# The most useless accessory in my car is now even more useless **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612 "2012-03-03T01:54:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/21 "2012-03-04T16:56:58Z")
From the [manual](http://www.manualowl.com/am/Hyundai/2003-Santa%20Fe/Manual/704): > [@](#): > > How to adjust the date. > > 1. Whenever “M” button is pushed, the “YEAR”,“MONTH” and “DAY” each blinks in order. > 2. Adjust the date by pushing " (UP)", “(DOWN)” button when the year/month/dayblinks. > 3. After adjusting the date, push “M” button once more and the adjustment is completed. Don’t know how this squares with the actual controls on your car. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/22 "2012-03-04T17:44:29Z")
So? He’s said that he has corrected it before; it’s just damn funny (especially when it rolled right past 31). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/23 "2012-03-04T18:34:23Z")
Sounds like a bounds error of some kind. The leap year code must erroneously bypass the constraints entirely rather than just allowing an extra day. The code probably tells it to rollover on midnight 2/28 but not on leap year, but then doesn’t have any constraint beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/24 "2012-03-05T07:30:09Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Maybe it will hit Feb 99 then, the next day when it tries to roll over, all the electronics will lock up and the car won’t start. Either that or the car will explode. I’ll put my money on it running up to Feb 99 and then rolling over to Feb 00. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/25 "2012-03-06T03:37:27Z")
I’m subscribing to this thread. I know I don’t have to post to do that, but I wanted to announce it. I hardly ever subscribe to any threads, but this one is interesting and likely won’t be finished for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/26 "2012-03-12T01:07:11Z")
[FEB 40](http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh555/Shoeless62/031112141736.jpg) and counting… ---
**Author:** ![MC\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/27 "2012-03-12T02:59:02Z")
Wow, and I thought my Dodge Durango that would go from 3:59 to 3:60, then about 3 seconds later to 4:00 was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/28 "2012-03-12T08:13:25Z")
I reckon it’s got some mis-ordered or mis-nested conditional checks in the code - which probably means it has no way to get out of February in a leap year. That means one of a few things could happen: It might count up to 99, then click back to Feb 01 (maybe 00) - and continue doing this until the end of the year. If the date number is a single byte value, it might continue incrementing it until it gets to Feb 255, then back to Feb 00 or Feb 01 - except that it probably can’t express anything beyond Feb 99 on the display, so it might display nonsense, or nothing, or some kind of truncation (i.e. displaying 01 to 09 instead of 101 to 109, or displaying 10 for the whole of that range) I’d be really interested to hear from someone with experience of programming devices like this - would I be right in assuming it’s got a microcontroller in there? Is it possible to actually write a program with unhandled exceptions that crashes one of these devices, or will it keep on churning through instructions no matter what? ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/29 "2012-03-12T10:32:38Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Apparently leap day has thrown my date display for a loop, because my car still thinks it’s February. Yesterday the date display said FEB 30. Today it says FEB 31. So now this useless accessory is even more useless because it’s WRONG! Has it been going through to 31 on months that have only 30 days? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/30 "2012-03-12T16:53:34Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I’ll put my money on it running up to Feb 99 and then rolling over to Feb 00. At that point it will tear a hole in the time/space continuum and nobody can say what happens then. Just keep it below 88 MPH! ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/31 "2012-03-12T17:05:22Z")
You car is just trying to give Black History Month the support it deserves. “Shortest month of the year? Fuck that!” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/32 "2012-03-12T20:26:08Z")
It’s still February…for extremely large values of February. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/33 "2012-03-13T13:00:29Z")
If they were being really efficient with their bits it might roll over at Feb 64 (63 even?). Though given it didn’t roll over at 32 means it probably won’t at 64. Reminds me of one of my lazy habits. I put stuff in the microwave and almost allways put in something for like 66 seconds, 99 seconds, 2:22, 3:33, 9:99 minutes and so on. So my microwave allows seconds that should not be allowed to exist under human laws. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/34 "2012-04-02T00:25:49Z")
Update: It’s [FEB 61](http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh555/Shoeless62/040112191042.jpg), and that’s no joke. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/35 "2012-04-02T12:51:19Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Update: It’s [FEB 61](http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh555/Shoeless62/040112191042.jpg), and that’s no joke. So May 8th is when it’s gonna presumably read “Feb 99”, yeah? That means May 9th is the day to really watch for on this thread… (_Sets Google Calendar reminder_) ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/36 "2012-04-02T18:38:42Z")
I wonder — is there any apocalyptic sect/myth/legend that sets 5/10/2012 as the date for The End™? If so, the clock in the **Shoeless** mobile may be trying to tell us something. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/37 "2012-04-02T18:47:55Z")
I think Feb 99 is when this happens, except to the OP’s car instead (link safe for work but kinda loud). [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nck5Qcwq7fU) Hint to OP. Pack some extra food and water. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/38 "2012-05-09T19:18:40Z")
By my back of the napkin calculations, today is Feb 99, 2012: 29 days in Feb 31 days in Mar (to Feb 60, as it were) 30 days in April (to Feb 90, as it were) so May 9th = Feb 99. So how’s it looking on that 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe today, **Shoeless**? And needless to say, please do tell us what it shows tomorrow morning!! ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/39 "2012-05-09T19:22:12Z")
So the world ends tomorrow? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612/40 "2012-05-09T21:18:57Z")
It does indeed say FEB 99 today. I checked this morning before I left for work. I haven’t actually driven the car since the weekend because the weather has been so nice I’ve been taking the bike to work. I’ll check it again tomorrow and let y’all know what happens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless/614612.md?page=3)