email from your car's parts

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Suzanne M. Johnson" <sjohnson () pobox com>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 11:12:11 -0800
To: dave () farber net
Subject: email from your car's parts

(the difficult part may be figuring out how to identify email from your car
so it is not discarded as SPAM...)


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/technology/circuits/27next.html?8cir

March 27, 2003
Your Brake Pads May Have Something to Say (by E-Mail)
By IAN AUSTEN

TURNING the key in a car's ignition does more than bring the engine roaring
to life. It also starts a steady stream of data flowing. Small computers
throughout the car gather information from an array of sensors to control
motor functions, like firing the spark plugs, and mechanical operations,
like shifting automatic transmission gears. Computers sometimes even
briefly wrest control from the driver to stop brakes from locking on
slippery roads or to prevent out-of-control spins.

But the data may have a role to play beyond the car's minute-to-minute
functioning. Automakers hope it can be recycled to help maintain a car as
well as operate it. By harvesting the digital signals and transmitting them
to a central database, researchers plan to develop systems that could warn
motorists and mechanics of potential problems before a breakdown occurs.

"A lot of people think this is way in the future, but this is very doable,"
said Jack Rozint, the manager of the fleet telematics unit of the Vetronix
Corporation, a company in Santa Barbara, Calif., that makes diagnostic
computers and other automotive products. "This is just a better way to make
sure your vehicle is running correctly."

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