Newish car pet peeves - add one more to the list

[Grimjaws]

Okay besides the engine shut off folks seem to despise I would like to add to the list of stupid design features with this one.

I treasure basic transportation - less bells and whistles the better. I had a nice 2015 work truck trim Chevrolet with hand crank windows, vinyl floor covering and a basic radio. That one ended up with my son when he got his duty station for the Marines in North Carolina. Drove some beater cars after that and when the time came the wife and I agreed we missed having a truck.

Right before Jan 2020 I got a great deal on a 2019 Ram Classic. It has more features than I normally ask for but it was a smoking good deal - rebates plus employee pricing plus 0% financing. Lots of fancy stuff - power windows, satellite radio and even heated seats!

Truth be told - with our winters those heated seats have been handy on some really cold blustery days. So score one for the car makers.

Now that I have driven it for a few years there is only ONE feature that drives me absolutely bonkers
Cruise Control shuts off every time you turn off the truck

Due to some back issues I use Cruise Control a lot. It's not the distance pacing kind just good old set it for 70 and relax the foot kind.

Every gosh darn time I start up the truck and start driving I have to press the button to turn Cruise Control back on.

My brother's old 98 Civic has the stick mounted toggle switch for cruise. Once he clicks it to On it is ALWAYS on. Same for my old truck - simple toggle switch.

It seems every time you start a car now you got to turn back on the features you've always used or turn off the annoying features you don't.

So anyone else have a feature that drives them crazy?

 

[johngross]

Every gosh darn time I start up the truck and start driving I have to press the button to turn Cruise Control back on.

Yep. Life can be tough some times .

 

[IAM Rand]

Kinda wish it had a cup holder on the steering wheel so I don't have to take my eyes off the road to get my beer.

 

[Telecaster]

Air conditioner controls that you have to look at to use. I don't want to take my eyes off my phone just to find the a/c button on the touch screen.



In all seriousness, give me buttons, physical switches, and knobs. I despise all the menus and sub menus and sub sub menus on the infotainment system.

 

[IAM Rand]

I do miss the cigarette lighters. I don't smoke anymore but, there is something about pushing it and waiting for it to pop. Like waiting for the toast in the toaster to pop.

 

[s&wchad]

My F-150 has a navigation system that talks. It warns me to obey all traffic laws, drive safely and use voice commands, every darn time I enter a destination. When I don’t need it anymore and cancel the route, it second guesses me and and asks if I’m sure I want to cancel the route.

Of course it uses a woman’s voice and I can’t eliminate the warnings. If I wanted to be nagged like that in my own vehicle, I’d take my ex-wife with me!

 

[arjay]

Back in my day we had to hold the beer between our legs which was tricky on jeep roads and we liked it

 

[Walkin Horse]

The Auto Stop feature on my Ford truck. I have to turn it off every time.

 

[Muss Muggins]

First world problem. Geez . . .

 

[LVSteve]

The Auto Stop feature on my Ford truck. I have to turn it off every time.

Be thankful you get the option. A slew of recent GM vehicles have no switch or menu control for auto stop.

On the subject of GM, they have just made the "optional" $1500 OnStar subscription on new cars mandatory. Errm, no. I don't do mandatory options.

 

[rockquarry]

First world problem. Geez . . .

Yes, how true.

 

[venomballistics]

there's plenty to gripe about.
Seems for every good advance, there's some idiocy to counter it.
CVT's ... method of service = full unit replacement. Often designed for light economy cars, Often installed where it will fail.
Auto stop ... fine and dandy till your engine gains some inevitable quirkiness.
Subscription based service.... Systems like early OnStar or XM radio were one thing, but this has extended into other systems. Want heated seats? The hardware is there, it's the software than says no until you pay your 95.99 subscription to the feature.

 

[Farmer17]

I have a 2018 Ram pickup and one thing I like is there are many ways to set up the truck the way you like. For instance, I hate seat belt alarms but if you want to turn the alarm off and not wear a seat belt for a while there is an easy way to do that. If you want the phone power port to turn on or off when you turn off the vehicle you have the option. There are other things you can't control that I don't like. It would be nice when I'm pulling a flat bed trailer to quickly glance at the review camera and make sure everything is OK just like using the rear view mirror only you can see lower.
The worst thing is, you can't back up when a door is open. I'm on construction sites and need to back up sometimes in tight spaces with rebar or spilled nails on the ground that I can't see in the camera and I open the door and look to back up. It can't be done it shifts into park. Wish I could turn that dang safety feature off!!

 

[ladder13]

The Lounge is made for pet peeves. Move on if you’re annoyed.

First thing I do is turn off that EPA nanny on/ off nonsense.

 

[Chuck24]

When you start your truck, do you really want it automatically jumping back to 70 when you put it in gear?

 

[6518John]

All horseless carriages are a work of the devil! Give me The Surrey With The Fringe On Top!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss1CXo8QMi8[/ame]

 

[Rpg]

I’ve had cruise control in my vehicle for 40 years.

Couldn’t tell you whether it turns itself off if you turn off the car because I’ve never used it!

I’m OK with controlling speed with the pedals.

 

[venomballistics]

I’ve had cruise control in my vehicle for 40 years.

Couldn’t tell you whether it turns itself off if you turn off the car because I’ve never used it!

I’m OK with controlling speed with the pedals.

That's a mostly useless feature I don't mind most of the time.
I have one with an annoying implementation. It's easy to inadvertently engage and illuminates a somewhat mysterious yet strangely ominous indicator, vague in it's depiction.
It's had us hunting through the car for problems and causes a few times

 

[Rustyt1953]

I agree that we should embrace the basic features.

 

[Krogen]

I agree about cruise control. It takes two actions to get it back in operation. First turn it on, then up to speed and set it. I had one car that remembered the on switch. Start the car, get up to speed and push set. Done. Seems like a piddly thing, but it annoys me when technology is configured to handle the dumbest of the dumbest. I may be dumb, but I'm not that dumb!

Here's a new one. I have two vehicles with manual transmissions. Push in the clutch to shift and cruise control shuts off. Makes sense, I guess since you don't want the engine to rev high when you push in the clutch and besides you're probably going for a different gear requiring a different throttle setting. I didn't think too much about it until I heard manual vehicles with rev match (I HATE that term) are smart enough to keep cruise control engaged between gear shifts. Could be nice, but I don't want the dang rev match. Let me run my own manual transmission and throttle!

Whew.

I feel better now . . . .