Part of the problem here is that some of the "farkles" are legally mandated.
There is no maybe about backup cameras - they are required by federal law since 2018. Automatic braking will be required starting 2029.
We are in the process of having driver monitoring systems becoming mandated, too. That's an internally facing camera that would read your face to determine if you are good to drive. Sucks for Jim Breuer, I guess...
The touchscreen epidemic is only partially driven by the designers who watched too much Star Trek. The real cause is cost. You are required by law to have a screen already, and it's cheaper to add menus to it than make knobs and buttons.
I am not sure if this is exactly how we got here, but it sure seems like we built a ton of distractions into the driving experience, and now are trying to compensate for it with things like lane assist, auto cruise, and self-driving.
That said, there is something of a pushback to it. Slate is aiming to be exactly that - as basic a car as you could possibly want, a small work truck with nothing included except what the law requires. r/slateauto
I want one. I don't know how many other people do, though.
The unreliability, by the way, is also an unintended consequence of regulation. The fuel economy requirements keep tightening, but the IC engine is really pretty close to the limit of how efficient it can be. So, the manufacturers have to use tricks like displacement on demand (shutting off cylinders), auto stop/start (the thing that shuts off your engine when you stop at a light), thinner oils. And those are the things that make engines not last. This is the same thing that makes transmissions unreliable. Fuel economy requirements are driving increases in the number of gear ratios. Transmissions used to be 4-5 speed, now 8-9 is common. A transmission can only be so big, and more gears in the same space makes for mechanically weaker designs. CVT transmissions spread for the same reason. CVTs that are not belt-type are too heavy and expensive, and the common belt CVT doesn't last. They work great on scooters, but scaled to car size not so much.
I worked at a Nissan dealership for years and the factory field technician (corporate paid tech that travels to different dealerships to help with problem cars) told us directly that it was cheaper for Nissan to replace all of the CVT's we were swapping out under warranty to meet fuel standards than to pay the fee the government would charge if they didn't meet the standards.
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u/LostInTheSeaweeds 8h ago
Part of the problem here is that some of the "farkles" are legally mandated.
There is no maybe about backup cameras - they are required by federal law since 2018. Automatic braking will be required starting 2029.
We are in the process of having driver monitoring systems becoming mandated, too. That's an internally facing camera that would read your face to determine if you are good to drive. Sucks for Jim Breuer, I guess...
The touchscreen epidemic is only partially driven by the designers who watched too much Star Trek. The real cause is cost. You are required by law to have a screen already, and it's cheaper to add menus to it than make knobs and buttons.
I am not sure if this is exactly how we got here, but it sure seems like we built a ton of distractions into the driving experience, and now are trying to compensate for it with things like lane assist, auto cruise, and self-driving.
That said, there is something of a pushback to it. Slate is aiming to be exactly that - as basic a car as you could possibly want, a small work truck with nothing included except what the law requires. r/slateauto
I want one. I don't know how many other people do, though.
The unreliability, by the way, is also an unintended consequence of regulation. The fuel economy requirements keep tightening, but the IC engine is really pretty close to the limit of how efficient it can be. So, the manufacturers have to use tricks like displacement on demand (shutting off cylinders), auto stop/start (the thing that shuts off your engine when you stop at a light), thinner oils. And those are the things that make engines not last. This is the same thing that makes transmissions unreliable. Fuel economy requirements are driving increases in the number of gear ratios. Transmissions used to be 4-5 speed, now 8-9 is common. A transmission can only be so big, and more gears in the same space makes for mechanically weaker designs. CVT transmissions spread for the same reason. CVTs that are not belt-type are too heavy and expensive, and the common belt CVT doesn't last. They work great on scooters, but scaled to car size not so much.