New Car Faulty Steering

[BusyBee]

My car has the lane and collision warnings too. I turned off the lane assist one as it was irritating in that it was always beeping as a moved around avoiding the ever present potholes. The collision one, I am not sure whether it is possible to turn off. It is irritating too as sometimes I get false beeps, as are documented in the manual. I think it may have put the brakes on one time but I am unsure as it may have been me reacting. These beeps are very unsettling as they are momentary and gone before I can read the displayed problem on the dash. The beep for icy road, which is the same, as the others, always seems to come when I am in the middle of a complex manoeuvre and, to me, is a dangerous distraction. My car does remember the settings though which is good.

Tracy

[Radio Fixer]

Our Honda has lots of these 'helps' and most are OK by me.
Front assist is as others have explained but mine has never applied the brakes as it give a warning sound first and thats always been enough. The rear parking sensors are a must for us and the lane assist we leave on. Doesnt bother us and who knows we might doze for a mo! If you indicate first it doesnt do it.
Lets me know if a tyre is getting low pressure which is good.

Dont use the Stop cut out to save a teaspoon of petrol at the cost of the battery and starter motor. Unfortunately that has to be cancelled every time but its only a button push.

Loads of air bags and safety stuff and I'm glad to have it. Far more likely to survive or with less injuries if the worst happens versus a 20 year old motor.

Gary

[Murphyv310]

Research has proved driving standards have dropped as many motorists rely on modern vehicle gadgetry and believe they'll get them out of trouble. This encourages lazy driving standards.
Even my eldest a few years back couldn't drive my daughters 1972 VW 1303S as he couldn't cope without power steering and servo assisted brakes, it's now worse than ever. Modern vehicles even increase the engine revs when taking away from rest..... What is that all about? My late Panda has start stop, has an uprated starter and AGM battery. People bleat on about how the starter will wear out, funny my VW T4 van did nearly 300,000 miles on the original starter and many Octavia Taxis on even more with start stop and the original starter motor.
No matter if you don't use it when the battery fails it'll still need to be coded to the ECU with its type CCA and other details. Modern tech.. No thanks.

[Radio Fixer]

I dont think my driving standards have dropped, I just dont make the quick (lightening fast) decisions that I did when I drove in London 40 years ago.  Also then I was doing 20,000 miles or more a year.
Now its almost down to a tenth of that and of course I'm slower and also dont need to rush anywhere now.  Must be doing something right as I have never had a claim to or from an insurance company in about 60 years of driving,  Shouldnt say that should I.    

Up until 2 years ago I was driving a geared van and an automatic car and had no bother switching from one to the other, many do.  I could drive a vehicle without any power assist but to me thats in the past.  At gone 80 I need that physical help.

Noted the point on starter motor and battery:  may leave that engine stop device on.

Gary

[peter scott]

the lane assist we leave on.  Doesnt bother us and who knows we might doze for a mo!  If you indicate first it doesnt do it.
Gary

Yes I suspected that it would not apply Lane Assist if you indicated first and I tested that this morning however it's not clever enough to forget the Lane Assist if there isn't another vehicle anywhere in sight.

The IQ Drive feature that slows you down if you drive too close to the vehicle in front is actually very nice when using cruise control because you don't need to do anything if the vehicle in front speeds up or pulls off because the cruise takes you back up to your chosen speed again. It also maintains a sensible distance and it applies the brakes if necessary.

I did wonder if the combination of features would let the car drive itself but the Lane Assist doesn't keep you nicely centred in the lane and whilst it will take you round corners etc it does beep at you and tell you to put your hands back on the wheel.

Peter

[Pye Man]

This might be an age thing, but it is confirmed by the anecdotal evidence of friends and acquaintances’ comments to me on this subject, and that is that the roads are a far more aggressive environment than they were in the past. As we have become a more and more competitive society this, I feel this has become reflected in driving habits, aided and abetted by the general technological advances in engine performance, suspension, braking and (low profile) tyres that mean that the average road car is, mechanically, a far closer relative of Formula 1 than a Morris 1000.

Such courtesy as ever existed on the road has pretty much gone. The regular sound of the horn which characterised cities in France and Italy is now endemic here. Tail-gating has become the norm, the driver up your rear intent on bullying you along – often when you are at the speed limit – and assuming that in the worst case scenario his (and it usually is a him) huge vented ABS servo-assisted disks and low profile big footprint rubber will get him out of bother. On a nearby urban dual carriageway, festooned with traffic lights, I watch bemused how, when I set off from the grid in my unassuming but reasonable performance hack, the vehicle behind will roar out past me only for me to catch it up at the next set of lights. One or two people I know, despite mostly driving on their own or with one passenger, have said that the reason for driving large SUV size/type vehicles is that they feel more protected from other vehicles in them (always bearing in mind there will be other reasons for their choice some of which will not be stated) but they do have a point. Last time I followed a BMC/BL Mini I thought how vulnerable it looked. And to think how commonplace these once were.

Still in the workaday world I have long ceased to enjoy general motoring. I live on the edge of a metropolitan area and the one bonus of lock-down was, when I needed to venture out, the reduction in traffic made driving, if not quite a pleasure, comfortable once more. For years, if I have needed to go to the city I have used train or bus. Like several on these forums I have a classic in the garage. Driving enjoyment is when I can point it away from the metro area into the country on a run with friends of a similar ilk – something that has been sadly missing these last couple of years.

My own driving technique is based on a defensive approach. Keep plenty of distance between me and the vehicle in front, read the road, don’t rely on others’ signals and expect the unexpected. I shall keep the old hack as long as it keeps going through MOTs, my annual mileage is well below average (this last year, the lowest ever since I’ve owned a car) and it has minimal gadgetry which means there’s less to go wrong.

[Radio Fixer]

My lane assist sounds simpler than yours Peter. All mine does is beep (pleasant sound) if you drift over the white line.

On this Honda I havent used the Cruise control, dont think its got the IQ feature? simply as we have made so few long journeys since the Pandemic.

Another asset but I suppose the trad' drivers wont like it is Automatic. One less thing to be bothered with as we get older... you are always in the right gear at say a busy roundabout. Also, hill start assist comes with it, no roll back, foot off brake to stop any forward creep, hit gas and away you go. I could still do handbrake starts when I had the van but it is another aid / improvement for many.

Dont need the auto lights and windscreen washers but my wife likes them. She is often out at night and a click beep of the key and the road is lit... just makes her feel safer.

And how many would be without Sat Nav?

Certainly cars have come a long way and I shall never want one that drives for me but lots of the aids help a lot. Dont think the totally automonous car will ever happen.

Gary

[Mike Watterson]

After all, you wouldn't want to turn off ABS, or the more recent derivatives that prevent a skid in adverse road conditions. So why would you want to turn off the latest safety features?

Depends how reliable they are. ABS doesn't depend on unreliable inputs or complex software implementing so called AI. ABS very reliably senses a wheel losing traction. Very many more advanced "safety features" may even be dangerous especially as they become more like an autopilot on a aircraft or ship. The sudden unexpected event or misleading sensor is very less likely there and it's been identified that when the pilot or sailor does have to take control there is a longer delay than if they were not on autopilot and may even misinterpret the situation. A car is in a much more dynamic situation with very many more unexpected events.

Let's not have automated cars (self driving), till we have trains, aircraft, ships and trams (in that order) fully automated.

Also stiffer penalties for driving when too tired, drugged or with alcohol. Automatic instead of voluntary surrendering of licence with failing eyesight or other medical tests. Stiffer HGV tests and more stringent time limits with proper breaks, not reduced requirements.

I've written software for many years. The reliability drops dramatically with increasing size of team, complexity and increase number of sensors, especially radar, lidar, ultrasound or video.

[peter scott]

Tail-gating has become the norm, the driver up your rear intent on bullying you along – often when you are at the speed limit – and assuming that in the worst case scenario his (and it usually is a him) huge vented ABS servo-assisted disks and low profile big footprint rubber will get him out of bother.

Surprisingly I find that the really aggressive close tail gaters are almost always women. Possibly because they have a fear of overtaking but I find this to be true even on motorways and dual carriageways.

I think this is perhaps one blessing of the IQ feature as that insists on a sensible distance between vehicles.

Peter

[Pye Man]

I’m sure we all will remember the once typical and somewhat prejudiced view of women drivers. However, to me they were always more safe and courteous drivers though I have to admit that I have encountered some quite aggressive ones in more recent years and I think this is due to the increasingly competitive nature of life I mentioned above. I think for the bullying tailgater looking to shove you along or get out of the way, any automatic braking option will be over-ridden. I know they are close when at night I can’t see their headlights in my mirror in what is a relatively low small estate car.

PS I used to drive a Peugeot car-derived van. Standard 1.9 diesel (no turbo, etc.) it was slow but okay once it got going (and it taught me to read the road far ahead). It had a towing hook attached to a huge protruding lump of iron that was half the width of the vehicle. That kept them away!