i was driving a rental car yesterday, a kia something-or-other, at standard road speed, maybe 65 kph, when someone cut in front of me

it wasn't that big a deal, but the car decided to shriek an alarm and slam on the brakes

i freaked the fiddlesticks out, man ... having the car take over the controls was totally unexpected and dangerous

the way i see it, cars should either be autonomous or totally manual, but not some vague human waste in between

an alarm is fine, but taking control of the damn car? hell no

thoughts?

The problem is that you were caught off guard. The rental company should have gone over that feature before you drove off.

That said, that is a potentially dangerous manouver that the car shouldn't be doing unless you really are in a suitably dangerous spot.

My car did that once. I'm glad it did.

I just checked my brake fluid to make sure I can make a judgement call when necessary. It was low in the rear chamber, good thing I checked.

Hell stick fiddling no. What if I'm being chased by a horde of wasteland ghouls and need to crash my car through a mall to escape?

Metacell posted:

Hell stick fiddling no. What if I'm being chased by a horde of wasteland ghouls and need to crash my car through a mall to escape?

Will 30-50 feral hogs be involved?

It took a long road trip to fully appreciate all the features of Honda Sensing. Now I really miss it. There are always some people who think they are better off driving without ABS (and there are a select few who perhaps are) or cruise control, but overall these new features are along the same lines and will significantly increase safety and efficiency.

i don't mind abs, it doesn't change the driving characteristics (though the noise can be a bit jarring when it pops up on ice)

ABS completely changed how I drive my car in the winter. Especially parking.

you don't find it cramps your style in terms of stunt driving? pulling a j-turn in particular is a pain now

TOS posted:

you don't find it cramps your style in terms of stunt driving? pulling a j-turn in particular is a pain now

That's usually because you have an electric handbrake. A proper handbrake will bypass abs.

Also you shouldn't be doing that, especially in a car that doesn't have a button to partially or fully disable traction control.

I think there will be considerable growing pains in the cars doing more and more of the driving, but I also think there should be some mechanism that reduces the driver's ability to speed and tailgate would be excellent.

My Honda doesn't brake for me, but it flashes this horrible orange light that says BRAKE if i get too close. I see it a lot.

Betonhaus posted:

TOS posted:

pulling a j-turn in particular is a pain now

you shouldn't be doing that

golly, you don't say

TOS posted:

Betonhaus posted:

TOS posted:

pulling a j-turn in particular is a pain now

you shouldn't be doing that

golly, you don't say

I have had 4 cars with ABS, my Mazda is the first one where the ABS seemed to actually help. Particularly in snow.

This happened today,
I was driving home when a message flashed on the dash, "FORWARD RADAR DISABLED. OBSTRUCTION ERROR", and an orange light on the dash came on.
It was raining, but I've driven it in much heaver rains and this never happened. I imagined a big maple leaf covering the sensor in the middle of the grill, but when I got home I checked and there was nothing there.

DukeofNuke posted:

This happened today,
I was driving home when a message flashed on the dash, "FORWARD RADAR DISABLED. OBSTRUCTION ERROR", and an orange light on the dash came on.
It was raining, but I've driven it in much heaver rains and this never happened. I imagined a big maple leaf covering the sensor in the middle of the grill, but when I got home I checked and there was nothing there.

Did you google that for your car to see what could've caused it?

No, not yet. I seem to recall something in the owners manual about certain conditions that could do that, but I've been too busy to look for it.
I went back out for a grocery run, and I got no alert and the dash light was off. Maybe it corrected itself.

"i know what you did last summer"

I tell you what, I will not be buying any cars on craiglist with any of these features, unless they've specifically been disabled.

justine posted:

DukeofNuke posted:

This happened today,
I was driving home when a message flashed on the dash, "FORWARD RADAR DISABLED. OBSTRUCTION ERROR", and an orange light on the dash came on.
It was raining, but I've driven it in much heaver rains and this never happened. I imagined a big maple leaf covering the sensor in the middle of the grill, but when I got home I checked and there was nothing there.

Did you google that for your car to see what could've caused it?

Well, I checked the owners manual and it list the reasons for this as:
Interference from another radar source (I seriously doubt that was it)
Dirt or Obstruction (I didn't find that)
Roads with limited road structures, i.e. long bridges, deserts, snow fields, driving next to long walls (There is a stretch in a cut-through, but I drive this road six times a week and it never did that before)
The solution is to reset the system by turning the car off and on again.
I guess I'll have to believe it was the rain. Who knows?

So, it happened to me! Haha! I mentioned my car has that annoying flashing light that says BRAKE if you get too close? Well, i was close behind someone that was turning right. Because i was within the distance set, it started flashing. I ignored it because i knew they would be out of my way before i'd have to brake. Apparently my car didn't share that opinion and lightly braked. Imagine my surprise when that happened, and i immediately thought of this topic. I guess i should read my owners manual.