Features on cars that never took hold….

Spleen Sauce said:
There’s a feature that seems to be fitted to a few cars now (no specific model it seems) where it programs the brain into thinking a red traffic light means ‘just 3 more cars’ and not ‘stop’.

It’s starting to gain traction this feature I think, but I’m hoping it won’t catch on.
Click to expand...

Standard fit on many vehicles on Glasgow for the past 5 years, and mandatory on taxis.

My 1st gen Mazda3 Sport had a surprisingly handy feature where pressing the electric window switch halfway would drop the window about 10mm or so just to provide a small amount of ventilation. Not seen this on any other cars and I don't think newer Mazdas have it either.
 
Last edited:
What about those little rubber strips everyone used to fit to the rear bumper of their cars? I can't remember what they were for but they used to touch the ground when stationary and flap in the wind when moving. They were very popular in the 80s but I've not seen one for years.
 
Rilot said:
What about those little rubber strips everyone used to fit to the rear bumper of their cars? I can't remember what they were for but they used to touch the ground when stationary and flap in the wind when moving. They were very popular in the 80s but I've not seen one for years.
Click to expand...
Earth straps to stop electric shocks IIRC

Unless you are talking about truck nuts-> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_nuts
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bazzabear said:
I seem to remember there was some weird theory about them helping with travel sickness too? Or maybe that was just something my parents made up.
Click to expand...
That was one of the snake oil reasons they were sold. They did help with static but the travel sickness thing was just a BS thing they used in their marketing. The strips never touched the ground while cars were moving, they couldn't have any effect on travel sickness whatsoever.
 
Riiiiiight, that was what they were for. I always wondered. No wonder no one has them any more.
I wonder whether we could bring them back by claiming that they protect you from the 5G mind-control towers?
 
Last edited:
dLockers said:
You've never got a shock from closing a car door?
Click to expand...
Now you mention it yes, but only on my wife's mk 7 fiesta. Weirdly never had it on any other cars since or before that and none of them have that strap. On the subject of fords, those door strips that pop out (when they work :p ) are a fantastic idea and should be standard on every car.
 
Static grounding strips do work, and for someone like me who gets proper static shock quite a lot they were a godsend when you had 80s velour trim!
 
Curb feelers (US thing I think) little wires that stick out the side of the car and scrape along rather than kerbing your alloys.

Unfortunately they only look half decent on an old low rider style car though lol.
 
Mirrorlink never really took off, I think I tried it once or twice on an older car when I had an Android phone and it was unreliable and a bit clunky. Then came Android Auto and Carplay thankfully which obviously did take off in a big way!
 
Grim5 said:
Glass roofs and sunroofs 1) are expensive to repair 2) will eventually leak 3) it's expensive to buy and 4) they reduce headroom
Click to expand...

1) Replaced a Pano Run on a Range Rover for £75, 2) They are bonded in so why would it leak?, 3) I don't wear man top hats the loss of headroom was marginal at best.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom