Should The Check Engine Light Be Banned In Favor Of A More Informative Display?

Yes. It would help educate drivers on various critical systems. But other than that it has no benefit. You still have to go to the dealer to have them diagnose it with their own equipment.

Depends on the car. I use VAGcom to read any codes for VW/Audi. Typically on the cars that had a light pop up it was something like a oil or gas cap that wasn't tightened down. Had one pop up because the dipstick wasn't pushed all of the way in.

While yes the issues were corrected in under 5 minutes by me, but the Check Engine light is a gold mine to the average dealer. they can tell whatever they want to to boost the bill. The way it is now, you depend on the honesty of the person working on your car.

Almost all vehicles now kick out error codes when there is a problem.
It should be fairly simple to translate and display the error message along with the relative severity of the problem.

Lame.

"I don't drive a German or Korean car, so I don't ever see the "Check Engine" - spy6

- And people call me a Troll?

Yes...yes...yes ! Why do so many people have to go to a dealership because their "check engine light" is on when their gas cap isn't on tight enough. Don't you think they could fix that on their own.

Skip the dealership. Most auto parts store chains will run a diagnostic for free these days.

But yes, I agree, with a digital display on most new cars, at least reference a code that I can check the owners manual to see what the issue is.