Scared of Electronics

Are electronics a real threat of just a perceived one, when it comes to vehicle reliability? Many overlanders are concerned that a vehicle’s electronics will let them down, or that if it does, it is not repairable. This should be put in perspective: In my thirty plus years of overlanding, travelling with vehicles both with and without electronics, I have only once been let down by electronics but on several occasions by mechanical stuff. The electronics breakdown was permanent and the vehicle rendered temporarily useless. In this case the electronic failure was because the non-factory immobilizer fitted was incompatible with the vehicle’s electronics and it damaged the engine control electronics. Five days later, all the way from Austria, the spare arrived and within an hour the vehicle was running again. In at least three of the mechanical breakdowns I have experienced, the vehicle was similarly rendered useless. So I reckon the important questions to ask are: Are electronics less reliable than mechanical components? Both can render a vehicle useless for a time. The answer is no. Modern electronics, by and large, are extremely reliable. Can they easily be fixed without spare parts? Almost never. Are mechanical components necessarily more reliable than electronics? In general it is safe to answer this one, no, as well. Mechanical components are if anything less reliable but the difference is that they can, on many occasions, be temporarily repaired or a plan made.
The most common breakdowns on overland trips are, in no particular order: wheel bearings, exhaust breakages, tyres, radiator cracks/thermostat/overheating, tyres, suspension failures and did I mention tyres? Not electronics! Many, if not most, breakdowns are related directly to lack of maintenance.
The trouble is, you cannot even buy a tractor that isn’t controlled by electronics any more. The value of clever electronics in engines is often under-estimated. It radically reduces emissions (without it, no diesel engine could comply with emission regulations), it protects the engine from over-fueling, making it more reliable, it reduces fuel consumption and makes them quieter.
Some vehicles are overdosed with electronics and this worries me a bit. When items like the height of the suspension is affected, then there is always a nagging feeling about being out of control. I guess I still need to see a spring holding up the vehicle, and not a sensor, attached to a rubber tube, attached to a circuit board, attached to a microchip, doing the same job. Thank heaven they aren’t Microsoft-based or we would have real cause to worry.

Then again, there are some that behave as if they are, and horror stories are appearing. The last one I heard (mid 2010) was a Discovery-3 driver who was stranded in the Moreme Wildlife Reserve Botswana for two weeks to wait for a Land Rover mechanic, equipped not with a box of spanners, but a laptop. The vehicle had bumped a tree, cracked the front bumper and broken one of the airbag sensors. This was enough to completely immobilize the vehicle. The bonnet might as well has a large sign: ‘No user-serviceable parts inside’.