What improvements would you make?
Discussion
If you could design any feature into all cars - what would it be. Not looking for hover cars or anything like that - but small, practical changes that could make a car safer, easier to use etc. Some of these features may be things you have seen on existing cars and which you think are a good idea. Others may be new ideas.
A few of mine:
1. Hazard lights. I would make them double flash instead of flashing the same rate as a turn signal. My reasoning. On a few occasions I have seen a car with hazard lights at the side of the road with another car parked behind. Due to the fact that the car behind is blocking visibility of the left indicator light - you can't actually tell whether the car in front has hazards on or whether they are indicating to pull back out into traffic. Adding a double flash would make it obvious it was hazards and not a turn signal.
2. Brake force indicating brake lights. A brake light bar that illuminates from the ends towards the middle as braking force increases. Would help you judge whether the brake lights that just came on in front of you were a gentle tap or dropping the anchors. I guess it could work on a similar principle to the animated turn signals that have started appearing on Audi's etc.
3. Blacklight headlights. Beam could be set higher to cast farther, but it wouldn't dazzle like white light does. It would however make anything day-glo, white or anything washed in washing powder with optical brightners glow, making pedestrians far more visible and if the correct paint is used - road markings and signs too.
A few of mine:
1. Hazard lights. I would make them double flash instead of flashing the same rate as a turn signal. My reasoning. On a few occasions I have seen a car with hazard lights at the side of the road with another car parked behind. Due to the fact that the car behind is blocking visibility of the left indicator light - you can't actually tell whether the car in front has hazards on or whether they are indicating to pull back out into traffic. Adding a double flash would make it obvious it was hazards and not a turn signal.
2. Brake force indicating brake lights. A brake light bar that illuminates from the ends towards the middle as braking force increases. Would help you judge whether the brake lights that just came on in front of you were a gentle tap or dropping the anchors. I guess it could work on a similar principle to the animated turn signals that have started appearing on Audi's etc.
3. Blacklight headlights. Beam could be set higher to cast farther, but it wouldn't dazzle like white light does. It would however make anything day-glo, white or anything washed in washing powder with optical brightners glow, making pedestrians far more visible and if the correct paint is used - road markings and signs too.
most of mine would seen as steps back.
>I'd take a step back and put NORMAL instrument guages that don't have
1- LCD screens with lots of information on them. go for analouge
2-backlit soon as you turn the ignition.
dials should be easily read during the day, if there's low light/night time you should have to turn your side lights/headlights on to be able to see them.
> bring back flip up headlights
> remove plenty of EU pedestrian safety legislation so designers have more freedom. f
k pedestrians.
>
>I'd take a step back and put NORMAL instrument guages that don't have
1- LCD screens with lots of information on them. go for analouge
2-backlit soon as you turn the ignition.
dials should be easily read during the day, if there's low light/night time you should have to turn your side lights/headlights on to be able to see them.
> bring back flip up headlights
> remove plenty of EU pedestrian safety legislation so designers have more freedom. f
k pedestrians.>
Jimmy Recard said:
Sorry, misread somehow. I'm tired!
Why wouldn't you want that? I can't see how it's a visibility issue and that seems to be your main concern.
because of the many clueless people who drive around in low light/dusk/dawn/night time with only their DRLs on, forgetting to put actual headlights on. Why wouldn't you want that? I can't see how it's a visibility issue and that seems to be your main concern.
Ride suppleness. Baring a very few exceptions like Lotus, most modern cars are rubbish at this. Our roads are getting worse and yet manufactures insist on making cars feel every ripple\pothole\crack\fag-butt in the road, all in the name of "sportiness". It's gotten so bad even SUV type vehicles, the normal bastion of decent ride are at it. Smaller alloys, decent side profile and suspension which actually soaks up the worst our roads have to offer rather than transmitting it straight through to your filings. I'd sacrifice quite a bit of sportiness\handling finesse and lap time willy waving to bring back that old floating on air feeling that you used to get with a lot of older cars.
Self cancelling indicators: When they're electronic, as they are in many cars now, surely it would be an easy option to put in the iDrive or similar to just disable the auto cancelling. I find that if a roundabout or junction is approached via a curve so I have steering lock on when I start to indicate, then when I subsequently straighten up for the roundabout, my indicator cancels just as I'm crossing the white line. This is annoying because my wheel's no longer straight, and I have to take a hand off the wheel to put the damn indicator back on again, and you can bet as soon as you move your hand back to the wheel it cancels again. Not only that, but it cancels just at the point where you're joining the roundabout and doing the most number of things, not to mention the point where other people really need to know which way you're going. I wish I could just disable the self cancelling and the problem would go away overnight. As it stands, I take certain roundabouts and junctions one handed with one hand repeatedly tapping the indicator stalk...
Guvernator said:
Ride suppleness. Baring a very few exceptions like Lotus, most modern cars are rubbish at this. Our roads are getting worse and yet manufactures insist on making cars feel every ripple\pothole\crack\fag-butt in the road, all in the name of "sportiness". It's gotten so bad even SUV type vehicles, the normal bastion of decent ride are at it. Smaller alloys, decent side profile and suspension which actually soaks up the worst our roads have to offer rather than transmitting it straight through to your filings. I'd sacrifice quite a bit of sportiness\handling finesse and lap time willy waving to bring back that old floating on air feeling that you used to get with a lot of older cars.
Trouble is once you're on mainland europe, your suspension is magically fixed!The recent new super-black surfaces are really quiet too.
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