Newer Vehicles and Technology

Beth Gallagher said:
I thought that DRL's were yet another government requirement for American cars but I looked it up and apparently there is no such requirement. I guess the car makers just took it upon themselves to include them so they could bump prices and sell more headlight bulbs.

Another example of "for their own good" safety items is the sound that hybrids and electric vehicles make to alert people that they are moving. I suppose it makes sense because a vehicle under electric power is practically silent as it glides along.
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Yes, I have almost been hit by these silent killers. Worst is the electric bikes that think the sidewalk was made just for them.
 
Ken Anderson said:
In Maine, if they come with the car (factory-installed), they are legal but if they are an after-market product deemed to be too bright, they could result in a ticket.

As for electric vehicles, someone who looks to be in his 20s here in Millinocket has an electric bike that makes no sound and has no headlights, I suppose because he's used to not seeing people walking at night, if there are no cars coming, he has a habit of just sailing through intersections at full speed. He came very close to hitting me one night, because I often walk at night. Someone was killed on an electric bike here in town not long ago, but he was twelve, so not him. He wasn't hit, though; probably, ice had something to do with it.
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There you go blaming ICE. Shame on you. 🤣 You should call ICE and have that bike bully deported. He is probably an illegal from Canada. :sneaky:
 
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Don Alaska said:
I am a fan of daytime running lights here. A white car in a snow storm, or wind-blown blizzard is invisible even in the daytime. Same applies for fog. I also like them when it is raining, as many cars are invisible here when it rains hard.
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The law in many states is to have headlights on in the rain. Turning on headlights also lights the tail lights, which DRLs do not do.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
The law in many states is to have headlights on in the rain. Turning on headlights also lights the tail lights, which DRLs do not do.
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Yes, here in Maine, we are supposed to have our headlights on if we're using our windshield wipers. Someone tested that once by saying he had elected not to use his windshield wipers in the rain, but I'm not sure how that worked out; or are we supposed to turn our lights on if we use our windshield washer?
 
Beth Gallagher said:
The law in many states is to have headlights on in the rain. Turning on headlights also lights the tail lights, which DRLs do not do.
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That's one of the complaints with DRLs (or about other drivers with them.) They think their driving lights are on when they're not. I keep my lights on Automatic, including my high beams. The problem then is the headlights automatically come on when I turn my car off, and the high beams are on. Nothing like pulling up to a restaurant with a glass front and zapping everyone in there that's eating a meal.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
The law in many states is to have headlights on in the rain. Turning on headlights also lights the tail lights, which DRLs do not do.
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This is a law in Tennessee.

I have a 2002 Saturn SC that I bought new. Its bells and whistles constitute AC, power windows, power door locks, and an “stereo system with a CD player, lollol.

Its best asset is that it has a clutch. The professional thieves don’t want it and the kids don’t know how to drive it.
 
I was just reading an article where a woman hit an overpass barrier while in her Tesla supposedly in fully automatic hands-off mode. Apparently it made all the regional news programs. There was video from the car's camera of the crash. Her lawyer gave a nice little talk. Tesla has since come out and according to their telemetry records, she turned the hands-off mode off a few seconds before the crash. We'll see if the lawsuit gets dropped.
 
I found out yesterday that my car has a case of Ghost Screen. As I'm driving along, sometimes the Infotainment System beeps as though I've made a selection, and the display goes to some random place/setting. The dealer says this is a hardware issue (the touch screen) and not a software reload...the touch screen thinks it's been touched and needs to be replaced ($650).

It's kind of infuriating because the only time I use the touch screen is when I'm entering a new address for the NAV System. Once the address is entered, it stays in memory and does not need to be reentered. I hardly ever enter new addresses. Other than that, I exclusively use the buttons and joystick to navigate the radio and system settings...never the screen. So the thing gets minimal once-or-twice-a-year use.

Some of the screens that just pop up on their own are several menu tiers down...there's no way to get to them with a single touch. And it happens when I'm in motion, so that screen cannot be accessed by a touch or by any other means. I wonder if there's not something else wrong.

It doesn't happen all the time. I just drove 25 miles to grocery shop, made a few stops there and a couple more on my way home and the screen did not flake out once. I think I'll let it slide for a while.
 
John Brunner said:
I found out yesterday that my car has a case of Ghost Screen. As I'm driving along, sometimes the Infotainment System beeps as though I've made a selection, and the display goes to some random place/setting. The dealer says this is a hardware issue (the touch screen) and not a software reload...the touch screen thinks it's been touched and needs to be replaced ($650).

It's kind of infuriating because the only time I use the touch screen is when I'm entering a new address for the NAV System. Once the address is entered, it stays in memory and does not need to be reentered. I hardly ever enter new addresses. Other than that, I exclusively use the buttons and joystick to navigate the radio and system settings...never the screen. So the thing gets minimal once-or-twice-a-year use.

Some of the screens that just pop up on their own are several menu tiers down...there's no way to get to them with a single touch. And it happens when I'm in motion, so that screen cannot be accessed by a touch or by any other means. I wonder if there's not something else wrong.

It doesn't happen all the time. I just drove 25 miles to grocery shop, made a few stops there and a couple more on my way home and the screen did not flake out once. I think I'll let it slide for a while.
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Check youtube. I have found a lot of cures for stuff there that I could do myself.
 
I guess I'm the odd man out?

I hate newer cars and sold my last one (2015 Chevy) years ago. Newer cars are ugly, have narrow claustrophobic windows with dangerously large A-pillars, are too tall and too heavy, have stupid large wheels/tires, a distracting info screen, a ridiculous amount of computers/electronics, and a rubber band feeling transmission of dubious reliability. Not to mention they are designed to discourage any attempt to repair them yourself.

I drive a 1997 Buick Regal with 112k miles and a 3800 Series 2 motor that will probably outlive me;)
 
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John Wick said:
I guess I'm the odd man out?

I hate newer cars and sold my last one (2015 Chevy) years ago. Newer cars are ugly, have narrow claustrophobic windows with dangerously large A-pillars, are too tall and too heavy, have stupid large wheels/tires, a distracting info screen, a ridiculous amount of computers/electronics, and a rubber band feeling transmission of dubious reliability. Not to mention they are designed to discourage any attempt to repair them yourself.

I drive a 1997 Buick Regal with 112k miles and a 3800 Series 2 motor that will probably outlive me;)
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Actually, you're not the odd man out at all. This entire thread is full of complaints about new vehicles. I hate all the electronics in new cars, and to me they all look alike. In the old days, each car had a distinct look and it was easy to identify the make and model.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
Actually, you're not the odd man out at all. This entire thread is full of complaints about new vehicles. I hate all the electronics in new cars, and to me they all look alike. In the old days, each car had a distinct look and it was easy to identify the make and model.
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This is exactly right, @Beth Gallagher ! And it was not just the looks, but also the colors. If you look at an old photo of a parking lot from before 2000, you will see all kinds of vehicles of different shapes, sizes , and colors. Now, almost all the cars look the same, no matter the make and model, and they are some shade of grey, from light silver to charcoal.

It is not just the cars that this happened to.
The fast food places all had their own look back then, too. You could tell a McDonalds or a Pizza Hut from a couple blocks away. Now, they all have the same plain-Jane building, and the Mc D’s arches is about the only thing that sets it apart.

Clothes are doing that, too. Before 2000, we had different styles, and now we have pretty much generic clothes that can work for anyone. We are losing our originality in almost everything.
 
Yvonne Smith said:
This is exactly right, @Beth Gallagher ! And it was not just the looks, but also the colors. If you look at an old photo of a parking lot from before 2000, you will see all kinds of vehicles of different shapes, sizes , and colors. Now, almost all the cars look the same, no matter the make and model, and they are some shade of grey, from light silver to charcoal.

It is not just the cars that this happened to.
The fast food places all had their own look back then, too. You could tell a McDonalds or a Pizza Hut from a couple blocks away. Now, they all have the same plain-Jane building, and the Mc D’s arches is about the only thing that sets it apart.

Clothes are doing that, too. Before 2000, we had different styles, and now we have pretty much generic clothes that can work for anyone. We are losing our originality in almost everything.
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It seems like all car interiors are black too. I had to order my Impreza with a tan interior which they found at another dealer 90 miles away, so my "new" car already had 90 miles on it when I picked it up.
 
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