Automobiles Bells And Whistles - do they make better drivers?

[MossRoad]

Over the past year or so we've had some conversations on TBN about cruise control, lane assist, adaptive cruise control, etc... an argument for and against usually ensues regarding if these things make drivers more or less complacent when driving.

I had the oppotunity to drive a 2020 VW Passat for 2200+ miles last week to make a run out to Oklahoma from Indiana, and back. Mostly highway, but a couple hundred city miles. It had forward collision warning, blind spot monitor, rear traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, automatic wipers, backup camera, etc... all the bells and whistles.

Short story...
I LIKE IT! and it makes me a better, more attentive driver. :thumbsup:

Long story...
I found that it made me more, not less, attentive. As you're driving along, and you see a tractor in a field, and you glance over at it, in an old car, you might feel the shoulder of the road if you drift to the right as you gawk, then hopefully you make a correction to stay out of the ditch, without over-correcting and crossing into the next lane. With the lane keeping feature, you feel the steering wheel get stiff and move back in the proper direction, and that makes you snap your head up and say "Whoa, I should be paying attention." Same thing of you try and change lanes without signalling... you can do it, but you have to fight the wheel to overcome the lane keeper. Put on your turn signal, no fight.

If you try and signal and switch lanes and there's someone in your blind spot, not only is the little light lit on your mirror that there's a car next to you, the wheel vibrates in your hands. Again, whoa! Stay in your lane.

The adaptive cruise control can be changed for how far out you want it to go in 5 different increments. I found setting 1 to be Chicago style. Setting 2 to be Indiana style. Setting 3 to be pretty good at keeping at least two seconds between you and the car in front of you. Settings 4 and 5 were too far away for moderate to heavy traffic and people would cut in front of you often, which made your car slow down even more. However, 4 and 5 were great on the highway in open traffic to follow the flow and not be a pest in someone's mirror at night.

It was nice in that if you're cruising along at 75 and come up on someone, the gauge on the dash will show you the car in front of you before it gets to the activation distance. If you change lanes to an empty lane before, your speed never slows. If you come within range, you start to slow very gradually. If you change lanes to an open lane, you pick back up to speed.
If someone slams on their brakes for an armadillo, it will brake before you can hit the pedal. Kinda nice.

You can always choose to push on the gas a little bit and overcome the adaptive cruise control and tailgate the car in front of you. Then the screen flashes at you. Follow even closer and stay there a few seconds, and you feel the car pulsing just enough to notice your head rocking a little bit. Time to back off, bud. :laughing:

The wipers will vary their speed according to how much water is on the window. It was misting for the entire trip out. I had the wipers on the lowest intermittent speed. When I'd come up on a semi, the water would kick up from the road, and my wipers intermittent speed automatically increased. As I got next to the semi, the wipers went to always on as the water increased. They'd go all-out fastest speed right next to the semi. As soon as I got even with the front tire of the semi, you know that spot where the water no longer hits your windshield?, the wipers immediately returned to the lowest intermittent setting I had them on. Very nice!

I'd have to say that these features make me more attentive, less tired, and therefore more alert overall.

That's my take on it. If you've never experienced these tools yourself, I highly recommend you try them out yourself and see how you like them. :thumbsup:

 

[rademamj1]

I have never ever had a car with everything on it, like you experienced. And after most of these being on the market for 10 years now, they should all be perfected. One option i really liked was the self parallel park, where the car would just park it self exactly 4" from the curb, between two parked cars. I always needed at least two attempts to parallel park, and the self park option does it perfectly the first attempt.

 

[Industrial Toys]

One British Traffic Accident researcher maintained that with regard to features that would reduce accidents, a SPIKE in the center of the steering wheel would probably work the best.

 

[rademamj1]

One British Traffic Accident researcher maintained that with regard to features that would reduce accidents, a SPIKE in the center of the steering wheel would probably work the best.

Industrial Toys: You always have a terrific sense of humor! And i also think that spike would reduce the incredible road rage incidents we are seeing in society.

I honestly think, when it comes to self drive cars that are increasing in numbers on the roads, this will make long distance interstate driving effortless and safe when its finally perfected.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It was a real documentary and traffic researcher, speaking of making cars "safer". He was suggesting that more and more safety features was just making people more complacent.

 

[drssg]

That's a nice write up in the OP, and I agree with your assessment.

One feature that you might not have noticed is a backup cross traffic alert. Suppose you are backing out of a parking space, and there is a pickup truck next to you. You can't possibly know whether traffic is coming from that direction, unless you have another person to stand outside the car to watch. All you can do is slowly back out blind and hope that any traffic is alert enough to not run into you.

With the cross traffic alarm, the car detects oncoming traffic WAY before the driver has any chance of seeing it.

 

[MossRoad]

That's a nice write up in the OP, and I agree with your assessment.

One feature that you might not have noticed is a backup cross traffic alert. Suppose you are backing out of a parking space, and there is a pickup truck next to you. You can't possibly know whether traffic is coming from that direction, unless you have another person to stand outside the car to watch. All you can do is slowly back out blind and hope that any traffic is alert enough to not run into you.

With the cross traffic alarm, the car detects oncoming traffic WAY before the driver has any chance of seeing it.

Yep, it had that feature as well. The backup camera has a pretty wide view, but that cross traffic detector just ads to the safety. It caught a pedestrian in a parking lot for me before I could see them.

 

[MossRoad]

There were 19 buttons on the steering wheel alone. :laughing:

 

[Ortimber]

I have a new 2020 Ford Superduty with all the goodies. In my opinion, it doesn't make me a better driver, but it makes driving safer for me and others around me. In other words, it detects problems faster than I can. No doubt about it, the technology will save lives. Adaptive cruise is my favorite feature.

 

[4570Man]

Yep, it had that feature as well. The backup camera has a pretty wide view, but that cross traffic detector just ads to the safety. It caught a pedestrian in a parking lot for me before I could see them.

When you pull up to an intersection that’s Y shaped and you can’t see the incoming lane can it help with that?