[M_Six]

The EU is moving to mandatory speed limiters that read roadside speed limit signs. I'm not sure if these devices actually slow the car down or just send a warning. Any of you Euro drivers know more about this?

[eliphil]

Originally Posted by M_Six

The EU is moving to mandatory speed limiters that read roadside speed limit signs. I'm not sure if these devices actually slow the car down or just send a warning. Any of you Euro drivers know more about this?

Not surprised big brother at it again…..

[eliphil]

Originally Posted by dizz81

You're clearly one who just loves to argue their point regardless if they using logic or actual experience.

I'll just bring up one of your points regarding the lights. The lights don't work as they should for MOST cars. Yeah they'll turn on at night, sure absolutely. But when it rains or is foggy out, they absolutely do not. Some NEWER vehicles have lights that turn on when you turn on the wipers but that's NEWER vehicles. Not everyone on the road is driving a 2024 model car (this isn't an exact year just a throw-out year date).

Tech might be helping make SOME things safer but at the same time, it is absolutely making people less aware and more incompetent when it comes to driving and paying attention to what they should be doing on the road.

Tech has absolutely made cars safer in many ways and in my opinion it’s a net positive but the tech doesn’t always work properly whether it be cameras or android auto…… I believe we become to reliant on tech and some don’t use their instincts. Tech also creates way to many distractions cell phones being the worst.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Mason Hatcher

I'm not aware that they did, but it is probably because ABS has been mandatory for over a decade and is no longer a "special feature".

They discovered they didn't reduce accidents.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

They discovered they didn't reduce accidents.

I think the worst part about ABS is that it kicks back at you. Some drivers take that as a reason to remove their foot from the brake pedal. Plus, in the early days of ABS, it would activate on all four wheels even if only one was skidding. I had a rear wheel drive pickup truck that would lock up the rear wheels in the rain with almost any pressure on the brakes. That caused the ABS to keep the front wheels spinning when they were nowhere near the limits of traction. I once had to stop for a school bus that cut across in front of me and my truck just slowly rolled into the side of the bus, even though I should have had plenty of room to stop. It was almost comical how slowly but persistently my truck was moving even with full pressure on the brakes. It just refused to stop. The front brakes were rendered practically useless by the ABS.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I think the worst part about ABS is that it kicks back at you. Some drivers take that as a reason to remove their foot from the brake pedal. Plus, in the early days of ABS, it would activate on all four wheels even if only one was skidding. I had a rear wheel drive pickup truck that would lock up the rear wheels in the rain with almost any pressure on the brakes. That caused the ABS to keep the front wheels spinning when they were nowhere near the limits of traction. I once had to stop for a school bus that cut across in front of me and my truck just slowly rolled into the side of the bus, even though I should have had plenty of room to stop. It was almost comical how slowly but persistently my truck was moving even with full pressure on the brakes. It just refused to stop. The front brakes were rendered practically useless by the ABS.

The biggest problem is ABS was adapted from aircraft, yet designed for the driver to "steer around the obstacle," not stop shorter. Drivers look at ABS as a system that will allow the car to violate the laws of physics and stop shorter; which it won't. Aircraft also have reverse thrusters; cars don't.

[Ohio Enthusiast]

My biggest gripe is mechanical systems turned electronic without automation. Converting a mechanical system to an electronic button only detracts from the usability, but not adding any automation to it is absurd.
Good example of switching to electronic control are choke, wipers, even windows (as it allows the driver to control all windows in the car and you can do auto-raise/lower). Bad examples are electronic parking brake (unless the car automatically sets it on P and releases on R/D, which many cars don't, and is entirely inappropriate on a manual transmission car) and the worst offender - electronic door handles.
My wife's C8 Corvette turned opening a door into a three stage operation - press the button, pause, pull/push the door open. For the life of me I can't understand who thinks electronic door handles are a good or luxurious thing. You want luxury on a door handle? Make it out of wood or metal, make the tactile feel nice and solid, take pains to make sure that the motion of the lever is inline with the swing of the door. Or make it electronic and actually automate it (like the electric operated 7-series doors that close when you press the brake (but make them works predictably every time), or like minivan sliding doors).

Luckily my BRZ is completely manual, and the E93 I'm looking to buy doesn't have all that fluff either.

[eliphil]

Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast

My biggest gripe is mechanical systems turned electronic without automation. Converting a mechanical system to an electronic button only detracts from the usability, but not adding any automation to it is absurd.
Good example of switching to electronic control are choke, wipers, even windows (as it allows the driver to control all windows in the car and you can do auto-raise/lower). Bad examples are electronic parking brake (unless the car automatically sets it on P and releases on R/D, which many cars don't, and is entirely inappropriate on a manual transmission car) and the worst offender - electronic door handles.
My wife's C8 Corvette turned opening a door into a three stage operation - press the button, pause, pull/push the door open. For the life of me I can't understand who thinks electronic door handles are a good or luxurious thing. You want luxury on a door handle? Make it out of wood or metal, make the tactile feel nice and solid, take pains to make sure that the motion of the lever is inline with the swing of the door. Or make it electronic and actually automate it (like the electric operated 7-series doors that close when you press the brake (but make them works predictably every time), or like minivan sliding doors).

Luckily my BRZ is completely manual, and the E93 I'm looking to buy doesn't have all that fluff either.

The parking brake is horrible, you an engineer?

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by eliphil

The parking brake is horrible, you an engineer?

Software engineer, but my dad is a mechanical engineer and I always had an engineer's mindset.

[M_Six]

I had owned my GLC300 less than a week when the ignition switch failed. Because the parking brake is dependent on the ignition switch, the parking brake wouldn't release. And MB decided to *not* include an override. So all four wheels were locked in place. How ridiculous is that? The dealer sent out a flatbed to retrieve my vehicle and I told them they needed four dollies to move the car. Of course the flatbed shows up with just one dolly. The driver had to drag my car onto the flatbed. Thankfully, I was at home and not parked in some garage at the airport. That would have been a nightmare.

[bmw1racer]

1. Electronic oil dipstick
2. Battery charging/management system
3. Tire pressure monitor system

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I had owned my GLC300 less than a week when the ignition switch failed. Because the parking brake is dependent on the ignition switch, the parking brake wouldn't release. And MB decided to *not* include an override. So all four wheels were locked in place. How ridiculous is that?

BMW said hold my beer on the i3. The parking brake will not disengage and the gear selector will not change to neutral if the charging port door is open. Great safety feature, but a failed charging cable locking solenoid meant that my days-old i3 needed to be dragged onto a flatbed and hauled to the dealer with the charger cord dangling from the side.....






.

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

<—— Owns a BMW that shuts completely down as soon as the driver door is open.

What no way

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

1. Electronic oil dipstick
2. Battery charging/management system
3. Tire pressure monitor system

I agree with #1, but not the other two. The IBS is a good way to easily increase (no matter how slightly) mpg and add a little hp.


A TPMS would have saved me a blowout at 75mph on my left rear tire some yeas back; and I do mean blowout. There was about a 3"X1" chunk of the inner sidewall missing. Had the car been equipped with a TPMS I would have seen the pressure going down and stopped before the tire needed replacement.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

They discovered they didn't reduce accidents.

I think it was Car and Driver who reported a number of years ago that it was dynamic stability control systems that led to a significant reduction in accidents and injuries.

This after airbags and ABS failed to live up to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's expectations.

[Bc2005]

Every time I have a discussion with someone about ABS I find they have assumed an ABS vehicle stops shorter than one without. They do not understand that it was designed to allow you to still have some steering control even if you are standing on the brakes.

If you look at the physics of it, a vehicle with completely locked wheels should stop shorter than one with ABS, because it spends more time (wheels always locked) with friction between the tires and the ground. However, in many cases the vehicle also starts to skid sideways, and trying to correct with the steering wheel has zero effect when the wheels are locked.

[vreihen16]

Back when driver side airbags were first coming onto the market, consumer safety publications were taking points off of cars that did not have the horn activated by pushing in on the airbag just like pushing in on the padded steering wheel hub in pre-airbag cars.

I will let everyone stop for a minute and think about what happens to the driver's hands and arms if they see the impending collision and are sounding their horn when the airbag deploys?

BMW is among the manufacturers with this unsafe arrangement:




.

[eliphil]

Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast

Software engineer, but my dad is a mechanical engineer and I always had an engineer's mindset.

I’ve spent a lot of time w engineers in my career, you have the mindset