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People are getting fed up with all the useless tech in their cars — For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, wit...

People are getting fed up with all the useless tech in their cars — For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, wit…::People are dissatisfied with the technology in their cars, according to a new survey from JD Power. They especially don’t like the native infotainment systems.

BigilusDickilus ,

I have a 2023 Tuscon and I love it. The car drives incredibly smoothly, the handling is amazing, I spend about $30 a month on gas total (hybrid), it practically drives itself on the highway, and its a super comfortable and spacious interior. That being said, I do wish it had more physical buttons on the console, I think they are going back to that in the future, but I can easily live with how it is now, I just dont really fiddle with things while I am driving.

DeanFogg ,

Digital touch screen ac controls make me furious

asparagus9001 ,

I’ll be praying for you when the wave of recalls start coming out

doktorRobot ,

My problem with it is that “standards” aren’t really standards. I have a car from 2015. It has an LCD panel that’s supposed to connect to your phone. Too bad that the standards changed in 2015… Now it sits there totally useless.

TrenchcoatFullofBats ,

Heh - my car from 2006 has 2 SD card slots behind the radio/nav screen for my MP3 and M4A files.

I also ripped out the CD changer for a BT integration, but I still use the SD cards sometimes.

Hazdaz ,

The mindless march for ever-more pointless tech in cars has pushed me into getting into classic cars more and more. Hopping into a old car is such a transformative experience. My smartphone connected through Blutooth into the stereo system is the most advanced thing in the car. The windows are huge and visibility is amazing. The ride is smooth and very forgiving. I can actually feel what the road is like because there aren’t 10 layers of computers and electronics between the steering wheel and the tires.

Nowadays, all these companies are doing is trying to use technology to solve a problem created by technology to begin with. I don’t need a million cameras and sensors around my car, if I have good sight-lines. I don’t need a sensor to remind me to look at the road, if the driving experience wasn’t so goddamn boring and devoid of fun and excitement to begin with.

I simply don’t need more shit in my cars.

phil ,
@phil@cryptodon.lol avatar

Good strategy! I currently own 5 cars; 91, 93, 97, 09, and 11 (and the last two are a utility van and a base model hatchback with no electronics).

I had a job in college working on information security for automotive systems. I'm actually pretty good at fixing cars with electronics, but the DRM where you have to go back to the manufacturer is too far for me. If I can't fix it with what's in my garage, I'm not interested.

It's also more eco-friendly than constantly scrapping/upgrading cars.

gendulf ,

I don’t need a million cameras and sensors around my car, if I have good sight-lines.

While I agree with your earlier point on more technology not always being good, I disagree on the point of sensors and cameras. A backup-camera and sensor can tell me about approaching cars that I’m not aware of/cannot see physically. Additionally, I’ll take extra reminders of cars when switching lanes at highway speeds.

derpysmilingcat ,

I have been unlucky enough to drive behind a person on the way home for the past 3 days who does not look when she moves to another lane. She just moves. There has been a car directly to her left, and she just fuckin slides right on over.

These are the people I want cameras and sensors for. These people out here (America) in these giant ass cars feel so protected in them they just stop caring. If we can’t get them to stop being stupid I will have to depend on technology. I don’t want to depend on technology but here we are.

solstice ,

Yeah exactly, tech should only be in the form of safety measures like proximity alerts, lane stabilizing if you drift, cameras, etc. It’s when they complicate basic controls like HVAC, radio, seats, mirrors, etc that pisses me off. That’s not even starting to talk about other paywalls like a subscription for heated seats or whatever; also didn’t I just read that Mercedes requires a yearly subscription if you want to fully accelerate your vehicle?

visiblink ,
@visiblink@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

In a classic car with thin pillars between the windows and lots more glass, you don’t need the sensors because you can actually see well.

99nights ,

I’ve never ever had the chance of experiencing it. My car is over 23 years old by memory, still runs great as Toyota’s do but damn I’d love to have something more then a broken CD player and strip black and white interface.

Perhaps I’d be one to appreciate all this ‘useless’ tech.

scottywh ,

There are extremely affordable aftermarket head units available that are also pretty easy projects to install even for a novice DIYer.

99nights ,

This is very true and I actually forgot about this lmao because my wife insists that we just wait until we get a new car…

scottywh ,

I’ve replaced lots of them over the years myself but was just recently reminded (forcibly) that it was an option… Because my factory head unit in my Kia died and originally I bought an identical factory head unit to replace it with… Well, that one burned out in like 3 months…

At that point I bought the cheapest double din head unit I could find with FM and Bluetooth along with the mounting kit… Only spent about $70 and an hour of my time and it’s been working great for the last 6 months or so.

Obviously, that particular option won’t work for everyone but it’s been great for my cheapskate ass.

99nights ,

That’s good to know.

InFerNo , (edited )

My car is 17 years old. It won’t be long before I need to look out for a new one. Posts like these make me wary of buying a new one.

What would annoy me the most is having little to no physical buttons for trivial things, and the built in SBC to be slow as fuck. I hate lag on these systems. My wife has a smaller car with android auto and using the interface is just dreadful.

If there would be an electric car with the interior of my current car I would probably take it. It has a small chromosone display, just replace with a color one and let me control it with android auto and done.

Locrin ,

Buying a car should be a fun experience. Book a few testdrives and try to enjoy the experience. When looking for a new car there has always been several I disliked, but I always found one or two that felt comfortable in.

Hazdaz ,

I have always seen the new car buying experience to be something to get excited about… except now. I am at the early stages of looking at what I want to replace my dairy driver with and like NOTHING is really calling to me. At this stage in the past, I would have already driven a couple of cars simply to take them off my shopping list or keep them on, and I haven’t bothered to test drive a single car yet.

Locrin ,

What have you tried driving so far?

folshost ,

Posts like these make you wary of buying a new one. At this point I see this so regularly though that I don’t know if the usage is even wrong given how many people use it

JigglySackles ,

A lot of people use it wrong. Wary would be acceptable. Leery would be acceptable as well. Both mean cautious or suspicious. Weary equates to tired and doesn’t fit the context.

scottywh ,

It’s still wrong… Don’t let the “language evolves” people convince you otherwise.

mun_man ,

I think if you shop around you can get the kind of interface you want. I got a 2021 Subaru and they had just switched back to more actual buttons and knobs because people didn’t like the capacitive buttons and touchscreen. In my car it has a touchscreen for CarPlay so basically just maps and music and everything else is a knob or physical button. Things may have changed since too so ymmv. Good luck

dman87 ,

Your comment about Subaru is not true across the board. I have a 2023 Ascent that has very limited physical buttons. The same infotainment system and setup is now on the Outback as well.

Bazzatron ,

I’ve never had a car with a touch screen or whatever fancy centre panel - but I have scrapped old cars because the ECU decided that there was an airbag fault which was not resolved with a new airbag. I’m a full time sysadmin/developer - my car does not need a computer to go, and if it must have one, it shouldn’t be a brick covered in epoxy.

I somewhat long to return to dumb electromechanical components like distributors, rather than unimaginably expensive, irreparable, interdependent systems.

key ,

The battle against requiring a computer for your car to run was lost over 30 years ago. It’s just been gradual expansion since then.

DeanFogg ,

A computer running the car isn’t inherently bad. Direct injection with a computer running the show is very efficient for fuel usage. But at that point for commuter vehicles they might as well be electric motors

Fubar91 ,

As a sysadmin/dev you should know its not a computers = bad situation. It’s God awful system implementation, trash software, trash components, and even worse redundancies.

It’s like you’re saying “why use email, when i can send a physical letter” in some aspects

But I agree these manufacturers produce shit products in the form of vehicle electronics.

TrenchcoatFullofBats ,

My 1991 4Runner doesn’t even have a diagnostic port (pre OBDII), but you can get it to tell you what it thinks is wrong.

To do this, you need to use a paperclip to jump two terminals in a box under the hood, then turn the ignition to ON, count the number of times the check engine light blinks, write that down, then look up what that code means, in a book.

(Granted, the book is a PDF these days, but still)

drathvedro ,

This is exactly the reason why they do it. They can put a hidden countdown or just outright brick your vehicle over the air and you can’t really prove they did.

collegefurtrader ,

Our Subaru nags you to check your text messages constantly while driving. Can’t be disabled if you want to use carplay.

dogslayeggs ,

Every time I’ve connected my phone through Carplay I have to explicitly give the car permission to access my texts. If you refuse that permission, does the car still nag you about texts?

EDIT: Maybe it’s only Android Auto that makes you explicitly give the car access to texts. I don’t remember if my Apple workphone asks for permission.

soulifix ,

I don’t see why my vehicle has to tell me what song is playing through my IPod, on the screen where the wheel is, that displays more important information like tire PSI and speed. The bigger screen is more than sufficient.

Cornpop ,

CarPlay is the truth. All that built in shit is utter trash.

happyhippo ,

Android Auto for me

thelastknowngod ,

I live in a city where owning a car is not necessary. For the rare occasions that I do need/want a car I will rent. I go out of my way to request cars with android auto. I don’t know how anyone could buy a car today without it… It’s really unacceptable.

Carter ,

I don’t see the hype with CarPlay/Android Auto. I’d rather just not have a screen in my car.

custer ,

This is the correct answer. Give me more buttons and knobs and switches

TwinTurbo ,

CarPlay and Android Auto actually work well, and you can use the apps that you already have on your phone. The screens are generally more convenient and restrict view less than a phone holder stuck to the window. But without those, I agree that I’d rather have no screen than one with crappy media controls and the car’s own navigation.

Cornpop ,

I gotta have it. Although my car is designed properly with knobs and buttons for ac, seat heat, and radio controls. Was a major factor when deciding what I bought. I absolutely love how seamless CarPlay works with my music and GPS. Nice not to have to have a phone mount on my dash.

boonhet ,

I can control Waze and Apple Music/Podcasts from my steering wheel, or the rotary knob. Or the touchpad if I was a weirdo. It’s amazing.

Yes, you could achieve the same for music/podcasts via bluetooth, but you couldn’t switch between which app is playing, and you didn’t get Waze/Maps/Whatever GPS app you prefer, they’re all better than the built in shit on most cars.

I suppose you could also get by with a paper map for your road trips and stuff, but personally I’m too lazy for that. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to stop my car to figure out where I’m going.

First ,

Try having an infotainment system that will just randomly disconnect and crash Android Auto every ~10 minutes. I don’t own a car myself, but instead use a non-profit car rental service, so I’ve tried my fair share of different manufacturers and models. The worst of them all is the one in Skoda Superb (VW group company), if you put it back from reverse into drive, it would normally just freeze the entire screen while still on rear camera, and the front sensors wouldn’t work. Then it would reboot the whole infotainment system after some minutes.

The worst physical interface can also be found in VW group cars, both VW ID3 and Cupra Born have a completely horrible capacitive touch button setup, which makes you unintendedly touch them when just holding the steering wheel, doing things like disabling lane control, changing cruise control etc. They said they chose them because they wanted to give a “premium feel”, which indicates they basically did zero user testing. At least they are changing to physical buttons for new models. The software is pretty bad as well, laggy and unintuitive menus. Their CEO recently resigned, and they’ve put $9 billion into increasing their developer team past 10k people, so I assume it has been acknowledged and will get better in newer models.

horizon ,

I have an ID3 and agree with you to some degree. It’s not quite unusable, but the touch buttons are high on the list of things I’d like to change.

I’m not that bothered with the layout of the infotainment system, but it’d be great if it didn’t slow down and crash as often.

If they had gotten those things right is the ID3 would have been such a perfect little car for me. I love it otherwise. Quick, decent ACC, range is fine for its intended use.

First ,

Yeah it’s a great car apart from the infotainment and related buttons, really firm handling and build quality like most other VW models.

horizon ,

I’ve got a Kia K5 rental at the moment and I kind of wish I could have brought my ID3. Although charging infrastructure does seem a bit lacking here in the US compared to home in the Netherlands.

happyhippo ,

No need to add anything to this, I got a Golf 8 🤣

Tbh the infotainment is kinda glitchy when reversing, but never to the point of completely crashing.

That pain with capacitive buttons is real tho.

irotsoma ,
@irotsoma@lemmy.world avatar

When the features are actually anti-features making you pay subscription fees for things that are already part of the car, and everything is buggy as hell, of course no one wants it.

Geek_King ,

My prior car had no fancy features, the nicest thing it could do was read MP3’s burned on to a CD, and hold 6 CDs in the player. I traded it in and got newer car, and I think it’s level of fanciness is just right for me. It has a screen, I ignore it most of the time, unless I plug my phone in to listen to music. Then I use the screen to get into Youtube Music and that’s it. Or the same situation as before, but I need to navigate with Google Maps.

So by and large I can 100% ignore the screen, unless I plug in the phone. But all control of Next Track/Back, volume up/down is controlled by buttons on the steering wheel.

The largest nightmare for me is tough sensitive controls FOR EVERYTHING! I’ve read that it’s becoming more and more common in new expensive cars, and I have not interested in that bullshit.

FauxPseudo ,
@FauxPseudo@lemmy.world avatar

The more features the more they can charge. The more features the more things there are to break. The more there is to break the more the dealers make fixing things.

I want to replace my truck with an electric one. But no one is making bare bones electric vehicles. My current truck has an AM/FM stereo and HVAC. Those are it’s only features and I’m fine with that. I use a FM Bluetooth adapter in my cigarette lighter. If it dies I can replace it myself for $20. My phone does the GPS. There will never be an electric vehicle that basic. And Trucks keep getting shorter beds that are higher off the ground. I need to be able to sling drywall and plywood into the top of my bed. That gets harder and harder as the bed gets taller.

Phlogiston ,

I’m driving a 2004 with a broken antenna (no radio). All I want in my next car is a good mount for my phone and Bluetooth speakers / mic.

My 2017 van is surprisingly good with CarPlay. So I could go that route.

I really don’t want to deal with any of the car manufacturers software.

Bucket_of_Truth ,
@Bucket_of_Truth@lemmy.world avatar

I have a 2001 VW TDi, the radio is a standard Double Din so I just replaced it with a touchscreen bluetooth receiver for around $150.

frickineh ,

Ugh, I would kill for a small truck. I don’t need a truck I have to use a ladder to climb into with a bed that’s 4 feet long because the extended cab takes up the rest of the space. I love my 11 year old RAV4, but I would consider buying something new if small trucks actually existed anymore. Or, yeah, an electric car that wasn’t full of useless tech. I love tech, in it’s proper place, but my car is not it.

visiblink ,
@visiblink@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I just gave up my 91 Mazda B2200 and bought a Crosstrek and a trailer. What is the point of a four or five foot box? I don’t get it.

The trailer has the length and is nice and low for loading. The crazy thing is that I now see people with $100,000 pickup trucks towing trailers like mine. Insane.

scottywh ,

I sure do miss my old 2001 F150

Zink ,

There won’t be ANY car made that basic from this point on, though. Electric or not isn’t a factor.

In the US at least, backup cameras are required, so immediately you have a screen and a computer driving it. Adding in things like Bluetooth, gps, and phone interfaces are almost free at that point. It’s kind of like how power windows are just standard on everything too.

ICastFist ,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

Man, just wait until Mercedez and BMW get away with paywalling features like heating, seat adjustments and fucking max speed. Then you’ll see satisfaction take a dive, to the surprise of no-fucking-one

collegefurtrader ,

Um, shop.mercedes-benz.com/en-us/connect/pdp/…/709

Bloodyhog ,

But,… but!.. oh, fuck them.

Blamemeta ,

The problem is that backup camera’s are mandated safety equipment, and that means a screen. And if you have to put in a screen and all that infrastructure anyway, it’s only a few more dollars to add a proper infotainment system.

HeyJoe ,

I lost the key to my car since last August and just found it a few months ago. Car needed a bunch of work since it had some problems and just got it back on the road this week. They finally canceled work from home so I needed the car. I have been using my wife’s since we both really didn’t need it much at the same time. Anyway my car is an 07 basic model car and hers is from 2015 and has a backup camera. Going back to my car is crazy just because of how used to the backup camera I had gotten. I immediately look to my center console area and go oh yeah… I then wondered just how many people have the issue of going backwards with car technology like I did!

dogslayeggs ,

I’d had backup cameras in my cars for 6 years, and my girlfriend’s car that I drive a lot has one, too. My current car is a 2011 work truck with roll up windows and no power locks. It has AM/FM with no tape, CD, or screen for a backup camera.

I definitely miss the backup camera going from her car to my truck.

Kecessa ,

Backup camera and more buttons than you’ll ever need

cars.usnews.com/…/2016_volvo_xc60_dashboard.jpg

I love my car.

vaultdweller013 ,

Okay a bit off topic but am I the only one who thinks that car companies are hiding bad design with back up cams? Like I feel like thats part of the reason why cars are getting bigger, cause they don’t need to make everything easy to see from the drivers seat.

MrBungle ,

My biggest gripe is the “safety” features that just enable bad driving. Too lazy to shoulder check? don’t worry, blinky light on the mirror has you. Don’t bother looking back when backing out? camera has you. veering off the road a bit cause you’re not paying attention? lane keep assist!
Any one of these things can fail and the shit driving habits are all some of these people have to fall back on.

Let’s go back to roll up windows, standard transmissions, and using your eyes to see where things are.

ramjambamalam ,

The ads for emergency braking are the worst, like the dad who is looking in the rearview mirror at his daughter, and then Screeeech the car slams to a hault because pops wasn’t paying attention. Everyone in the car has a sensible chuckle about it, and they go on with their day.

No: are you crazy? Wtf are you doing? You almost ran over that woman! Pay attention!

Locrin ,

What a bad take. These things are safety additions and will by responsible drivers be treated as such. Backup cameras are standard safety equipment now, do you also hate those? Shitty drivers will be shitty with or without safety precautions from a car. When one of those shitty drivers attempts to change into my lane while not checking if it is clear. At least I can hope their car prevents them from smashing into me.

MrBungle ,

That’s fair. I can understand your view.

derpysmilingcat ,

I think you forgot that people have cell phones so those who were already couldn’t drive now can’t drive with a cell phone. And they’re driving giant cars. I need their car to scream at them because I can not.

MrBungle ,

Yea. I’m diligent about the phone staying in my own pocket while I’m driving. I forget I can’t always give others the benefit of the doubt.

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