Automobiles Bells And Whistles - do they make better drivers?

[Dftodd]

Your smart key should have a mechanical key inside of it.

I just had to check the remote for our new car, and then showed the key to my wife so she knew about it. Now to find the bloody key hole on the door.

 

[Dftodd]

Battery died in my hyundai and just before it drew it's last breath it locked itself, had stuff in the car I needed and it is keyless entry, had to wait for roadside assist who put in a new battery.

Had one of my friends call me up in a panic. Her Tiburon died in the middle of a 4 way intersection on a 4 lane highway and she couldn't get out of the car.

I was kinda flabbergasted at first till I managed to ask her if she could pull the knob up.

On my 09 sierra, the doors unlock when it loses power to the battery. I found that out when I was going into town with my wife. The fuse block for the main power distribution started developing a bad connection. Every time I let off the gas the door locks started locking and unlocking rapidly like the truck was possessed by a ghost Scared the dickins out of us.

Pulled over and traced the battery cables up to a 40amp slow blow fuse. Wiggle the wires at that block, and the truck would start but then start acting like it was possessed again.

Swung into the auto parts store, got a new fuse block and replaced it when I got home.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
You raise a good point. On my GM products the power locks automatically unlock when you put it in park. There are times when that might not be a good thing. I was once stopped at a red light when some guy walked over and opened my passenger side door. He saw my company decal and thought that gave him the right to do so, because he wanted to make a smart ***** comment about how clean my truck was.

 

[Dftodd]

^^^^
You raise a good point. On my GM products the power locks automatically unlock when you put it in park. There are times when that might not be a good thing. I was once stopped at a red light when some guy walked over and opened my passenger side door. He saw my company decal and thought that gave him the right to do so, because he wanted to make a smart ***** comment about how clean my truck was.

You should be able to change that in the settings so it only unlocks the drivers door. But it's been a while since I've scrolled through the personal settings, so I could be wrong.

Ford has started doing the same thing. But you can set it in the settings on whether it unlocks just the drivers door or both doors. I set it for both doors since I'm usually stopping, walking around to the passenger side. Then realizing the passenger door is still locked. Then having to walk around, open the drivers door and hit the unlock button. Then go back to the passenger side and grabbing what I needed. Usually my cordless impact bag off the passenger side floor board.

 

[MossRoad]

^^^^
You raise a good point. On my GM products the power locks automatically unlock when you put it in park. There are times when that might not be a good thing. I was once stopped at a red light when some guy walked over and opened my passenger side door. He saw my company decal and thought that gave him the right to do so, because he wanted to make a smart ***** comment about how clean my truck was.

You can change that so none of the doors unlock when you put it in park.

 

[Frankenkubota]

That kind of suggests to me that the workers were not very focused on their work. Understandable but problematic. I am bored to tears when driving a couple of hours.

Stand at a punch press, 8 hours a day, 12 minute break in the morning and afternoon and 18 minutes for lunch. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Unless you have done it, you can't imagine. Just from reading the posts, I doubt that many on this forum would want to do that kinda work and i don't blame you, i had no choice.. I went to back to school.

Point being, some jobs make you part of the machine and, for me, it was impossible not to let your mind wander. And that's how you lose a finger.

An economist (can't remember his name) from the 30s made the comment that, capitalism commoditizes work and when you make work a commodity, it loses any spiritual value. Not sure about that but..........

I was in manufacturing. Seems to me there is one group that is particularly well versed for that kinda work.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I did some conyeyor control for a pharma customer of mine twenty years ago (still in operation) and worried about the liability. Sheity, when you want to make some honest money but worry that you could loose everything.

Just asa favor, helped a industrial engineer buddy install bar code readers at Revlon to help control conveyors etc.

Amazing to see that kind of volume. Reminded me of a cigarette factory or brewery.

 

[Oaktree]

I'm a bit perplexed right now because a mouse decided to set up housekeeping in my new-to-me Colorado, and now all sorts of funky things are happening. When the parking brake is set it states the power steering isn't working... that's a pretty stupid thing to have tied into the electronics. Two things that I want to work at all times; brakes and steering.

Does GM use soy-based insulation on vehicle wiring? I know several of the Japanese automakers do. I wonder who thought that was a good idea.

 

[Jstpssng]

Does GM use soy-based insulation on vehicle wiring? I know several of the Japanese automakers do. I wonder who thought that was a good idea.

It turns out that my mouse and electrical problems were completely unrelated. My E-brake pedal was rubbing on the wiring harness, causing it to chafe, then short out. It took them 5 minutes to figure that out... half of that was spent going after a mirror to get a better view up under the dash.

 

[bigtiller]

Stand at a punch press, 8 hours a day, 12 minute break in the morning and afternoon and 18 minutes for lunch. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Unless you have done it, you can't imagine. Just from reading the posts, I doubt that many on this forum would want to do that kinda work and i don't blame you, i had no choice.. I went to back to school.

Point being, some jobs make you part of the machine and, for me, it was impossible not to let your mind wander. And that's how you lose a finger.

An economist (can't remember his name) from the 30s made the comment that, capitalism commoditizes work and when you make work a commodity, it loses any spiritual value. Not sure about that but..........

I was in manufacturing. Seems to me there is one group that is particularly well versed for that kinda work.

Ah, production work, yep, the mind wanders. I assembled the same part every 73 seconds, all day, 5 days a week for about 4 years.

 

[MossRoad]

Widgets?

 

[bunyip]

Ah, production work, yep, the mind wanders. I assembled the same part every 73 seconds, all day, 5 days a week for about 4 years.

we had a small business manufacturing bladed spinning fishing lures, i could assemble about 150 a day but it was incredibly boring, got 2 women to do it and they would turn out 1000 a day each while watching daze of our wives on tv, repetition work is not for me.

 

[Grumpycat]

Your smart key should have a mechanical key inside of it.

My 2013 Tesla does not.

 

[bigtiller]

Widgets?

The company called them mini-standards.

The rest of the world calls them a trip assembly for a field cultivator.

 

[MossRoad]

My 2013 Tesla does not.

Your Tesla is not a Hyundai.

 

[MossRoad]

The company called them mini-standards.

The rest of the world calls them a trip assembly for a field cultivator.

View attachment 676376

Nice! :thumbsup:

I worked at a Newspaper for 30 years. Sometimes I'd help out on the line running the machines that would insert the ads into the newspaper. Mind numbing repetitive work.

 

[Frankenkubota]

With all the weed laws being passed by states plus all the drunks and sleepy people already on the road I welcome the driver correction features as standard equipment.

Yea, i remember my independent trucker buddies staying up for 48 hours at a time, eating whitties all the time. White crosses. Speed. Diet pills. You know what the most prescribed drug in history is? Meth!

Remember mom ironing the sheets at 4am? Women were thinner then.

The idea of a wine mom, cruising around after a long lunch, texting the entire time......keeps me off the road!

 

[RalphVa]

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:

Our Mz3 has lots of bells and whistles. Adaptive cruise wasn't quite there when we got it 4 years ago. Would like to have that, but we're not cruising much now anyway.

Love the warning when backing up. It picks up people or vehicles you don't even see coming.

The lane change warning is also good.

Backup cameras are good for when getting close. Otherwise the side view mirrors work best.

Of course, base cruise control has been around since the late 70s or early 80s. Love it. Had to replace the actuator once on the 1983 Benz we had for 25 years.

Now, the cruise control actuator is basically your throttle control what with "wireless" throttle control.

Our 2013 Mx5 has none of this stuff but cruise control. It doesn't have self lock, which I'm ambivalent about on the Mz3.

 

[Dftodd]

Our Mz3 has lots of bells and whistles. Adaptive cruise wasn't quite there when we got it 4 years ago. Would like to have that, but we're not cruising much now anyway.

Love the warning when backing up. It picks up people or vehicles you don't even see coming.

The lane change warning is also good.

Backup cameras are good for when getting close. Otherwise the side view mirrors work best.

Of course, base cruise control has been around since the late 70s or early 80s. Love it. Had to replace the actuator once on the 1983 Benz we had for 25 years.

Now, the cruise control actuator is basically your throttle control what with "wireless" throttle control.

Our 2013 Mx5 has none of this stuff but cruise control. It doesn't have self lock, which I'm ambivalent about on the Mz3.

Just had to have the brake switch replaced in my truck today. It had been going for a bit. To get the cruise control to set, you had to tap the brake pedal sideways. Well my truck was in the dealers for an oil sending unit. And when I picked it up the traction control and abs went bonkers.

Pulled the truck back in and had them check it back out. Had a new switch installed in a half hour, plus another $100 tacked to the bill.

That one little switch effects quite a few functions. Brake lights, cruise control, traction control, and ABS functions.

 

[Oaktree]

You can change that so none of the doors unlock when you put it in park.

Why would you want to do that? First thing I change when I get a car is to disable the auto door locks.
Back in the 90s I had a Chevy Beretta with a stick...that would lock the doors when the car got to ~5mph. No manufacturer-provided way to disable this annoying feature. Using a wiring diagram I did find a way to disable it without totally disabling the power locks, unfortunately, for some reason the radio would lose all its settings if the car hadn't been driven for a couple of days afterwards. Not sure how the two were connected.