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Whenever you smell burning rubber coming from your car, you know something's up. But what? It could be the breaks, the tires, or one of the many tubes in the engine itself.
A solution for this is to make each part have a different scent. That way you would know how big of an emergency you're in
and what exactly the problem is.
The smells could really be anything as long as they're distinct and different. Perhaps the more urgent the problem, the grosser the smell, to entise people to actually get it fixed.
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bliss: I've met a lot of women in Sweden with Volvas, but none that smell of chocolate. + |
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The smells ARE distinct - it's just that your nose isn't refined enough. Upgrade your nose. |
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It would take a really strong scent to mask the gross smell of burning rubber, which, if present, would indicate that something was about to catch fire or already had. Which is a pretty big emergency. So haven't you negated your own idea? |
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@egbert: the idea is to use different rubbers that make different smells when they burn. Sorry, I don't think I was clear enough. |
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Welcome [guy]. An interesting idea but, I fear not worth the effort. I can already tell the difference between brakes and tires (even without an upgraded nose). A failed coolant hose also yields a distinct smell, eventually. |
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Mmmm been there. I had an old escort and the catalytic converter died. Every time the engine strained from a hill, or an attempt at acceleration the car stunk of a rotten egg, sulfury smell. rather unpleasant. |
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//What is it that goes awry and makes that fartish smell in cars I wonder?//
That would be the driver, shirley. |
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I don't really get how this works on a practical level. Every part of the car liable to failure has its own unique smell, which is released when failure is imminent? Where are these aromas stored and what is the mechanism of their release? |
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Furthermore, if your widget is just about to explode, and the car can somehow detect the situation, can't the "widget about to explode" sign illuminate? After all, what if you have a cold that day? |
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Also, I suspect a car has many more parts that are liable to failure than the number of discrete scents we can distinguish. (*sniff* Hmm, is that April lilac, meaning my carburetor is melting, or Welsh lavender, meaning my timing belt is about to fly off?) |
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My grandpa works on this same principle. |
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Just last night I could smell that his malfunction was an excess of rum. And the night before that I think he blew a gasket. *rimshot* |
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Errr... What if you've got a cold? |
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It sounds like various problems do have various smells. what we need is a scratch and sniff guide to the smells. |
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Or an odor analyzer that could tell you which part is burning. |
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Each part does already have a distinct smell |
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It is a matter of having a trained nose... |
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I Like RBStimers idea of having a scratch and sniff guide - that is cool. |
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//bliss: I've met a lot of women in Sweden with Volvas, but none that smell of chocolate. + //
volvas,vulvas or volvos .which one is it?
be a bit worried if it smelled like chocolate |
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Fluids in the car are already color-coded to make identification of leaks easier. Why not different smells for different malfunctions? |
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