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Sometimes, simplest is also best.
In the name of technology, in the name of progress — and, frankly, sometimes just in the name of marketing — automakers come out with all sorts of newfangled gadgets to help sell their wares.
Some work really well: arguably the most important safety feature in vehicles since the seatbelt has been backup cameras. Some driving purists say drivers should use their windows and mirrors: I don’t disagree, but the camera gives you a view of things you can’t see through any window, such as a child just behind the car.
One of my favourite automotive jokes goes like this: I love my new car. When I drive backwards, it shows me a video of someone being run over…
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An offshoot of the backup camera doesn’t work quite as well. Many new vehicles, particularly in the luxury sphere populated by brands such as Cadillac, Genesis and others, replace the rearview mirror with a video screen fed by a camera mounted high on the rear of the vehicle.
I’m sure younger drivers with eyes still able to adjust to varying focal lengths love it: you do see more than you would through a regular mirror. But for older drivers, the effect is to blur everything. You see, with a mirror, the effective focal length is from your eye to the mirror to the object behind. With a video screen, the effective focal length is your eye to the screen. That makes it hard or impossible for older eyes to focus.
The companies will tell you that turning off the camera and reverting to just a mirror is possible, so why not just stick with a mirror?
Another gadget I find less successful is active lane keeping assist. First, I’ll say the ones that work well… work well.
The problem is that some are like bowling with little kids and the rails are raised to keep balls from going into the gutter. Instead of keeping you centred, these react only when you drift towards the lane edges. Some will sometimes misread the lane markings and instead try to pull you out of the lane.
When I’m driving a rental or a press vehicle with this feature, I first figure out how to turn it off.
I once had an Acura TSX press vehicle with auto-dimming headlights. Again, this is a function executed well in some vehicles, less so in others. The Acura got so confused and was flashing quickly enough the guy ahead of me going north on Lagimodiere Boulevard thought I was a cop trying to pull him over. Sorry, dude, I couldn’t find the defeat switch fast enough. The car was great, the headlight system, less so…
The problem I see with some safety tech in vehicles is that it tries to protect drivers from themselves. To me, that seems to create a downward spiral, where the people who most need it then become even less attentive, spurring other technology rather than dealing with the true problem: inattentiveness.
Manual transmissions for everybody! Even I find myself paying much more attention to driving when I’m in my car, a Mazda3 Sport, with a stick.
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