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What In-Car Invention don't you want?

Passion, instruction, buying, care, maintenance and more, any form of vehicle discussion is welcome here
bungeejumper
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Re: What In-Car Invention don't you want?

#101722

Postby bungeejumper » December 5th, 2017, 8:46 am

redsturgeon wrote:I have to admit to being guilty of this at least a couple of times in the past 18 months.

Yep, I did it last year. Night time in town with good street lighting - I started the car, the lights came on, and although I thought the illumination was a bit dim as I eased out of my tight parking space, I didn't actually notice that the lights were my DRLs and not my heads. I was half a mile away before I twigged my mistake. A good job, perhaps, that my car is a visible colour (silver). Might have been different in a black Audi. :roll:

The RAC driver who came out to my wife's car earlier this year confessed that he did the same thing regularly! Of course, he was driving a great big orange chevronned thing with huge safety reflectors, so nobody was ever likely to miss him from behind.

What would it cost the manufacturers to fit a light sensor that sounded an audible alarm if you drove at night without lights? £20 would be my guess.

BJ

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Re: What In-Car Invention don't you want?

#101970

Postby 9873210 » December 6th, 2017, 4:59 am

bungeejumper wrote:
What would it cost the manufacturers to fit a light sensor that sounded an audible alarm if you drove at night without lights? £20 would be my guess.

BJ

Per car or for all cars? On most cars the light sensor and the alarm already exist so it's just software. A multiple of £20 for one time engineering cost but a good bit less than a penny per car.

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Re: What In-Car Invention don't you want?

#102437

Postby DrFfybes » December 7th, 2017, 12:53 pm

bungeejumper wrote:
redsturgeon wrote:I have to admit to being guilty of this at least a couple of times in the past 18 months.

Yep, I did it last year. Night time in town with good street lighting - I started the car, the lights came on, and although I thought the illumination was a bit dim as I eased out of my tight parking space, I didn't actually notice that the lights were my DRLs and not my heads. I was half a mile away before I twigged my mistake.
What would it cost the manufacturers to fit a light sensor that sounded an audible alarm if you drove at night without lights? £20 would be my guess.
BJ


Time was that the instruments only lit up when the lights were on.

I notice in MrsF's BMW the instrument backlights are on all the time (the instruments are in deep binnacles), and presumably the LCD screen ones also light up, but I'd assume they dim when the lights are on?

Paul

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Re: What In-Car Invention don't you want?

#103934

Postby PrincessB » December 13th, 2017, 3:48 pm

I don't want automatic climate control that uses buttons.

My bottom of the range Suzuki has old style turning knobs for heating, fan speed and air direction - Lovely

I don't like screens unless I've had to get the satnav out of the glovebox when I don't know where I am. Most of the time I know where I'm going, so a great big telly in the the middle of the dash is pointless and distracting.

I don't like alloy wheels with low profile tyres. I prefer to drive up the kerb and then plonk down into a parking space, big wheels on high profile tyres is fun.

I don't like low driving positions, I drive like an old man and have the seat jacked up to maximum height and somewhat further forwards than you would expect from someone almost six feet tall.

I don't like poor visibility and prefer to drive something where the design input was along the lines of 'A conservatory with wheels' rather than artful styling where you cannot see much.

I don't like privacy glass - Spouse has this and I always think the mirror is in the wrong place when I drive it as it is so dark, you also cannot thank without having to flash the hazards rather than show a cheery wave.

I don't like six speed gearboxes either. My SX4 and the spouses Suzuki Swift sport have the same engine and RPM in top gear at any speed are the same. I spend 20% less time changing gear though.

I really really don't like the convention of making bulbs almost impossible to replace. I blew a headlight bulb last week and ordered some of the brighter conventional bulbs to replace both sides. With an engine the size of a sewing machine sitting neatly in the engine bay, the process took about five minutes per side (Including, trying to pull the wrong bit off and having to watch a Youtube video of where to fiddle).

With that in mind, are these super bulbs fitted to top end cars really that much better than a pair of decent halogens?

I also don't get those lower driving lights, I can see their use down a county lane as they illuminate the hedges when you're crawling along, at any normal speed they serve no purpose.

Back to touch screens, if I want to turn the radio on, I want a unit with a big button for on and off and some more buttons for stations, I don't want to have to run through some menu structure to change volume or station - I always knew it was a mistake when they gave the software contract for your infotainment system to North Korea :)

Blimey that was strong coffee!

B.


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