Cars....

[poltr1]

Last week, athenawindsong and I were discussing what features we'd like to see in cars. We both agreed that the foldaway seat was an invention whose time has come. Instead of having to haul out HEAVY seats, they just fold away. The engineer(s) who designed them should get some type of award.

There are some features on the Buick Lucerne that are very nice. Hopefully they'll trickle down to the rest of the GM line. I don't see myself buying a Buick in the near future; I'm not old enough. (My perception of Buick owners are older people (i.e. retirees and pensioners) and people of color.)

Here's what I'd like to have installed in my next car:
- Built-in defrosters for side mirrors and windshield
- Heads-up display (was attempted years ago but didn't catch on)
- Five-point seat belts (just like the race-car drivers use) and bucket seats
- Seat heaters (and coolers) - already used in the Saab line
- Hybrid engine or one that takes E85 (85% ethanol)
- Selectable V4/V6 (a V6 engine that can selectively shut off the fuel injection and sparking of two cylinders) (good for climbing hills, but adds weight to the engine. Is this feasible or even practical?)
- Turn signal lights on side mirrors (already used on pickups and SUVs)
- Radar sensor in front (and automatic braking) so I don't inadvertantly rear-end another car or a wall

What would you like to see on cars?

[Coming soon: Wither GM?]

[Updated 02-Mar-06 15:33 EST] Added subject line.

Comments

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I want a box with four wheels and a motor.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I'd like it if the steering wheel and brakes worked properly, too.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

And I read somewhere that the driver's seat back is an underrated piece of equipment.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Um, no. That's there for safety reasons. Trust me on this.

[poltr1]

Well, there's the Scion xB. Can't get more boxy than that.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I can afford a car with both an X in the name and weird capitalization. I want something with a name like "FOrd Cheapwagon" or "Adjunct Assistant Yugo."

I'd like to see....

[celticferret.livejournal.com]

Rear window defrosters
GPS
Built in emergency cell phones

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

A.L.V.I.N.N. Autotonomous Land Vehicle Involving Neural Networks did a cross country drive a couple of years ago. The driver was in control for less than fifty miles during the 3,000+ mile trip. We're a hell of a lot closer to K.I.T.T. than most people think.

I want:
-- Kitt driving :D
-- an ejection seat :D
-- OnStarr
-- DVD player
-- handless phone
More as I think about it.
-- Dagonell

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

OnStar is rather ... Big Brother-ish for my tastes. GPS and a remote-activatable microphone in the passenger compartment? No thanks.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Yep. My GPS should report to me, and nobody else, but should be linkable AT MY NEED into someone else's system. It would be nice if AAA offered that service.

[poltr1]

How about one of these instead? (Thank athenawindsong for this link as well.)

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Five point seat belts were deemed "too complex for the lusers" by DOT and don't qualify as "seat belts." I know people who race their daily driver cars--things like Miatas, Minis, BMW 3-series, and so on...they have to leave the standard seat belts in the car for when they drive the car on the street.

Variable displacement engines got a bad rap because of the one attempt made by GM at it in the early 80s. The Cadillac V8-6-4 shut off two or four cylinders at highway cruise for better fuel economy. It was far from reliable and most people ended up snipping the control wires so the engine ran as a V8 all the time. GM has a variable-displacement engine now in some of its larger pickups and SUVs. By all accounts the technology has improved greatly and the engines are much more reliable.

Seat heaters would be nice to see in lower-end cars. I have 'em in my Bimmer. They're nice. They can't be all *that* expensive.

As far as the radar sensors...I don't want to see driving dumbed down any further, TYVM. There's a solution to that and it's called "put down the cell phone and look out the big glass thing in front of you." If you can't do that you shouldn't be in possession of a driver's license.

what I'd like to see: greater acceptance of diesel powered cars in the US. Unlike the slow-moving noisy diesel Rabbits of yore you can actually get ones now that accelerate decently. Something like half the passenger car market in western Europe is now powered by diesel engines.

[poltr1]

Actually, I was thinking about a manually selectable variable-displacement, as opposed to an automatic one. As you said, the technology has improved greatly, now the on-board computers are faster and the firmware is better.

As for the front-end radar sensors, I want one so they'd cut down on rear-end collisions or damage from bumping into a garage door. Before the days of cell phones, I rear-ended someone at a traffic light. We were both stopped. Then he crept up, and for some reason, I didn't stop in time.

I remember asking in '75 why they didn't have diesel cars. (Back then, the price for diesel was much less than for gasoline.) A few years later, they came out. I don't think diesel autos will come back until the price is on par with gasoline, or below.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Rocket launchers, smokescreens, oil slicks, caltrops.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I always keep a rocket launcher in my car.

[athenawindsong.livejournal.com]

A chaufeur and a wet bar.

[poltr1]

Don't forget the timted windows. ;-)

The more I look at that icon, the more it reminds me of Bill the Cat from Bloom County. *ACK!*

[athenawindsong.livejournal.com]

ROFLMAO!!!!!! Bill the Cat 4 Prez!!!!!!

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

• A power source other than fossil carbon.


• An on-board computer that is genuinely capable of driving the car by itself.
  Unfortunately, I see this as a pipe dream in today's litigation environment, because a self-driving car that was 1000 times safer than a normal human driver would still have enough accidents to bankrupt the manufacturer.


• A genuinely useful GPS/driver information system, fully voice activated, with enough AI that it can easily be trained to give a useful answer to a question of "where can I stop for lunch?" (taking into account my planned route, my preferences in food, and local information about when the good eateries are too crowded), as well as providing real-time intelligent routing taking into account road construction, accidents, and current traffic conditions. Oh, and actually being able to tell me that the gas station 5 miles down the road is a dime cheaper when I'm considering stopping.

[kliklikitty.livejournal.com]

. An alarm that beeps to remind you not to lock your keey in the car. (available already in some cars I know, I want to see them everywhere)
. An alarm that sounds off to let you know when you are down to your last 2 gallons of gas so you can get to a service station in time. (you have no idea how many people are just plain horrible about gauging when to refill the tank.)
. Some kind of system that prevents you from blocking someone's drive way.
. A devise that disables the horn when you try to use it as a door bell, because you are to lazy to get out of your car.
.And the heated/cooled seats, munitions, defrosters for all mirrors and windows, hybrid engines, and for all trucks, Vans, & SUV's to be able to kneel.

[poltr1]

My Saturn SL2 has the first two of those features. It will automatically unlock the driver's door if the power-lock button is hit while the key's gotta be in the ignition. It also has a "feed me" light when I'm low on gas. Those are nice and I'd like to have them in the next car.