How many more electronics in cars? e-brake, steering, shift knob

[tony-muscle]

I get so pissed about all these new electronic aids new cars have. I just rented a Chrysler 200 and I hate it:

-Electric steering: becoming common, but no road feel at all - hate it!

-The gear shifter is a knob in the center console: WTF

-The e-brake is a button (next to shifter knob): what are they thinking. Second car I rent with a button for e-brake. Isn't it supposed to be the emergency brake? Won't you want to have a mechanical device here?

-Gas pedal by wire: an old one, but I can't trust it.

Plus, the rearview mirror is a box located in the middle of the windshield. I was driving down the highway and needed to look around the mirror to read the signs. This is ridiculous. We are not talking about a sports car with a small windshield, we are talking about a medium sized family car. Extremely frustrating that cars like these can be made.

And I am not including the traction control aids in here. A lot of these are improvements, but some are too intrusive. Like if you are taking a tight turn, hit a little bump and cuts the power due to the tires losing traction. Yes, it makes sense, but the power cut is too drastic and it takes too long for the power to come back. You need that power to get out of that tight turn.....

Love my all mechanical Mustang. I also own a 2008 Toyota 4-Runner that is mainly mechanical except the gas pedal and traction control.

 

[jbojo]

Too much tech, that's how hackers are now able to gain control of cars and disable the brakes, turn on windshield wipers, shut the car down which in turn shuts down steering etc. Dodge is working on a patch that closes the door on the hackers but they will find another flaw. It's enough just trying to keep my computers from being hacked. At least with the older cars you can fix them yourself and not take it into the shop for everything.

 

[midlife]

There's an abundance of electrons in this world, and car manufacturers have figured out where to house some of them, but not all. Damn things keep on multiplying like rabbits...

 

[jbojo]

They managed to hack into a Tesla now.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hackers-turn-off-tesla-model-115014158.html

 

[1973grandeklar]

Tony, I also rent cars often and had the Chrysler 200. When I first got in I thought WTH! I drove it for a while and kept turning the shifter knob to adjust the fan speed. I found out that the car will not shift into reverse when you are doing over about 10 mph. I even tested it going 70 down the freeway. This is about the dumbest ergonomic shifter I have ever seen. Don't even get me started about the big touch screens that are showing up in just about every car. Any time you need to make an adjustment (like the radio, A/C, and phone) you have to look at the screen. There is no tactile feedback and the only way you know your pushing the correct button is to look at the screen. The Dodge charger and Challenger are the worst for this. The voice recognition is OK, but seems to not understand certain pronunciations of words. So you have to say it as it is spelled not as it is generally pronounce.

 

[tony-muscle]

I agree.. the touch screens are also an issue... i like sliders or knobs to control AC

1971 M-code Mach 1

 

[72HCODE]

the electronic shifter and parking brake are the most annoying after the stupid traffic sensors about cars in blind spots.

the shifter is not instant what i noticed, in a normal car with a mechanical shifter, you can slam the car in drive, Neutral, reverse.

with the electronic shifter there is a delay so trying to do a fast Y turn is FREAKING ANNOYING!

 

[tony-muscle]

Those blind spot and brake sensors are horrible too.... i dont want a sensor telling me what to do....... i have not driven one of those, but does it let you swerve in traffic?

1971 M-code Mach 1

 

[72HCODE]

oh the best was i'm driving a loaner car, i get on the highway, the dash is lighting up and the computer is screaming BRAKE BRAKE, scared the hell out of me, the computer felt 20 feet away from the car in front of me was too close. apparently there is a sensitivity adjustment that you have to change, but not while the car is moving, must be in park, so its screaming at me BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE for 15 minutes i wanted to punch the dashboard out.

I pull over finally and i'm adjusting the front collision sensor to OFF and traffic is passing me on the left, every time a car passed the Mirror blind spot sensor was going off. LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT.. i thought i was losing my mind, found the blind spot sensor TURNED IT OFF.

get back on the road. Road goes from 4 lane to 1 lane with head on traffic. All of a sudden the steering wheel starts slightly jerking to the right and this icon pointing right comes on the NAV screen it was forcing me to go right because it thought i was trying to go off roading or something. the sensor saw the lane markings were merging and freaked out. 3 seconds after that happened and i was freaking out. I'm going 50, all of a sudden the computer SCREAMS! BRAKE, MAINTAIN LANE, HEAD ON COLLISION, BRAKE, MAINTAIN LANE, HEAD ON COLLISION! I pull over instantly almost had a heart attack.

It turned out the traffic lane sensor, that is suppose to help morons drive between 2 white or 1 yellow 1 white line, was getting confused it was on a 1 lane road going above 45mph. I started going through everything turning everything i could off.

i get back on the road and now the verbal computer is shutdown, HOWEVER the dash board now lights up like CRAZY with warnings.

The side mirror orange lights are turning on and off as traffic is passing me to the left.

I found there was a secondary button on the left side of the dash to SHUTDOWN the warning system. IE turn off the STUPID ORANGE FLASHING LIGHTS.

when i turned the button off the dash lights up with two new errors: Warning LKA off and SMW off. I found out this was Lane Keeping assist and Side mirror Warning.

I get home and wanted to drink bad, it was like a bad acid trip.... so with everything turned off i get on the road in the morning 2 error orange lights on the dash and no more computer HAL attempting to drive the car. later that night i drop off the POS at the dealer and get my 10 year old normal car back.

next morning after that night i get a nasty call from the dealership i ruined the loaner car. they are claiming i damaged the cars computer and the dash lights are all lit up.

I explain to the 16 year old on the phone how to turn everything back on, he flips out and goes i'll just flash the car and reset everything to factory settings. i hung up.

seriously just rewriting what happened is making my blood boil.

i don't know what i will do since any new car comes with this garbage as standard equipment now thanks to new DOT laws.

fantastic another reason i love driving my mustang.

here is the kicker for state inspection if the dash has any lights turns on you automatically fail. so for state inspection on that model car you would have to turn everything back on, then pass, then turn everything back off and have 2 stupid orange warning lights on the dash which then need to be covered with electrical tape.

remember the movie Christine, where they are vandalizing the car and the radio comes on and gets smashed with a hammer? i wanted to do that.

 

[tony-muscle]

Thats sickening...... at some point too much intrusion is enough..... i cant imagine buying a new car these days... i hope those systems dont become a standard

Also, automatic wiper turn on system..... those sounds like thr **** too

All thanks to people that dont know how to drive and demand all those monsense intrusive sensors

1971 M-code Mach 1

 

[72HCODE]

oh its getting worse because they are pushing more and more for autonomous cars that drive and park themselves.

Look if i'm over the age of being able to safely drive a car and i want to keep my mobility then a auto-drive car is where i'll go, but they seem to be making it illegal for a human to drive a car more and more.

they already track you with GPS and if you have on-star or other online systems, they can hack your car remotely as shown with the jeep and telsa and some other cars.

it is turning more and more into a dystopian future.