Auto "Safety" Technolgy is getting out of hand....

In My Humble Opinion
1

Every day, I read or hear about some new high-tech alleged ‘safety’ feature on the latest and greatest cars. I really like the new 2014 Mazda6 and I recently took one for a test drive. It was the top-of-the-line Grand Touring model and it had the only option available- it was shown as the MRCC/FOWP package…the only worse than some of the silly technology devices are the acronyms used to refer to them! On the Mazda6, that stands for Mazda Radar Cruise Control and Forward Obstruction Warning Package…

Radar Cruise Control- maintains a set, ‘safe’ distance from the vehicle directly in front of it and adjusts speed up/down as needed- first, I hate people who don’t maintain a certain speed on the highway, it’s usually because they’re distracted doing something else or borderline-retarded if they can’t maintain 70mph or so on a freakin’ expressway! If I was behind such a person, I wouldn’t want my cruise control to slow down with the douchebag, I would be flicking on my left signal to make a lane change and pass the jerk…

Forward Obstructioin Warning System- It alerts the driver when an obstruction is detected in the car’s travel path, usually giving the drive enough time to avoid the obstacle. I’ve had this for years, on every car I’ve ever owned…It’s called a fucking windshield! You should be scanning the road in front of you further than 10 or 20 feet and, if you see something in the road, steering around it…it’s really quite simple.

I currently have a 2012 Mazda CX-9 and it came with a Blind Spot Monitoring System. I was very skeptical and had every intention of hating it and never using it. But I’ve actually grown quite fond of it and find it very useful. It alerts you when a vehicle is on either side of you within a certain area where radar scans from the corners of the rear bumper. If a car is in the ‘blind spot’ a warning light illuminates on the outside mirror on that side of the vehicle. If you signal a lane change in the direction where a car is detected, a ‘warning chime’ goes off to stop you.

The only time I find it annoying is when I’m stuck behind slow drivers in both lanes and have to squeeze in and out of tight spots so I can get behind them and shine my Xenon headlights into their mirror to make them move out of the left lane or to be able to fly around them…it’s amazing how well a 4500lb Full-size Crossover/SUV will squeeze in between cars and zip in and out of traffic…that’s why I bought it! But the Blind Spot Monitor goes apeshit non-stop when I’m driving like that and I switch it off temporarily.

The other feature that I didn’t get to test on the Mazda6 is called the Smart City Brake Support System. At speeds under 25mph, if it detects a potential collision (with another vehicle or even a pedestrian), it will ‘prime’ the brake calipers to maximize braking power if the driver responds by slamming on the brakes. If a crash is imminent or the driver doesnt’ respond and continues to close in on the object, the car will automatically apply full braking power and cut the throttle to avoid or at least minimize the severity of a collision.

Volvo came out with the same feature on the 2011 Volvo S60. I did test it out on a test drive of that car and the poor salesman who was with me was shaking by the time we got back to the dealership…but the automatic braking worked…it beats rear-ending someone, but anyone who pays attention when they’re driving shouldn’t need a tech-nanny to back them up.

The final feature on the Mazda6 is the Lane Departure Warning System. It uses cameras to read the painted lines used to create multiple lanes. If it detects you veering within so many inches of the line on either side, it also has a warning chime, much louder than the ones on the other systems. It is louder in case you are distracted or falling asleep and in danger of leaving your lane. Most highways here in GA make a rumble when you touch the line and start to go over onto either shoulderr. Then the refelctor strips on the broken lines in between lanes also do a sufficient job of telling you to stay in your own damn lane.

In all, this car with a $31k sticker price has at least three ‘camera’ or ‘optical sensors’, two lasers and five radar sensors mounted outside the car, mostly in the bumpers. It will suck when the car is five or six years old, out of warranty and those things start needing replacement…and even if you lightly hit something with the front bumper or someone rear-ends you, it’s going to cost $3-4k to repair…

The car also has a feature that my CX-9 has and I hate- automatic rain-sensing wipers. They never seem to be running at the correct speed, usually slightly too slow and just enough to piss me off! Also, if the sensor gets too dirty (like during our pollen season) the wipers will randomly activate, screech across the dry windshield and streak it a few swipes…and if you spray the washer fluid, it makes a paste with the pollen and makes it almost impossible to see out of the windshield…thankfully, there is an OFF and regular low, high and int slider functions so I’m not forced to use the auto function. Why would anyone need automatic wipers? See rain on windshield, turn on wipers…it’s stupid simple…

And it’s not just Mazda, almost every car company has a long list of acronyms representing the array of ‘safety’ features their car has…

2

As a fellow Georgia driver I ask you please take a deep breath. Please be patient. Someone will let you in. Act predictably for the sanity of those around you.

3

I always signal when I’m squeezing into that spot six inches away from your bumper…so at leat I try to be courteous…and I have turn signals on the back side of my outside mirrors, so you can see them even if I’m too close for you to see my tail lights!

Not to mention, if I’m pushing a ‘lane-squatter’ out of the left lane, I’m doing a service for all the cars behind me as well…

When I visit my cousin in Los Angeles, I like to ‘push’ freakin’ Prius drivers out of the left lane where they’re always blocking traffic…but when they see a big Lexus SUV grille and headlights inches behind them, they move over very quickly…I’m amazed I haven’t had to flick a few of them out the grille, but they can suddenly move quickly with proper motivation!

4

I think I may have been just ahead of you in traffic, no few times!

(Why am I paying taxes for freeway lanes I can’t legally use? This needs a big class-action lawsuit…)

5

You can use the HOV lane if you qualify or any lane other than the left-most lane, which is for faster moving traffic. In LA, on the 405, that means 85-90mph. In Germany, if you block the left lane on the Autobahn, they will cite you faster than anyone else…if a car behind you wants to go faster than you and there is one or more vacant lanes to your left, you are violating the law and being a total dick to every other driver on the road with you!

6

You mean “to your right”.

And this will end well… in the Pit.

7

It is quite obvious that you are just as inconsiderate as the drivers you bemoan.

Be calm, be rational, be patient. Don’t put your car in an unsafe position. Doing it purposefully in order to intimidate other drivers is reckless and dangerous. I’m glad that we have an ocean between us. Also, BTW, Germany does have harsh rules for lane blocking but even harsher ones for tailgating. I speak as one who knows.

Overall, if other drivers are behaving in an unsafe way, how exactly does your dangerous response make things better?

8

This.
I used to drive for a same-day courier service(SF Bay Area) and i would see drivers like that all the time. I would stay in one lane for miles while watching them dive from lane to lane and never gaining an inch. I was also a witness to several accidents they left in their wake.

9

Yep, they proudly proclaim that they’ve never been in an accident…they’ve *seen *thousands!

10

I’m going to ask my local Mazda dealership if they have a Beelzebubba warning device.

11

Zing! I love it. I’m getting one fitted asap.

12

It seems irony is lost on the OP. Frankly, the behavior that the OP is describing is exactly the reason that these sorts of features have been implemented in cars.

Do you want to know why don’t consistently go the same speed? Because there’s people, like the OP, forcing their way in six inches from another driver’s bumper–but it’s okay, because he signaled first. What this means, assuming that doesn’t directly result in an accident, that he has to slow down to follow at a safe distance, and thus EVERYONE behind him has to slow down. Thus, having dynamic cruise control helps to prevent an accident where someone else was momentarily distracted. It also helps to prevent traffic jams because, if it’s busy enough that people are squeezing into spaces that closely, then when one person hits his breaks, the person behind him is also too close and has some reaction time and has to hit his breaks harder, and it results in hundreds of other cars slowing down.

Same with detecting obstructions ahead. Yes, it’d be great if everyone always paid 100% attention to the road when driving, but they don’t. Even if someone doesn’t fuss with their radio, make a phone call, or put on makeup while driving, they’ll have moments where they zone out a bit, or perhaps an obstruction comes in front of the vehicle while they not looking for some other reason, like checking gauges, mirrors, or blind spots.

Yes, I’m frustrated too when there’s someone in the left lane going slow, and it’s nice when they move out of the way, but getting them to move because you’re driving dangerously aroudn them is about the worst way to do it. And, contrary to your belief in helping the other drivers behind you, what you’re doing contributes more to traffic problems than the random slow driver. A slow driver can be passed, and it only really affects that one travel lane, but people aggressive changing lanes spreads that into other lanes because the affected drivers have to react to your unsafe driving.

13

:stuck_out_tongue:

One less mechanism to toy with (including AC and headlights, among others). When implemented properly, they’re great. :slight_smile:

However, it’s a stretch to consider them a safety option.

14

OP, what’s your hurry?

15

What I find really annoying in that situation, is that usually it goes like this; its a 70mph speed zone, a truck in front of me that I have just caught up with is doing 65, so I signal and move into the left lane to continue at 70, and some jerk comes up my bumper doing 90, and they are pissed that I won’t go any faster, so they ride my bumper. I wish I had something I could use to drop cinder-blocks out my bumper to get douchbags like that off my bumper. First of all, I was there first and I am moving faster than traffic on the right, even if it isn’t as fast as you’d like. Second, obey the god damned speed limit. That is what it is there for. Can you not read?

Another part of that is when you “pass” the truck, the motorist behind you in the left lane expects you to get into the right lane as SOON as your bumpers have passed. You have one inch clearance to get in the right lane? MOVE OVER! Well - no - I respect that driver, as well as my own safety, and I’m going to put a few car lengths between us. That isn’t an invitation for you to squeeze through and pass me on the right.

Where the hell are cops when stuff like that happens? Ugh

16

:rolleyes:

17

People who don’t keep adequate distances between their vehicles and others are the cause of every accident involving more than one vehicle on the interstates. When the piddly distance left between vehicles by such people diminishes to zero, a crash happens, causing grief and delay for all the sensible motorists following such foolish drivers.

18

The SO complains that the Prius won’t let people make a phone call or enter addresses into the GPS. Toyota’s thinking is that it’s unsafe for drivers to be fiddling with the MFD while they’re driving, so they won’t let them. Unfortunately, this means the passenger can’t fiddle with it either. Not that the phone really matters, as the SO rarely uses hers; and it doesn’t have Bluetooth anyway. I can enter a number on my phone and it connects, but it takes longer to connect than it does by using the MFD screen. I have been inconvenienced when I can’t enter an address into the GPS while I’m moving, and traffic doesn’t come to a stop. (The only time traffic doesn’t come to a stop is when I need it to.)

Finally, as described in another thread, the SO failed to properly power the car down on Saturday. It wouldn’t power up when I tried to use it yesterday afternoon. You’d think a car as ‘smart’ as a Prius would know to turn itself off after an hour or two if the driver walks away.

19

I think I would like the radar cruise control, the other features probably not as much but as long as I can switch them off it’s no big deal.

I like my automatic wipers on my Mazda when it’s raining, they adjust speed faster or slower depending on how much it’s raining. However if I drive under trees on a dry sunny day the sunlight/shadow transitions trigger the wipers. But I can turn them off.

20

+1,000,000. OP, you want to know why everyone is driving slowly? It’s because they can’t see past the car in front of them because it’s a pointlessly high-riding SUV with tinted windows. Most of those useless safety features are there to protect sensible people from SUV owners.