Nanny Auto Devices

The 2020 Elantra I recently had as a rental had some of these safety “nannies” and I liked the one that lit up that icon in the side mirrors when a car was in my blind spot, but I didn’t like the one that nudges the steering wheel if I cross the lane. Theres a lot of pot holes and other things I like to swerve to avoid, when possible, and the steering wheel trying to fight me all the time got old quickly. Another one I did not like was when I got too close to the car in front of me in traffic the car slams on the brakes. Thankfully Hyundai makes it easy to shut them off.

My base manual transmission Soul doesn’t have any of these “features” so this was the first time I got to experience them. The blind spot one came in handy, the rest were annoying to me.
 
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Have any of you who once hated Nanny Devices like auto braking, adaptive cruise, etc grown to like them?

I certainly have. When I bought my '18 I wanted nothing to do with those features. Partly (I suppose) bc I was from the old school that the more it has on it the more at it is to fail ($$$) the other is that I felt that I knew better than the nannygadgets.

I changed bc I realize if it breaks it will be covered under warranty (I buy extended warranties). Second is I now really appreciate how good the devices work. If a deer runs out on you it will hit the brakes before you even see the deer. Also it will attempt to avoid it. I guess I am not totally set in my ways..lol
It'll attempt to avoid it? How so? Does it turn in any direction or just try to stop ? You made two statements.
I hope it just tries to stop. I don't want a car swerving to avoid a deer and go head on into a tractor trailer or sideswipe another car. I really don't think it does anything but try to stop.
 
1. Many drivers default to using the technology as a replacement for driving instead of as an aid for driving.
Example: people who only use their backup camera but fail to look over their shoulder for the approaching vehicle in a parking lot.
I only use the backup camera in my truck, for hitching the trailer, lining up the ball.
I just can't make myself back out of a parking space while staring at a screen. I am always looking out the back window over my shoulder.
 
Our '18 Atlas has adaptive cruise and all the avoidance bits and is our first vehicle with these features. Just takes a few drives to get used to it/deal with a few quirks. Really like it. My car is v. spartan so none of that stuff...wish it had adaptive cruise for sure and always like it when I drive her Atlas. Folks always resist change/get off my lawn types.
 
Ever since I noticed ABS doesn't work in the slushy snow.
ABS pumps far faster than you can in a slick road condition-that's a fact
Often a locked tire works much better than a rolling tire on loose surfaces. I wouldn't mind ABS being cut off at below 15mph?
Ever since the Heater/ AC Icons are so small they make me run off the road trying to make a small adjustment
Most systems are auto controlled and you don't need to look very closely to adjust temperatures.
Not in my car budget they aren't...(should be, it must cost Subaru almost $12 to add it to the upper trims of the Outback) Real buttons for HVAC and basic radio controls is still the best way to go in most car reviewers minds too.

I could see adaptive cruise being nice but I've got a rocker switch on the wheel of the Outback so I just do it myself.
The Focus doesn't even have cruise or ABS and I can't say I've missed it too much so far, but I pay attention and do some preemptive speed reduction if I think a situation is possibly developing where I'll need full stop.

I think my real concern is how many people now regularly drive in near comatose spatial awareness relying on the nannies to keep them on the road. Then one of million different situations that they nannies can't handle will pop up, the car beeps and flashes for a half a second, signaling that it gives up, and now the clueless driver, who can't remember looking at the road once in the last dozen miles, is now expected to put down their phone and figure out what to do in the next second. to avoid killing someone...

Despite having the safest, most nannyfied vehicle fleet so far, 2021 saw much higher traffic related fatalities than in the years before COVID. I think at some point these driver assists may help actually reduce death and injury, but right now there might be a strong argument they are making it worse...

 
Despite having the safest, most nannyfied vehicle fleet so far, 2021 saw much higher traffic related fatalities than in the years before COVID. I think at some point these driver assists may help actually reduce death and injury, but right now there might be a strong argument they are making it worse...


I don’t think it’s the systems, it’s the drivers. The number of doped up drivers on the roads is crazy.
 
Often a locked tire works much better than a rolling tire on loose surfaces. I wouldn't mind ABS being cut off at below 15mph?

Not in my car budget they aren't...(should be, it must cost Subaru almost $12 to add it to the upper trims of the Outback) Real buttons for HVAC and basic radio controls is still the best way to go in most car reviewers minds too.

I could see adaptive cruise being nice but I've got a rocker switch on the wheel of the Outback so I just do it myself.
The Focus doesn't even have cruise or ABS and I can't say I've missed it too much so far, but I pay attention and do some preemptive speed reduction if I think a situation is possibly developing where I'll need full stop.

I think my real concern is how many people now regularly drive in near comatose spatial awareness relying on the nannies to keep them on the road. Then one of million different situations that they nannies can't handle will pop up, the car beeps and flashes for a half a second, signaling that it gives up, and now the clueless driver, who can't remember looking at the road once in the last dozen miles, is now expected to put down their phone and figure out what to do in the next second. to avoid killing someone...

Despite having the safest, most nannyfied vehicle fleet so far, 2021 saw much higher traffic related fatalities than in the years before COVID. I think at some point these driver assists may help actually reduce death and injury, but right now there might be a strong argument they are making it worse...

There is no coloration between "nanny Devices" and the increase of accidents-in the document you cited. TRY AGAIN.
 
I like that high tech starter pedal there.

Millions of people lost their teef and fractured their skulls on those steering wheels. Ah the good old days.
Yes-the non collapsible steering columns that those museum pieces had. Real gems of safety.. Probably pre "safety glass" as well. Of course the picture almost certainly suggests a vehicle without energy absorbing bumpers as well. No federally mandated side impact standards. As you stated-"the good 'ol days." I could go on........but we have the most skilled drivers on the Internet on this forum...so there is that.
 
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Yes-the non collapsible steering columns that those museum pieces had. Real gems of safety.. Probably pre "safety glass" as well. Of course the picture almost certainly suggests a vehicle without energy absorbing bumpers as well. No federally mandated side impact standards. As you stated-"the good 'ol days." I could go on........but we have the most skilled drivers on the Internet on this forum...so there is that.
You might doubt your capabilities against technology, but I don't doubt mine whatsoever... Driving is like anything else in life, what you put into it tends to reflect what you get out of it.
 
This topic has been discussed multiple times on this forum. Here is the bottom line. There are many on here that are apparently superior drivers and never have or never will get in to an accident. Therefore they are of an added complexity and expense not needed.

I don't like when they activate harshly when they shouldn't at all, happens a lot on smaller roads. I can certainly see the benefit in certain cases.

It's like cruise control, some roads are simply not suited for it.
 
I don't like when they activate harshly when they shouldn't at all, happens a lot on smaller roads. I can certainly see the benefit in certain cases.

It's like cruise control, some roads are simply not suited for it.
On our Atlas, you can adjust the "sensitivity" of the frontal collision warning bits or just turn it off if that type of road is causing an issue.
 
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that would be necessary, but it's not always the case.
I've never had too much drama...maybe a few times where its signaled a collision when there wasn't one or it "reads" the lines on the road incorrectly and pulls you out of the lane etc. In many ways, you have to be more alert driving a vehicle with these technologies which is maybe the point above about more accidents but I can't believe that - front collision is a god-send for many people that aren't paying attention and has to have reduced the number of accidents where folks get rear-ended.
 
Despite having the safest, most nannyfied vehicle fleet so far, 2021 saw much higher traffic related fatalities than in the years before COVID. I think at some point these driver assists may help actually reduce death and injury, but right now there might be a strong argument they are making it worse...


The COVID years for driving is an outlier in many cases, including driving. Lots of older cars are still being driven that don't have the driving aids and the driving aids don't stop a bad driver from being bad - they just reduce the chances of a fatal accident.

I didn't think I wanted or needed these drivings aids - and I still don't need it. Nobody needs it, it's a want and there's plenty of choices for a new car without the aids.
 
The COVID years for driving is an outlier in many cases, including driving. Lots of older cars are still being driven that don't have the driving aids and the driving aids don't stop a bad driver from being bad - they just reduce the chances of a fatal accident.

I didn't think I wanted or needed these drivings aids - and I still don't need it. Nobody needs it, it's a want and there's plenty of choices for a new car without the aids.
I believe some of that is related to the empty highways and folks driving like crazy...I know I enjoyed some empty super-highway cruising!
 
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I believe some of that is related to the empty highways and folks driving like crazy...I know I enjoyed some empty super-highway cruising!

Indeed and the lack of presence of law/enforcement. During the middle of 2020, driving too and from work on a 55mph highway, 75mph was the minimum and 80mph was the norm. The left lane naturally saw 90+ and I definitely took advantage of that LOL. Now despite everything opening back up and things going back to normal, people still think they can drive like they did two years ago.
 
There is no coloration between "nanny Devices" and the increase of accidents-in the document you cited. TRY AGAIN.
No there isn't, but with the average new car price increasing every year and now is ~$37k, I think most recently new cars have some or all of these systems, and every year more old cars get scrapped.
So my assumption that each year the US car fleet in general is safer than the previous is probably correct, no? And yet traffic fatalities are going up?

My guess is that these nanny systems allow more distracted driving which is the real problem. A set of human eyes attached to a reasonably attentive brain, with some training, and many hundreds of hours experience is still much more capable to avoid an accident than a computer. The trick is to keep the human watching the road and driving with good habits.

I'm sure eventually full self driving cars will be as safe as human piloted airline travel, but probably will require real time communications between vehicles and a virtual "slot car" system.
 
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