Article: The Most Overrated Features In Modern Cars

[JASmith]

Lane assist reminds the people who are drifting around looking at their phone to look at the road. I also hope it vibrates the wheel more intensely changing lanes without turn signals!

So much this! It has the potential to be a huge beneficial behavior modification tool for society.

Almost no one in Houston uses their blinkers, even HPD the whole time I've been living here I've never seen use blinkers when they change lanes on the highway... talk about leading by example.

The Society of Automotive Engineers did a study with various installed cameras in 2012 that 48% of lane changes on public roads were not signaled. Total turn signal related accidents (although also including unsignaled turns, not just lane changes) they approximated at 2 million a year, much more crashes than distracted driving causes which gets so much public attention.

Even my dad would only signal for turns, but finally after enough of my nagging and finally one case where he didn't see a guy on a scooter he almost pushed into the curb in our neighborhood when he changed lanes without signaling, he is now religious about it... well, at least when I'm in the car to shut me up.

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[SantaStephen]

@SantaStephen What is your opinion so far on the lane keeping aid on your XL?

it’s fun to play against when making lane changes and it’s trying to push you back but I don’t know if it’s really that useful.

 

[Bj517]

Generally love jalopnik and its comment base, but they can be a bunch of luddites and technophobes. I personally went with a lariat lux to get all the bells and whistles.

 

[BuddyS]

What a bunch of grumps and their gripes. To each their own. Some people still rant against power windows and cruise control with those arguments like "it's just something else to break". Oh well. I enjoy some of those new features.

 

[DryHeat]

So much this! It has the potential to be a huge beneficial behavior modification tool for society.

Almost no one in Houston uses their blinkers ... when they change lanes on the highway...

I hadn't thought of that aspect. But if it would subtly encourage people to use their blinkers -- even if unconsciously just to avoid the buzz -- that would be a huge benefit.

Of course, we have snowbirds here in Tucson and they sometimes signal left when they are turning right. But I'm not sure what the car can do about that...

 

[JASmith]

Of course, we have snowbirds here in Tucson and they sometimes signal left when they are turning right. But I'm not sure what the car can do about that...

Use GPS and motion sensor data from the phone which would take note of the discrepancy and after a certain amount of those triggers will cause the radio to play some soothing ASMR sounds, trigger the adaptive cruise control to take over and slowly bring the vehicle to a stop, lock the doors and disable windows, and reroute the exhaust to the cabin vents. Its the only humane solution for someone that would do that. Shhhhh.... shhhh...

 

[TSAINTS1115]

Use GPS and motion sensor data from the phone which would take note of the discrepancy and after a certain amount of those triggers will cause the radio to play some soothing ASMR sounds, trigger the adaptive cruise control to take over and slowly bring the vehicle to a stop, lock the doors and disable windows, and reroute the exhaust to the cabin vents. Its the only humane solution for someone that would do that. Shhhhh.... shhhh...

Going to Hell for agreeing.

 

[MysticRob]

I’m more freaked out by people who are driving that need anything to assist them in operating a vehicle.

No argument here. First thing I thought when seeing the word "over-rated" was the Tesla so-called "Full Self Driving" aka "Autopilot" that people paid upwards of $10k to get.
Tesla's system, they finally admitted, is only Level 2 autonomy, and is known to be extremely dangerous, to a point where the cars slam into solid objects at speed. No thanks!

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