The ECU is constantly monitoring every sensor on the vehicle. There is an acceptable operating range of values for each of the sensors. If the values start to stray outside of this range, it will cue a diagnostic code and a CEL. There's no point in cluttering up the dash with all of this information. I would never say that the ECU diagnostics is perfect, but it is far better than the average driver trying to make sense of a bunch of gauges.
Not sure how much better tech has gotten, but my lightning would have a vacuum leak every now and then due to hoses becoming brittle and leaking etc (or the pcv hoses coming loose off the valve covers). It would occur and the truck would act really funky, then finally throw a code (PO171, which tbh isnt all that helpful and you need a tuner to see it). One way i found out if theres an issue before all that started happening was monitoring my short term fuel trims 1&2. At throttle or WOT they should be equal and if not, you got an issue you can solve before it starts becoming worse.
If people cant handle stuff on the display and the road at the same time then maybe they shouldnt be driving.I like people to pay attention to the road. ?
You can't have it both ways--either you're checking the gauges intently enough to notice minute discrepencies between two of them at all different throttle positions or you aren't. I don't personally "check" the radio routinely, and glancing at the speed indicator is one thing, not 25 things, and I don't do it until I'm driving at a steady state. If you aren't actually checking and analyzing the gauges they're a fashion statement, not a necessity. The idea that distracted driving kills people is pretty well proven at this time, and adding more stuff for people to look at on the dashboard when they should be paying attention to the road is...distraction. But I know: this is lake wobegon, where all the drivers are above average.
I personally think its the Driver thats the issue, not the distractions. (This isnt directed at anyone here)
You dont check "25 things at once", or all the gauges at once. You glance at one you care to know about just like you would glance at the spedometer or tach. If after a week or 2 (just an example) of driving you notice your oil temp is like a 150-180 range on cold-hot weather, and then you notice its 210, maybe somethings amiss. You arent glued to it like a book, thats just silly. Also for my previous reference, thats off my SCT monitor which is on the window and on an empty road, noone should be doing WOT runs in traffic.
The problem is that human beings really, really suck at 1) evaluating risk/benefit and 2) evaluating their own performance. Maybe you're right, but it's just as likely that you're wrong and unaware of it. I doubt that many people drive around thinking "man, I really suck at this", but we still see a crapton of avoidable accidents and people in other cars that we think suck at driving; the outcomes simply don't match the expectations. It's really easy to overweight that one time that a gauge was useful, and underweight (or be completely oblivious to) all the rest of the time that a gauge was an unnecessary distraction (however minor that distraction may be; they're cumulative).
I dont disagree with any of that.
Main reason why i opted for the XLT, i did not like the Lariat dash, plus was a bit cheaper.I agree it would suck less if the right side of the lariat dashboard were actually useful.
I have been driving for over 50 years and all my vehicles came with a full compliment of gauges or I added them. I don't have to take my eyes off the road for my peripheral vision to detect that a gauge is reading out of the ordinary. It is then that I look and make a determination if something is wrong. I would like to think everyone that has gauges isn't just starring at them as they drive down the road.
