New features I’d like on cars

[bungeejumper]

if you don't indicate before changing lanes the car will actively resist you doing so and will sound a warning alarm.

Potentially dangerous, surely?

Too right. If somebody steps out in front of me, I want my car to swerve as well as brake, thanks. (Assuming that's what I decide to do, and that it's the safer option at that moment.) I wouldn't want it telling me sorry Dave, I can't do that.

Still, AF62 did say the car would resist, not refuse. Everything in proportion, I guess. As long as you can push through it, it's not as unsafe as it sounds.

BJ

[woolly]

An old video of a genius Egyptian hack, but I'd still like to see this idea taken further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBcJ0DpLIpk

[pje16]

I hate the nanny state
I know after 40 pus years of driving how to keep in lane and MSM in the right order
If you need technology to do that for you, have bigger problems and should just get an Uber

*You* might be a great driver and pay attention and never stray out of your lane, but is the driver coming in the opposite direction as competent? Would you not quite like that there are systems to reduce the possibility of them driving head on into you?

Fair point, not you or me of course

[XFool]

Potentially dangerous, surely?

Not really. If you indicate then all is good, if you don't because you need to take emergency evasive action then you will be actively steering and the push back will be irrelevant, and if you cannot be bothered to indicate before changing lanes - well you will soon learn to do so.

I was going on your "the car will actively resist you doing so".

[CliffEdge]

Square wheels would be a useful safety feature for parking on hills.

[pje16]

Square wheels would be a useful safety feature for parking on hills.

Wonder why no-one has come up with that

[AF62]

Not really. If you indicate then all is good, if you don't because you need to take emergency evasive action then you will be actively steering and the push back will be irrelevant, and if you cannot be bothered to indicate before changing lanes - well you will soon learn to do so.

I was going on your "the car will actively resist you doing so".

OK, to be clear, if you go to change lanes without indicating then the car will try to push you back into the lane you are in with resistance on the steering wheel, but if you persist then you can push past this resistance but then there will be audible and visible alarms to warn you. The resistance is on the steering is firm but not absolute.

Thus the car is actively resisting you changing lanes without indicating, but you can force the car to change lanes without indicating if needed.

[jfgw]

Square wheels would be a useful safety feature for parking on hills.

Not if it is icy.

[CliffEdge]

Square wheels would be a useful safety feature for parking on hills.

Not if it is icy.

I followed a Mini down an icy hill once.

[pje16]

Not if it is icy.

I followed a Mini down an icy hill once.

if you were younger, it would have been hot pants

[redsturgeon]

How about a clock that automatically adjusts for Daylight Saving?
Paul

Those of us less interested in veteran vehicles already have that.

My 17 year old Honda has that.

John

[Lootman]

Potentially dangerous, surely?

Too right. If somebody steps out in front of me, I want my car to swerve as well as brake, thanks. (Assuming that's what I decide to do, and that it's the safer option at that moment.) I wouldn't want it telling me sorry Dave, I can't do that.

Still, AF62 did say the car would resist, not refuse. Everything in proportion, I guess. As long as you can push through it, it's not as unsafe as it sounds.

Handy for a driver who falls asleep on a motorway and starts to drift out of his lane.

But I would need to be able to easily disengage it in much the same way I can disengage cruise control.

[Leothebear]

Well I think modern cars have too many features. It started with non skid brakes - I hate the feeling of loss of control when that cuts in. As for steering correction, that would freak me out. My present car is 2013 vintage and has all the features I want.

[Lootman]

Well I think modern cars have too many features. It started with non skid brakes - I hate the feeling of loss of control when that cuts in. As for steering correction, that would freak me out. My present car is 2013 vintage and has all the features I want.

I can construct a reasonable argument that the Jaguar I cruised around London in 40 years ago had everything that I need.

[bungeejumper]

Well I think modern cars have too many features. It started with non skid brakes - I hate the feeling of loss of control when that cuts in.

Well, I loved my ABS brakes from the very day when a big blacked-out Audi shot the lights at speed and careered across my bows in the pouring rain, on a seriously crappy tarmac surface in High Wycombe. At first I didn't know what the thud-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d from the pedal was all about. It was only several seconds later that I realised that it had very possibly saved my life.

You can probably make a better argument about things like advanced traction control, though. They used to say that Subaru Imprezas were (are?) so loaded with electronic safety gizmos that even a drugged-up teenager can drive them to the limit without very much danger of crashing. That all sounds great until he swaps the car for something else, of course. And then the crashes start.

BJ

[redsturgeon]

I can honestly say I cannot remember once having the ABS on any car I have driven come on by accident. I have purposely triggered the system on a quiet road to test it but apart from that It has never triggered.

John

[bungeejumper]

I can honestly say I cannot remember once having the ABS on any car I have driven come on by accident.

I think perhaps you meant, "by design"?

I have purposely triggered the system on a quiet road to test it but apart from that It has never triggered.

You've never been to High Wycombe, then. Gangsta territory.

BJ

[AF62]

But I would need to be able to easily disengage it in much the same way I can disengage cruise control.

Don’t buy a car made after July 2022 then as the Emergency Lane Keep System is mandatory on cars made after then, and the EU rules ( ) mandate that you must not be able to turn the system off with less than two deliberate actions.

Anyway more details of the system here - https://www.interregs.com/articles/spot ... hed-000229

[Lootman]

But I would need to be able to easily disengage it in much the same way I can disengage cruise control.

Don’t buy a car made after July 2022 then as the Emergency Lane Keep System is mandatory on cars made after then, and the EU rules ( ) mandate that you must not be able to turn the system off with less than two deliberate actions.

Believe me, I am well aware of the benefits of owning older cars.

But in any event I have a friend who runs a garage and I feel sure that he knows how to hack the software. That has helped in the past with a couple of MOTs!

[AF62]

But in any event I have a friend who runs a garage and I feel sure that he knows how to hack the software. That has helped in the past with a couple of MOTs!

I noticed in the details of my last car insurance policy that any tampering with the ‘advance driver aids’ software would invalidate the policy / make you liable for any third party costs they paid, so insurance companies are obviously concerned with people doing that.