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People are getting fed up with all the useless tech in their cars — For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, wit…::People are dissatisfied with the technology in their cars, according to a new survey from JD Power. They especially don’t like the native infotainment systems.
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I just went through the car buying process the other day and it was between a Odyssey Luxury or EX-L. Honestly I hated all the space age dash shit they tried to cram into the Luxury version so I went EX-L. Was definitely one of the deciding factors exspecially considering it cost 10k more for basically only tech upgrades that I would never use. Ridiculous.
I just bought a car for my son last month. Things I looked for:
No major issues or recalls on the model for 5 years. Especially no major powertrain issues.
Easy to drive and control the vehicle.
Big mirrors and windows to make it easy to see behind.
Comfortable seats for driving long distances.
AWD or 4WD for our winters.
Android auto on the screen. Buttons and knobs for all important vehicle controls.
The number of cars that failed to have these features was terrifyingly sad. I saw some of the dumbest designs on car interiors while test driving as well.
The most egregious was a couple of vehicles that put major vehicle controls (knobs) right next to the cup holders. Somebody has never spilled a soda on their keyboard.
I don’t give a shit about the bells and whistles they’re adding to cars and the infotainment systems. I am absolutely LIVID that they are starting to lock bits of hardware (or the complete functionality of that hardware) behind subscription paywalls. If i ever buy a car and discover they’ve locked the heated seats behind a monthly fee, i’m tearing the infotainment system out of the fucking dash and leaving it on fire in front of the dealers house.
In the future I can totally see black market auto shops that specialize in bypassing all the bullshit paywalls that restrict your car from functioning the way it should to begin with.
Yup. I worked as a locksmith for a decade there that reproduced immobilizer keys that were ‘dealer only.’ My tool allow me do all sorts of wild shit that was outside my field of interest – but resetting/setting the door panels on Fords was super nifty.
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When the features are actually anti-features making you pay subscription fees for things that are already part of the car, and everything is buggy as hell, of course no one wants it.
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I’ve never had a car with a touch screen or whatever fancy centre panel - but I have scrapped old cars because the ECU decided that there was an airbag fault which was not resolved with a new airbag. I’m a full time sysadmin/developer - my car does not need a computer to go, and if it must have one, it shouldn’t be a brick covered in epoxy.
I somewhat long to return to dumb electromechanical components like distributors, rather than unimaginably expensive, irreparable, interdependent systems.
#RightToRepair
This is exactly the reason why they do it. They can put a hidden countdown or just outright brick your vehicle over the air and you can’t really prove they did.
As a sysadmin/dev you should know its not a computers = bad situation. It’s God awful system implementation, trash software, trash components, and even worse redundancies.
It’s like you’re saying “why use email, when i can send a physical letter” in some aspects
But I agree these manufacturers produce shit products in the form of vehicle electronics.
The battle against requiring a computer for your car to run was lost over 30 years ago. It’s just been gradual expansion since then.
A computer running the car isn’t inherently bad. Direct injection with a computer running the show is very efficient for fuel usage. But at that point for commuter vehicles they might as well be electric motors
My 1991 4Runner doesn’t even have a diagnostic port (pre OBDII), but you can get it to tell you what it thinks is wrong.
To do this, you need to use a paperclip to jump two terminals in a box under the hood, then turn the ignition to ON, count the number of times the check engine light blinks, write that down, then look up what that code means, in a book.
(Granted, the book is a PDF these days, but still)
Just give me an amp with Bluetooth so I can play my phone through the car speakers. Anything the car makers produce will be woefully out of date before I sell the car.
see also: every mid-to-late 00’s car with specific iPod connection ports
i wonder if what the cassette tape adapter of the future will be like for people into vintage cars from 2010-2023?
I have a feeling this era of cars won’t last long enough to become vintage
but radio will outlive everything, so those low FM station override things could make a comeback
I am a big FM radio user. I lurve that free RF
I’ve never ever had the chance of experiencing it. My car is over 23 years old by memory, still runs great as Toyota’s do but damn I’d love to have something more then a broken CD player and strip black and white interface.
Perhaps I’d be one to appreciate all this ‘useless’ tech.
There are extremely affordable aftermarket head units available that are also pretty easy projects to install even for a novice DIYer.
This is very true and I actually forgot about this lmao because my wife insists that we just wait until we get a new car…
I’ve replaced lots of them over the years myself but was just recently reminded (forcibly) that it was an option… Because my factory head unit in my Kia died and originally I bought an identical factory head unit to replace it with… Well, that one burned out in like 3 months…
At that point I bought the cheapest double din head unit I could find with FM and Bluetooth along with the mounting kit… Only spent about $70 and an hour of my time and it’s been working great for the last 6 months or so.
Obviously, that particular option won’t work for everyone but it’s been great for my cheapskate ass.
That’s good to know.
The mindless march for ever-more pointless tech in cars has pushed me into getting into classic cars more and more. Hopping into a old car is such a transformative experience. My smartphone connected through Blutooth into the stereo system is the most advanced thing in the car. The windows are huge and visibility is amazing. The ride is smooth and very forgiving. I can actually feel what the road is like because there aren’t 10 layers of computers and electronics between the steering wheel and the tires.
Nowadays, all these companies are doing is trying to use technology to solve a problem created by technology to begin with. I don’t need a million cameras and sensors around my car, if I have good sight-lines. I don’t need a sensor to remind me to look at the road, if the driving experience wasn’t so goddamn boring and devoid of fun and excitement to begin with.
I simply don’t need more shit in my cars.
Good strategy! I currently own 5 cars; 91, 93, 97, 09, and 11 (and the last two are a utility van and a base model hatchback with no electronics).
I had a job in college working on information security for automotive systems. I’m actually pretty good at fixing cars with electronics, but the DRM where you have to go back to the manufacturer is too far for me. If I can’t fix it with what’s in my garage, I’m not interested.
It’s also more eco-friendly than constantly scrapping/upgrading cars.
I don’t need a million cameras and sensors around my car, if I have good sight-lines.
While I agree with your earlier point on more technology not always being good, I disagree on the point of sensors and cameras. A backup-camera and sensor can tell me about approaching cars that I’m not aware of/cannot see physically. Additionally, I’ll take extra reminders of cars when switching lanes at highway speeds.
Yeah exactly, tech should only be in the form of safety measures like proximity alerts, lane stabilizing if you drift, cameras, etc. It’s when they complicate basic controls like HVAC, radio, seats, mirrors, etc that pisses me off. That’s not even starting to talk about other paywalls like a subscription for heated seats or whatever; also didn’t I just read that Mercedes requires a yearly subscription if you want to fully accelerate your vehicle?
I have been unlucky enough to drive behind a person on the way home for the past 3 days who does not look when she moves to another lane. She just moves. There has been a car directly to her left, and she just fuckin slides right on over.
These are the people I want cameras and sensors for. These people out here (America) in these giant ass cars feel so protected in them they just stop caring. If we can’t get them to stop being stupid I will have to depend on technology. I don’t want to depend on technology but here we are.
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My problem with it is that “standards” aren’t really standards. I have a car from 2015. It has an LCD panel that’s supposed to connect to your phone. Too bad that the standards changed in 2015… Now it sits there totally useless.
Heh - my car from 2006 has 2 SD card slots behind the radio/nav screen for my MP3 and M4A files.
I also ripped out the CD changer for a BT integration, but I still use the SD cards sometimes.
…useless tech
Oh, it is “useful”; to the real ‘owners’ of “your” car…
Yup. I’m in Automotive, I work for a company that makes software for basically any car brand you can think of. I just recently left an internally developed project that aimed to create a personal assistant in the car. It was terribly ran and will go nowhere, but other departments in other companies will probably have more success, especially since the rise of chatgpt.
To add to your point though - the main idea on how to sell this assistant to car makers was the features, but the driving force behind developing the project was customer data. Collect a huge amount of info from customers, info that is shared with the car brand, but also accessible to us. To give some credit, discussions were never about using it for evil purposes - imagine a secretary knowing their boss’ schedule, our software would make suggestions like “you can’t make your 1 PM luch appointment with the client, would you like to reschedule it” and “I see you’re headed to Chicago and will arrive in 2 hours, should I make a reservation at that restaurant you like?” or some shit like that. But we all know that it’s not the engineers who decide what the company does with the data once access to that data exists. And knowing where a user eats, having access to their calendar, having access to their phone… This shit can get out of hand so easily when a budget-oriented executive type decides it’s time for this project to be even more profitable by selling the data to advertisers.
Last I heard before I left, the plan was to “get consent” to process this data through a disclaimer when booting the car’s infotainment system, saying that attached devices share data with our servers etc. Read the manuals, ToS and pop-ups and don’t connect your devices to systems that do this. You’re already the client when buying a car worth thousands of dollars. Don’t also be the product.
such bullshit. how can engineers not let this happen?
Unfortunately I think engineers, as employees of a company, don’t have a lot of power. You aren’t typically the one making feature decisions. You can always try to talk product people out of bad ideas, but at some point if you refuse to do what you’ve been told to, you lose your job. Some engineers are in a financial position to take that high road, but a lot aren’t. And then even if you do quit, there will always be someone else willing to do what you aren’t.
I think as long as there is money in doing unethical (but legal) things, those things will continue to happen
so this is why i think that reasonable engineers (and most actual engineers are reasonable, hence being an “engineer”) should get together and make good stuff. stuff that is not corrupted by perverse incentives. an engineer is capable of understanding the flaws of an economy and how that can be detrimental to the functionality of some tool or system.
unfortunately as long as they’re still subject to the whims of global capitalism, they will never be free from perverse incentives
subject to the whims of global capitalism
so how can we make that not be the case? this is what engineers and innovators are thinking about. we are thinking about what the next system will be and planning how to get there.
systemic change is required, that’s for sure. as to the how of that? fucked if i know tbh
True story. Next car I own will be a manual. Won’t even bother setting up the electronic junk if it comes with it.
Yeah my 2013 Honda has Hondalink, whatever the heck that is and an outdated GPS system which I refuse to pay to upgrade. I typically buy a five or six year old honda which I don’t look forward to next go round, bc I’m sure the tech will be woefully outdated.
My biggest gripe is the “safety” features that just enable bad driving. Too lazy to shoulder check? don’t worry, blinky light on the mirror has you. Don’t bother looking back when backing out? camera has you. veering off the road a bit cause you’re not paying attention? lane keep assist!
Any one of these things can fail and the shit driving habits are all some of these people have to fall back on.Let’s go back to roll up windows, standard transmissions, and using your eyes to see where things are.
The ads for emergency braking are the worst, like the dad who is looking in the rearview mirror at his daughter, and then Screeeech the car slams to a hault because pops wasn’t paying attention. Everyone in the car has a sensible chuckle about it, and they go on with their day.
No: are you crazy? Wtf are you doing? You almost ran over that woman! Pay attention!
What a bad take. These things are safety additions and will by responsible drivers be treated as such. Backup cameras are standard safety equipment now, do you also hate those? Shitty drivers will be shitty with or without safety precautions from a car. When one of those shitty drivers attempts to change into my lane while not checking if it is clear. At least I can hope their car prevents them from smashing into me.
That’s fair. I can understand your view.
I think you forgot that people have cell phones so those who were already couldn’t drive now can’t drive with a cell phone. And they’re driving giant cars. I need their car to scream at them because I can not.
Yea. I’m diligent about the phone staying in my own pocket while I’m driving. I forget I can’t always give others the benefit of the doubt.
The problem is that backup camera’s are mandated safety equipment, and that means a screen. And if you have to put in a screen and all that infrastructure anyway, it’s only a few more dollars to add a proper infotainment system.
I lost the key to my car since last August and just found it a few months ago. Car needed a bunch of work since it had some problems and just got it back on the road this week. They finally canceled work from home so I needed the car. I have been using my wife’s since we both really didn’t need it much at the same time. Anyway my car is an 07 basic model car and hers is from 2015 and has a backup camera. Going back to my car is crazy just because of how used to the backup camera I had gotten. I immediately look to my center console area and go oh yeah… I then wondered just how many people have the issue of going backwards with car technology like I did!
I’d had backup cameras in my cars for 6 years, and my girlfriend’s car that I drive a lot has one, too. My current car is a 2011 work truck with roll up windows and no power locks. It has AM/FM with no tape, CD, or screen for a backup camera.
I definitely miss the backup camera going from her car to my truck.
Okay a bit off topic but am I the only one who thinks that car companies are hiding bad design with back up cams? Like I feel like thats part of the reason why cars are getting bigger, cause they don’t need to make everything easy to see from the drivers seat.
Backup camera and more buttons than you’ll ever need
https://cars.usnews.com/static/images/Auto/izmo/i2314392/2016_volvo_xc60_dashboard.jpg
I love my car.
My car is 17 years old. It won’t be long before I need to look out for a new one. Posts like these make me wary of buying a new one.
What would annoy me the most is having little to no physical buttons for trivial things, and the built in SBC to be slow as fuck. I hate lag on these systems. My wife has a smaller car with android auto and using the interface is just dreadful.
If there would be an electric car with the interior of my current car I would probably take it. It has a small chromosone display, just replace with a color one and let me control it with android auto and done.
I think if you shop around you can get the kind of interface you want. I got a 2021 Subaru and they had just switched back to more actual buttons and knobs because people didn’t like the capacitive buttons and touchscreen. In my car it has a touchscreen for CarPlay so basically just maps and music and everything else is a knob or physical button. Things may have changed since too so ymmv. Good luck
Your comment about Subaru is not true across the board. I have a 2023 Ascent that has very limited physical buttons. The same infotainment system and setup is now on the Outback as well.
Buying a car should be a fun experience. Book a few testdrives and try to enjoy the experience. When looking for a new car there has always been several I disliked, but I always found one or two that felt comfortable in.
I have always seen the new car buying experience to be something to get excited about… except now. I am at the early stages of looking at what I want to replace my dairy driver with and like NOTHING is really calling to me. At this stage in the past, I would have already driven a couple of cars simply to take them off my shopping list or keep them on, and I haven’t bothered to test drive a single car yet.
What have you tried driving so far?
Posts like these make you wary of buying a new one. At this point I see this so regularly though that I don’t know if the usage is even wrong given how many people use it
It’s still wrong… Don’t let the “language evolves” people convince you otherwise.
A lot of people use it wrong. Wary would be acceptable. Leery would be acceptable as well. Both mean cautious or suspicious. Weary equates to tired and doesn’t fit the context.
