# Solutions to problems that don't exist **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2018, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126 "2018-05-14T12:31:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/41 "2018-05-15T00:05:06Z")
touch screens that replace common controls in cars. I prefer to be able to drive down the road and adjust things like the radio, mirrors, temperature, and vents without looking away from the road. It’s so gratifying to flip the temp to the hottest setting and hit the fan. Done. Want the stereo on, push the volume button and adjust the level. Done. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/42 "2018-05-15T01:03:56Z")
They also ‘fixed’ the navigation app in my car, so that it won’t operate while the car is in motion “for safety reasons”. I can’t tell you how many times the passenger in my car tries to use it…but I have to pull over and put the car in park for them to do so, ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/43 "2018-05-15T01:21:13Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Gah I hate paddle shifters (and I drive stick). Far too often I’d bump one of them and I never knew how to get it back to normal without switching the car into neutral and back to drive. > I’ve never seen a use for them, if you want to downshift to slow down on a mountain rd in snow or keep the car in a lower gear for towing, every car I’ve ever been gives you the ability to downshift with some combination of 1, 2 or L or Drive (as opposed to overdrive), 2,1 etc. They work fine for downshifting as well. > > Paddle shifters, at least IMO, are just for fun and I’ve never seen anyone use them, just bump them by accident. I have had an Infiniti Q60S with paddle shifters for over two years, 29K miles. I have never once bumped the paddle shifters by accident. I cannot even imagine how you could possibly do that. You pull them _towards_ you and there is no other motion like that which you would make that close to the steering wheel. I use them constantly the same way I change gears when I drive a manual. For highway I just leave it in D but on the hilly twisties I shift into manual mode for throttle control. They are just for fun in the same way that manual transmissions are just for fun. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/44 "2018-05-15T02:10:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > On the contrary - I find best-by dates very useful. > > Food isn’t binary, in that it can just be “good” or bad". Instead, it’s usually “better” or “worse”. All food starts going bad the moment it leaves the packaging plant, and the process in which it becomes inedible is gradual rather than sudden, with quality dropping over time. A yogurt two weeks before its best-by date tastes unarguably better than a product one week before its best-by-date, which in turn tastes better than one one day before, and so on. Thus, the best-by date is a useful tool for searching the supermarket refrigerator for the freshest, and thus best-tasting, food. The usefulness of comparing the best by dates of two products is not “on the contrary” to what I posted. I referenced comparing one best by date with today’s date, which does not, as you correctly state, yield a binary finding. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/45 "2018-05-15T02:32:51Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’ve never seen a use for them, if you want to downshift to slow down on a mountain rd in snow or keep the car in a lower gear for towing, every car I’ve ever been gives you the ability to downshift with some combination of 1, 2 or L or Drive (as opposed to overdrive), 2,1 etc. They work fine for downshifting as well. That’s fine on a 3 speed auto, but my current car has 6 speeds, and many now have 8. I prefer the ± on the shifter (slide over from D to M and push up and back) but I’ve never had a problem with the paddle shifters. It is solving a problem, giving drivers the ability to manually shift through the gears of a modern automatic transmission. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/46 "2018-05-15T02:37:05Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > That’s fine on a 3 speed auto, but my current car has 6 speeds, and many now have 8. Good point that I forgot to mention. Mine has 7. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/47 "2018-05-15T02:43:31Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > In my most charitable moments, I have a hard time imagining what the software people could possibly have been thinking when they built that aspect of the interface. That’s because the designers never use, in a normal setting, the software they create. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/48 "2018-05-15T02:55:33Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I have had an Infiniti Q60S with paddle shifters for over two years, 29K miles. I have never once bumped the paddle shifters by accident. I cannot even imagine how you could possibly do that. You pull them _towards_ you and there is no other motion like that which you would make that close to the steering wheel. I use them constantly the same way I change gears when I drive a manual. For highway I just leave it in D but on the hilly twisties I shift into manual mode for throttle control. > > They are just for fun in the same way that manual transmissions are just for fun. I drove a Honda Insight with paddle shifters and probably bumped them at least once a month. I don’t remember if it was just a fluke or had something to do with how I was holding the wheel. My mom has a Jeep (Cherokee? Patriot?) with center counsel shifter that you can ‘manually’ shift by pushing it side to side. I seem to bump it every time I drive it. Usually because I have my hand on it and and move it left or right by accident as I go around a turn. I’m sure if I drove it more than a few times a year I’d get used to it, but she tells me that she does it once in a while as well. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/49 "2018-05-15T03:42:59Z")
Autotune. You might say it actually does solve a problem, but it solves the wrong one. The problem isn’t “bad singers sing out of tune” - the problem is “bad singers get hired”. Autotune is for masking the fact that a particular person can’t sing; I don’t want to listen to the corrected sound of someone who can’t do it right on their own. Now autoMUTE, **that** I might buy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/50 "2018-05-15T13:43:01Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > You’ll have to pry the fob for my wife’s keyless ignition system from her hands, but you’ll never be able to do so because it stays in her pocket book all day. It’s actually a very elegant system that provides security and convenience. You may not desire to use it, but it’s a must have feature for any car we get, along with heated seats. I have a pushbutton start on one car, keyed on other two. I love the button convenience, especially opening the car by just touching the door handle. But, as others have done, I occasionally forget to turn the car off whilst going into a store, etc. The engine is very quiet and there’s no physical key ritual (turn off, take piece of metal). I switch between cars and often get in the car of the day and poke at a non-existent ignition button or fumble for a key hole that doesn’t exist. And what’s with the option of having the car turning off at a stop and starting again when accelerated? This seems like an answer to a non-problem. In BMWs, at least, the car jerks when starting from a stop when the option is turned on. It is so clunky I took it back to the dealer to be checked – nope, it’s just like that (SharkWife’s Mini, made by BMW, is the same way). I guess it could be useful in stop and go traffic or to someone obsessed with mileage. And I refuse to believe this shit option doesn’t wear on the engine. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/51 "2018-05-15T13:50:36Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I guess it could be useful in stop and go traffic or to someone obsessed with mileage. And I refuse to believe this shit option doesn’t wear on the engine. It’s designed to increase gas mileage, so it is solving a problem. It would wear on engines not designed for the feature, but modern cars are designed for this and it adds no significant wear and tear. It will be on most cars pretty soon. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/52 "2018-05-15T13:54:31Z")
I’m going to take advantage of this thread to moan about a small but annoying change I encountered recently. I use the website MapMyRun for mapping my running. Its useful, before a long run I can plan out a vague route I’m going to take that will be close to the distance I need. It loads a map, you click on your start point and then map out your run with a few more clicks of the mouse. So whats changed? Well before if you wanted to zoom in or out on the map you just used the scroll wheel, nice and simple. Now if you want to zoom in or out you have to hold ctrl first and then use the scroll wheel. It drives me bonkers, why add an extra step to the process? Who is this helping? Why do I now need two hands when previously one did the job perfectly well? I really would love to know the reasoning behind the change just so that I could disagree with it. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/53 "2018-05-15T14:00:24Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > It’s designed to increase gas mileage, so it is solving a problem. It would wear on engines not designed for the feature, but modern cars are designed for this and it adds no significant wear and tear. It will be on most cars pretty soon. It may be a lovely thing for other drivers, but it really is an unpleasant option in BMWs. The start-up jerk is significant and clunky; intellectually I can know it isn’t hard on the engine, but it sounds and feels bad. Maybe other car makers can do better. So, as of now the technology provides an answer to a problem I don’t have. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/54 "2018-05-15T15:45:58Z")
My husband and I have been driving various Subaru’s for maybe the last 10 years. The clock on the dashboard used to have a stem kind of thing that when pressed down would change the clock time. Quite simple. My husband bought a 2016 Forester. When daylight savings time came around he couldn’t figure out how to change the time. The stem thing was nowhere to be found. I looked in the owner’s manual for the instructions (as we women are known to do!). This model has 2 paddle things under the steering wheel. You pull up and press down in certain sequences to make a myriad of changes on the clock, sound, date, etc. I sat in the car for 45 minutes before I finally had the time changed…correctly. When daylight savings time was over, my husband asked if I would change the clock for him. I said “Nope, leave it and just remember you have to subtract an hour every time you look at the clock. Daylight savings time will be here before you know it.” And it was. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/55 "2018-05-15T16:34:34Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > That’s fine on a 3 speed auto, but my current car has 6 speeds, and many now have 8. I prefer the ± on the shifter (slide over from D to M and push up and back) but I’ve never had a problem with the paddle shifters. > > It is solving a problem, giving drivers the ability to manually shift through the gears of a modern automatic transmission. What’s the problem it’s solving? My reading of your post is it’s giving drivers another option (semi-manual transmission shifting, which as I pointed out, can be useful on a sports car (particularly a track car). And it can make an average driver feel like he/she is _driving_, rather than “just” driving, which is fine. It’s like _driving_ a convertible, or an Audi R8, or a Porsche 911 GT, as opposed to driving a Honda Fit or minivan. But I don’t see the problem it’s solving for the average driver. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/56 "2018-05-15T16:48:10Z")
I love my keyless push-button ignition. Whenever I drive my wife’s car, I’m like, “_Turning a key_ to start a car? What is this, _the Middle Ages?!_” I don’t understand, however, how so many people can leave the car running. Mine (2015 Nissan Altima) beeps at me three times when I get out and shut the door if the engine is running. Do people just not listen? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/57 "2018-05-15T17:01:44Z")
I have a garage but it doesn’t have a car in it. > [@](#): > > [Deadly Convenience: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/deadly-convenience-keyless-cars-and-their-carbon-monoxide-toll.html) > **[Deadly Convenience: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll (Published 2018)](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/deadly-convenience-keyless-cars-and-their-carbon-monoxide-toll.html)** > > Weaned from using a key, drivers have left cars running in garages, spewing exhaust into homes. Despite years of deaths, regulatory action has lagged. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/58 "2018-05-15T17:11:00Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > What’s the problem it’s solving? My reading of your post is it’s giving drivers another option (semi-manual transmission shifting, which as I pointed out, can be useful on a sports car (particularly a track car). And it can make an average driver feel like he/she is _driving_, rather than “just” driving, which is fine. > > It’s like _driving_ a convertible, or an Audi R8, or a Porsche 911 GT, as opposed to driving a Honda Fit or minivan. > > But I don’t see the problem it’s solving for the average driver. A bodykit and alloy wheels don’t solve any problems that are meaningful to the average driver either. If your definition of solving problems is “providing maximum possible utility to boring people,” you’re going to find most consumer products pointless. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/59 "2018-05-15T17:25:41Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > touch screens that replace common controls in cars. I prefer to be able to drive down the road and adjust things like the radio, mirrors, temperature, and vents without looking away from the road. > It’s so gratifying to flip the temp to the hottest setting and hit the fan. Done. Want the stereo on, push the volume button and adjust the level. Done. Yep, give me a knob I can grab and don’t have to look at. What makes it even more fun is I need reading glasses. Don’t need 'em to drive, but starting to need them for the dam touch screens. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126/60 "2018-05-15T18:57:16Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > It may be a lovely thing for other drivers, but it really is an unpleasant option in BMWs. The start-up jerk is significant and clunky; intellectually I can know it isn’t hard on the engine, but it sounds and feels bad. Maybe other car makers can do better. So, as of now the technology provides an answer to a problem I don’t have. It’s worse than that - it creates a problem all of its own, particularly in city traffic. Those cars start up slow at lights, so they’re slower through the lights, so fewer cars can get through in one cycle. If you’re far enough back in the line, any reasonable person would go crazy. Serious question: any homicides related to this yet? j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solutions-to-problems-that-dont-exist/814126.md?page=4)