[Rolebama]

The other side of the coin. I have two:
My old AA van had a warning light in the centre of the cluster, which was distractingly bright, to tell me my lights were on. I knew they were on, I didn't need blinding! The worst part was that when I removed the bulb, the workshop would replace it at service time.

In my current car I use a few single-track roads with passing places, which are basically little more than a bit of grass verge. When I pull away, occasionally I get a bit of slippage on a tyre, especially after rain. I instantly get an idiot light telling me that my traction control is switched off and would I like to turn it on. I know the wheel slipped, I both heard it and felt it, and no, I don't want the traction control on or I would have turned it on myself!

Someone I once worked with used to say that she considered the Patrols as her little treasures, who should be buried on a desert island far away. I often feel that way about car designers.

[Mark07]

Not really a gadget, but the clock in my car is located to the left of the centre console. This means that i have to look away from the road to check the time.

Most cars that I've driven have the clock on the drivers dashboard, so a quick glance down it much better/preferred.

[Drivingforfun]

My car beeps at you in, understandably, a very piercing and alarming tone if it thinks you might have a crash

However it occasionally - once a fortnight or so - does this when I'm on a narrow road which still has 2 lanes and I'm not going to hit the oncoming car, or if there's a parked vehicle. This causes me to "jump" and once to almost have the crash that I wouldn't have had if it wasn't for the alarm

I know people, myself included, often say conclusions like this to sound funny or clever when it's not entirely true, but I genuinely think if you can't see or hear the car that you're about to have a head-on with, 1) are you going to hear the beep / see the illuminated red car on the dashboard and 2) should you be allowed to drive?

[onestitchloose]

I hate tyre pressure sensors that don’t actually

a) tell you what tyre
b) the actual pressure or what the threshold is for the alarm to go on

[Mark07]

Originally Posted by onestitchloose

I hate tyre pressure sensors that don’t actually

a) tell you what tyre
b) the actual pressure or what the threshold is for the alarm to go on

Car: There is a problem
Me: What's wrong?
Car: I'm not telling you

You'd also think that in 2024, we'd get more info than a 'check engine' light.

[Drivingforfun]

I have an update about my collision warning thing

It was activated by a cyclist today, and instead of a red car lighting up, a picture of a bike came up instead

My other complaints still stand, on this occasion the cyclist was on the opposite side of the road, with probably 4-5 metres of passing space between him and my car

[olduser]

Early in the life of Airbus fly by wire airliners, they had a computer system which issued alarms on a display.
An engine blew-up, bits of engine flew into the fuselage, luckily into the cargo area, damage was done to the wiring, amongst which were wires for assorted sensors for the fly by wire system.
The pilots were faced with an engine failure, and the alarm management display full of differing alarm messages, some of which had to be cleared to regain control, but as they tried to clear the alarms new ones replaced them.

It took the pilots a while to decide to ignore the rules, workout what was actually wrong, then fly by the seat of their pants.

I think there is a re-enactment of this on a channel 5 series about airliner incidents.

I think it is a modern problem, 'we will do this because we can', stopping to think of the possible consequences is not sexy, and takes too long.

[Rolebama]

I have a stupid bong sound. So far it has bonged to indicate a door not closed properly, a passenger seat belt not secured, tyre pressures out of sync, opening the car door with lights on and engine off, and ice warning. It always makes the same noise.
I have discussed this with friends, and we have all agreed that some of the instances it announces are more serious than others. (We do not necessarily agree on which.) So it would make more sense to have maybe two or three different sounds in the same way the dashboard idiot lights are different colours. What do you think?

[olduser]

I would agree with Rolebama IF and it's a big if, it is necessary to tell a driver he has a problem then it only adds to his/her stress to say, "you have a problem but I am not going to tell you what it is!"

My pet dislike of things in cars is Radio's, I see them as a cheap and dangerous way of masking noise which should have been designed out anyway.
There is an argument that says, it helps me to concentrate but any driver that needs that should pull over and take a rest.
My approach is, to drive safely, with minimum risk, needs 100% concentration all the time...