When this first came out, I recall reading that the reason the watchdog timer was reset from the timer interrupt was because as they added more software and overloaded the CPU, things got slower and the timer started triggering during normal operation. This caused the engine to hiccup if the vehicle was moving, or stall if you were at a stop. (IIRC reboot takes ~125ms, so no spark during this time)
The watchdog is the last-ditch failsafe, in a safety-critical system, and they basically disabled it because it was inconvenient. In some businesses (aviation?) you could probably be convicted of something for doing that, whether or not it ever hurt anyone.
The watchdog is the last-ditch failsafe, in a safety-critical system, and they basically disabled it because it was inconvenient. In some businesses (aviation?) you could probably be convicted of something for doing that, whether or not it ever hurt anyone.