WHY all this complexity?

[Copperhead]

That is the beauty of Onstar on the Gm vehicles. I can lock, unlock, start, shutoff, honk the horn, whatever all from my iPhone. At least with a setup like that, getting ones self locked in and no way to get out is a non issue.

I have no problem with the things i want to use on my 2015 2500HD LT Z71. i just won't use many of the features that came with it. Problem is, usually to get what you do want, you have to have the entire package it is part of. I will never use the wifi hot spot feature, Pandora music app in the 8" screen in the center dash, the free XM radio will lapse into oblivion when the trial period runs out. I will keep the Onstar to help the wife feel better. At least the terrestrial radio is easy to get on station and does offer a great browse or scan feature that you can run while traveling and get an updated list of high def radio stations available where you are. And the creature comfort controls are easy to use.

 

[Alan L.]

If you can't drive and talk on a cell phone safely you shouldn't drive at all.

 

[txdon]

If you can't drive and talk on a cell phone safely you shouldn't drive at all.

So, lets just make the law you can talk on the phone until you crash - probably same with drinking.

 

[sld]

If it's truly hands free it safe. Punching in a number or texting is what is distracting.

Not so bad on wide open stretches of highway but in the city it's downright scary and irresponsible.

 

[3930dave]

If it's truly hands free it safe. Punching in a number or texting is what is distracting.

Not so bad on wide open stretches of highway but in the city it's downright scary and irresponsible.

Hands-free may feel safer, but plenty of studies have concluded otherwise.

Driving while using a handsfree cellular device is not safer than using a hand held cell phone, as concluded by case-crossover studies,[20][21] epidemiological,[1][2] simulation,[9] and meta-analysis.[11][12] The increased cognitive workload involved in holding a conversation, not the use of hands, causes the increased risk.[22][23][24] For example, a Carnegie Mellon University study found that merely listening to somebody speak on a phone caused a 37% drop in activity in the parietal lobe, where spatial tasks are managed.[25] The consistency of increased crash risk between hands-free and hand held cell phone use is at odds with legislation in many locations that prohibits hand held cell phone use but allows hands-free.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_and_driving_safety#Handsfree_device

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

In-cabin video, in parallel with down-the-road view, put together by AAA:

AAA Video Shows Just How Stupid Technology Makes Teen Drivers | Motherboard

In posting this link, by no means am I implying this is a Teens Only issue - Far from it.

I think it is safe to say that it was mostly (you know what) luck that most of these crashes weren't worse, or even fatal.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

A comment on complexity......

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=7495ac616b40525dfbb5c9840a89a726

" Low complexity: no software, no firmware " is one of the military requirements.

Unrelated, but the timing laid out in that document is interesting..... I'd wager they already have a supplier in mind.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Copperhead]

I have long since solved the hands free issue regarding driving and cell phones. I just don't use the phone! Even though I do have head set. We did just fine for decades without phones of any kind in our vehicles. If anyone needs to, they can leave a message and I will get back with them later. Not like stuff I do daily is part of national security or part of the war effort. And I am a commercial driver that relies on communication with various parties in booking loads and such. But the fine of $2700 dollars to the driver and $11,000 to the carrier of a commercial vehicle when it comes to grabbing the phone makes it just not worth it to do. I just wait till I stop.

I don't use the XM that came free with my last two vehicles. I can't even recall the last time I ever used a CD in the player either. I am sure I did one time or more back when they became the new item in vehicles. A lot of the fancy features in new vehicles, I have little use for. Too bad that to get the few things we do want or need, we have to take, and pay for, a laundry list of junk we have no use for. I wish I could get a lot of things I do want and still get a rubber/vinyl floor instead of carpeted. Carpeted floor in a rural use or work truck is about as stupid as it gets. But to get what I did want in my 2015 2500HD, I had to have a carpeted floor, as what I did want required a package deal. Makes it to where nothing that is being made today impresses me. I just have to settle for what the OEM's offer and try to get what i do need at the best value I can. Brand loyalty is out the door.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've always likes the heavy rubber mats in cars and trucks... very easy to keep things tidy.

The first time I saw a fancy truck it had carpet and bucket seats... didn't look like a vehicle for a working man...

 

[oldballs]

To each his (her) own. Love my '99 F-250 Superduty XL ...white....Ext Cab... ...4.10 ...5.4...2WD...A/C.....Auto Trans... has a radio (seldom used) and bench seat...Tow package....

It has been in the shop once for Fuel Pump and once for a sensor. At 80M still runs the same on OE plugs. Should take me to the graveyard before it goes to the scrap yard. I still do the routine maintenance...oil, transmission, coolant, rotate tires, hand wash the outside and hand clean the engine bay.
Cheers,
Mike
P.S. It do pump some fuel.:licking: