Newish car pet peeves - add one more to the list

[PALADIN85020]

Complexity...

My Buick has all the bells and whistles - most of which I use only occasionally if at all. What bugs me is the complexity of the controls; most of the labels on the buttons are icons - not easily understood by this traditionalist. Here's a pic of my Buick's center console. Try to deal with this if you're driving? Uh-uh. I usually have to pull over to the side of the road to try to turn anything on or off or adjust. Bummer. And more controls are via touch-screen or knobs and levers on the driver side door armrest or overhead. Another reason to default to a pull-over. Sheesh.

John

 

[Rustyt1953]

Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear.

 

[03hemi]

I agree that we should embrace the basic features.

I'd so use those everytime, but I ran out of blinker fluid a while back and they no longer blink?

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

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?

Yep. Turn Signals.

 

[Telecaster]

The hieroglyphics, yes. All so they can sell the exact same car in several countries, I guess, and not have language barriers?

How much more would it cost to write the name of the control in English? Then change the silk screen to other languages for other markets. It's mostly the lighting controls that baffle me, both the headlights and the cabin dome lamps.

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[Farmer17]

Only for those who wish to show weakness, according to my buddy's SoCal raised wife.

Turn signal indicators are useless in Oklahoma City. It seems most people either ignore them when they see them or don't know what the blinking light means.

 

[WR Moore]

Over on the Subaru Forester forum, the off/mute vehicle stability control is referred to as "the bacon button" for the wiggly lines under the car emoji.

 

[Telecaster]

Does this turn off the slipperiness?

 

[Kevin J.]

Turn signals are to alert the other driver to speed up and close that gap you are trying to merge into.

 

[Telecaster]

My wife tells me turn signals cause cars in the other lane to spread apart so I’ll fit in.

 

[venomballistics]

My Buick has all the bells and whistles - most of which I use only occasionally if at all. What bugs me is the complexity of the controls; most of the labels on the buttons are icons - not easily understood by this traditionalist. Here's a pic of my Buick's center console. Try to deal with this if you're driving? Uh-uh. I usually have to pull over to the side of the road to try to turn anything on or off or adjust. Bummer. And more controls are via touch-screen or knobs and levers on the driver side door armrest or overhead. Another reason to default to a pull-over. Sheesh.

John

Yes ... I am familiar with that layout.
Some time ago, I had rented a Toyota Yaris IA.
It had an infotainment interface that consisted of a few buttons and a knob with some compound control features.
You could operate it entirely by tactile senses and it didn't take too long to learn.
Its display was a monolith rising out of the center of the dash, reasonably close to your view of the road, only needing a glance to the right for most operations.
It had room for improvement, but it did a lot better than the Buick / Opel approach

 

[WR Moore]

Does this turn off the slipperiness?

Maybe, I had a Toyota rental that would turn the nanny back on when you went over ~20 mph.

 

[JcMack]

I bought a '60 Pontiac Catalina 2dr. HT in '67 for $100.00. The gent I bought it from had jury rigged some "add on's" to compliment the usual dashboard controls. One such device was a beaded chain that ran from the carburetor linkage through the firewall and dash and terminated with a church key hung from it's hole. So once you reached highway speed you pulled the chain to lock in the speed and stuck the opener in the ashtray and shut it. Emergency stops involved applying the brakes and opening the ashtray. The automatic choke was replaced with another chain that ran through the dashboard to the choke lever.

 

[LVSteve]

I detest wash/wipe systems where the wipers start immediately. I want the windscreen wet before the wiping starts. I can fool my BMW into doing it right, but not my Mercedes SUV.

 

[pittpa]

I detest wash/wipe systems where the wipers start immediately. I want the windscreen wet before the wiping starts. I can fool my BMW into doing it right, but not my Mercedes SUV.

Buy a Mustang. [emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[djohns6]

My 2018 Nissan Titan has all the bells and whistles I need and only a few that I don't . NO auto engine stop , NO Onstar type service either .

 

[Chuck24]

The manual for the sound system on my 2018 Tundra is more than twice the size of the manual for my first new car in ‘75.

 

[LVSteve]

Turn signals are to alert the other driver to speed up and close that gap you are trying to merge into.

Which says far more about the control freak attitude of the average American driver than it does about those of us that do use turn signals.

I've seen quite a lot of chum in the water regarding turn signals in this thread, but I've had dinner so I'm not biting.

 

[Kevin J.]

LV…. I think the comments on turn signals are from those of us that actually use them, I know that was my point of view.