A manual transmission is all about simplicity and reliability. Today there are almost no companies in the world, which could not make a quality “mechanical”. Nevertheless, progress is not standing still and all kinds of “automatics” are becoming more and more common in the lives of motorists. Every year automatic transmissions become more and more popular. However, there is one “lousy sheep” in this herd of winners – a robotized transmission. Many drivers tend to consider it more as “manual” than “automatic”. Thus it is a record-breaker according to the quantity of negative responses. What is wrong with the “robot”?
The robotized gearbox (RTC) does look like a manual gearbox in general, but works automatically and does not require any intervention from the driver in the process of gear shifting. At the same time, unlike classic hydraulic automatic transmissions, the work of the “robot” largely depends on the functioning of reliable microprocessor control systems. That is why the RCP is a relatively new type of “automatic machine”, which appeared only in the early 1990s with the advent of affordable and sufficiently high quality microelectronics. And the first “robots” with two clutches only began to appear in mass production in 2003. So what’s wrong with this box?
The root of the problems of robot boxes can be easily guessed from the above description. The problem is that to this day, due to technical features such controls are very complicated. They are literally stuffed with electronics, so the list of possible problems is very wide. The most widespread among them: firmware error and breakage of mechatronic (“clever block”). In both cases, the matter ends with a tow truck and a trip to repair, where you will most likely have to pay a pretty penny. Sad statistics says that in modern “robots” mechatronics break down more often, than the torque converter unit in not the best automatic car.
Of course, the problems with electronics do not cancel the advantages of the automatic transmission. In comparison with the classical automat such gearboxes are much brisker. However, here the choice is everyone’s. We should separately note that the cars with direct gearboxes have problems with clutch more often, that is why it needs to be replaced at regular intervals. However, against a background of problems with mechatronic and firmware, it could be not even mentioned.