Speedometer off?

[redmed]

My speedometer is 2-3mph off @ 65 compared to my Garmin, Escort Passport & Waze that all agree.

[KuroNekko]

What bothers me is that if the speedometer is off, so is the odometer. And the if it's registering too high, the warranty is expiring earlier than it should... by at least 5,000 miles. That's a lot.

Imprecision is annoying but even if you drive the national average of miles per year (12,000 miles per year), you're going to hit 7 years before 100,000 miles. You'd have to drive over 14,000 miles a year for the car to reach the max mileage before the max age. My case exemplifies this: As a 2011, my powertrain warranty will be expiring in 2018 but my mileage is at ~72,500, considerably less than 100,000.

[Ronzuki]

yup...warranties aye?

[krell]

Hey Ronzuki watch this movie..Flash of Genius...this guy who took on Ford for steeling his variable wiper design.

[BLyons]

What bothers me is that if the speedometer is off, so is the odometer. And the if it's registering too high, the warranty is expiring earlier than it should... by at least 5,000 miles. That's a lot.

Imprecision is annoying but even if you drive the national average of miles per year (12,000 miles per year), you're going to hit 7 years before 100,000 miles. You'd have to drive over 14,000 miles a year for the car to reach the max mileage before the max age. My case exemplifies this: As a 2011, my powertrain warranty will be expiring in 2018 but my mileage is at ~72,500, considerably less than 100,000.

Do you know when yours was built? Mine's also a 2011, but it was built in December 2010 so the warranty expires this month.

[Ronzuki]

Warranty clock starts ticking the moment you take delivery of a brand new vehicle regardless of the MY.

[BLyons]

Warranty clock starts ticking the moment you take delivery of a brand new vehicle regardless of the MY.

Interesting. Mine was used, so I'm not sure when the original owner took delivery, but everything Suzuki was sending to me in the mail mentioned this month.

[DiggerDerrik]

I have stock sized tires with roughly 10k miles on mine. I pass one of those speed limit signs with the digital readout of your speed and when my Speedo says 40 the sign reads 37-38. When I pass the same sign in my pickup going 40 the sign says 40-39. Granted the radar on that sign probably isn’t pinpoint but it’s consistent with both vehicles every time I pass it.

[bdleonard]

This was noticed and discussed here long ago.

Short answer: The speedometer is lying, but the odometer isn't.

Long answer: The law in the US allows speedometers to read fast (aka you're going slower than you think), but does not allow then to read slow (aka you're going faster then you think). Therefore, the speedometer gauge is intentionally biased to read fast. The car, however, knows its actual speed and is "turning" the odometer at the correct rate.

You can easily prove for yourself that the Kizashi knows the correct speed. Find yourself a nice a nice long flat uncrowded stretch of road. Set the cruise control to a speed using the speedometer, say 50 mph. Once traveling at your set speed, change the computer display to the "average speed over time" setting, and reset it. Continue cruising at the speed you set on the speedometer, and you'll notice that the "average speed" the car reports is lower than the speedometer.

[SamirD]

Hey Ronzuki watch this movie..Flash of Genius...this guy who took on Ford for steeling his variable wiper design.

I just looked this up. Sounds fascinating:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_of_Genius_(film)