rydabent

People driving cars should just drive. All the toys and displays should only be available to the passenger. Remember for 100 years drivers managed to get where they were going WITHOUT all those toys.

mapeiboy

You are right on the spot . There are too many things in the vehicle these days to distract the drive from doing what they are suppose to do- driving .

rekmeyata

I totally agree with you, they need to get back to more tactile actuators, I've said this for years, but everyone likes gadgets. Or at the very least vocal command actuators, problem with that is that a system to do that would cost more money and cost more to repair when it breaks than knobs, sliders, and buttons, but that is what the auto manufactures want...they want more costly repairs for us to pay out for. There is a lot of rip off stuff going on in the auto world that most of us don't even know about, take for example a new 9 speed automatic transmission which only has a life expectancy of around 125,000 miles but will cost an average of $7,000 to rebuild, so much for all that money you thought you were saving on fuel. My neighbor has a Toyota Prius and her main display screen that has all the operational touch screen controls burned out, $1800 later it was fixed, so much for her fuel savings.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah, we don't really need more of this "infotainment" crap.

Ford Sync 3 drops Microsoft, puts MyFord Touch out to pasture - CNET

I-Like-To-Bike

Were you being sarcastic or did you read just the headline and not read the article?

Apparently Ford very much believes their customers do need or at least want more "infotainment."

PatrickGSR94

Yes I read the article. And it's all just yet more distractions in the car when you should be focused on driving. "Infotainment" systems should be banned, in my opinion. The distractions they have caused have killed so many people.

KD5NRH

Maybe they should just play this video over and over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyeuTN-6I5M

eofelis 

My bf's 1996 Toyota Tacoma (awesome truck!!) has the original radio with cassette player in it. We love it. A cassette converter plays the mp3 player just fine. The volume is a round button, easy to find. Push it to turn off or on. My 2001 Subaru has an aftermarket radio/cd player that I don't like too much (previous owner installed it). The volume up/down is two small buttons. Not easy to find with fingers while keeping eyes on the road. The new cars with touch screens horrify me.

Astrozombie

Some convertibles don't move the top if the car is moving/going faster than a certain speed, they should do that for the other trinkets too.

genec

Yeah, that'll rub right out. Wow, talking about failing to understand the size and dynamics of one's vehicle...

rekmeyata

People like that need to be banned from driving, their too stupid to be driving.

rydabent

I like to drive a car, and my entertainment is the act of driving. If bored passengers need entertaining, all the infotanment toys should be run by them.

rekmeyata

Except in real life that doesn't work, the driver is the one who decides to entertain his or her self

Mr. Hairy Legs

I purchased a new Jetta recently with a touch screen radio and don't find it to be any more distracting or dangerous than conventional buttons.

The Mazda I test drove, however, had a very distracting colorful display up high that made me feel a little uneasy. The girl at the dealership explained how cool it was that people's texts to you would pop up on it. Ugh. I could probably set this up on the VW as well, but no thanks.

FarHorizon

Well, yes, technology can distract the driver, but it need not be that way. For example, I have a touch screen GPS in my van, but I never, ever look at it while driving. I program the route I want to take before I leave my driveway and then it talks to me about how to get there. I don't always go the way it wants, but without it, I'd be far more distracted trying to look at maps & street signs. With the GPS, I can stay focused where I need to be - on the traffic and the situation around me. It also has a radio (that I don't use), a CD changer (that I don't use), and a backup camera that has already saved me from at least two fender benders.

So rah-rah for technology that assists rather than distracts the driver!

FarHorizon

Ahem... It's "they're..." And congrats on using the right "too!" Many don't.

Cordially - The Grammar Grouch (aka FarHorizon)

genec

I, like you, program my GPS at the start of a journey, or if need be, at the side of the road... but the sad truth is too many people choose not to use that sort of self discipline. Indeed it is a choice... but why do the car makers have to increase the temptation that leads to distraction?

rekmeyata

Great another bored grammar cop, look man, I type this schit fast and don't give a hoot about my grammar. punctuation, or spelling so go find some other occupation.

FarHorizon

Hi @rekmeyata - No prob! I'm normally not so anal. I'll resist if you'll forgive?

Merry Christmas!

LOL - FH

Dave Cutter

I recently test drove a new car and experienced the same thing. Also... most driving is that same boring 18 mile drive... to and from work each day. With modern cars you set the temperature and whether you want heat or AC... all done in the driveway or parking lot before you put the car in gear.

rekmeyata

Np problem, I'm a loosey type of guy, Merry Christmas to all of you too. I try to correct some stuff but only if I catch it fast enough to do so without wasting time, otherwise I'm just banging on the keys. I do the same thing with reading these forums, some of these posts get real lengthy so I just speed read it which has been known to get me into trouble because I missed a word and completely answered incorrectly; or there were 100's of posts done on one thread, regardless I'm not going to spend my time reading every single post! LOL!! I have a lot of other things I have to do in this world then spend time reading all that drivel that gets posted on a lot of threads.

KD5NRH

IMO, the driving test needs a lot more emphasis on every type of parking. If you can't handle your vehicle at a tiny fraction of even school zone speed, you have no business on the road.
Backing into spaces should be a mandatory skill; it's much easier to back into the relatively controlled area of an empty parking space than the dynamic area of an active traffic aisle.
Now I'm hearing about people passing the driving test without even attempting to parallel park because its "just too hard and we never do that around here anyway." I've parallel parked duallies with no problem using the same basic technique explained to me in a Geo, and I've even watched a couple of really good truckers parallel park rigs with full size box trailers in spaces that weren't that much longer than the combo. (Took them more than one back and forth, but they got perfectly lined up by the time they were done, and without having to climb out to look.) You have to know where the corners of your vehicle are and how they move with steering input, but once you have that down, tight maneuvering isn't difficult at all. (I guess having to deal with steering swing daily is why good forklift operators tend to be the best parallel parkers I've seen, too...though just being in the habit of turning around to look and/or interpret mirror images properly probably helps a lot too.)

KD5NRH

I use the Waze app on my Android or the company's iPhone, but I also keep it up where the road is in my peripheral vision even when I'm looking straight at it. Mostly, I only need the GPS on long drives, so most of my looking is on the interstate, to get the distance to and side of the next exit or split. Once I'm on the surface streets, I check the distance to the next turn at lights, and the only time I'm really having to divide my attention there is when I need to pick one of several small side streets from a major feeder by checking the distance countdown as I pass each one. Those would be a lot easier if the neighborhoods connected in a normal way; in an unfamiliar area, I'd much rather get on a parallel 30mph street for the last half mile or so and just count the blocks, but DFW is notorious for having small, unconnected neighborhoods where you can't just turn in a couple blocks early and then find the cross street.

PatrickGSR94

You're talking about the car itself, as opposed to a gadget that could be operated by the driver or any of the passengers. Nobody would knowingly purchase a gadget that would be rendered inoperable just because the gadget is inside a moving vehicle - it would never sell. Unfortunately you cannot simply use government and laws and regulations to stamp out bad behavior. Each person has to take the responsibility upon him/herself to act right.