History of GM Software

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homesick

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This is a general GM history, and plan for the future. It's not short, but is, hopefully, worthwhile.

As is common for me, I couldn't find what I thought was the correct place for it, so please move it as needed.


joe
 

2024 White Tahoe

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This is a general GM history, and plan for the future. It's not short, but is, hopefully, worthwhile.

As is common for me, I couldn't find what I thought was the correct place for it, so please move it as needed.


joe


I did not watch the video.

I bought my first GM car with engine software - a new 1981 Chevrolet Citation 4-door HB with the 2.5 litre 4 cylinder engine and a 3-speed automatic transmission.

I did not buy it for the software, but as an economical and practical family car as my wife and I had two young children.

It featured the “CCC” engine - Computer Command Control. It was advertised to adjust the air-fuel mixture 10 times per second.

The system was poorly designed and executed. The engine would surge and idle roughly, and if the a/c was turned on - the whole car would shake.

Now, more than 40 years later, my 2024 Tahoe Premier 4WD and my wife’s 2025 Equinox RS AWD have numerous software issues and defects, with very confusing controls and features.

You would think by now that GM software engineers would be able to “get it right”? They never will.
 

Rocket Man

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Thanks for that, Joe. It took me back to my days as an electronic tech and we were a Chrysler Electronics authorized repair center. We received through UPS all the various vehicle electronic modules from all the Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep dealerships in 5 western states. We had pretty sophisticated test setups provided by Chrysler Electronics and we did component-level troubleshooting and repair. This was the 80’s and vehicle electronics were pretty new. I remember doing software changes to the systems was done by actually replacing the cpu on the module. We could hook them up and test them, program functions and mileage, but not update software. They would send the computers in to us and we would replace the surface-mounted chips which wasn’t exactly easy. Must have cost them a fortune when they discovered an issue. I remember 5% of the parts caused 95% of the problems. It was always the same transistor, chip, etc just in a different location.
 

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