Useless car features

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IanL

IanL

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Any 'features' on your car that you would describe as useless?

For me, in my Renault Zoe, I'd cite two things:
1. 'Auto Headlights'
2. 'Auto Wipers'
They don't work properly and it doesn't seem confined to my car, it's been the same story for the (admittedly few) other cars that I've tried that have these 'features' (actually, I tell a lie, when I was last in the US [Oct/Nov this year], I had a convertible Mustang and the auto light function in that seemed to work okay).

If you put the headlights into 'Auto', they'll just come on, regardless of the prevailing daylight condition.
I don't actually mind this because I'll just operate the headlights manually, based on my own judgement of light conditions, as I have done for the past twenty years plus.

It's the 'Auto Wipers' that are my much bigger bugbear.
They simply don't adapt to water on the screen properly. When rain starts they don't clear often enough, then - as the precipitation slows - they speed up.
Utterly useless.
I could tolerate this IF Renault, in their wisdom, hadn't chosen to REPLACE the classic, tried-and-tested, highly useful, adjustable intermittent wipe function, with this auto bull****.
Grrrrrrrr.
 
Interesting. My Volt has auto headlights and they work quite well. I owned a 2005 Mazda 3 with auto wipers 10 years ago and they worked phenomenally well. It was quite refreshing for me to not have to fiddle with the intermittent wiper settings every 10 seconds.

My pick for useless 'features' would be the 12 V socket (what we used to refer to as the cigarette lighter). So many cars today have USB ports or AC outlets that I have no idea why that stupid 12 V socket won't just die already. I doubt even smokers today use it!
 
Scramjett said:
Interesting. My Volt has auto headlights and they work quite well. I owned a 2005 Mazda 3 with auto wipers 10 years ago and they worked phenomenally well. It was quite refreshing for me to not have to fiddle with the intermittent wiper settings every 10 seconds.

My pick for useless 'features' would be the 12 V socket (what we used to refer to as the cigarette lighter). So many cars today have USB ports or AC outlets that I have no idea why that stupid 12 V socket won't just die already. I doubt even smokers today use it!
Click to expand...
I plug a CB radio into it
 
Scramjett said:
My pick for useless 'features' would be the 12 V socket (what we used to refer to as the cigarette lighter). So many cars today have USB ports or AC outlets that I have no idea why that stupid 12 V socket won't just die already. I doubt even smokers today use it!
Click to expand...

I have a dashcam in mine, but I suppose you're right, that could just as easily be powered from a USB port.
 
My pick for useless feature is the automatic setting for the heated seats in the Bolt. Love the heating, but it never turns on. Says it will come on when pre-conditioning in cold weather. Well, it turns out -20°C isn't cold enough. So we turned off the auto feature and use it manually.


Sent from my iPad using Inside EVs
 
In a slightly similar vein, I can never get the pre-conditioning set from the app.
It'll do it just fine from the key fob, but then of course you have to be within range of the car.
 
Albemarle said:
My pick for useless feature is the automatic setting for the heated seats in the Bolt. Love the heating, but it never turns on. Says it will come on when pre-conditioning in cold weather. Well, it turns out -20°C isn't cold enough. So we turned off the auto feature and use it manually.
Click to expand...

That's odd, the automatic setting on our Volt's heated seats works fantastically. Usually comes on around +5°C.
 
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