The Danger of Tunnel Vision in Automotive Diagnostics: Anchoring, Confirmation Bias, and Premature Closure [E243]
Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z
The Danger of Tunnel Vision in Automotive Diagnostics: Anchoring, Confirmation Bias, and Premature Closure [E243] Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z · Jul 1, 2026
The Danger of Tunnel Vision in Automotive Diagnostics: Anchoring, Confirmation Bias, and Premature Closure [E243]

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The Danger of Tunnel Vision in Automotive Diagnostics: Anchoring, Confirmation Bias, and Premature Closure [E243]
Person

Matt Fonslow

The host of this podcast, who is a professional mechanic and teacher in the automotive industry.

Company

Pico Technology

A company that makes advanced diagnostic equipment for mechanics. Their main tool, an oscilloscope, acts like a heart monitor for a car's electrical system, showing electrical signals as visual waves.

Term

ADAS

The safety features in modern cars, like automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, and blind-spot monitoring. These systems use cameras and sensors that must be perfectly aligned to work safely.

Dodge Durango
Car

Dodge Durango

A large family SUV made by Dodge. In this episode, a Durango was acting like its transmission was broken, but it was actually just stuck in a slow-speed off-road gear because the driver didn't put it in neutral to let it shift back to normal.

Part

TCM

The computer brain that controls an automatic transmission. It decides exactly when the car should change gears based on how fast you are driving.

Term

DTCs

The technical codes stored in your car's computer when a warning light, like the Check Engine light, comes on. Mechanics read these codes to start figuring out what is wrong.

Term

four low

A special low-speed gear setting for off-roading or pulling heavy loads. It makes the car go very slow but gives it massive pulling power. If you try to drive normally on the street in this mode, the engine will rev very high and the car will feel broken.

Term

driveline bind

A jerking or hopping feeling that happens when you turn a four-wheel-drive vehicle sharply on dry pavement. It happens because the front and back wheels are locked together and trying to spin at the exact same speed, even though they need to turn at different speeds.

Concept

anchoring

A mental trap where you focus entirely on the very first clue you get and refuse to change your mind, even when new clues show you might be wrong.

Concept

confirmation bias

A mental habit where you only look for clues that prove your original guess was right, while ignoring obvious signs that prove your guess was wrong.

Concept

premature closure

Stopping your investigation too early because you think you found the answer, without doing the final checks to make absolutely sure you are right.

Part

coil-on-plug

A modern ignition system where every spark plug has its own tiny electrical coil sitting right on top of it to generate the spark. When these coils fail, the engine will misfire and run rough.

Mini Cooper
Car

Mini Cooper

A small, stylish British hatchback owned by BMW. The host talks about a diagnostic mistake on one where a timing chain problem was misdiagnosed as a bad turbocharger.

Term

cam crank correlation

The perfect timing alignment between the top half of the engine (valves) and the bottom half (pistons). If they get even slightly out of sync, the engine will run poorly, and in some cars, the pistons can crash into the valves and destroy the engine.

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