Is this the most stupid/useless car feature ever?

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by Skytrooper

I had a Honda civic hybrid a couple weeks ago. I fought me trying to avoid an accident with that stupid lane assist. At least I was strong enough and determined to not wreck it and returned it to Avis. A very stupid feature !

Lane assists default is off. You must turn it on manually to activate.

Lane departure default is on. I can disable to default off. I think I can also choose method of warning, vibration and audible. It takes very little strength to override.

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by varmint

Turn signals on bmws.


I crack myself up.


The menu on the new bike is irritating. I only care about the odometer and tach, but have to scroll through sex options to get from one to the other.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Is that the intent of the warning?...for those who don't want to pay attention, or are doing something else?

I have no idea and can't get an answer from anyone about it other than it being one of those dreaded "nanny" features for dummies. When loading vehicles into the shower, you will be in a line, and I have seen that message appear, and I'm like, "no $h*t shirlock."
Another message I see from time to time is when I check the steering and take my hands off the steering wheel at 70 mph in the backstretch of the track and I get a warning telling me to put my hands back on the wheel.

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[stevej37]

^^^ Lol....I think Honda gives me 30 seconds or so with my hands off the wheel and the lane assist on. But I'm amazed at how centered the car remains in the lane..no ping-ponging at all.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ Lol....I think Honda gives me 30 seconds or so with my hands off the wheel and the lane assist on. But I'm amazed at how centered the car remains in the lane..no ping-ponging at all.

I don't like lane assist. I don't activate it.

It does work. Just not like I drive. Sometimes it makes an adjustment when I wouldn't and other times it doesn't make an adjustment when I would. I'll pass on using it.

[stevej37]

^^^
Of the 40K miles on my Civic...I'm sure the lane assist has been on less than 50 miles.

The lane departure takes a while to get used to...but I like it.

[masraum]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the "the car in front has moved" reminder is for folks that are daydreaming or dicking around with their phones. If I'm second in line at a light and the light turns and I can see the person in front of me has their head down, I honk. I just give a quick toot, but I do toot. The missus doesn't like it when I do that. Some folks will snap to attention and go. Some still take a sec to figure things out. Sometimes I get a glance that seems to be a little grumpy. When the wife grouses about it, I think to myself, "I'll just stop honking, and we can get stuck at the light next time," but I can't actually force myself to do that.

It's a good thing that I drive a car that isn't a good candidate for one of those train horns. No, not really. There are times when I would like a 2 stage horn, like a light press gets a single note beep, and a heavy press gets a louder dissonant tone honk. But not train horn obnoxious.

[mjohnson]

Maybe not stupid car features so much as stupid car rules driving stupid car features.

Why do my headlights (low beams) need to be on in order to turn on the fog lights? Ummm... I'm wanting fogs because the normal low beams are effed with the stuff in the air.

It seemed uniform across the cars I've experienced here in USA - but just a few weeks back I see that my 2003 Ranger can do it with only parking/tail lights. Maybe I just have had a thirty year run of cars that made poor lighting choices?

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by masraum

...There are times when I would like a 2 stage horn, like a light press gets a single note beep, and a heavy press gets a louder dissonant tone honk. But not train horn obnoxious.

IIRC that modern uber-everything version of an old Defender, made as a side project by some Brit billionaire industrialist, has a "toot" for polite things and a proper "honk" for other uses.

I can see many uses for toot-ses - this actually might be the most stupid but _useful_ car feature.

[porsche tech]

Many thought electric windows were ridiculous. Now there are many who have never seen a car without them.

[Alan A]

It's not stupid for the person second in line.
It's not always about the driver....

[john70t]

Rented a new hybrid Camry on vacation which had a giant 9x6 glass screen on the dash.
None of it worked: No GPS map. No radio. No dice.
Couldn't turn off the glowing ad screen.
So I used hand-drawn maps instead to drive around the countryside. How convenient.

It wanted a subscription to function, or to be 'paired' with a cell phone to steal driver/passenger information.
The microphone still was listening.
I expressed my personal opinion to Toyota many times. Hope they got the message.

Nanny state bonus:
-Also had lane departure self-steering, which tried to steer me into a bicyclist.
-Car wouldn't move in the private property driveway unless seat belt snapped. Parking brake was locked.
-The side mirror warning lights worked only half the time. Glad I didn't depend on them.
-The compass feature worked and then couldn't be found again inside the complex menu system which you are supposed to haxxor in traffic.
-It had flashing warning for crosswalks...while driving through them at 25mph...too late.
-It had OCR speed-limit-sign recognition cameras, with warning that I was driving 2mph over.
-I wonder if Toyota sells all that information to data brokers and the insurance companies.

[Sooner or later]

I am sure getting a rental car is a definite pia. I know my Honda/Acura system really well. Probably wouldn't help me with a Toyota system. It would probably be wise to stick with one manufacturer to make adapting simpler.

To me, wireless Android Auto is worth it's weight in gold. Waze and then Pandora, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music give me unlimited tunes.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by mjohnson

Maybe not stupid car features so much as stupid car rules driving stupid car features.



Why do my headlights (low beams) need to be on in order to turn on the fog lights? Ummm... I'm wanting fogs because the normal low beams are effed with the stuff in the air.



It seemed uniform across the cars I've experienced here in USA - but just a few weeks back I see that my 2003 Ranger can do it with only parking/tail lights. Maybe I just have had a thirty year run of cars that made poor lighting choices?

I always hated that feature. On American vehicles, the fog lights will also switch off when the high beams are switched on, which does make sense. You don't use high beams in fog anyway. At work, we have vehicles that are going to Mexico and Saudi Arabia, and the fog lights on those vehicles stay on even when the high beams are on. Go figure?
The Saudi vehicles also have a rear fog light.

I have a 3rd gen SHO and those vehicles did not come from the factory with fog lights. I installed some oval shaped PIAA fog lights in the front air dam and wired them to the parking lights. This eliminated an extra switch and also allowed the fog lights to always be on even with the headlights off.

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[911 Rod]

People should get a shock to the ass when they think it's okay that they are the only car that made it through the advanced green.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by stevej37

I forget the exact wording, but it was close to this..."The car ahead of you has started moving forward"

I'm guessing it's for people that want to check their phones or whatever while waiting at a red light??

It's for people who don't have a wife.

[wdfifteen]

The most annoying feature to my mind - mostly because I encounter it every single time I get in the car - is the damn seat belt warning. It starts dinging the instant I push "Start."

I'm old school (not pre-seatbelt old!). I'm used to cars that need a moment to warm up and get the oil circulating, so my habit for decades as been to get in, fire up the ol' burner, and then fasten the seat belt, adjust the mirrors, etc while the oil gets circulated a little.

I hate that thing telling me I'm doing it wrong.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

The most annoying feature to my mind - mostly because I encounter it every single time I get in the car - is the damn seat belt warning. It starts dinging the instant I push "Start."

I'm old school (not pre-seatbelt old!). I'm used to cars that need a moment to warm up and get the oil circulating, so my habit for decades as been to get in, fire up the ol' burner, and then fasten the seat belt, adjust the mirrors, etc while the oil gets circulated a little.

I hate that thing telling me I'm doing it wrong.

You're doing it wrong.

[gacook]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

The most annoying feature to my mind - mostly because I encounter it every single time I get in the car - is the damn seat belt warning. It starts dinging the instant I push "Start."

I'm old school (not pre-seatbelt old!). I'm used to cars that need a moment to warm up and get the oil circulating, so my habit for decades as been to get in, fire up the ol' burner, and then fasten the seat belt, adjust the mirrors, etc while the oil gets circulated a little.

I hate that thing telling me I'm doing it wrong.

I rented a Chevy Silverado a couple months ago. Thing wouldn't let you put in gear until your seat belt was on (most of the time). Couple times, it didn't block me, so not sure if just bad programming, or what.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

The most annoying feature to my mind - mostly because I encounter it every single time I get in the car - is the damn seat belt warning. It starts dinging the instant I push "Start."

Our ~2010ish Outback XT would whine at you if you put even a 15# bag on the front passenger seat. I quieted it by making the computer very satisfied that the seatbelt was correctly in use. It seemed like the airbag was also enabled by the weight so I kept that "functionality". Happily I never tested the airbag.

I understand the reasoning from a safety perspective but at some point that's turd-polishing. We know by now that we need to wear our seatbelts, this extra nagging if it even _suspects_ someone is there is a little over the top.