Car features so bad they should just go away.
 

In contrast to good car features, I was driving into work thinking of some new (to me) features I'm no too excited about on my new/used volvo wagon. Overall, lots of good, but a few gripes.

Specifically-
1.Turning headlights. I guess some people will like them. I don't. I see it as an added maintenance expense that will add exponential $$$ to repair bills if something were to happen to the headlight cases. So far, annoying. Complexity outweighs benefit for a station wagon that is not going to outrun it's lights in any part of this galaxy. I feel like a mobile driving cat GIF with his eyes swaying back and forth.

2.Plastic headlight lenses/ covers. They should go back to being glass.

3.Complex dashboards with all sorts of info. No wonder people aren't looking where they are going. To much C$#% to look at. Dashboards need to be simpler. I don't need an outside temperature, passenger side temperature, and driver side temperature, etc... Just stick with outside temp. That's my limit!

4. Auto opening rear hatch. Yes, I get it. I actually am starting to like it. Problem is, after a week of using it, it makes me want auto opening driver's door. And other doors. I want my entire life to auto open. It is making my lazy self even lazier.

Seatbelt dingers that won’t shut up. On the farm, you don’t want to do up your belt when hurting cattle.

Hurting cattle. You filthy beast! :)

Oil fill for life with no dipstick or fill tube, that can F off too.

How else do you tenderize them?

Not many will agree with me - but auto-on headlights. Nothing wrong with the car deciding to turn on the headlights all by itself, but people are losing the ability to turn on their headlights when needed (a grey car driving through early morning fog - bright enough to keep the auto headlights off, but the car is virtually invisible) and turn them off when they are parked and they are shinning on someone - like through the front window of a restaurant. I can't tell you how many times I've been temped to get up out of my seat and go out to the parking lot and ask the person if they don't realize they are lighting up the entire restaurant.

Dash lights should NOT turn on with the day-time running lights. I see a lot of car driving at night with only DRL's on, no tail-lights, dim headlights. But you look in their car and the dash is illuminated. If the dash did not light up they would know they didn't have their lights on.

Honking car alarms. Both when they lock, and when they are 'set off'.

And headlights should go off with the ignition.

Totally agree. They need to be on or off. No inbetween. With daytime running lights, you can't tell if the nighttime running lights are on or off unless its "on" ^ I get the dash lights thing, but a lot of time it takes even me a while to notice no dash lights. A see people all the time running with no lights.

LOL!! I was gonna say the same thing. He probably kicks the little calves too!

Auto stop start.

E-shifting automatics like in BMW and Chrysler- unsafe, stupid and annoying

Wifi and Onstar. Drive, don't watch Disney while driving (which if not already will come into cars- they're everywhere else anyhow)

Electroluminescent gauges without auto headlights- see Honda driver with no lights on at night, thinks headlights are on because the gauges are lit as if the headlights are on.

My schit box has too many features. CEL, maintenance, brake, temperature, etc.. The only thing I wish did work that doesn't, is the gas gauge light. 02 Accord.

I'm in a minority, but I'll go with sunroofs. To me they're little more than a giant leak waiting to happen.

Add rain-sensing wipers to my list.

_

I agree with the uselessness of sunroofs and rain-sensing wipers (give me the 911 rheostat controlled wipers any day)

I do like auto-on head lights. I was surprised my 2005 997 didn't have them but my 2001 chevy pickup did. I agree that dash lights should not come on unless head lights are on.

When I started the other thread, I anticipated this opposite thread and should have known it would be more popular!

Wouldn't matter. Most folks are oblivious and unlikely to care anyway.

I contend that fancy RFID, chip based keys, imobilizers etc have caused at least an order of magnitude more pain for owners of cars than potential thieves

Yep, lots of folks driving around at night with only DRL, presumably because they don't realize due to a combination of dashlights and street lights.

Some headlights are fully auto, ie, when it's dark, full headlights/taillights. But agreed, auto-DRL absolutely make things worse, not better.

I'm not a huge fan, but auto-start/stop does save A LOT of gas each year, and will save more and more as more cars have it. That said, I am glad that the fully loaded 2018 Outback that we recently purchased doesn't have it.

Two items on my wife's Honda;

The wiper stalk- You push it down to turn them on. Down? Up means on to me.

The radio- It's like programing a new VCR every time I'm trying to find the radio. And if your driving push too many buttons it shuts down because it wants you to pay attention to the road. Hey Honda, make it easier to use and it wouldn't need to shut down. And sometime it's the passenger screwing with the damn thing.

A rear facing camera mounted on the underside of the passenger mirror, that turns on whenever you flip on the right turn signal (Honda). This is a big distraction when a moving image pops up on your large center dash display, as you are trying to look through the corner.

I don't remember ever opening a sunroof. But then I haven't had many cars that had them. Since 1999, I've either driven targas or convertibles. The tops rarely go down. Actually, I've had the optional hard top on the boxster now for a year or two.

I do like the rain sensing wipers in my boxster. The wipers won't come on it if starts raining, but if it starts raining and I bump them, they will then come on. And as the intensity of the rain increases and decreases, the wipers speed up and down. I have a knob that I can use to turn the sensitivity up and down. In my car, they actually work really well.

autopilot

Agree, especially at night.

Doors that lock automatically

Catalytic converters.

Start/Stop button

Touch screen controls. This old guy needs buttons and knobs.

Yup.

Double yup.

Sunroofs? Mine is open 80% of the time in the rear lift mode.

I love it: Quiet and the air circulation is great.

Sure with leaky on the complicated dashboards. Hate 'em! Just gimme a nice easy to read gauge display. But those who grew up with computers and smart phones seem to love those.

I agree with most of the items listed so far, but this is one that is so bad it ought to be against the law. Any control that forces you to take your eyes of the road in order to use it is a hazard, not a feature.

My wife loves her car that has almost everything automatic. Her old car had a sunroof she never used. I was the one who used it, especially on nice cool nights. Her new car has a glass roof, which is very nice. It's amazing what her car will do, but I just drive it and leave the rest to her. It does seem to make my 2020 T-350 passenger van seem pretty rudimentary though, and I thought it was pretty tech advanced when I first got it.

I call the car alarm honks urban crickets. Many people loved it because they felt it was a sign thier car was expensive and fancy enough to warrant an alarm. No one, and I mean no one pays any attention to a car alarm, except to get irritated at the noise. How many times have you walked through a parking lot and heard an alarm going off, and try hard to ignore it.

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The start/stop button isn't too bad, but the auto stop/start BS needs to go. My wife's X3 has it and I disabled it in the computer. Every now and then it would freak out when she went to take off from a light: a bunch of warning lights would come on and it threw the car in neutral. She'd have to shut everything down and re-start, while the people behind her were pissed she wasn't moving.

fine with plastic lights, they don't break as easily

Intelligent Speed Asist has to go
Mandatory in the EU starting 2023 i think
Car reads speed limits and checks GPS
And b1tches about you speeding...
https://etsc.eu/intelligent-speed-assistance-isa/

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NO NO NO NO NO
NO.

Little buttons with small type.

this was a EU legislation, but it's been changed to make rear lights mandatory as well now ,which is a big improvement...

But they should just BAN DRL completely.. Have full lights on, all the time, rain or shine.
The running cost is negligible.. and design production cost of DRL and real lights is higher then just real lights only.

I totally agree. Not only the risk of headlights not on in the fog, rear lights are almost never on in the fog and that really bugs me. So many things have become auto that people are dumbing down on a regular basis.

" I'll go with sunroofs. To me they're little more than a giant leak waiting to happen."

You don't do the cleaning the drains on a regular basis,leaks into the cabin,causes all sorts of problems. Manufacturers keep making them larger!!!!

Vehicle telemetry, unless both driver and owner specifically and intentionally opt in.

Auto start/stop unless an end-user can easily and permanently disable it (not just each time vehicle is started; yes, I'm talking to you, Ford).

CVTs. Blech.