Bacon-bonce ideas on new cars

[PINBALL]

Recently rented a cheapish 4 door Vauxhall Corsa 2 weeks ago for week in France and some of the stupid-est ideas came to light which i duly noted if I'm ever asked if they're any good.

The full beam on this car is activated in the normal way by pushing the indicator arm down or forward, which activates them but springs back to the normal place.

So when you need to dip if you pull the lever back as you would normally all it does is keep them on and to cancel them needs pushing forward again, or back down which is enough to confuse anyone.

Which bright spark was the pratt who thought having the speedo cluster lit all the time day or night would add to road safety giving the false impression that lights are on at night when the back lights are off completely, and driver largely unknowing anything about it.

Cruise control = you have to fight with by pushing 2 different buttons on steering wheel that shows up in white on speedo - but won't work untill you push a different one that lights up same symbol in green and only activates then when the reset is pushed 1st. Just like the Toyota Prius I had in USA earlier this year.

Why do they all have to be different or maybe its deliberate in the hope that you'll crash it & give the dealers even more revenue in costly repairs etc.

Doesn't fill anyone with confidence to be these models alongside other cars in the family where all controls work in an entirely different way to other cars.

 

[Yugguy]

The dipped beam has been like that on vxs for years. You do get used to it in time. Do they still have the comedy indicators that you have to knock on the same direction to cancel?

 

[JBell]

Which bright spark was the pratt who thought having the speedo cluster lit all the time day or night would add to road safety giving the false impression that lights are on at night when the back lights are off completely, and driver largely unknowing anything about it

This is the reason you now see so many people driving round with DRL's on and no lights at night

 

[ajlsl600]

its just too ****** much ,new stuff,making life harder, someone somewhere is actually getting paid to organise that, frankly boring tho it may be the opperation and positioning of the basic car controls ie indicators,lights wipers horn,cruise, hazards should be legally standardised for car makers i hate the state geting involved ,but in this case one should just NOT have to relearn the basic car controls every time someone brings out a different car model or control design.

 

[flowrider]

Cluster lights on all the time is standard among nearly all cars, MB included.

 

[Craiglxviii]

Cluster lights on all the time is standard among nearly all cars, MB included.

... and as of Feb next year, all new cars will not have a headlamp "Off" or 0 position, but will start on Auto.

 

[EmilysDad]

... and as of Feb next year, all new cars will not have a headlamp "Off" or 0 position, but will start on Auto.

Good idea in principle, but an added level of un-needed complexity.

 

[EmilysDad]

.....

The full beam on this car is activated in the normal way by pushing the indicator arm down or forward, which activates them but springs back to the normal place.

So when you need to dip if you pull the lever back as you would normally all it does is keep them on and to cancel them needs pushing forward again, or back down which is enough to confuse anyone.....

EmilysMum has a Citroen C3. Main beam on that is by pulling the arm towards you till it clicks, same to turn it off. But if you already have dipped beam on & want to flash someone you pull the arm gently towards you then let go, but if you're not used to it, you pull it as you would most other cars & inadvertently leave main beam on. Not the best thought through idea ...... but it's French

 

[turbopete]

Cluster lights on all the time is standard among nearly all cars, MB included.

but it is a PITA and completely unnecessary. its something I hate as ive been known myself to drive in town (well lit) thinking the lights were on when they weren't because the cluster is permanently lit and I don't even have DRLs. the ONLY way to tell the lights are on is by a silly little green 'sidelight' symbol that lights up when the lights are on.

also, unlike the MBs (or any other Ford ive owned) I also hate the fact that to swap from main beam to dip OR dip to main beam means pulling the switch TOWARDS the driver. in EVERY other car ive EVER owned, it was flick it away to go to high beam, towards you to dip and a spring loaded towards you again to flash the lights. in this car, you have to actually activate high beam and then switch it off again to 'flash' the lights (when the lights are on) and its really a step backwards, IMO (and yes I know Peugeots have been that way for years (or were) which is another reason I disliked them)

 

[turbopete]

Good idea in principle, but an added level of un-needed complexity.

some vehicles don't even have a 'sidelight' setting on the switch now (Iveco Daily for example) and its either lights off (drls on) or ON. and to be honest, ever since cars have been fitted with parking lights as standard in the UK (Mondeo was the first Ford in the UK with an actual parking light setting, previous cars may have had them, but no-one knew about them) ive never been able to see the actual point of having sidelights, as a setting on the switch. VERY occasionally (on older cars) I had to park and leave the sidelights on (due to the location I was parked being unlit and on the roadside) but when driving, I'm struggling (and always have) to find a reason you would ever even need sidelights. ive always been 'lights off' or 'lights on' and no sidelights.

as for lights having no 'off' on the switch and starting on Auto, does that mean we are expecting to see al cars being fitted with Auto lights? or will that only apply to cars with auto lights?

and an idea for those that develop systems for cars (as I don't have the knowledge) could someone PLEASE come up with an Auto lights setting that turns on the headlights in FOG??? the amount of morons (usually in light coloured (white, silver etc. mostly) cars) that drive around with NO LIGHTS ON (and unlike darker cars are harder to see in fog) beggars belief, or at least it does around here!

 

[Yugguy]

Why faff about with the light switch? Why do they keep changing stuff that really isn't crying out to be fecked about with?

I always turn my lights off when the car is going to into a garage for work otherwise they would be on for the entire time.

 

[keefysher]

I turn the knob to A (for Auto) Intelligent Light System works well, so far. Not been out in daytime fog to see if the headlights come on, in the W221 and previous 2 W211's they didn't work that well, so as the driver wot is sposed to be in charge of the car always manually intervened over the auto system to put the headlights and therefor tail lights on.

Don't recent DRL's now work with the headlight sensors to put the tail lights on in darker light conditions?

 

[ajlsl600]

frankly i could not care what system they come up with , just care they all the same. and if its f auto,whose fault is it to be wen auto dont f work.

 

[PINBALL]

As past experience has taught me, I drive everywhere with dipped headlights on or the sides with fog-lamps on whatever day or night.

Better that other drivers see me sooner, and that split second around blind bends could make all the difference.

Particularly when some bozo coming towards me cuts the bend off.

 

[PINBALL]

The dipped beam has been like that on vxs for years. You do get used to it in time. Do they still have the comedy indicators that you have to knock on the same direction to cancel?

Thanks Yugguy - didn't know about the indicators as I mostly drive and cancel myself without waiting for steering to do it for me.

But that sounds just as equally stupid.

 

[Yugguy]

Oh aye - again, a system that really didnt need changing.

 

[LostKiwi]

I drive everywhere with dipped headlights on or the sides with fog-lamps

Fog lamps are for fog (there's a clue in the name).

DRLs are a big hate of mine. What was wrong with the Scandinavian way of driving on dipped beam?
Lets fit another set of lights to the front of a car and make them non-directional so they dazzle in some circumstances instead of using a nice set of existing lights that are designed not to dazzle....
What stroke of genius did it require o come up with that (maybe it was a stroke of something else).

 

[Craiglxviii]

Good idea in principle, but an added level of un-needed complexity.

And cost, but that's the way that all countries have voted to go for safety for precisely the reasons outlined here. Too many people with DRLs (also for safety) forgetting to turn their headlights on.

 

[dry run]

I guess a lot of what we are discussing is down to "developers wanting to develop" I don't think they agree with the notion "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".

Howver, don't worry about it too much, it won't be long before driving your car is nothing to do with you anyway; it'll be down to Mr Faceteslagoogle!

 

[Craiglxviii]

Fog lamps are for fog (there's a clue in the name).

DRLs are a big hate of mine. What was wrong with the Scandinavian way of driving on dipped beam?
Lets fit another set of lights to the front of a car and make them non-directional so they dazzle in some circumstances instead of using a nice set of existing lights that are designed not to dazzle....
What stroke of genius did it require o come up with that (maybe it was a stroke of something else).

DRLs do have a beam pattern- no higher than -4 degrees from memory, and they're also limited to 600lm so are designed not to dazzle even less (or evenm more- whichever way round you look at it) than the 1500lm+ dipped beams..............