'Another thing to go wrong'

[northwestrecovery]

My kids are starving because i couldn't get to the shops as my epb was stuck on !

[Zod]

[Max5476]

lj04 said:

I have spent longer changing electric window regulators than the time they have saved me and the wife. VW and Porsche reliability, bloody joke

Same here, I've had lots of electric windows issues. On my Micra they were aftermarket electric windows which broke, so I did the easiest fix and changed them to a manual winder, never had any problems after that.

[Boosted LS1]

Fox- said:

Boosted LS1 said:

I don't get you, how much automation do you want? How hard is it to use a conventional handbrake? Will you sleep walk into driverless drones because they do it all for you?

Manually operating a handbrake adds nothing to the experience of driving for me and takes up space in the interior. Why would you want one?

I see it more as a case of manufacturers dumbing down driving. Park in a queue of cars and all the brake lights are on. Most will be people sitting on the foot brake and the rest will have auto parking brakes. There was a time when people used to use the handbrake whenever the car was stationary.

[DonkeyApple]

Zod said:

Rather apposite. After centuries of white collar workers mocking blues over their job losses, they are entering the phase of economic evolution that will see Ned Ludds rising this time out of the white collar environment. It's probably fair to say that most comments in this car forum against relentless tech advances are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we are going to see over the next 20 years?

[anonymous-user]

Electric handbrakes, a solution to a question that was never asked.

[Sheepshanks]

Boosted LS1 said:

I see it more as a case of manufacturers dumbing down driving. Park in a queue of cars and all the brake lights are on. Most will be people sitting on the foot brake and the rest will have auto parking brakes. There was a time when people used to use the handbrake whenever the car was stationary.

Many cars with EPBs have auto-hold and that leaves the brake lights on anyway.

[Howard-]

Every time we have one of these threads, PH seems to split itself into two groups: Those who love technology, and those who hate it.

Personally, I can understand wanting your weekend fun car to be stripped back with a focus on things like a sweet engine and a lovely chassis. When I had my MX5 I didn't care that it didn't have central locking or climate control or electrically adjustable seats because this stuff wasn't important as I was threading it through some windy roads on an early summer's morning. But poo-poo'ing modern tech in a "normal car" or "daily driver" makes you sound like a bit of a luddite, IMO. Modern cars are far more reliable than they used to be in decades gone by, despite their increased reliance on electronics. Technology moves on, solid state circuitry is very reliable, and why wouldn't you want numerous comfort features to make your driving life easier/more enjoyable/more comfortable?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

My 2 previous cars had electric handbrake. Just brilliant. Faultless, never needs adjusting, just superb. My current car has manual handbrake. I'd forgotten just how crap they are, plus you have a bloody big ugly lever stuck between the seats.

I'm surprised some of the luddites on here aren't moaning about the demise of the starting handle!

[Shakermaker]

The "going wrong" seems to be the case with many of the early adopters of such technology, before all the kinks have been worked out over thousands of cars all doing thousands of miles, rather than just the test mules.

all that new tech, will start to trickle down and become more reliable and less bug-ridden with the passage of time; so that the same piece of tech in a new car will be far more reliable than the piece in an older car.

[austinsmirk]

I looked at some Ford Galaxies and smax's yesterday at a dealers. (for the wife). although to be honest, very nice for what we want.

An Smax I viewed- which has 3 rows of seats (7 seaters) had electrically operated middle and rear seats. they actually auto-folded et al.


instantly I thought: no. load of weighty motors, stuff to go wrong. No one needs powered folding seat systems.

Plus £38K for a Ford Smax.

[DonkeyApple]

yonex said:

Electric handbrakes, a solution to a question that was never asked.

The question was how to source work and revenue for JLR service centres. The answer was to fit a crap electric system that commonly broke.

[battered]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

My 2 previous cars had electric handbrake. Just brilliant. Faultless, never needs adjusting, just superb.

I take it that it wasn't a Passat then? Try a normal hillstart in one of them and be prepared to start swearing!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

battered said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

My 2 previous cars had electric handbrake. Just brilliant. Faultless, never needs adjusting, just superb.

I take it that it wasn't a Passat then? Try a normal hillstart in one of them and be prepared to start swearing!

No, but one was an Audi A4, so presumably the same bit of kit.

[Sump]

battered said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

My 2 previous cars had electric handbrake. Just brilliant. Faultless, never needs adjusting, just superb.

I take it that it wasn't a Passat then? Try a normal hillstart in one of them and be prepared to start swearing!

Had one in an A6. Best thing ever, lift clutch on a hill and it automatically disengages and away you go!

[anonymous-user]

DonkeyApple said:

The question was how to source work and revenue for JLR service centres. The answer was to fit a crap electric system that commonly broke.

In fairness electric handbrakes are more likely case #2367772 on the 'job creation scheme' at JLR

[Shnozz]

When I was a lad my dad always had Mercs. The two times I remember mum having to rescue him from a breakdown were both due to the handpull handbrake thing locking on.

[Mr2Mike]

Ved said:

I hear this from people with older cars which of course never ever broke down.

Of course they broke down, just as the modern ones do. The difference is that they were easy and cheap to diagnose and repair.

[Digby]

Mr2Mike said:

Of course they broke down, just as the modern ones do.

Apart from many Japanese cars..

None of the old ones I have had ever broke down.

My parents Toyota they had from new in 1988 was eventually kept as a second car to use for tip runs etc. It also never broke down. In fact they replaced a few bulbs on it, a back box and pads until someone hit it and they gave it away to a family friend around 2012. It was still running perfectly and everything worked.

My old 1990 Sunny is still running perfectly (mates Sister has it) Everything works.

The 1982 Mitsi I sold recently, according to the Mitsi fanatic who purchased it, sounded exactly as it did the day it left the factory. No sagging roof lining etc, even the headlamp washer jets worked perfectly.

Rust, as usual, was often the killer as time went on, but the story was much the same for many years regarding reliability.

The Japanese bike and car "invasion" made many realise just how crap everything else was and reminded them that things didn't have to leak both oil from engines and water through panel gaps etc.

I remember streets being lined with open bonnets at weekends as a kid, until people started buying Datsuns etc.

I blame them for todays lack of social interaction

[DonkeyApple]

An amusing thought that. Back when the average resi street was Fords and Leyland, everyone would be outside on a Saturday fettling under the bonnet and chatting in informal self help groups and running tool share programs. The Japanese arrive and so began the start of the modern social decline.