Biggest Pet Peave on New Cars

TPMS is my biggest. A valve step broke on our '06 RAV4's spare tire as I was filling it up last week. Granted, the only reason I was filling it up was to get rid of the TPMS light which was annoying my wife and myself. I got a quote to fix the valve stem, by the time they factored in the new TPMS (integrated with the valve stem, what genius thought of that idea), the TPMS seal kit, and the labor for programming, it came to $250 out of pocket. For a spare tire that will never see any use.

So, I had them put in a regular valve stem for $13 and I'm going to tape over the TPMS light on the dash...

My biggest pet peeve on new cars is that by the time they are old enough for me to afford one all that crap will be broken.

curtis73 wrote: berkeleying SELF-PARKING??? Jeez. Pretty soon we'll have a whole generation of people who don't even know what side of the road to drive on.

This, the reminder bells, and tall cars are pretty bad.

I especially liked seeing this pseudo scientist's "study" on self-parking features by taking out extremely old people and monitoring their heart rates for stress while parking with and without the self-parking feature. Because it's less stressful for people who can't drive - we should start to see these systems on most if not all new vehicles....riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Car makers take a nice looking car then "update" it which makes it look worse. No amount of fake chrome on a new car will make it look good. My Dad has a 2005 zx3 and the models after his have PZEV sticker and fake chrome which looks stupid and cheesy. The PZEV is a marketing gimmick.

Where did the pillarless coupes go?

Why can't someone make a modern 2wd 1/2 ton pickup which is both durable and gets 30mph. My toyota will do 27mpg all day and there basically isn't a replacement out there. I'm hoping the diesel mahindra pickup will show up by the next time I need a new truck. My toyota will then get its final contract with either a gardener or a carboard harvester.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: High belt lines. I should not have to put my elbow at ear height to rest it on the open window. All the nanny crap. I don't care if its available as an option for those who wish to have it. I hate that it is mandatory. I do not care how many lives are saved by ABS, traction control, tire pressure monitors, etc... I DON"T WANT TO PAY FOR IT. STOP TELLING ME WHAT IS GOOD FOR ME. (deep breath... ).

+1 ........made all the more ridiculous by the fact that half of them make you look at a touchscreen display to do mundane tasks like change the ac fan setting! no wonder they need seven airbags now. they are designed to be crashed!

iceracer wrote: Some one mentioned their tire pressure light that won't go out Nov.-March. That is exactly the purpose. Tires lose pressure as it gets colder. Get a tire pressure gauge. DUH.

I've got six guages laying around - and diligently check/fill. Doesn't matter - light stays on through winter.

Automatic door locks. Locking when driving over 15MPH isn't so bad, but I'll idecide if I want all the doors unlocked when I park, thank you. And I want to be able to unlock the driver's door, the front passenger door, and the trunk/hatch from the outside, with a key, without unlocking everything else.

Dome lights that involve a computer. I don't need or want the delay.

Body control computers in general.

I cannot believe no one has mentioned innacurate speedometers. Remember when a speedometer was a mechanical device and if the odometer read 1 mile for a traveled mile the speedometer will be accurate? Not any more! The odometers legally have to be accurate but the speedometers can be off %10.

I complained to the dealer about my 2006 rabbit reading 65mph when it was indicated by GPS and radar at 60 and the tech told me he could adjust it but was not allowed to make it read less than %5 high.

I get tired of my wife following me in here new car telling me I am always speeding. Nope! my car just works correctly.

From the way camry owners drive theirs must be the worst offenders.

Oooh Oooh, I've got one more!!!!!!

THROTTLE BY WIRE.

I can't stand it!!!! Every car I've driven with it has a delay from when you hit the pedal to when the engine does something. And furthermore, on my WRX (especially when it's cold out), there is a ridiculous amount of rev-hang. When I depress the clutch and take my foot of the gas, the engine shouldn't be revving up!!! Subaru says it's supposed to do this because of some emissions thing (maybe to keep the catalytic converter warmed up?) but it's annoying. Why did they have to get rid of throttle cables? They worked just fine!!!!

Door locks at speed is to keep the door from flying open to avoid you pushing your exwife out the passenger side while traveling 100mph.

But seriously, it's the perceived safety that in a crash the door won't automatically fly open. But with the way the vehicles are made today, if the power gets shutoff, the door won't open because the lock is engaged. Then you get some slowass responder waiting on the jaws and you end up dying there waiting for them because they can't open the damn door. Good catch22 to be in, huh.

Brian

Head rests that lean in 6" over the plane of the seat back. I was in a rental car a few weeks ago, a new Honda Accord if I remember correctly; horrible seating position. Short of removing the head rest, there wasn't any way to comfortably adjust it.

SilverFleet wrote: Oooh Oooh, I've got one more!!!!!! THROTTLE BY WIRE. I can't stand it!!!! Every car I've driven with it has a delay from when you hit the pedal to when the engine does something. And furthermore, on my WRX (especially when it's cold out), there is a ridiculous amount of rev-hang. When I depress the clutch and take my foot of the gas, the engine shouldn't be revving up!!! Subaru says it's supposed to do this because of some emissions thing (maybe to keep the catalytic converter warmed up?) but it's annoying. Why did they have to get rid of throttle cables? They worked just fine!!!!

COST! With the integration of a direct electric motor to control the throttle blade, they eliminated the IAC motor.

Most of the GM's I have available to myself don't have much lag. Now some of the Chryslers I worked on....break out a hourglass...... And that is with some that still have a throttle cable.

Brian

dlmater wrote: Head rests that lean in 6" over the plane of the seat back. I was in a rental car a few weeks ago, a new Honda Accord if I remember correctly; horrible seating position. Short of removing the head rest, there wasn't any way to comfortably adjust it.

Sounds familiar

Ford Seats

Using tire pressure monitors for the cars stability control system is common, I believe it is an inexpensive way to put stability control on a car. The down side is the monitors are expensive to replace as stated above. Most of these type of systems are using radio frequencies to send data to your cars computer.

I wonder if a hacker could take control of your car using RF signals?

The fact that I can NOT get an optioned down RWD car these days. Sure, I can get a Versa or Accent for $10-14k, but the cheapest RWD car is either a V6 Mustang or Genesis Coupe, both for over $22k.

Why is it that if I want RWD it magically means that I want all of this other crap?

Why can't an auto manufacturer make something on par with the Accent that just happens to power the right damn wheels? I understand RWD has a couple extra components, so sure, there's a few dollars more there, but if Hyundai can sell a brand new car for under $10k, surely they can sell a brand new RWD car for under $12k.

ReverendDexter wrote: The fact that I can NOT get an optioned down RWD car these days.

+1000

Ranger50 wrote: Door locks at speed is to keep the door from flying open to avoid you pushing your exwife out the passenger side while traveling 100mph. But seriously, it's the perceived safety that in a crash the door won't automatically fly open. But with the way the vehicles are made today, if the power gets shutoff, the door won't open because the lock is engaged. Then you get some slowass responder waiting on the jaws and you end up dying there waiting for them because they can't open the damn door. Good catch22 to be in, huh. Brian

I don't believe that to be true. When the gangbanger with the Glock comes up to your side window, he can't get in because your door is locked, cause everybody knows a pane of glass keeps you safe from bad, bad men.

Now, my peeve- on American vehicles, why have they changed the positions available on the ignition switch from: acc, lock, off, on, start, to: acc, lock, not really off, on, start?

Why should I have to hook up a battery charger to change front brakes on a modern American vehicle?

Ranger50 wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: Oooh Oooh, I've got one more!!!!!! THROTTLE BY WIRE. I can't stand it!!!! Every car I've driven with it has a delay from when you hit the pedal to when the engine does something. And furthermore, on my WRX (especially when it's cold out), there is a ridiculous amount of rev-hang. When I depress the clutch and take my foot of the gas, the engine shouldn't be revving up!!! Subaru says it's supposed to do this because of some emissions thing (maybe to keep the catalytic converter warmed up?) but it's annoying. Why did they have to get rid of throttle cables? They worked just fine!!!!

COST! With the integration of a direct electric motor to control the throttle blade, they eliminated the IAC motor. Most of the GM's I have available to myself don't have much lag. Now some of the Chryslers I worked on....break out a hourglass...... And that is with some that still have a throttle cable. Brian

The lag is probably mostly in the tuning. There's way more throttle lag on my cable'd E34 than my wife's newer Passat. It's not just cost though.....throttle by wire simplifies by letting them handle cruise control and traction control and E36 M3 with the ECU.

Fuel injection. There's nothing like the completely natural throttle response that comes with fuel being sucked in through a venturi. FI can't deal with my foot action, and drive by wire is even worse.

For me, it's steering-by-wire. On my Speed3 the steering is accurate, but it feels rather numb.

On more pedestrian cars, it can suffer from lag and be sloppy and inaccurate. In those cases almost like playing a racing game with a cheap-ass steering wheel set-up- it takes your inputs as mere suggestions instead of an imperative.

I"m gonna go with.....

CVT

also..

START BUTTONS.

Advertised on half of new cars these days as a really cool feature.

News flash: button start has been on cars pretty much since the electric starter was invented. You're not special because you have one in your Hyundai/Lexus/whatever.

Because inserting the key and turning it is just SUCH a hassle......

pinchvalve wrote: This goes double for dealers putting their name on the rear end. Some even have fancy chrome jobs that look like OEM badging. You screw me on the price, screw me on the financing, screw me on my trade in...and now I am supposed to advertise for you?

When I bought the subie and the dealer brought it out from being washed and detailed for me to take home, I told them to take that E36 M3 back in there and remove the dealer badge they had just put on. I let them keep the plate frames on since it had paper tags, but those went in the garbage as soon as I got home.

I hate being behind someone in traffic where their car has a dealer badge AND dealer plate frame on it, especially when the badge is crooked or in a stupid spot. People are so lazy and just leave them there no matter how bad they look.

Traction control that turns itself back on when it thinks you've overreached your talent. Had a badass drift going I'm the rain the other day when the tc kicked back on to bring the rear back in line. :(