"Improvements" to road vehicles which have arguably made things worse?

[Indigo Soup]

That is crazy and I would never buy a car where I couldn't get into the bonnet when I wanted.

On modern cars, the only thing the owner can actually do is fill up the fluids and say 'Ah yes, it didn't look like that last time'. So, the logic went, why not remove the ability to mess around with things and make matters worse?

I suspect the idea was dropped not because would-be owners couldn't maintain their own cars, but because nobody but the manufacturer's approved garages (provided with the proprietary tool to open the bonnet) could maintain them.

 

[bspahh]

I find hill starts on manual cars far more awkward with an electronic handbrake than a manual ne. It's one aspect of driving I never had a problem with until I owned owned a 2014 C4 Picasso with and electronic handbrake and hill start 'assist', I did get the hang of it but still found hill starts to be easier with a manual handbrake.

I had a similar Peugeot hire car, with an electronic hand brake and hill start assist.

I parked in an underground car park in a hotel. To get out, there was a sharp turn, then a steep ramp with a crossing barrier. There were two boxes next to the barrier. I drove up to the one closest to the barrier and found that I needed to put my parking ticket into the first one. I was too close to open the door.

Normally, I would have released the hand brake and rolled back a few feet. Instead I had to accelerate in reverse, on a steep bend.

 

[66701GBRF]

On modern cars, the only thing the owner can actually do is fill up the fluids and say 'Ah yes, it didn't look like that last time'. So, the logic went, why not remove the ability to mess around with things and make matters worse?

I am not a mechanic but have changed coil packs and spark plugs myself in my own car. Keeping an eye on fluids and topping up where required is more prudent then waiting for a warning light to come up and then rushing around trying to book it in somewhere or incurring damage as the warning light failed...or booking it in too early.

 

[GordonT]

Warning lights e.g."Oil" which continue to display after the deficiency has been rectified and require to be manually reset, sometimes by a garage.
Non complex defects which are required to be sorted by the authorised dealer usually at greater cost and inconvenience than the garage down the road who would otherwise be perfectly capable of remedying the fault.

 

[bramling]

I find hill starts on manual cars far more awkward with an electronic handbrake than a manual ne. It's one aspect of driving I never had a problem with until I owned owned a 2014 C4 Picasso with and electronic handbrake and hill start 'assist', I did get the hang of it but still found hill starts to be easier with a manual handbrake. My current car is an automatic where I can see the advantage of the electronic handbrake, but it's the first automatic car I'd driven so nothing to compare it to.

My aforementioned C4 Picasso let you do exactly that, there were 3 dash display options, one of which were old style dials.

Lane keep assist is my main dislike as it's actively dangerous. It works be detecting the road markings and nudging you away if you get too close to them, all well and good until you're driving on narrow country lanes where it's necessary to keep very close to verge when something's approaching from the opposite direction, the lane keep assist attempts to nudge you directly into the path of the oncoming vehicle.

I had lane assist try and push me across a motorway when it encountered some faint markings left over from roadworks. That was after collecting the car, and I’d thought I’d already disabled it, but hadn’t. Disabled that night, and not been used again since.

 

[Taunton]

The decision not to have a spare tyre on board was never an improvement.

I have never had a puncture (across two cars we had five last year) and thought 'what a convenient time for that to happen, I have all the time in the world to use some gunk and wait until the tyre is fixed before I can use the car again'.

I've actually never had a tyre failure where the tyre was in any way reusable, so the gunk can is useless.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've actually never had a tyre failure where the tyre was in any way reusable, so the gunk can is useless.

Suppose it depends where you drive. I've had plenty of nails and screws, which usually leave a repairable tyre (if gunk isn't used). It seems to be par for the course if doing home renovation works - however hard you look, there's always an errant screw or nail hiding on the floor at the tip waiting to get you, and a new tyre every time can prove rather costly.

 

[Foxhunter]

Lane keep assist is my main dislike as it's actively dangerous. It works be detecting the road markings and nudging you away if you get too close to them, all well and good until you're driving on narrow country lanes where it's necessary to keep very close to verge when something's approaching from the opposite direction, the lane keep assist attempts to nudge you directly into the path of the oncoming vehicle.

Some more so than others.

The hire car I had in Germany last year was quite forceful in wanting me to drive into the path of the oncoming combine harvester travelling between fields on a country road. At that moment, searching for an off button was not high on my list of priorities.

On the other hand, my wife's new Toyota has a nice off button on the steering wheel, but it has not used yet because the 'lane assist' is much better tuned to the full range of driving conditions of everyday use. It is depressing that some brands cannot achieve this.

 

[DelW]

I had lane assist try and push me across a motorway when it encountered some faint markings left over from roadworks. That was after collecting the car, and I’d thought I’d already disabled it, but hadn’t. Disabled that night, and not been used again since.

A couple of years ago I went on holiday with a lady friend, taking her car so we could share the driving (she wouldn't drive my car). I did the first motorway stint and found the same problem, on a long stretch of roadworks with narrow lanes, the departure warning kept reacting to obsolete road markings. I asked her whether she liked the system, and she said no, she hated it, but just regarded it as one of the annoyances of modern life.

When we stopped for a break, I dived into the menus and eventually found where to turn it permanently off. She was very grateful, and commented that she liked the car (which she'd had for some time) much better without it.

 

[gg1]

As mentioned some of it (e.g. the VAG implementation) is clever enough to realise that a country lane isn't a motorway. Given that it influences control in the way you mention I can't see any reason why all implementations shouldn't be held to that standard.

That does sound a lot better, mine's a Kia.

I had lane assist try and push me across a motorway when it encountered some faint markings left over from roadworks. That was after collecting the car, and I’d thought I’d already disabled it, but hadn’t. Disabled that night, and not been used again since.

Don't know about other cars, but in mine you have to disable it every time you start the car.

 

[Bald Rick]

The trend towards electric handbrakes, rather than retention of manual handbrakes on certain types of new cars.

I'm aware of two minor accidents, which would not have occurred if the blameworthy drivers had the facility of yanking up a traditional handbrake lever in time of need.

I’ve had cars with electric handbrakes for 20 years now, and on all of them you can operate it in an emergency like a manual handbrake, pull the switch up and hold it…

I've actually never had a tyre failure where the tyre was in any way reusable, so the gunk can is useless.

Wow! I must have had 20 tyres repaired in my time

 

[Llanigraham]

I've actually never had a tyre failure where the tyre was in any way reusable, so the gunk can is useless.

I suspect that that is what you were told by the tyre shop and you believed them. Unless the puncture is around the shoulder or sidewall of the tyre and is a simple puncture, such as caused by a nail/screw, which most are, then generally they can be repaired.
However there is no profit in doing that so they sell you a new tyre, where there is a profit.

I'm probably tempting fate, but I have calculated that I have now done over 150k miles over more than 10 years I have only had 2 punctures in that time and both were repairable.

My last 2 cars have had no spares and I'm really not bothered. And the lack of them has probably improved my fuel consumption by not having to carry their weight around.

 

[dangie]

I found the MG ZS hill assist quite annoying, it wouldn't release the brake until you tapped the accelerator..

That reminded me of the first time I test drove a car with electric brake.
I sat in the car outside the showroom.
Started the car then simply dabbed the accelerator.
The parking brake promptly released.
The car then proceeded to roll backwards towards the showroom window.
Luckily a combination of me and the sales lady prevented a very expensive new showroom window…!!

 

[AndrewE]

and right on cue...

Plymouth man died after being crushed by driverless fuel tanker - BBC News

Martin Fletcher, 48, was hit by the fuel tanker which freewheeled down a hill.

www.bbc.com

Plymouth man crushed by driverless fuel tanker​

...​

Tanker driver Adam Downing, 38, got out of his vehicle but failed to apply the parking brake, a coroner said before recording a conclusion of death caused by a road traffic collision....​

Within three seconds of the driver getting out of the cab, the tanker began rolling down the hill and smashed into a car in front before crashing into Mr Fletcher's Nissan car.He had been delivering fuel to a local farm and encountered the cars in the narrow lane and thought his hill start handbrake would safely hold the vehicle, but it only was capable of that for three seconds,​

 

[thejuggler]

That is crazy and I would never buy a car where I couldn't get into the bonnet when I wanted.

Audi did this with the A2, I had one. A simple flap to check oil and fill up washer fluid. The bonnet could be removed using spring loaded thumb bolts, but it was a faff. I think I only removed it twice in two years just out of curiosity.

 

[LucyP]

Why didn't you just put your foot on the footbrake, car in neutral, press the electric handbrake button which will release the handbrake, then take your foot of the footbrake and roll the car backwards a little, just like you would with a manual handbrake. The Peugeot will allow you to do that, as will all cars with electric handbrakes, providing that the ignition is on.

 

[Fenchurch SP]

Can you not open/close your windows with the key fob? Hold unlock to open them and hold lock to close them?

Doesn't seem to work on my old Micra. Thanks for the tip though, I'll try it next time I get a hire car or a new one.

 

[E27007]

The spare wheel when available as an optional extra is a sales uplift with a high margin, example for the budget-priced £14200 new Dacia Sandero, the optional spare wheel kit is £300 tick in the box.
Dacia fit premium tyres in the factory eg Continental, ( no cost cutting which is a surprise ), I estimate the margin for the £300 spare wheel kit to be £150 or greater. If I ever buy a Dacia, I would be searching Ebay and vehicle breakers for a spare wheel jack and wheel brace, £80 to £100 should cover the purchase.

 

[birchesgreen]

The hill assist auto brake on my Sandero is pretty useless, it only seems to work occasionally though to be honest as i learnt to drive in a hilly area i don't have much problem on hills.

 

[bspahh]

Why didn't you just put your foot on the footbrake, car in neutral, press the electric handbrake button which will release the handbrake, then take your foot of the footbrake and roll the car backwards a little, just like you would with a manual handbrake. The Peugeot will allow you to do that, as will all cars with electric handbrakes, providing that the ignition is on.

I certainly released the handbrake in neutral and the hill start control didn't roll the car back. Perhaps I didn't have my foot on the brake at the same time.

Perhaps it was in the handbook, but didn't read it as I was on a schedule, in a brand new hire car, and I was blocking the exit to the car park at rush hour. It was in Spain and my Spanish doesn't run to discussing handbrakes and hill start assist if anyone came to remonstrate with me.

 

[telstarbox]

Driving in the fog yesterday I noticed several cars without rear lights on. Could this be because the front lights are automatic (it was also daylight so maybe they didn't realise).

 

[birchesgreen]

Driving in the fog yesterday I noticed several cars without rear lights on. Could this be because the front lights are automatic (it was also daylight so maybe they didn't realise).

Or just the kind of people who drive around with fog lights on all the time.

 

[Harpo]

Or just the kind of people who drive around with fog lights on all the time.

I’m infinitely more comfortable with other cars with rear fogs left on than I am with an SUVs headlights glaring in all my mirrors.

 

[birchesgreen]

I’m infinitely more comfortable with other cars with rear fogs left on than I am with an SUVs headlights glaring in all my mirrors.

Indeed, had some huge monstrosity tail gating me this morning, all i could see in my mirrors was white light. Was like i was driving out of heaven and into hell aka Solihull.

 

[ainsworth74]

Driving in the fog yesterday I noticed several cars without rear lights on. Could this be because the front lights are automatic (it was also daylight so maybe they didn't realise).

I think that's because of the stupid way that the the daytime running lights have been implemented whereby, to my understanding, they don't have to be fitted front and rear, only on the front. So some drivers don't realise (thanks to LED lights being so bright as previously noted) that they've only got lights on the front unless they actively switch their headlights on (or if automatic until the automatic lights switch on). Personally if I'd been responsible for the standard I'd have mandated daytime running lights have to apply to the front and rear.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Driving in the fog yesterday I noticed several cars without rear lights on. Could this be because the front lights are automatic (it was also daylight so maybe they didn't realise).

I have never understood why rear reds (and in the case of the likes of lorries, side yellows) are not part of the daytime running lights specification. I can see no downside (bar a tiny amount of extra power consumption) and plenty of benefits.

Indeed, I'm not even sure why they are different from dipped headlamps. The Scandinavians have been doing that for years and it works fine, plus you can easily change the law to legally mandate older cars without the automatic lamps to do the same manually. Was a third, different set of lights really necessary?

 

[Lewisham2221]

I have never understood why rear reds (and in the case of the likes of lorries, side yellows) are not part of the daytime running lights specification. I can see no downside (bar a tiny amount of extra power consumption) and plenty of benefits.

Indeed, I'm not even sure why they are different from dipped headlamps. The Scandinavians have been doing that for years and it works fine, plus you can easily change the law to legally mandate older cars without the automatic lamps to do the same manually. Was a third, different set of lights really necessary?

Agreed. Not helped by cars where the dashboard is automatically illuminated as well. If you can build a car which automatically displays lights on the front and the dash, how hard is it to add the rear lights???

On a similar line, automatic headlights - which are rarely sensitive enough to detect the poor visibility caused by rain/fog etc leading to (inevitably monochromatic coloured) cars driving around almost invisible in people's rear view mirrors.

 

[bspahh]

I have never understood why rear reds (and in the case of the likes of lorries, side yellows) are not part of the daytime running lights specification. I can see no downside (bar a tiny amount of extra power consumption) and plenty of benefits.

I don't mind having lights rear lights on all the time. It would be good if they weren't the same colour as brake lights.

In the 80s, I was following a car on a country road that I had driven on a lot. I noticed one of its brake lights was broken (and this was before high level brake lights were common). When it was going around a corner, I couldn't see its working light, when it braked to turn into a house. By the time I did see the brake light and realised that the car had stopped, I had to do a full emergency stop.

From that I learnt to not just notice if a light is broken, but to keep telling myself, and also to not assume that people won't stop on a road, just because there isn't a junction.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't mind having lights rear lights on all the time. It would be good if they weren't the same colour as brake lights.

I've never found this a problem to be honest. Aside from fog lights rear tail lights are nowhere near as bright as brake lights. And in fog you want to be keeping your distance anyway so brake lights are less useful.

In the 80s, I was following a car on a country road that I had driven on a lot. I noticed one of its brake lights was broken (and this was before high level brake lights were common). When it was going around a corner, I couldn't see its working light, when it braked to turn into a house. By the time I did see the brake light and realised that the car had stopped, I had to do a full emergency stop.

From that I learnt to not just notice if a light is broken, but to keep telling myself, and also to not assume that people won't stop on a road, just because there isn't a junction.

Always, always drive assuming the vehicle in front could emergency brake at any moment with no warning whatsoever - something might happen that you don't see or anticipate - it might not even be outside the car, it might be that they've developed a sudden unexpected health problem and have to stop immediately lest the car run out of control, or they might suffer a tyre blowout. It amazes me how close some people like to go for absolutely no benefit whatsoever.

 

[birchesgreen]

Always, always drive assuming the vehicle in front could emergency brake at any moment with no warning whatsoever

Funnily enough also happened to me this morning