Modern car technology

[MrEd]

The more manufacturer specific stuff they can pile into a vehicle, the more the owner it’s tied into the franchise garage.

I have used the same local guy, just down the road, for nearly fifty years. The fourth generation of the same family is working there now. They sort of know me.

I buy cars from them without even bothering with a test drive. I wonder how long that can happen.

Yeah I have a garage down the road very similar, they service my camper and my wife’s car - proper old skool place, but can also handle moderns. Usually quite an eclectic mix of vehicles in the courtyard

Nearly always “user error”. It is, without any doubt, a fact that cars are far, far safer now as technology has improved. Let’s us not forget the main cause of vehicle “accidents”

Very quick example, I live in rural Devon, narrow lanes so regularly have to reverse back for someone, especially this time of the year, a townie in narrow lanes, oh my goodness! Anyway, about three months ago, in my truck, I reversed into a car I simply could not see I’m my mirrors, it was that close to me, my fault, simple as that! If my truck had the same tech as modern ones, I would have had know a car was behind me, and not backed into it. Give me modern cars anyday.

What sort of truck are you talking about?

 

[MrEd]

What idiot implements the laws which force manufactures to build cars with all these safety techno-gizmos included on them?

I do wonder if the powers-who-ought-not-be do it deliberately just to try and put people off owning and driving cars altogether?

Yes probably, planned obsolescence and inability to diy fix buys right into the narrative of ‘you will own nothing and be happy’

I have a 2011 camper and a 34 year old Land Rover. Both manual, the Land Rover is agricultural and I use it for pottering around in, the VW is quite tech heavy but only in so far as engine management - not driver aids whatsoever. I much prefer driving them over my Corolla.

 

[Glow_worm]

the Land Rover is agricultural and I use it for pottering around in

Spot on, that used to be the point of them. I did a fair bit of cultivation with an early 110 once when all the tractors were in pieces!

 

[Kadushu]

A good example of safety that works is ABS. It's there when you need it and doesn't interfere with anything the rest of the time. The problem with the stuff we are moaning about is it affects normal use, forces you to change the way you drive or stops you from driving altogether! Parking sensors don't fit this category because, again, they are helpful when you need them and inactive when you don't.

 

[Woody girl]

What I don't get, it's illegal to look at a phone screen while driving, but I see many drivers using phones as sat nav, picking up and looking at their phone screens. Also many modern cars have a huge screen built in to the car..my friends BMW has this, and eyes are taken off the road to operate it.
Whenever I drove, before all this tech came in, I just drove with no distractions and I'm sure I was a safer driver with a manual operated car.
I noticed if there was an odd sound or something wasn't quite right. I guess many years of riding a bike and being in tune with the vehicle helped.
Also, it was possible to mend many bits of the car /bike oneself. Nowadays it has to go to the garage for every little thing.

 

[Glow_worm]

The law is actually to do with holding the device rather than looking at the screen, hands free phone/satnav use is fine although you will be penalised if it can be proved you were distracted by any device/screen as cause of an accident.

 

[Pattree]

Agreed ^^^^^^^^^

As an ex bike rider from the 60’s I would happily dispense with the rev meter in my car and use the stereo system attached to the sides of my head and the sensor inside my right shoe.

 

[Glow_worm]

@Pattree Unlike a near neighbour of mine, who should probably be hanging up the driving gloves soon. We all know the stereotype.... his little Korean car screaming on the redline pulling on and off the driveway.....

 

[Woody girl]

Agreed ^^^^^^^^^

and the sensor inside my right shoe.

Oh, that's where you keep the brain cell..fine until you stub your toe.

(Apologies, a long standing family joke )

 

[Pattree]

Oh, that's where you keep the brain cell..fine until you stub your toe.

(Apologies, a long standing family joke )

Remember - I have TWO whole brain cells. Never mind where I keep them. I suffer from Y chromosome syndrome.

I don’t have many of the usual symptoms; cars and knives are just tools, sport is a pretend activity.

Maybe that’s why I think that anything in a car that isn’t making it go where I want to go is superfluous.

 

[Falstaff]

Had to re-educate my foot this week, borrowed my ex's car to take her to hospital, nearly slammed us both thru the windscreen !
My Harley bike has a typical US big foot pedal for the rear brake and no servo, so I'd got used to giving it large to make it work on a very heavy bike (with a poor front brake). Surprisingly difficult to adapt to a modern car with servo and progressive brakes, my old van isn't nearly so sensitive.

 

[slowworm]

Wasn’t a Toyota was it? I have a 2023 lease Corolla and I hate it as the ‘driver aids’ interfere to much in almost every situation and there is no straightforward way to switch that off.

No, it was from a French parts bin. But, by the sounds of it, most cars are similar which reassures, as well as worries, me.

I read a report the other day moaning about people who switch these aids off. Apparently the 'lane assist' feature is one that prevents a large number of accidents and the report writers did not know why people turned it off. It surprised me a bit as I never found myself drifting out of lanes when I used to commute on the '25 and it makes me glad I no longer have to if people need driver aids to keep them in their lane. The other thing was the report writers didn't seem to bother finding out why people switch them off.

 

[Broch]

OK, I'll come clean - I love the new car gizmos.

I've just driven 400 miles (to the Ardnamurchen), a sedate, comfortable, safe, journey.

I used the speed limiter on all the limits 20, 30 40, 50 and 60; I switched the lane correction off (the fact that motorways are defined as the safest roads in the country would suggest that lane wandering is not a big issue); I used the sat nav over a tricky bit of new road; I voice activated the air conditioning to the required setting and changed it when needed; I replied to two phone call without my hands leaving the steering wheel; I asked Alexa to play my music on a random mix and I changed the volume by voice command; I used the rear parking sensors to get me into a tight space at Doune Castle (a very tight car park); I had the automatic wipers switched on so the windscreen was clear without me having to touch a switch; I had the automatic lights on so, as the rain kept changing from drizzle to waterfall, I was always visible; I was warned of any on-route accidents or traffic jams and when they were clear; I adjusted my seat position with simple touches of a button; I lowered the window with a single touch of a button to pay the ferry fee ... I could go on.

To be clear, I enjoy driving my 1982 Series 3 and my 25 year old Westfield with 80's technology - but when you have to do the real miles, you cannot beat a good modern car.

 

[Pupers]

Yeah I have a garage down the road very similar, they service my camper and my wife’s car - proper old skool place, but can also handle moderns. Usually quite an eclectic mix of vehicles in the courtyard

What sort of truck are you talking about?

Ford Ranger.