In a current Hyundai Tucson commercial, a woman is driving in the middle lane on a highway with her husband and daughter asleep in the car. A group of motorcycles are behind her. She signals left, and the motorcycles pass her on the left. Doesn’t signaling left indicate that SHE intends to move to the left lane, rather than an invitation for them to pass her? This confuses me.
IIRC, the commercial is specifically promoting a “no blind spots” feature. If not for that feature, the lead motorcycle would have been in her blind spot and the two would have collided.
She does so when the motorcycle is in her blind spot, and car’s sensors and cameras show her that there’s a motorcycle in the way, so she doesn’t glide over and wipe it out.
Yep, based on videos I’ve seen, Hyundais with this feature have cameras aimed at the vehicle’s blind spot. When you put your turn signal on the car will activate the cameras and display a video of what’s in the lane next to you in the instrument cluster.
In the commercial, the woman driving the Tuscon activated her turn signal to prepare to merge into the left lane, but unbeknownst to her the the motorcycles had already begun passing her on the left and were in her blind spot. But thanks to Hyundai’s blind spot monitoring feature, she was alerted to the presence of the motorcycles.
We just bought a new Hyundai Kona. If there’s a vehicle in the blind spot, and you signal to do a lane change in that direction, then there will be an alert.
She does the right thing, and they smile and laugh with her. Are we supposed to think that if it had gone the other way they (being a biker gang) would have put her and her family in grave danger?
How did we ever get by before? “pick up your visual scanning!”
The original question has been answered. My car (‘24 Subaru) does that too.
Somewhat interestingly, that depends on country and culture. Two examples:
In Mexico I’ve seen several drivers on Highway 1 down the Baja Peninsula, a 2-lane highway, when they have a driver behind them who wants to pass, and when they see that the road ahead is clear for the vehicle behind to pass, they’ll turn on their left turn signal and keep it on to indicate to the driver behind them that it is safe to pass. Usually it is a driver of a larger (and slower) truck or bus that I’ve seen do this.
Talk about a bizarre action! To me, it seems as though if I was the car wanting to pass, I would hesitate if I saw that because as I passed, what if the truck I’m passing meant to turn left? That seems very unsafe to me. That’s a bizarre practice there, in Mexico.
And then in Italy, on the multi-lane Autostrada, cars in the far left lane that want to pass traffic ahead of them will keep their left turn signal on, to indicate to the driver in front of them that they’d like to pass them. The driver in front, watching his/her rear view mirror, then moves to the right to allow the car behind to pass.
Incredible! This practice requires
a) the driver in the left lane to be watching their rear view mirror, and
b) to also notice the car behind them has its left turn signal on, and then
c) to move to the right to allow the car to pass
I was flabbergasted when I saw this. American drivers barely know what a rear bore motor is, and what it is for.
I was also in a rush so I gave it a try: I moved to the far left lane, kept my left signal on, and sure enough the car ahead of me merged right to allow me to pass. I promptly passed them, and sure enough the next car ahead also moved right to slow me to pass. For this to work, when the car ahead of you moves right to allow you to pass, the polite thing to do is accelerate smartly and pass them promptly. No lollygagging. That would be impolite.
I was able to blow past many cats this way. I was also watching my own rear view mirror carefully, looking for any Carabinieri. I didn’t want to get a speeding ticket! Fortunately it all worked out well.
That’s a polite ‘rule’ that they have there in Italy.
So, the left turn signal can mean different things in different cultures and countries.
I have no idea what a “rear bore motor” is— and I have a feeling you meant rear view mirror.
Please correct me otherwise!
Calling it an alert is putting it mildly. Mine sets off alarms and vibrates the steering wheel. It freaked me the fuck out. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it did - that car had been sitting in my blind spot for a couple of miles.
Yes that was a swipe typing typo. Rear view mirror!
Must proofread more carefully.