What does the computer in a car do?

All cars manufactured today contain at least one computer -- but what does it do? Check out this HowStuffWorks podcast to learn more about car computers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuffworks dot com where
smart Happens. I am Marshall Brain with today's question, what
does the computer in a car do? All cars manufactured
today contain at least one computer. It's in charge of
monitoring engine emissions and adjusting the engine to keep emissions
as low as possible. The computer receives information from many

(00:24):
different sensors, including the oxygen sensor, the air pressure sensor,
the air temperature sensor, the engine temperature sensor, the throttle
position sensor, the knock sensor, and so on. Using the
information from these sensors, the computer can control things like
the fuel injectors, the spark plugs, and the idle speed

(00:45):
to get the best performance possible from the engine while
keeping emissions low. The computer can also sense when something
has gone wrong, and it can inform the driver with
the check engine light. A mechanic can read a diagnostic
code from the computer and fix the problem. Do you
have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so,

(01:06):
please send me an email at podcast at how stuff
works dot com. For more on this and thousands of
other topics, go to how stuff works dot com.