But this time I'm mailing it to the presidents of Hyundai Motor Company and HMA. ------------------------------ Dear Mr. Muñoz: Why is my $47,000 Hyundai Kona EV dumber than my $15 battery operated wall clock? Twice a year, this wall clock automatically adjusts for Daylight Savings Time. It has no GPS, radio or internet. The Hyundai Infotainment System has cellular data. It has GPS. It knows its position within a few feet, and the time within a microsecond. Yet twice a year, it displays the incorrect time until I manually go into the menu options and check or uncheck the Daylight Savings option. Is this the best that Hyundai’s advanced technology can do? This vehicle can steer and brake without human intervention. Should I trust my life and that of my passengers to a car that isn’t smart enough to adjust a clock twice a year? Sincerely, etc.
Well if all goes well DST switching be a thing of the past after next year, so why risk programming bugs into the system when it's going away? I'm obviously a little sarcastic here, but it might actually be going away.
Update: The letter to Jose Muñoz produced a phone call from an Executive Case Manager. I'm hoping that is better than a regular Case Manager. She assured me that my information has been passed to the engineers with a request to investigate whether they can make this feature happen. Normally a letter to a CEO produces a letter in return, but if it actually got on an engineer's to-do list, that would be better. I will now await the Fall 2022 update with little confidence, but at least with a bit more skin in the game. And then: "Dear Mr. Muñoz: Although daylight savings time no longer exists, my Kona EV still changes the clock twice a year ..."
Doesn't bother me in the least. How is Hyundai supposed to know if you live in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan... when the rest of the province does not observe DST. (note S. Korea is also not one of those locations) Fewer than 40% of the worlds countries apply DST changes Besides its a good reminder just how to set the clock
Who said anything about provinces? I don't expect the vehicle to figure out by itself whether I am in a place that observes DST. But once I tell the car that I am, by checking the Daylight Savings box, I absolutely do expect it to remember the fact, and adjust twice a year for Daylight Savings. And it ought to be able to know what the dates are for my country. Even its brain-damaged nav system should be able to tell what country it's in.
Yes it should know which country it is in (sometimes I doubt even that) BUT there is countries where small sections don't observe DST. It's twice a year. No big deal. I think it's way more annoying that the cluster and entertainment system in the Ioniq 5 doesn't switch day/night mode by using the (already) installed light sensor on the dash board.
If your area observes DST, check the box - once, when you're setting up the car. If you don't observe DST, don't check it. Obviously it is a big deal to me. I like things to work correctly. Twice a year I am reminded that Hyundai doesn't care if I look at the display and see the wrong time. This is emblematic of Hyundai corporate's attitude toward the customer. They don't try to see things from our point of view - whether it's recalls, dead 12v batteries, DST, day/night mode, nav systems that calculate bad routings, etc. Their focus is on providing lots of models, tailored to the markets in lots of countries, in order to get lots of customers. Whether they are satisfied customers does not appear to be a big Hyundai concern.
Yeah, you're correct. But it's twice a year and in the US we might be done with it next year (finally!). And it literally takes 5 seconds. It might be a little annoyance but I bet you don't complain about the microwave not switching and I also bet resetting your microwave takes longer. Resetting the entertainment screen takes much longer. Plus you have to look up sunrise and sunset times and then redo that every few weeks. Hooking it up to the light sensor doesn't even take a lot of code as compared to tens of time zones, countries and regulations when they change it. But in the end we have to agree to disagree. Minor inconvenience, of course, but I also think there are other annoyances that are bigger than that.
The microwave takes no time at all, because I don't set or look at that clock. The kitchen has a wall clock which resets itself. And it's not just 5 seconds. First of all, I only notice the time when driving, and it takes a minute of puzzlement to realize that it's really an hour earlier or later. Then I've forgotten by the time I arrive, so I get to enjoy the experience over and over again. When eventually I get to changing the damn thing, it's a minute or so of fumbling through the menus, because once everything's been set up on the infotainment system, I never have to touch it. Except twice a year. Agreed. But flaws like automatic DST and day/night switching annoy me the most. Part of the enjoyment of the Kona EV, at least for me, is owning a forward-looking, well-engineered piece of machinery. Some problems are hard to solve or take time or money. These just take caring about the customer. There's no excuse for them, and a well-engineered car should do them right.
Here is a tip for you. On the very first screen that pops up when you start the car, there is a big clock displayed. Tap on the clock and it will take you directly into the clock settings. It's literally 2-3 taps to adjust DST setting. That screen brings you to the appropriate screen you tap on. Tap on the partly displayed map, brings you to the map. You click on the car, you go to EV settings. That screen is actually done pretty smart.
Another fall, another spring, two more manual DST updates. Usually I don't notice the clock is off an hour until it makes me think that either I left an hour early or am an hour late. BTW I never heard back from either of the letters I wrote to the presidents of Hyundai Motor Company and HMA. I have occasionally written letters to corporate presidents and invariably hear back, usually from someone in a position to make something happen or at least give a credible explanation of why they couldn't. From Hyundai - crickets.
With any luck that will happen by not having Daylight time at all, as here in Hawaii, rather than repeating the insanity of having it year-round, which was tried in the U.S. in the mid-1970s and was universally hated -- an experience which some of our politicians seem to have forgotten.
Also keep in mind that the exact days when time-changes occur, if at all, could be different in the future. The length of DST duration was increased some years ago, based on some cockamamie theory about energy savings, and never reset since the theory was largely disproven and dismissed. I'd rather have standard time and keep noon at the diurnal midpoint of the day. I never bother changing my clocks anyways, I just apply a conversion factor to accomodate "what time those bumbling fools think it is" when needed. _H*
Hyundai already updates the software twice a year. Occasionally they even improve it. The bumbling fools have us outnumbered in so many ways. Where DST is concerned, I prefer not to tilt against all those windmills. Particularly when I have appointment times with many of them.
