Hi,
Good statement!

Yes, but not exactly, because there is no feedback from anything, to know there was no spark.
Now if the timing belt breaks, it doesn’t know that either!
Same issue but the CPS says the engine is turning.
The cam belt has no output like the older distributor hall sensors (LH 2.2) gave out its other chain of systems.

The ICU, that is in the cabin with the ECU, needs to see a signal from the CRANK Position Sensor to know when to fire the spark.
It tells the Electronic Relay to open the ground on the coil to fire it’s power into the secondary coil that has a spark plug on its far end.

The ICU, in turn sends a signal to the ECU or computer to turn on the system relay for fuel pumping and open the injectors by grounding the injectors opposite side.

The ECU does this all the while getting that signal from the ICU. The ICU moves the timing around per feedback a program from inside the ECU.
The ECU works with relays and the AMM to set mixture variations with an overall “eye of combustion” response from the oxygen sensor.

This is why I chose to pick on the middle man out there by the battery that is always neglected in maintenance schedules. Just because it’s not mechanical it doesn’t mean it cannot be without “his own” faults!
(:-). We all know they exist, if it was made by man!

Phil