring new trends in vehicle fixes.

The Future of Car Repairs

According to Turn to 10, Consumer Reports helped to usher in a new era of car repairs recently by recommending a fix for Tesla Model 3 vehicles.

Consumer Reports discovered an issue with the brakes on the Model 3 during its rigorous testing process. When alerted of the issue, Tesla was able to make fixes and correct the problem with an over-the-air update.  In other words, they fixed the braking system virtually, over the air, rather than having any Tesla 3 owners actually bring their cars into the dealer.  This type of over-the-air fix is being touted as a potential future trend in the car repair process.

Making repairs by updating computer software in vehicles is almost assuredly going to become a growing trend.  Today, many new cars operate on a myriad of different software program and much of the operation of modern vehicles is controlled entirely by computers.

Further, an estimated seven in 10 new car brands make wireless data connections available. These connections are used by car dealers to send over-the-air updates to accomplish tasks such as updating the maps drivers used for navigation on built-in GPs devices. But, as the recent Tesla 3 fix shows, the over-the-air connections don't have to be used just for minor things, such as helping motorists to add satellite radio or get new GPS maps. 

If car manufacturers can begin using over-the-air systems to correct problems that develop after the car is released, this could revolutionize the ways in which recalls occur and could significantly increase the number of people whose vehicles actually get fixed in circumstances where a problem is discovered.

Consumer Reports indicates that the prospect of using over-the-air technology for repairs could be a major boon to car owners and auto makers. Owners won't have to deal with going to the dealership and being without a vehicle or stuck with a loaner, and car manufacturers likely will save money when it's possible to correct problems on thousands or even millions of vehicles just by sending out a virtual fix over the air. 

Even if you can have your vehicle repaired electronically without taking it into the dealer, you still don't want to drive a car with tons of problems. If a vehicle you buy turns out to be defective, contact a California lemon law attorney to explore the remedies available to you under the law.