An argument can be made that today’s cars are better than ever. Modern technology has pushed the automotive industry quite far with high levels of comfort, performance, quality, efficiency and most importantly safety.
From innovations like adaptive cruise control, automatic radar assisted braking to autonomous driving, the technology has changed the driving experience from what it used to be 10-20 years ago. But everyone who has ever been behind the wheel of a car can attest to the fact that no car is perfect.
Also Read: 5 bizarre car technologies that never went mainstream
Today we will shed some light on some features that come standard on cars which contribute to most of the frustrations while driving.
1. Touch-based Climate Controls:
Without a physical button to press to change the climate control or adjust the air flow position it really becomes a nuisance to look over again and again just to adjust the settings. It is not only annoying to wave your hands over the touch panel while driving, but also dangerous as you have to glance over at the panel time and again.
2. Touch dependent Infotainment:
Same as touch climate controls majority of the infotainment systems are now becoming completely touch instead of partially touch with 3-4 buttons. Infotainment system is more used than the touch controls so it’s frustrating to look over again and again just to turn the volume up, although most of the cars come standard with steering mounted volume and channel controls but here in Pakistan it’s not a common technology yet.
3. Start-Stop feature:
Everyone loves high fuel economy, especially people in Pakistan. But this technology can be a nuisance when poorly designed. Cheaper Japanese 660cc cars are a prime example. Auto start-stop feature is pretty slow in turning off the engine as well as on especially when you need quicker accelerations. The car will shut down right when you don’t want it to.
4. Voice Control:
Though this seems a pretty decent and useful feature, but is the most annoying these days. Almost all of the modern voice controls lack the capability to understand what you are saying. Then it is even more frustrating if you have a different accent, it becomes completely useless.
5. Tiny Side Mirrors:
The time has gone when we used to have decent sized mirrors, which we could actually use to look out for other cars. Nowadays manufacturers design smaller side view mirrors in pursuit of aesthetic look which are almost unusable.
6. Slow Infotainment System:
This is a problem most Face-lift Corolla Grande owners can relate to. Infotainment systems are loaded with more features than the system can handle causing reboots, freezing and refusing to turn on at times. Although aftermarket systems are not that good either, so one has to just live with it.
7. Less Storage in the Center Console:
Gone are the good old days when we had a simple open dashboard with plenty of space to place things. Now on most cars, you only get a small centre storage and a mediocre glove box. Most cars have plenty of space, but either its covered by plastic cladding or left completely untouched with bare carpet. On modern high-end cars its filled with a plethora of buttons for various features like heated seats and off-road features etc.
8. Annoying Infotainment systems:
More and more cars today are featuring integrated infotainment systems. These systems are integrated with the ECU and display quite useful warning messages, but also irritating warning messages. For example, not allowing videos to be played while the car is in motion, the infotainment system is also used by the front and back seat passengers, but to prevent the driver from watching videos while driving all other passengers miss out on the entertainment.
9. Low-Res Reverse Cameras:
A wonderful feature to have is a factory fitted reverse and front camera, you don’t have to go to the trouble of buying an aftermarket one involving, cutting of wires and opening of panels that are never properly attached back again by local mechanics. The frustrating thing is having cameras, but of very poor quality. Why bother providing a factory fitted camera if you can’t judge the distance and differentiate between a rock or just a piece of paper on the road.
10. Non-Adjusting Steering Wheels:
Each person has a different height and body shape, although you can move the seat forward or backward, but not having a tilt or telescope steering leads to improper driving position and an uncomfortable experience of driving the car.
Let us know in the comments below, which features annoys you the most.
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