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 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 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, 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.