MINI EDUCATION
ELECTRONICS
Electronics form the basis of today's telecommunications, sound and image recording and computer systems. Electronic systems in cars are responsible for lights, windscreen wipers, central locking, air conditioning, entertainment systems and electric windows.

Before electronics, motor vehicles relied on mechanical systems that could wear out easily. In the 1960s, two main factors were responsible for a revolution in car technologies and support systems.

Firstly, the family car became more popular. Cars like the 'classic Mini' made motoring affordable to many people. The increased demand for cars encouraged manufacturers to improve their designs.

Secondly, the space race between America and Russia led to innovations in engineering and the development of electronics – the one area that has changed the motor car the most. The challenge for engineers was to build machines that could carry out complex navigation and control calculations quickly, while still being small enough to fit on a spacecraft. This led to the development of the silicon chip. This technology reached the general public by the end of the 1970s, with items such as LCD watches and the first home computers.

Cars today are complex machines with many computers that talk to each other and receive information about their surroundings from sensors. Find out more about the electronics used in cars in this section.
AUTOMATIC LIGHTS-ON*
The 'automatic lights-on' system switches on the headlights and all related lighting when the surrounding light drops below a certain level. In addition to brightness, the automatic lights on system also monitors the number of sweeps of the windscreen wipers so the low-beam headlights will be switched on automatically if it is difficult to see during the daytime due to rain or snow.

Automatic lights-on relieves the driver of the bother of switching the headlights on and off manually when driving along stretches of road that keep changing between bright and dark, or when driving at dusk or dawn. Automatic lights-on makes driving safer because it turns the low-beam headlights on when conditions become worse. * Automatic Lights-On is only available as part of the Rain Sensor & Automatic Lights-On option.
POWER MANAGEMENT
Without the option of having a large power cable always attached to a car, or using disposable batteries, a vehicle must be self-sufficient in the storage and supply of electrical energy. Most vehicles convert the rotational energy of the engine into electrical power. To do this, all modern vehicles are fitted with an electrical generator – called an alternator. All vehicles also have a battery that stores electrical power.

A belt is normally used to drive the alternator. Once the engine is running, the alternator produces AC current (alternating current), the same as the electricity supply we have in our homes, but this is quickly converted to direct current (DC). A series of electronic components called diodes are responsible for converting alternating current into direct current, a process known as rectification. The direct current can either be stored in the battery or used immediately by electronic components, such as lights.
ELECTRONIC BRAKEFORCE DISTRIBUTION
Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) guarantees the best, or 'optimum', distribution of the brakeforce between the front and rear wheels of the car. This means that when the driver brakes, full stopping power is guaranteed in all driving situations and regardless of the load being carried.
RAIN SENSOR*
The rain sensor is mounted on the interior of the windscreen and uses beams of infrared light (a wavelength of light not visible to humans) to measure the amount of light reflected from the outer surface of the screen. When it rains, less light makes it back to the sensor and the wipers turn on automatically. The speed of the wipers can be controlled by a switch and depends on the amount of rainfall. * Rain Sensor is only available as part of the Rain Sensor & Automatic Lights-On option.
Bi-Xenon lights
Rain sensor indicator
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