ridiculous optional extras

Soldato
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I read the Telegraph review of the new E class, their test car had Adaptive High-Beam assist. What does that do you ask? If you are driving along single carriageway at night it will knock off the high beam when a car is coming and put it back on when it passes.

Really? Is this what the motoring public needs? How hard is it to pull the stalk on these rare occasions? This is part of the reason modern cars have little interest to me, this and rain sensing wipers seem like totally redundant extras which as just bound to fail some time in the future.
 
I actually think it would be quite nice not to to be forever clicking the stalk forwards and backwards. But that's probably me just being lazy.
 
Actually I think this is a far more useful application of technology than the pointless electronic indicators. At least it will help prevent getting blinded by the terminally ignorant that drive everywhere on main, or those with the reactions of a drugged sloth that don't dip them until they are almost past you anyway.

Of course removing such drivers from the roads altogether would be an even better solution.
 
And how does the work exactly? Presumably it means the light will only dip after oncoming traffic is already facing them and been blinded. You need to dip your lights earlier than that.
 
I read the Telegraph review of the new E class, their test car had Adaptive High-Beam assist. What does that do you ask? If you are driving along single carriageway at night it will knock off the high beam when a car is coming and put it back on when it passes.

Really? Is this what the motoring public needs? How hard is it to pull the stalk on these rare occasions? This is part of the reason modern cars have little interest to me, this and rain sensing wipers seem like totally redundant extras which as just bound to fail some time in the future.

Unfortunatley yes. Mercedes or whoever invests in this technology for the bigwigs who drive their cars. These are the types of people who want everything done for them so that they can concentrate on other more important matters rather than road safety.

So as this technology is invented it becomes cheaper and then the rest of the population will eventually have this tech in their cars also.

I have a lot of auto stuff on my car now aswell, I use it just because it's there... though I wouldn't be fussed if it wasnt.
 
And how does the work exactly? Presumably it means the light will only dip after oncoming traffic is already facing them and been blinded. You need to dip your lights earlier than that.

As above by the time it dips from main to dipped beam it is already too late.

Too much control is being taken away from the driver nowadays IMO.
 
I read the Telegraph review of the new E class, their test car had Adaptive High-Beam assist. What does that do you ask? If you are driving along single carriageway at night it will knock off the high beam when a car is coming and put it back on when it passes.

Really? Is this what the motoring public needs? How hard is it to pull the stalk on these rare occasions? This is part of the reason modern cars have little interest to me, this and rain sensing wipers seem like totally redundant extras which as just bound to fail some time in the future.

Seems much more useful than auto lights or auto wipers. I've left my mains on a few times in the past and only realised after blinding the on comming driver for a few seconds but I've never been driving in the rain going "I can't see.... help what do I do?!" :p
 
this and rain sensing wipers seem like totally redundant extras which as just bound to fail some time in the future.

They always do until you experience them, properly, on a day to day basis, then you wonder how others can do without them. Rain sensing wipers particularly.
 
Auto lights are ok, cheeses me off when you go through a dark patch just long enough for the lights to come on, wouldn't fancy a system like this with HIDS.

Auto wipers on the otherhand are the biggest pain in the rear ever.
 
The problem with all these "hand holding" features is it stops people thinking about it. If someone drives a car that dips the headlights for them and gets used to it, when they get back into a car without that feature, they'll end up blinding everyone because they forget they need to dip them manually!
 
[TW]Fox;13692248 said:

This is based on the two systems i've used over a long period, the one in my Clio and the one in my Passat.

I found the ones on the clio would go spastic fast for no reason, when it stoped raining they wouldn't shut off all the time.

Ones in the Passat are slightly better, not only do they relate to the amount of rain but also to the speed the car is going, but even at the lowest sensitivity setting i think they wipe too much / step up to a high speed too fast, oh and mine have that stupid 'have to activate the system each time you start the car'.

To be 100% honest the rain sensor in my Passat hasn't been the same since the windscreen was replaced but the current issues still existed just to a slightly lesser extent.
 
The problem with all these "hand holding" features is it stops people thinking about it. If someone drives a car that dips the headlights for them and gets used to it, when they get back into a car without that feature, they'll end up blinding everyone because they forget they need to dip them manually!

Maybe we should stop people driving automatics so that if they have to drive a manual they don't forget how?
 
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