Thanks Gilly and Ken. I can think of only one word that can possibly describe the needlessly complex, ordained to be problematic system you have explained to me here: Kluge! It takes me back to the Paris Air Show where the great European A-300 Airbus was making it's initial "fly by wire" debut. The pilot had one hand on the yoke and the other on the throttles as the plane lifted off the runway, then settled back down into the trees, bursting into flames. It seems the pilot wanted to take off but the computer wanted to land. The computer won. The throttles were useless in the pilots hand as the electronics were driving them. Perhaps a poor analogy, but some similarity none the less. I borrowed a MB W-124 service CD today so now I have some understanding as to how this Rube-Goldberg thing works.

Garry