The ever increasing number of driver aid features.
Discussion
Many of us, especially VH era owners, quite enjoy the 'old school' nature of those end of era cars, because they require a considerable amount of driver involvement.
The recent trend has been for the car to be in control of turning on lights; switching wipers on; etc.
Whether these features are provided as a convenience, or because manufacturers consider drivers are incapable of noticing when it is becoming dark, or starting to rain, I do not know.
With regard to automatic lights, there are instances in limited visibility, when the driver should know more than the car.
This morning I could see a distinct pattern relating to that.
Situation - Rain and an enormous amount of spray, on the M25 ('Smart' - All Lane Running) motorway.
Almost all older cars had tail lights illuminated.
A huge proportion of recent cars had no rear lights on at all. When not too far ahead, those cars became completely invisible to everybody following behind.
I am sure that everyone here will know exactly the reason for this irresponsible driving.
Drivers with automatic lights, become so used to the feature, that they become oblivious to outside conditions.
During water spray or fog, the auto lights do not operate, so the driver creates a risk, by not displaying any rear lights.
Did not see any Aston Martins, but a Ferrari slowly overtook without rear lights and soon became invisible in the spray.
An opportunity there, for Aston Martin engineers to conquer that problem and show they are world leaders.
Probably just need a mist, spray and fog detector, if there is such a thing.
My 2006 XK had auto lights, wipers and dimming rear view mirror (as did my cars before it going back to 2001) and keyless ignition too. All very handy. So I found it a surprise that an Aston Martin built a year later was basically clockwork - particularly an actual key you have to put in a slot (a source of amusement to friends with 'normal' cars). As for fog lights, I think people forget they have them - a lack of situational awareness. And even if they do think of them, can they find the switch?
Unfortunately, it's a case of dumbing down to the level of the thickest and takes away personal responsibilty. Of course, as the number of 'driver aids' has increased, so have the number of pages in the cars' handbooks with warnings, often highlighted in red, about the need for the driver to retain responsibility - at the very time they're making it easier to pay less attention.
You can bet that the idiots who don't turn their lights on are the same ones who never look in the handbook and post on FB 'how do I open the bonnet on my BMW XYZ'.
You can bet that the idiots who don't turn their lights on are the same ones who never look in the handbook and post on FB 'how do I open the bonnet on my BMW XYZ'.
Dewi 2 said:
Many of us, especially VH era owners, quite enjoy the 'old school' nature of those end of era cars, because they require a considerable amount of driver involvement.
The recent trend has been for the car to be in control of turning on lights; switching wipers on; etc.
alscar said:
Funnily enough my wife said only yesterday in driving home in awful weather “ why does the car keep telling me visibility is limited ?”
I can see it is !
I can see it is !
Assuming it was during daylight hours - I am certain that your wife would have known that the auto lights would not activate, so therefore manually switched on the headlights (also ensuring that the tail lights were illuminated).
Being married to an AM PHer, she probably enjoys discussions about many aspects of good driving.
When our wives say, "Don't tell me how to drive", we politely remain silent and think about Kimi Räikkönen saying,
"I know what I am doing", although he was a world champion!
If you would like it, here is another piece of world champion comedy.
Jody Scheckter lives in England and had to attend a speed awareness course. He was fairly sure that no one present recognised him.
When asked to rate his driving, from 1 to 10, he wrote down, 'Not too bad in 1979, so I give myself a 7'.
I usually get caught out by the auto headlight feature when said vehicle has been into a garage for work/service as they always turn the feature off.
My merc has ‘lane assist’ which is default on (you can go through the faff to turn it off through the settings every journey, not great) and tries to stop me pulling into the left hand lane approach to a roundabout near where I live, every single time. Its a weird sensation having to fight with the car and certainly gets my heart rate up a bit. I hate it with a passion. I’m going to ask the dealer if it can be disabled by default when it goes for service next week.
My merc has ‘lane assist’ which is default on (you can go through the faff to turn it off through the settings every journey, not great) and tries to stop me pulling into the left hand lane approach to a roundabout near where I live, every single time. Its a weird sensation having to fight with the car and certainly gets my heart rate up a bit. I hate it with a passion. I’m going to ask the dealer if it can be disabled by default when it goes for service next week.
M1AGM said:
I usually get caught out by the auto headlight feature when said vehicle has been into a garage for work/service as they always turn the feature off.
My merc has ‘lane assist’ which is default on (you can go through the faff to turn it off through the settings every journey, not great) and tries to stop me pulling into the left hand lane approach to a roundabout near where I live, every single time. Its a weird sensation having to fight with the car and certainly gets my heart rate up a bit. I hate it with a passion. I’m going to ask the dealer if it can be disabled by default when it goes for service next week.
My new V60CC has most of those features, but they can all be set to “off by default” in the car’s menus, and they don’t reset to being on at the next key off. Sounds like Merc have got their priorities wrongMy merc has ‘lane assist’ which is default on (you can go through the faff to turn it off through the settings every journey, not great) and tries to stop me pulling into the left hand lane approach to a roundabout near where I live, every single time. Its a weird sensation having to fight with the car and certainly gets my heart rate up a bit. I hate it with a passion. I’m going to ask the dealer if it can be disabled by default when it goes for service next week.
I’m not sure it’s anything new, I do alot of miles and in rain you do see a lot of cars running with DRLS only, but you also see a lot of old stuff with no lights on at all, k think it’s just Morons who don’t have a clue
What I do find odd though, is you see lots of new cars in the rain with DRLS only, and all new cars have auto lights as standard, and every car I’ve had with them has the feature that puts dipped beam on when the wipers have been on for 30 seconds or so, but I see loads of cars, especially Volvos, Hondas kias and hyandais which don’t do it,
Volvo was the shocking one, I don’t know if they still have an off position for lights prehaps? But at least they all have rear DRLS on
What I do find odd though, is you see lots of new cars in the rain with DRLS only, and all new cars have auto lights as standard, and every car I’ve had with them has the feature that puts dipped beam on when the wipers have been on for 30 seconds or so, but I see loads of cars, especially Volvos, Hondas kias and hyandais which don’t do it,
Volvo was the shocking one, I don’t know if they still have an off position for lights prehaps? But at least they all have rear DRLS on
Same thing I noticed when it is foggy, automatic lights do not recognize fog and therefore lights stay off... I have given up flashing cars to warn them because they think YOU are the idiot.... .
Sometimes newer is not better (we could continue here about the increase of screens and menus in newer cars to simply change the heating in the car...).
Cheers,
Frank
Sometimes newer is not better (we could continue here about the increase of screens and menus in newer cars to simply change the heating in the car...).
Cheers,
Frank
My 2014MY Vantage has auto lights and wipers which I quite like but not much else. Same on the Mondeo.
Parked the Mondeo at T5 valet parking a few weeks ago. When we picked it up 3 days later the valet driver had turned everything off. Auto-lights, auto-wipers, Aircon, heater fan, stereo, everything. Quite annoying but I suppose they're told to do it thinking it will minimise the risk of a flat battery which leads us back to another current thread ............ https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Parked the Mondeo at T5 valet parking a few weeks ago. When we picked it up 3 days later the valet driver had turned everything off. Auto-lights, auto-wipers, Aircon, heater fan, stereo, everything. Quite annoying but I suppose they're told to do it thinking it will minimise the risk of a flat battery which leads us back to another current thread ............ https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
V8V Pete said:
My 2014MY Vantage has auto lights and wipers which I quite like but not much else. Same on the Mondeo.
The difference Pete, is that you have a keen interest in driving and also the experience to be aware in heavy spray or fog, that the auto lights system does not respond.
The huge number of 'invisible' cars on the M25 which I described, presumably all must have disinterested drivers, who think auto lights can be left alone to work in all curcumstances.
'TRM' mentioned rear 'running lights'. Is that something new? It might solve the problem, although on sunny days, just help give the power generators a little more business !
The cars that I saw, displayed front running lights which I could see in my mirrors, but nothing at all illuminated at the rear.
Edited by Dewi 2 on Saturday 31st December 11:59
I find it a glaring mistake my 2009 Vantage doesn't come with front fog lights.
The auto lights and wipers on my company cars over the past (I guess) 10+ years have been great. The ones on the more recent cars Outlander are very good and in three years have only ever been caught out once where I felt they should have come on but didn't so I overrode the auto function and switched them on.
The lane keep functions on my cars I keep switched off and I personally despise the more modern cruise controls that for me cut in far too often breaking for me when I wouldn't have done so hence, a return to the old cruise that kept it's pace allowing the driver to judge things.
The auto lights and wipers on my company cars over the past (I guess) 10+ years have been great. The ones on the more recent cars Outlander are very good and in three years have only ever been caught out once where I felt they should have come on but didn't so I overrode the auto function and switched them on.
The lane keep functions on my cars I keep switched off and I personally despise the more modern cruise controls that for me cut in far too often breaking for me when I wouldn't have done so hence, a return to the old cruise that kept it's pace allowing the driver to judge things.
Don’t generally like intervening driving aids. But I do like the auto lights on the VH Vantage, as well as auto-dimming mirror. Auto wipers can be annoying on all cars.
I don’t long for any other tech. Perhaps apart from blind side vehicle warnings indicated by an indicator in the external mirrors. Not intrusive but potentially useful in a sports car where rear 3/4 visibility isn’t brilliant.
Finally, one “nannying” approach I do love in the Vantage that I only just noticed last months after owning three models over 5 years… shift up. Shift up indicators are MASSIVELY annoying in most cars. A massive light on the dash when you are keeping gear on purpose (eg. preparing to overtake). In the Vantage, the smallest, most obscure “^” symbol in the mono LCD matrix in the speedo. You can tell an engineer was to add it. Technically they did…
I don’t long for any other tech. Perhaps apart from blind side vehicle warnings indicated by an indicator in the external mirrors. Not intrusive but potentially useful in a sports car where rear 3/4 visibility isn’t brilliant.
Finally, one “nannying” approach I do love in the Vantage that I only just noticed last months after owning three models over 5 years… shift up. Shift up indicators are MASSIVELY annoying in most cars. A massive light on the dash when you are keeping gear on purpose (eg. preparing to overtake). In the Vantage, the smallest, most obscure “^” symbol in the mono LCD matrix in the speedo. You can tell an engineer was to add it. Technically they did…
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