Posted on 04/30/2023 2:15:43 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
You don’t see a lot of good news about road safety in the United States. Unlike in most peer countries, American roadway deaths surged during the pandemic and have barely receded since. Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities recently hit their highest levels in 40 years, but U.S. transportation officials continue to ignore key contributing factors. In a February interview with Fast Company, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that “further research” is needed before addressing the obvious risks that oversized SUVs and trucks pose to those not inside of them.
Happily, there is one area where we are making at least marginal progress: A growing number of automakers are backpedaling away from the huge, complex touch screens that have infested dashboard design over the past 15 years. Buttons and knobs are coming back.
... Tesla, which has for years positioned its vehicles as “tablets on wheels.” As a result, touch screens were seen as representing tech-infused modernity. But cost has been a factor, too. “These screens are presented as this avant garde, minimalist design,”
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Cigarette lighters.😏
Just your mentioning of that brought an old memory to mind. The way to set the “presets” was to manually turn the tuning knob to your selection and then to fully depress the “punch key” of choice, all the way in once. From then on, just a slight depression of that key would return you to that preset. How many remember doing that?!
Yep. Except on our Pontiac with the Delco AM radio (no FM radios at that time) you pulled the button out, then pushed it back in.
—”Cars today come with built-in poltergeists. The poltergeist industry is raking in the cash hand over fist.”
Must be a new name for the BS subscription fee for the accessories that you already purchased.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature
That’s absurd.
If there’s a side-curtain airbag in the headliner along the top rail of the window, and a front airbag in the steering wheel, adding one into the A pillar only adds cost, not safety; the side curtain pops open far enough to pad that area.
With the resurgence of car doors with full window frames, probably the more stubborn obstacle to a resurgence of vent windows would be the typical integration of side mirror mounts into the lower front corner of the side windows. That makes for a vertical segment of window track between the window sill and the A-pillar profile that cuts well into the viable glass area that a vent window could conceivably occupy.
Sorry to say, but if you really want vent windows, you’re probably SOL until you get your hands on a classic car or pickup that has them.
—”Well, yeah, controls in autos were largely designed after the great leap in aircraft design in the 30’s, and were made to resemble aircraft cockpit controls that could be manipulated largely by feel.”
Like fly by wire, steer by wire!
Not many cars have a throttle cable; an ECU does the math.
Braking on all EVs and hybrids is by wire until the very low speed. The pads last a long time.
—” Instead of two hydraulic pistons that wear out and have to be replaced for $600?”
I think they are usually nitrogen-charged, and sometimes giant springs all weights a ton and cost $$$, eats more gas.
Had 1950(?) Dodge Powerwagon had simple hood support rod on each side.
‘63 Rowbinder with 3 on the tree got me all the through law school. Proposed to The Colonel’s Wife in that truck. No A/C and a hound dog in the back. Texas romantic!
Maybe, with any luck, this chip shortage will force the manufacturers to quit trying to shove a computer module in everywhere that a simple circuit would suffice. Why do you need a computer module to open or close a window or door locks or run lights?
Maybe, with any luck, this chip shortage will force the manufacturers to quit trying to shove a computer module in everywhere that a simple circuit would suffice. Why do you need a computer module to open or close a window or door locks or run lights?
What happened to a single-push trip odometer button??
My 1997 Tercel has that…
whenever I rent a newer cars it’s way too non-standard and complex.
But then vehicles would have to have a bumper instead of the plastic covered styrofoam.
Thanks for posting this.
I love real knobs and switches for control.
It’s too hard to look at a screen and click or touch the right place. You don’t know if you’ve hit the right spot or not.
Let’s give a little cheer for the remark about the “invisible hand” of the consumer, at the end of the article.
—”Let’s give a little cheer for the remark about the “invisible hand” of the consumer, at the end of the article.”
HRAR!, HEAR!
“Ashtrays? Fly windows?”
Ashtrays were a dealer added option last time I bought a new car. Makes sense not to put them in every car since most of us don’t need or want them.
Fly windows were neat when I was a kid and A/C was a luxury I only experienced in my wealthier grandmother’s Buick, but aerodynamics dictate they use more fuel than modern A/C systems do so they are obsolete. Then again, if you are the kind who wants an ashtray, you probably like to have them so you can use the road as your ashtray.
New cars have lots of power ports that fit the classic cigarette lighter. Buy one aftermarket. They are not expensive.
My first was a black over white ‘55 Buick Century four-door hardtop. I seem to remember the engine was 335 cu. in. and 220 or 230 up. Something like that. Anyway it sure had a lot of chuff for car that weighed two tons. It had air cleaner about the size of a small town. Used to take it of and put in the trunk if there was any serious business at hand. Under full throttle that that that carter afb used to bowl. Once laid a measured 85 feet of rubber on Falls Road just outside of Rockville, Md. Of course that was with one tire and the old Dyns-slush transmission. Wished it had a hydramatic and positraction. Love that car. The steering wheel was huge…
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