For those of you that were up and about early this morning, there was a really good article on BBC News about safety features in new cars. Most days someone on here asks how do you turn off this or that ‘bleep’ and it seems this has become annoying to most new car buyers. On the feature there was a motoring journalist and the lead researcher for Which. Both seemed to feel that ‘features’ were taking over. The Which reported that over half the British public felt that ‘safety features’ were designed for the Autobahn and not the British roads. It should still be available on iPlayer, I think it started about 07:20 this morning. I should add that I was still tucked up in bed and only learned of the article because I’m always moaning about there being too many gadgets in new cars.
I guess it depends on the role of the safety feature. I test drove the Toyota Bz4x but the constant beeping from the driver safety system really put me off.
I believe that all new cars have the new speed warning alarm, well mine does, and whilst it can be jarring it can remind you that you are above the speed limit and it does slow you down.
I think things like Blind Spot warnings and RCTA should be standard on all cars.