I've just been reading the previous thread about the removal of the dashboard climate controls from the 24MY Range Rover which I also think is a bad decision, well there's another major negative change also coming for the 24MY.
I recently took delivery of a new Defender 130 and while this wasn't the main reason for getting rid of it within two weeks of ownership, the other thing that drove me insane is this new little button on the steering wheel.
Every time you start the car you have to remember to press this little button first, otherwise it will go to the cars default "safety" settings. This means every time you go just 1mph over the speed limit, it starts bleeping and flashing at you. Move slightly over a white line without indicating and the steering wheel adjusts to correct you, together with whole host of other elements of driving that the car is going to correct you on!
Honestly, it drove me insane..... When I did remember to press the button, often it wouldn't reset correctly to my chosen stored settings, but more often than not, I'd forget and have to stop 500 meters down the road, park up, turn the engine off, and restart again.
Apparently, this is coming to all new Land Rovers (maybe all cars soon) to comply with GSR2, (whatever that is). So another disadvantage on top of the removal of climate controls!
Looks like my new L460 which is finally about to be delivered will have both of these negative elements.... Great!!
That sort of thing would drive me up the wall too. I once had a Kia loan car with the lane keep "assist" and it clearly didn't understand that on Scottish country roads one needs to move around the road to avoid holes etc. I had to take it back to the dealer to get it switched off (the standard loan terms say that one may not switch off safety systems). As for the flashing and chiming, I had hoped that would be a thing to select (i.e. "off") once and then it would stay like that until one made a different choice, rather than on each start-up, but maybe that is wishful thinking on my part. Long live the L405...
Well. there's three critical inputs
GPS
Front facing camera(s)
RADAR
Easy enough to block or confuse all of them (probably need to hobble the telematics too) which should default to driver control only, it's then a battle of wills as to how long you can put up with the 'xxx system unavailable' warnings cycling on the screen.
That said, there will/should be some markets where the nanny state and increasingly, the UN (WTF has it got to do with them?) have no influence upon motoring matters, so reconfiguring to a build spec. for, say, Uzbekistan, should prevent the intrusions at source. In theory.
I've experienced some of these interventions on the Defender. The worst one for me is when you're reversing out into a road.
I can see (directly and also through the cameras) that there's a car some distance away, so I make an attempt to perform the manoeuvre quickly and efficiently, but the safety systems know better and slam on the brakes half way through the manoeuvre! It thinks a collision is imminent.
I'm then stuck in the middle of the road, with the approaching car wondering what on earth I'm doing. Just at the moment he gives up on me and starts to drive around me, the Defender allows me to continue and as I continue the reverse, he sounds his horn (understandably as he thought I'd stopped).
There's just too much technology now Ed - And as for all these so called safety features and putting all the controls on to a single screen, to me it seems like the most dangerous decision in recent times.
I will admit, that several times already over the past couple of years, I've found myself trying to navigate through a screen, and when I've looked up, found that I've drifted over the line on to the wrong side of the road. How can this level of distraction be considered a safe or a positive step, and I'm sure I can't be the only one who's drifted while trying to find my way around a screen.
I now most frequently drive a 7 year old Mulsanne Speed and a 17 year old L322... They have buttons everywhere and I love simplicity!
Boring I know, but I am a health and safety specialist (quarries as it happens) and I cannot for the life of me understand what the hell is safe about any system that attempts to reverse a driver input (eg so called lane assist). Passive safety such as ABS or blind spot warning is clearly a benefit, but 'lane assist'? It needs banning, it's dangerous.
This has all gone mad, the 460 if it detects a collision shouts at me and makes the dash light up with a warning, such a good idea to take my eyes off the road at such a moment.
The Porsche during heavy rain or fog, bongs and says on the dash "reduced visibility", no good job I am not looking through the windscreen.
God I love my series 1 Elise, no anything.
This may help expand on the systems -
I found it quite amusing that there is to be a 'Driver Distraction Warning' surely all these extra 'aids' will be a distraction in themselves, so the system will effectively be warning about itself!
There is, and has been for some years, concern over the amount of roadside signage and it's confusion/distraction of drivers by overwhelming them with information - surely this will have the same effect?
There's a lot to be said for stripping back to the basics and putting the driver back in control (GSR2 is also seen as a stepping stone to autonomous driving) - just in a more comfortable environment than a Series LR!
good job I am not looking through the windscreen.
