Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

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tim1999
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by tim1999 »

I think some people still drive like inattentive idiots regardless of the tech. Just today I was on the highway where the person in the next lane to my right had their turn signal on (they wanted to get around a truck apparently), and the little light in their sideview mirror (blind spot sensor) to tell them not to turn was flashing red (aka DO NOT TURN NOW), and since I have the same model car, I know there would have been a very loud beeping inside the car. She turned anyway despite the visual and audible warnings and I had to swerve into the shoulder and hit the brakes to avoid a collision.
adamthesmythe
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by adamthesmythe »

A 1974 Pinto is still street-legal. So almost nothing is "necessary."

I would not own a car without airbags.

Ask yourself: what sorts of things have I experienced that almost resulted in an accident? Thinking that way, I think lane departure and blind spot detection will be very useful. Intelligent braking and cruise control also. And I think a rear camera is a really good idea. Don't have these things on my current car but I will on the next one.
SDLinguist
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by SDLinguist »

VaR wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:01 pm
SDLinguist wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:41 pm The most useless of all the "safety features" is the blind spot warning. It is literally a fix for a problem of people not knowing how to set their mirrors correctly. So instead of teaching g people how to use the 2 ton weapon they are driving we add warning lights.

It takes 10 seconds to set your mirrors right (if you also have your seat set correctly, which almost nobody has either)

I have never driven a car with blind spot warning where the warning was of any use with correctly adjusted mirrors.
By that argument, much safety tech is unnecessary because with proper cautious and defensive driving, you don't need it to stay out of an accident.

That said, is it really possible to adjust your mirrors nowadays to avoid having to turn your head to check your blind spot while still having them adjusted properly to see things in the distance?

As a separate issue, what's the insurance IRR on various safety features? It seems to me like we could have two definitions of "necessary", that which prevents a nontrivial number of accidents or injury, and that which has an insurance discount IRR greater than zero.
You are very right. Most of the tech is unnecessary if we just had proper driver education and tough enough penalties for stupid driving. But in my mind the mirror thing is just extra bad because it takes so little time and effort to fix the issue and the solution is so complex.

The problem is literally that people set their mirrors to look at their own car instead of the space next to their car. So the solution must be to mount multiple radar, lidar or sonic sensors on the car to measure distance to other obsticals moving at different speeds to the speed of the car and the illuminating a warning light within the field of view of the driver. If you told me a company came out with a driver facing camera system that would measure eye location of the driver and then automatically adjust the mirrors based on spacial calculations I would be more impressed.

As to whether adjusting mirrors can be done in modern cars the answer is almost always yes. One of the few cars I have had trouble with is my wife's 2013 Honda Civic but that is more due to the fact that I am just too tall for the car. I have driven a good majority of call cars sold in the US which aren't exotics and when I have fit in the car (looking at you Civic and Miata) I have had no problems with adjusting mirrors.
FireSekr
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by FireSekr »

snackdog wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:03 am Those are mostly gimmicks and crutches for inattentive drivers. I'm not aware of any figures which indicate they make anyone safer. You are better off paying attention to avoid collisions and lane incursions. Wear your seat belt. Don't drive after dark and limit time at the wheel to the bare minimum.
This.

Not only are they crutches for people with bad habits, they promote them. If humans don’t need to intervene in a process their attention drifts and their skills diminish.

I read something similar about airplanes and the Boeing vs airbus approach. Airbus designs cockpits and systems to eliminate as much human effort as possible. Boeing focuses on giving the pilot the right ergonomics, feedback and control so that they remain engaged and alert.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

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msk
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by msk »

We own a 2018 Lexus LS500 and a 2018 Mercedes S560, both bought on special order and as loaded with toys as possible (except for a fridge in the Mercedes. I felt they were charging too much for that).

Lousy on both: Searching the Navigation systems for a location you wish to go to. Google Maps far superior. Once you have entered the location then both get you there very nicely.

Useful but cantankerous: Voice activated commands and phone calls. You have to pronounce names according to the systems' whims.

Excellent on both: Lane keeping (and warnings) plus adaptive cruise control. Yes, they both take you around on curves. But watch out for ghost lane markings left over from road repairs! They will both follow the ghost lanes if the lighting is just right to trick them. Roads will be far safer if all drivers behaved as per the systems' expectations: using an indicator before changing lanes, keeping your distance from the car in front, etc.

Exceeding the speed limit warning beeps. The Mercedes also reads speed signs by the roadside, not just from the Navigation system

Excellent: 360 degree cameras. One view shows the cars from above, like from a drone. Nice and accurate.

Massage on chairs. They finally managed to make this pleasant; uses small air pillows with computerized pumping to give different patterns. I never thought I'll ever use this. Included it for DW, but actually pleasant after an hour's driving.

Perfumed air freshener with mood music on the Mercedes. Useless overkill.

Self parking: apart from the salesman's demo, I have not sorted out how to use this! May be useful in congested cities?

Self parking using a smart phone while you are outside the Mercedes. I "may" try this after I have mastered the previous self parking :shock:

Self braking. Excellent going forwards but I managed to reverse into a parked car with the Lexus. Does not work in Reverse gear? No excuses since the cameras showed it all, with beeps, but when you are distracted... Also, you CAN have too many warning beeps; till the mind switches off.

There are also numerous other toys, not always safety related (e.g. remote starting using your phone) that I have not yet fathomed how to use. Probably never will.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Slacker »

JoeRetire wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:24 pm
Theseus wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 8:07 am Apart from most standard safety features I would personally never buy a car without

- Backup camera
- Blind spot warning/monitoring
- Adaptive Cruise control
I've seen a backup camera in friends' cars. I can imagine that being a useful feature.

I'm not so sure about the blind spot warnings - that seems like it would just be annoying, but I could imagine it might be handy.

The adaptive cruise control I'm having a hard time seeing the point. I never use the non-adaptive cruise control on my existing cars.
The blind spot warning on a Toyota is not annoying to me. No beeps, warbles or chirps, just a mostly innocuous light on the outside edge of the side view mirror.

Adaptive cruise control, with a system that goes all the way to a dead stop, is amazing in heavy traffic. I just have to tap the accelerator a bit when the traffic ahead moves and otherwise the vehicle does a great job of keeping safe distances, slowing, accelerating, etc. Makes heavy traffic much less stressful and keeps your distance when you are trying to find a gap in an adjacent lane to change lanes (fewer worries about missing when the person in front slams on the brakes). Even on a long road trip, adaptive cruise control is a very nice luxury as it allows you a chance to move positions with your feet and legs a little (same thing with dumb cruise control, but you have to interact much more with your feet in the dumb version).
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Slacker »

msk wrote: Sun Jul 08, 2018 3:23 am Self parking: apart from the salesman's demo, I have not sorted out how to use this! May be useful in congested cities?
The self parking in our Toyota for backing into a spot seems to have a TON of problems. However, with a back up camera and parking distance sensors doing my own backing into a parking spot is no problem.
I do use the self parking for parallel parking...not that I can't do it myself (especially with the parking distance sensors), but I guess I find it entertaining to have the car "park itself".
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JoeRetire
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by JoeRetire »

Slacker wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:16 amAdaptive cruise control, with a system that goes all the way to a dead stop, is amazing in heavy traffic. I just have to tap the accelerator a bit when the traffic ahead moves and otherwise the vehicle does a great job of keeping safe distances, slowing, accelerating, etc. Makes heavy traffic much less stressful and keeps your distance when you are trying to find a gap in an adjacent lane to change lanes (fewer worries about missing when the person in front slams on the brakes). Even on a long road trip, adaptive cruise control is a very nice luxury as it allows you a chance to move positions with your feet and legs a little (same thing with dumb cruise control, but you have to interact much more with your feet in the dumb version).
Maybe I just don't drive in heavy traffic often enough. I can't see myself ever using that feature, unless it were part of a fully-autonomous vehicle.

For me, it's certainly not necessary and certainly not something I'd want to pay for.
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dsmclone
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by dsmclone »

I have a feeling that a lot of the same people who poo pood these safety systems also did the same for anti lock breaks. Here has been my experience:

#1 Not all safety systems are created equal. Each manufacturer does it differently and over time they usually improve.

#2 Rear Camera-They have all been helpful, some better than others. My wifes VW also pedestrian mode which works well in parking lots.

#3 Adaptive Cruise-Once again, it depends. I had a 2011 Infiniti that had it and it was just ok. It would always leave too much room even at the closest setting and then when someone pulled in front of you, it would break hard. On the wife's 2018 it works a lot better. Still works the best on rural 2 lane roads and not interstates/highways. If you're like me and you drive faster than nearly everyone on the road you'll find that you have to get in the passing lane early other wise it will slow you down when it sees the car in front of you.

#4 Lane Departure-In the 2011 it would beep at you and not take control of the wheel until late in the game. The wife's 2018 works a lot better. You just feel a little tug of the wheel. It will once in awhile get confused about lanes but does a surprisingly good job.

#5 Blind Spot monitoring-Always has worked great for me in every instance. Especially helpful since 95% of drivers have their mirrors set up incorrectly. If you can see the side of your car in your mirror, you're probably doing it wrong.

#6 Carplay/Andoid Auto-Works great. I never use the factory GPS.

#7 Self Braking-Only used once but it did it's job.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Pancakes-Eggs-Bacon »

adamthesmythe wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:57 pmAsk yourself: what sorts of things have I experienced that almost resulted in an accident?
If you put it that way, I fishtailed really bad on a snowy highway once and ended up off the road (no damage, no collision, and no stranding). 4WD or at least AWD, better tires (winter tires + chains even), and stability/traction control could have helped prevent that or at least pulled me out of the violent fishtail (rear was swinging about 180 degrees, fully left and fully right).

A built-in coffee maker would help with the drowsy driving, but then I'd have to use the restroom more often, so a built-in bidet would be necessary tech. But in seriousness: some cars have drowsy driver detection that will go nuts if they detect you nodding off. That and lane departure warning would potentially help. But to be honest, we'd need a Level 4 or Level 5 autonomous vehicle to really help with drowsy drivers.

I drive in horrible commutes with unpredictable stop-and-go traffic, so lots of rear-enders witnessed. I rented a 2018 Nissan Altima that had forward collision warning and blind spot monitoring and loved the added sensors that augmented what my eyes and brain were already telling me. I like that as soon as I turn on a turn signal to change lanes, it immediately beeps if someone is next to me, even though I always look. I like the 2nd set of eyes.

4-wheel disc brakes would really be nice on my next car instead of just 2 disc, 2 drum brakes. And heck, I might put on ceramics for extra stopping power. I used to not like ABS, but I like them now.

Airbags EVERYWHERE seems like the way to go in new vehicles. I'm only used to 1-2 total airbags, none of this side curtain, knee, and other airbags.
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dm200
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by dm200 »

While I believe that airbags provide increased safety and lower death and injury rates - I often winder "how much" vs. everyone always wearing seat/shoulder belts in modern cars.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by randomguy »

aristotelian wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:27 pm
Jack FFR1846 wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 8:22 am Necessary? I'd say none of that. Those are all "wants".

My top safety picks:

Seat belts.
air bags.

/thread
I would add Anti Lock Brakes although I am not sure any of the above count as "advanced".
Blah just drive safely and you don't need seat belts. After all attentive drivers never get into accidents right?:)

Antilock brakes were a bit of a wash. But they did enable VSC which reduced single car accidents by about 40%. And pretty much eliminated SUV rollover issues that made SUVs going from being more dangerous than cars to much safer. That was pretty darn noticeable improvement.

If you look at the modern tech and the most recent research
a) AEB reduces rear end collisions by 40%
b)Blind spot, lane keeping reduces swide swipe and head on collisions by about 15%
c) adaptive headlights reduced night accidents by 20%

Those are pretty decent drops but they are on top of the everything else so the absolute number doesn't drop by much.
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El Greco
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by El Greco »

Don't listen to all the Luddites on here. Unless you exclusively drive 30 mph on deserted country back lanes, these new features can be quite useful and make you a better and safer driver.

Personally, I find Blind Spot monitoring very helpful. It's like another set of eyes in fast moving highway traffic. I wouldn't buy another car without it. This is usually paired with Rear Cross Traffic alert which uses the same set of sensors. This is terrific, especially when you are trying to back out of a parking spot in a busy parking lot when you are flanked by two huge SUVs on either side and can't see cross traffic behind you.

Backup camera is OK, but not terribly essential for me. Don't have lane departure, emergency braking or adaptive cruise control yet, but I will in my next car. I expect I will like them and find them useful as well. If they are annoying, I can simply shut them off.

I'd like to add: I wish the guy who recently rear-ended me in slow moving stop and go traffic had emergency automatic braking in his car. Just sayin' :annoyed
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bottlecap
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by bottlecap »

Blind spot monitoring is nice. ABS is standard now. I presume ESC is as well. Unless you are buying used, of course.

Automatic braking to avoid collisions is also nice as a failsafe, although in the short amount of time I’ve driven with it, it started to brake on a narrow winding road because of oncoming traffic, which was unsettling and quite distracting.

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cheese_breath
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by cheese_breath »

dm200 wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:57 pm While I believe that airbags provide increased safety and lower death and injury rates - I often winder "how much" vs. everyone always wearing seat/shoulder belts in modern cars.
Not much if they're Takata airbags. Never had a seat belt explode in my face.
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dm200
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by dm200 »

cheese_breath wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:39 pm
dm200 wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:57 pm While I believe that airbags provide increased safety and lower death and injury rates - I often winder "how much" vs. everyone always wearing seat/shoulder belts in modern cars.
Not much if they're Takata airbags. Never had a seat belt explode in my face.
Yes!
LiterallyIronic
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by LiterallyIronic »

ronteller11 wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:44 am lane departure warning, automatic braking, blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, etc.

Also, anyone have experience with CarPlay? Is it worth it or better off just mounting your phone to the dash?
None of those things are necessary. It's not difficult to look where you're going. But it would be nice to have air conditioning. Rolling down the window on the freeway isn't great. That all being said, I think a backup camera might be a nice thing to have, too.

Never heard of CarPlay, or even mounting a phone to the dash. To listen to music, I always just turned on the radio. Of course, that was before my clock/radio broke. :(
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Iridium »

cheese_breath wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:39 pm
dm200 wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:57 pm While I believe that airbags provide increased safety and lower death and injury rates - I often winder "how much" vs. everyone always wearing seat/shoulder belts in modern cars.
Not much if they're Takata airbags. Never had a seat belt explode in my face.
They have almost certainly saved far more lives/severe injuries than they ever caused. However, airbag saves don't make the news. That is the funny thing about the news: the more often something happens, the less likely it is to be reported. Over sixty Americans will lose their lives on the road today, but it is the first airline fatality in over 8 years that gets days of wall to wall coverage.

Which isn't to say that it is reasonable for airbags to cost any lives, which is why they have been recalled (I believe most of the deaths have come months after the vehicle had been recalled).

Edit: To answer DM200's question: the number of lives saved by airbags is similar to the number of lives that could have been saved, had everyone worn their seatbelt (both at 2,500ish lives a year): https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Pu ... ion/812454
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gravlax
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by gravlax »

ronteller11 wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:44 am I’m mostly referring to safety features like lane departure warning, automatic braking, blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, etc. Anyone have these features and have really been grateful that they have them?

Also, anyone have experience with CarPlay? Is it worth it or better off just mounting your phone to the dash?

It can be a challenge deciding between these things and just going with a 2005 Corolla like people suggest.
I just bought a 2018 car (VW Golf R) after driving my 1998 car for 18 years. The new tech features I like the most are the safety features, especially the one that makes it more difficult to change lanes if your blinker is not on. It can be done, but the steering wheel sort of "resists" the movement. The backup camera is also nice.

CarPlay IMO is worse than worthless (at least with an iPhone). I just do the mounting the phone to the dash.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by audioaxes »

Bluetooth and backup camera were "must have" features when we were shopping for a used SUV some years back.

Other features that I would look for in a new car now are:
seats with ventilated cooling
multi-zone AC
blindspot indicator
Drovor
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Drovor »

We have a base 2016 Mazda CX-5 so I can't comment on all the bells and whistles. It does have a backup camera and we find it valuable. Bluetooth is nice to have as well.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by regularguy455 »

With the older crowd on this forum, I would definitely recommend the backup camera and blind spot monitoring. Both are nearly standard on all new cars and make it significantly easier to prevent an accident.

It’s important to keep in mind that your risk of being in an accident increases as you age. These features are cheap and could keep you out of the hospital.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by cantos »

golfCaddy wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:23 pm One way to look at this is how do these extra safety features affect insurance rates? The discounts for most of these safety features is slim to none. While these features do reduce the frequency of accidents, they can paradoxically drive up the severity.
https://www.freep.com/story/money/perso ... 027691001/
Insurance rates is an actuarial calculation based on costs. It has nothing to do with the severity of an injury or loss of life. In fact, if you lose your life, that is even better for insurance rates. So, no, looking at insurance rates is not a great way at all to assess how good a safety feature is for normal people.

The article says "severity" goes up - but they mean severity in terms of higher rates, not severity in terms of health. that's a huge difference.

These safety tech features are good for decreasing the amount of accidents and decreasing the extent of your injuries. End of story.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by rgs92 »

dmsclone, you say most drivers have their mirrors set wrong.
What is the right way?
Thanks in advance.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Quaestner »

Engineered crumple zones. All cars are not created equally!
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by new2bogle »

JoeRetire wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:15 am None are necessary.

Some are desirable.

Many are just a pain in the @ss and one more thing to break down.
This. I have my lane departure warning and front collision turned off. Very annoying.

What you need all cars will have: seat belts, ABS and skid control.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by friar1610 »

SDLinguist wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:41 pm The most useless of all the "safety features" is the blind spot warning. It is literally a fix for a problem of people not knowing how to set their mirrors correctly. So instead of teaching g people how to use the 2 ton weapon they are driving we add warning lights.

It takes 10 seconds to set your mirrors right (if you also have your seat set correctly, which almost nobody has either)

I have never driven a car with blind spot warning where the warning was of any use with correctly adjusted mirrors.
Why is it called a "blind spot" if you can set your mirrors and seat so you can see everything?

I just recently bought a 2015 car that has this feature as well as several others mentioned in this thread. I find the blind spot feature to be very helpful (although not an absolute requirement). It adds one more level of safety against potential human error. same with backup cameras, etc.

This car replaced a 2005 that didn't have any of these features. Although I'm a careful driver (yes - I know we all think we are! :wink: ) I feel safer with them.
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SDLinguist
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by SDLinguist »

friar1610 wrote: Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:47 pm
SDLinguist wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:41 pm The most useless of all the "safety features" is the blind spot warning. It is literally a fix for a problem of people not knowing how to set their mirrors correctly. So instead of teaching g people how to use the 2 ton weapon they are driving we add warning lights.

It takes 10 seconds to set your mirrors right (if you also have your seat set correctly, which almost nobody has either)

I have never driven a car with blind spot warning where the warning was of any use with correctly adjusted mirrors.
Why is it called a "blind spot" if you can set your mirrors and seat so you can see everything?
Because hardly anybody sets mirrors and seats correctly.

A Semi definitely has a blind spot or a panel can without a rear window, but the fact is that for the vast majority of cars you can set a correct seating position where the blindspots are virtually eliminated.

Most people are never thought though how to do so. My own driving instructor didn't and my parents certainly didn't. I only learned once I took track and defensive driving courses. It takes getting used to especially when you have spent your entire driving life looking at the side of your car in your side mirrors instead of what's beside your car.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Elsebet »

I definitely love the backup camera, parking sonar, and blind spot monitoring in my 2016 Tacoma, all 3 have saved me at some point so far.

The bluetooth phone/iPod connectivity is also a huge plus since I can use voice commands.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by VaR »

So is this the right way to set your mirrors?
https://seniordriving.aaa.com/improve-y ... r-mirrors/

Note that they also say:
AAA wrote:Remember, even properly positioned mirrors cannot eliminate all blind spots. To reduce risk, make a final check to the sides before attempting any lateral moves.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by jebmke »

I don't do the head on the window thing but I position the mirrors out so that I cannot see the side of the car. The location of MY car is not something I have much doubt about when driving.
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by RickBoglehead »

Good to know that so many have such expert knowledge of what improves safety and what doesn't....
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by Slacker »

I have to admit that I actually find it a little annoying that so many people don't use cruise control on their cars when driving down the highway. The constant changing of speed, travelling at 65mph for 1/2 mile then 63 mph for 1/2 mile then 69mph for 1/2 a mile is a little annoying when you don't really feel like trying to pass them (they almost always speed up because they don't want to be passed). On the other hand, I just turn on adaptive cruise control and don't even notice their ridiculously inefficient and erratic highway speeds (save for when they start driving significantly below the posted speed limit).
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by golfCaddy »

cantos wrote: Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:28 am Insurance rates is an actuarial calculation based on costs. It has nothing to do with the severity of an injury or loss of life. In fact, if you lose your life, that is even better for insurance rates. So, no, looking at insurance rates is not a great way at all to assess how good a safety feature is for normal people.

The article says "severity" goes up - but they mean severity in terms of higher rates, not severity in terms of health. that's a huge difference.
Aren't the costs of an accident in terms of pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical bills a function of the severity of the injury? Shouldn't any feature that reduces the severity of injuries caused to others reduce the severity of bodily injury claims?
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by VaR »

golfCaddy wrote: Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:53 pm Aren't the costs of an accident in terms of pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical bills a function of the severity of the injury? Shouldn't any feature that reduces the severity of injuries caused to others reduce the severity of bodily injury claims?
I thought the article was saying that repair expenses went up because things like sensors in the bumpers made replacing the bumper more expensive? So when the article uses the term "severity", they mean "expense of claims". That's not what I think of when I hear "severity".

I'm in favor getting all practical safety features because I want to avoid the bother of dealing with minor accidents. Plus I feel I have a lot to lose in a major accident - in guilt if nothing else.
cantos
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Re: Which advanced tech is necessary in cars?

Post by cantos »

golfCaddy wrote: Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:53 pm
cantos wrote: Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:28 am Insurance rates is an actuarial calculation based on costs. It has nothing to do with the severity of an injury or loss of life. In fact, if you lose your life, that is even better for insurance rates. So, no, looking at insurance rates is not a great way at all to assess how good a safety feature is for normal people.

The article says "severity" goes up - but they mean severity in terms of higher rates, not severity in terms of health. that's a huge difference.
Aren't the costs of an accident in terms of pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical bills a function of the severity of the injury? Shouldn't any feature that reduces the severity of injuries caused to others reduce the severity of bodily injury claims?
For thousands of reasons, no to your first question. Claims are paid out where claims are provable and limited in co.pensation by the bounds of the law. Living with chronic pain from an accident that is hard to prove, but real to you, for the rest of your life? Good luck. Got into an accident, died, and surviving family wants to collect millions? Try thousands instead. Became a quadriplegic in a single vehicle accident that was your fault? You get nothing. Tons of scenarios.
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