In theory, this sounds sensible. In practice, I have never had a speedometer or tachometer fail (the ones with the needle). Screens in cars seem to go black far more frequently by comparison. Maybe your experience is different than mine...
There are understandable reasons why people are so dismissive of electronics today: When it breaks down, we don't understand why and are left in uncertainty.
Many of us know how a traditional speedometer works: Drive shaft, magnetic eddy current transmission, etc. Or an oil pressure gauge: pressure line, diaphragm ...
When such an instrument fails, we can understand and even
see why: the pressure line or diaphragm is ruptured. Or the speedometer shaft is broken. So we can understand what the problem is, we're not left behind clueless.
Nevertheless, we usually can't fix it at all - and yet we feel still comfortable with it. This is of course because we can estimate the consequences: "Speedometer broken? So what ...".
This is not the case with complex car electronics: The display goes black, and we are left in the dark. Is it the EMU? The CAN-bus? The battery voltage? Will I get home? There are dozens of possible reasons, and a lot of them could pose a serious threat.
I think electronics are relatively reliable these days. And it unquestionably allows things to happen that would never go without it. And many of those things we don't even know about. A modern engine wouldn't work at all without all that. It's just that it's not transparent to us, unfortunately.
In addition, quality is in the hands of the manufacturers. Unlike aircraft or military equipment, components are not always of the quality they should be: costs are cut. And that's why electronic problems are one of the most common causes of failure.
I can therefore understand why the mechanics among us reject it. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that the dream of a fully comprehensible, mechanically controlled car is over. It is no longer possible, firstly because of legal requirements, secondly because the equipment is no longer produced in the required variety and is becoming increasingly rare, thirdly because the ever tighter tolerances for the operating parameters can no longer be guaranteed mechanically, and finally because the effort required would no longer be competitive in view of the ever cheaper to produce and easier to develop electronic circuits that come from the competitors - not to mention the wiring orgies that would be involved in dispensing with bus systems.
I don't think electronics would have to be a problem if the manufacturers set higher standards for their quality and the development cycles were not so excessively fast. And we also contribute to this ourselves: "No Bluetooth 4? Only USB 3 instead of 3.2? Why no heated steering wheel? No color screen? Audio without DSP?"
All this sounds harmless. But it contributes to error susceptibility and EMC problems. Even if my examples here refer only to the Infotainment (because everyone can comprehend that) it applies exactly the same to everything else in the car. Faster, higher, fancier.
Electronics is not bad in my opinion, it is even a blessing in principle. But too much of it produced too cheaply and put on the market too fast, those are the culprits. Not quite so hip, and applied in moderation, it would be perfect.
Paracelsus was right: "The dose makes the poison."
