How dependent are you on electronics?

" V8 Rustler" (handschaltgetriebe6)
09/19/2014 at 10:52 • Filed to: None

So If tomorrow there was some kind of EMP, will you still be able to do your job and drive your car?

inb4 will not be able to browse oppo/jalopniks.

DISCUSSION (26)

My citroen won't start > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 10:54

My car might work better.

atrombs > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 10:55

Not a chance for my Job. It is email-centric. And I'm pretty sure my 2014 Focus wouldn't run either. :-(

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 10:56

hardly anyone would be able to drive due to batteries being fried, some people would be able to push start? I suppose spark plugs would still function?

In other words, I would be very bored. No car, no internet, I'd probably go for a bike ride, lol.

Moves-Like-Senna > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 10:56

I panic if my phone isn't in my pocket, in my hand or on my desk. It's my livelihood, my social life and my family life. It's everything for me, so I think I'd flip and turn into the hulk.

CAcoalminer > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 10:56

Job: No

Cars: No

I'd better hurry up and buy that E-Type.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 10:58

Considered that I'm a student, I can study just fine with no power. It's going to get mighty uncomfortable though, seeing as it's the tropics. Accounting is going to get much harder without the use of calculators. Getting anywhere will be limited to how far I can get on a bike before exhaustion sets in.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 10:59

I might need to install an industrial faraday cage in my garage...

FKA-RacecaR > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:01

Work, no...because tomorrow would be Saturday...no work anyway!!

I'd just hang out at the house. Screw around outside, play with the kids and dog. Build a campfire around sun down and call it a day.

Nibbles > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:01

I'm a systems engineer. I wouldn't be able to work per se, but I'd likely be tapped in the rebuild process ;)

KirkyV > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:01

Nope and nope. My car's fairly simple, honestly - it doesn't even have ABS - but it still has an ECU. As for my job... Well, I'm a part-time supermarket cashier, so for one thing, no one'll be buying anything - EMPs and looting go together like Diablo and... looting - and for another, we rely on electronic tills.

Bad Idea Hat > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:01

Simple;

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:05

Rover - probably fine unless close enough to fuse the points or overload the primitive voltage regulator. Mercedes, it's anyone's guess - it's a diesel.

At work, I don't have enough graph paper to do my job sans AutoCAD, really. The welders, brake and shear would probably still work, but the punch might be gone, so I'm not sure if whatever I drew would be possible to make.

 V8 Rustler > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
09/19/2014 at 11:11

Your work sounds pretty cool. What do you design?

 V8 Rustler > KirkyV
09/19/2014 at 11:13

You could grab a pen and write on a paper what people bought.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
09/19/2014 at 11:18

Most car batteries should be fine, the EMP wouldn't induce enough current to fry the battery before the wires would melt. An EMP is dangerous because of the damage it causes to electronic devices and electrical distribution, not so much stuff like batteries.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:19

Sheet metal (mostly) for air temp and humidity control conditioners and insulated chambers. Also miscellaneous research, system sizing, and other things.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > Nibbles
09/19/2014 at 11:19

I'm in this boat, our company would be working damn near 24/7 if something like this happened.

KirkyV > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:21

I could, but it'd be a logistical nightmare to keep track of inventory without the computers, and with the amount of things that people tend to buy at my store - it's where people go for their weekly loads of shopping and such - it'd be incredibly difficult to keep up with it all. Oh, and we'd have no easy way of telling how much anything costs, as we rely on the barcodes for the prices of items. Someone would have to go around and compile a list of the prices of every item in the store, and then we'd have to reference every item against a list of thousands.

Again, though, I think people wouldn't really be in a buying mood.

T5Killer > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:38

My car is EFI so I would be screwed and my job is 100% on computers. So no work for me.

CKeffer > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 11:41

I'm a 3d modeler and animator, so yeah my job would be fucked. I own a 2014 FoST, 2013 Mazda3 hatch, and a 1999 Mazda Miata, so my cars would be fucked as well. Good news is, the guns and grill would be fine, so security and food would still be a possibility.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again.
09/19/2014 at 12:02

Ah ok, I was thinking too much about the tv show Revolution, which is fascinating though, what if the ability to generate electricity is taken away??? I think the show is erroneous in having zero cars running. Simple diesel engines should be able to get push started, right? As long as it's not cold out and would require the glow plugs.

So basically with an EMP, any car w/o a computer would still run?

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
09/19/2014 at 12:09

Yeah, lights and stuff wouldn't though. If an EMP went off in a first world country we would have absolute chaos, people in hospitals would die, and if it was winter in freezing temps tons of old people would die as well. A big solar flare is much scarier, as it would wipe out EVERYTHING. Basically anything that contains wire would fry/start on fire, and we would be in worse shape than the 1800's, so many things we do rely on some form of electronic control.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again.
09/19/2014 at 12:25

Time to become an EMP-specific doomsday prepper, lol.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
09/19/2014 at 12:45

If you ever get the chance to acquire manual machining equipment, that's the stuff that will be useful.

NaturallyAspirated > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 13:12

EMPs are highly unlikely to make a vehicle undrivable. In tests, no cars were damaged if the engine wasn't running when the EMP detonated. Only one car out of 37 tested wouldn't re-start after the EMP killed the engine. 25 out of 37 had "nuisance damage" such as dashboard gauges acting erratically and flashing warning lights.

Here's a link: http://www.futurescience.com/emp/vehicles.h…

Flugtechnik > V8 Rustler
09/19/2014 at 13:24

Nope, fairly screwed. Although, I do have a running 1972 motorcycle that I could likely use to get my family and some supplies out of the city if necessary. Although I fitted it with an electronic ignition, I have the old mechanical points on hand for a quick replacement just for this reason. "One Second After" really shed some light on this problem for me.