Electric vehicles

[Vulcan]

They used to sell parafin sump heaters for many cars once to just keep the chill out.

Whats Paraffin Grandad?

Only joking, I remember those heaters from when I was a kid.

 

[Spectric]

Only joking, I remember those heaters from when I was a kid

Yes when the weather was really bad I can recall one being put under the old Humber Snipe.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I saw an interesting thought/question posed in a science magazine in relation to self driving cars.

If the majority of cars become automated and don't have drivers behind the wheels, how long will it be before pedestrians learn that the autonomous vehicles will stop if they just step out into the road. I don't think they meant on a dual carriageway way but in town etc.

I was waiting to cross the road in my town which is a 20mph zone and can take quite a while even to get across at certain times. In the future will people just see autonomous cars coming and just wave their bag etc out into the road to cause it to stop and then merrily cross the road. We've already seen people stopping the waymo cars with traffic cones, so it doesn't seem to far out there that this could become a thing.

Perhaps it'll make being a pedestrian a lot easier.

Automated vehicles may lock doors unless stationary or involved in an accident. They will likely have the capacity to unlock only those next to the pavement, and (as with a human driver) find somewhere safe to pull over i an emergency.

Some will no doubt try to disrupt automated vehicles and find themselves face down in the road nursing broken bones and losing blood.

I would guess that automated vehicles will have "black boxes" recording all system inputs preceding a crash - perhaps on a 30 minute loop. Those pedestrians who misjudge speed and distance will have to take responsibility for their own stupidity.

 

[Sachakins]

Automated vehicles may lock doors unless stationary or involved in an accident. They will likely have the capacity to unlock only those next to the pavement, and (as with a human driver) find somewhere safe to pull over i an emergency.

Some will no doubt try to disrupt automated vehicles and find themselves face down in the road nursing broken bones and losing blood.

I would guess that automated vehicles will have "black boxes" recording all system inputs preceding a crash - perhaps on a 30 minute loop. Those pedestrians who misjudge speed and distance will have to take responsibility for their own stupidity.

Sadly, pedestrians now don't have to take responsibility, due to recent changes, they have precedence in right of way over the car.
Still likely to end up over the car bonnet anyway though.

 

[Dabop]

We actually turned off the 'auto unlock after an accident' feature as the local crooks had taken to giving a parked car a hardish knock with a stolen ute or car fitted with a bullbar (which is the vast majority on Aussie roads) which will then unlock the car- grab any valuables inside and drive off...

It worked on an older Honda (you have to do a set 'dance' with the ign key, gear lever and brakes while holding a button down on the door for the locks), but apparently some newer cars there is no possible way to disable it
:-(

Apparently, if you give a parked car a hard enough 'tap' with the bullbar, it thinks its been in an accident and conveniently (for the crooks) handily unlocks either the drivers door or all doors (depending on make/model) giving them access to the interior and boot...
sighs...

Annoyingly the car flashed its indicators/hazards as usual to signal the doors had auto unlocked, but apparently doesn't sound the cars alarm/horn- as my partners work carpark had several cars broken into by doing this... and not one car alarm went off

 

[woodieallen]

We actually turned off the 'auto unlock after an accident' feature as the local crooks had taken to giving a parked car a hardish knock with a stolen ute or car fitted with a bullbar (which is the vast majority on Aussie roads) which will then unlock the car- grab any valuables inside and drive off...

It worked on an older Honda (you have to do a set 'dance' with the ign key, gear lever and brakes while holding a button down on the door for the locks), but apparently some newer cars there is no possible way to disable it
:-(

Apparently, if you give a parked car a hard enough 'tap' with the bullbar, it thinks its been in an accident and conveniently (for the crooks) handily unlocks either the drivers door or all doors (depending on make/model) giving them access to the interior and boot...
sighs...

Annoyingly the car flashed its indicators/hazards as usual to signal the doors had auto unlocked, but apparently doesn't sound the cars alarm/horn- as my partners work carpark had several cars broken into by doing this... and not one car alarm went off

When we got our new 'old' car, I managed to lock myself inside the car as it timed out on me, the key also having fallen down under the seat and inaccessible. Fortunately I was at home and SWMBO finally rescued me with her key. Now permanently disabled.

And here's the thing. There should be legislation that every single damn (un)helpful 'feature' such as auto stop/start and lane assist should be able to be disabled and permanently. None of this having to re-disable it everytime you turn the damn thing on.

 

[johnb80]

And here's the thing. There should be legislation that every single damn (un)helpful 'feature' such as auto stop/start and lane assist should be able to be disabled and permanently. None of this having to re-disable it everytime you turn the damn thing on.

I agree with you but I can understand why the features are defaulted to on. The safety testing NCAP is done with such features enabled and therefore contribute to the safety rating of the cars which insurers use to calculate their premium.

 

[Drifter2406]

Are dealer prices really around £180 ph? I've not been to one in a while, i know about overheads but how can they justify that sort of money?

 

[woodieallen]

I agree with you but I can understand why the features are defaulted to on. The safety testing NCAP is done with such features enabled and therefore contribute to the safety rating of the cars which insurers use to calculate their premium.

In that case there is no consistency. Our car (thankfully) let's me permanently switch off Lane Assist. But I cannot permanently switch off Stop/Start and have to re-disable each switch on. Since when was the latter a safety feature ?

 

[Agent_zed]

Sadly, pedestrians now don't have to take responsibility, due to recent changes, they have precedence in right of way over the car.
Still likely to end up over the car bonnet anyway though.

If you look at history you'll find (at least in america) that pedestrians had the right of way over cars. Once cars started running people over the automobile companies did a marketing campaign to put the blame on the pedestrian and labelled them a 'jay walker'.

If you are talking about responsibility, it would seem a large amount of drivers don't exercise any. From speeding, using their mobiles, to parking. I literally had to walk onto the road this morning as a house near me has decided to park 2 of their cars entirely on the pavement despite having room on their drive. Every evening in my town cars line up along the double yellows to get their takeaways and the road I live on which is a 30 going into a 40 is more like a 40 going into a 50/60 for every 10th car or more. Someone is going to get killed or seriously injured crossing my road (there is a new 300 house estate at the top so much more pedestrian traffic than before) and it won't be the pedestrian's fault.

 

[Agent_zed]

I agree with you but I can understand why the features are defaulted to on. The safety testing NCAP is done with such features enabled and therefore contribute to the safety rating of the cars which insurers use to calculate their premium.

Is the stop/start actually counted as a safety feature in the ncap test though?

It is there to reduce emissions, not for safety, as far as I am aware.

 

[johnb80]

In that case there is no consistency. Our car (thankfully) lets me permanently switch off Lane Assist. But I cannot permanently switch off Stop/Start and have to re-disable each switch on. Since when was the latter a safety feature ?

Well obviously start/stop isn’t but Kane assist, stability control etc is.

 

[John Brown]

Is the stop/start actually counted as a safety feature in the ncap test though?

It is there to reduce emissions, not for safety, as far as I am aware.

Isn't the whole point of reducing emissions to make the air safer, not to mention the planet as a whole?

Other people's safety, rather than just yours.

 

[MikeJhn]

A lot of German makers used to offer a fuel burning heater as an extra. You could set it to come on maybe 20 mins before you wanted to use he car and it heated up the coolant and circulated it, so when you got in it was warmed up and defrosted. Last one I had was on an S class I think. Really good.

My 2014 BMW 5 series has a phone app that can start the car remotely to warm it up on the driveway, also switch's the whole thing off after a time set by you on the app.

 

[Agent_zed]

Isn't the whole point of reducing emissions to make the air safer, not to mention the planet as a whole?

Other people's safety, rather than just yours.

unless the emissions are entering the cab and impairing the drivers ability, it is not a safety feature that is going to effect the NCAP safety test.

"
Euro NCAP introduced the overall safety rating in 2009, based on assessment in four important areas:

• Adult Occupant Protection (for the driver and passenger);
• Child Occupant Protection;
• Pedestrian Protection which has been expanded to include cyclists and is now known as Vulnerable Road User (VRU) protection; and
• Safety Assist, which evaluated driver-assistance and crash-avoidance technologies.

The overall star rating was introduced to add more flexibility to the previous ratings’ scheme which had been in use since 1997."

 

[johnb80]

My 2014 BMW 5 series has a phone app that can start the car remotely to warm it up on the driveway, also switch's the whole thing off after a time set by you on the app.

Standard on all of the EV's I've had / got. Really nice on a cold winters morning when neighbours are scraping their windows, ours are all defrosted, interior toasty.

 

[johnb80]

Is the stop/start actually counted as a safety feature in the ncap test though?

It is there to reduce emissions, not for safety, as far as I am aware.

Picky, picky You know what I was referring to.

 

[Fergie 307]

Are dealer prices really around £180 ph? I've not been to one in a while, i know about overheads but how can they justify that sort of money?

I can well believe it.
When my wife's BMW had to have some work done, replacing the suspension bushes on the rear axle on an E28. Pig of a job.
I got the parts from them and did it myself. The labour rate then was £100/hr. I had asked as I knew from past experience that it was a awkward job and at the time we had just moved and I had no workshop or lift.
I thought if they gave me a reasonable quote then I will get them to do it and save the aggro. Did it myself on the drive with a trolley jack. Not much fun but wasn't going to pay that amount. That was quite a few years ago.
More recently had an ABS sensor fail on the Jeep. Mine is pre OBD and uses their own diagnostic system, DRB. The light doesn't auto reset when the fault is repaired you have to have the reader.
When I spoke to the local dealer they had the old kit, but wanted £100 just to scan it! Further conversation revealed that the kit was so old they didn't actually have any "technicians" who knew how to operate it.
So in summary they wanted me to pay £100 to plug their kit into my car for five minutes, and then show their " technician" how to use it.
In the end I bought the reader, complete with a full set of cartridges and leads from a guy in Texas. Cost me about £180 by the time I had got it, but has saved me far more since. Unlike OBD the system has a number of ports on the car to read different systems, engine transmission etc.
The cartridges plug into the main unit to enable it to be used with a variety of vehicles like Mitsubishi and Chrysler that used the same system before OBD.
The kit I have originally cost around $4k back in the late 80's.

 

[Fergie 307]

My 2014 BMW 5 series has a phone app that can start the car remotely to warm it up on the driveway, also switch's the whole thing off after a time set by you on the app.

This was slightly different in that it used a small heater, fuelled from the tank. So no engine running.
On a similar note one of my friends lectures in Dubai. When he first went over there he couldn't understand why all his students would be getting their phones out 20min before the end of the last session of the day.
Turned out they were all getting their cars air con going in the car park.

 

[Agent_zed]

Are dealer prices really around £180 ph? I've not been to one in a while, i know about overheads but how can they justify that sort of money?

I had an old bmw years ago that had a recall on the airbags despite the car being over 10yrs old. I took it to the BMW in bristol which is huge glass fronted fancy building. I was greeted by a person in a suit who's job it is to greet people (not a receptionist, they were separate). Offered a coffee from their fancy coffee machines and a seat on the leather sofa's.

Job was done and they jet washed it as part of the job (all free on the recall).

The funniest thing was they handed me back the wingmirror glass that had come off in the jet washing. It wasn't genuine bmw so I guess they wouldn't fix it back on which I thought was a bit much as they had blasted it off.

I think labour was £150+vat back 8 yrs ago. Someone has to pay for the coffee machine I guess.