Computer screens on car dashboards.

[Morrisman]

Just before I turned 70 , I hired a Ford Transit stretch Luton with tail lift to move my daughter & her hubby to a new house , almost every time I stopped for traffic ,lights or anything else the sodding thing stopped . It didn't fire up again when I pressed the accelerator . I was left to resort to key starting it each time , Pity I didn't realise the problem before I drove off the hire forecourt at 08.00 hrs.

Thinking back..... Was it that I needed to apply the hand brake on the flat & have it in neutral then just press the accelerator to start before engaging gear ?

Come on guys give me a clue.... even though I'm now considered too old to hire such a vehicle ever again in the UK due to not being able to get insurance , I'd still like to understand what went wrong.

I picked up a hire car at Manchester once, a decade ago. Drove off, a bit weary after 25 hours travel, got a few miles, and it shut off at the traffic lights. Instant panic, what to do, who to call.... I was momentarily clueless what had happened, but in a dark far corner of my brain I remembered hearing somebody talk about an auto shut down gimmick, so I pressed the clutch in and the motor fired up instantly. Phew.....

My current Mondeo has the same system, and I used to press the button to disable it every time I got in the car. Then it stopped working all by itself.

 

[daleyd]

My car and the missus car both have touchscreen, as have a few of our previous vehicles (though mine has twiddly knobs for temp, hers has some weird touch slider things which are not great but get better the more familiar you are with them). I don’t find it any more/less distracting than older cars, once you know where things are it becomes second nature to navigate around.

They also both have a customisable home page so you put all the stuff on there that you regularly use.

If there’s a need to adjust something and you are unsure then just wait until you stop at lights/junction/in traffic to do it, or pull over if your terminally nervous. Most of the stuff that is hidden under menus is stuff that you wouldn’t adjust during normal driving anyway…

 

[Bullet2012]

My car and the missus car both have touchscreen, as have a few of our previous vehicles (though mine has twiddly knobs for temp, hers has some weird touch slider things which are not great but get better the more familiar you are with them). I don’t find it any more/less distracting than older cars, once you know where things are it becomes second nature to navigate around.

They also both have a customisable home page so you put all the stuff on there that you regularly use.

If there’s a need to adjust something and you are unsure then just wait until you stop at lights/junction/in traffic to do it, or pull over if your terminally nervous. Most of the stuff that is hidden under menus is stuff that you wouldn’t adjust during normal driving anyway…

Do you have a beard and smoke a pipe ?

 

[daleyd]

Do you have a beard and smoke a pipe ?

Sometimes and I have done

 

[Kayos]

Second journey completed, deaths and casualties, directly or indirectly caused by the touch screen are zero.
Managed to change the radio station, adjust the AC and even tried sport mode

It is no more difficult to operate than manual controls or buttons, infact with the feedback it is (in my opinion of course) even easier, as everything is in the same central location
I have even used the steering wheel buttons, they have good haptic feedback

It's shocking that modern technology has improved things, who'd have thought it?

 

[Wozzaaah]

This thread is akin to this sort of conversation: "Do you like black pudding?" "No" "Have you ever tried it?" "No, but I know I don't like it".

 

[jerrytug]

This thread is akin to this sort of conversation: "Do you like black pudding?" "No" "Have you ever tried it?" "No, but I know I don't like it".

I'm using an iPad, have done for years. Being forced to use it to control a fast-moving vehicle though, would be totally insane.

 

[Kayos]

I'm using an iPad, have done for years. Being forced to use it to control a fast-moving vehicle though, would be totally insane.

I have been "forced" as it were, not my choice of car.
However, it is perfectly safe, and begs the question, have you actually driven a car with a touch screen?

 

[reb78]

Mum has a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a 2015 model. The touchscreen on that is the busiest place on earth. I just cant use it when I am driving. I am sure there are better designs but even changing the radio station is impossible. As for finding the radio controls if you are on the climate control screen, I think it would need you to pull over first! It has controls on the back of the steering wheel for the radio - i.e. you can feel the buttons with your fingertips wrapped around the wheel, but its just a random button pressing exercise as its impossible to look at the back of the steering wheel while driving to see what the buttons are labelled to do! I dont drive it often enough to remember!

 

[atomant48]

hmm... yeah that works

Brilliant ! Reminds me of a lift in a hotel in Seville we used to stay at a lot. The floor numbers were in the lobby outside the lift. The number of people that rushed in as the doors were closing then realised ….they had to endure a trip to the top floor then back down again, get out in the lobby ….

Was a solution to a problem that never existed !

 

[minimutly]

Looks like this thread is for people with entrenched opinions (maybe based on experience?) and too much time on their hands?
Time someone kicked it into touch
Edit to add - the whole thing is the fault of the current Tory government, should never have taken us out of the Eu, which is the best thing ever to happen to a bunch of disconnected, disparate countries based around a greedy French nation (nothing new there), a German state who are (is?) desperate to rule Europe, totally shafting Greece in the process.
There, that should do it....

 

[Robotstar5]

This thread is akin to this sort of conversation: "Do you like black pudding?" "No" "Have you ever tried it?" "No, but I know I don't like it".

Sounds like Mrs Robo, her usual answer is "don't like the look of it so won't try it"

 

[jerrytug]

I have been "forced" as it were, not my choice of car.
However, it is perfectly safe, and begs the question, have you actually driven a car with a touch screen?

Your questions are answered in post #1.

 

[atomant48]

Interesting thread (just skimmed though most of it). Couple points.

Tesla is not “fully” controlled by the “iPad”. Things like indicators, gear selector, wipers (yes!), cruise control, radio are generally on stalks or steering wheel. The concept though is heavily towards things being automatic - lights, wipers (to some extent….!), park brake, demist, seat and mirror settings, cruise control, are all just “on in the background”. Is the touch screen distracting ? Yep i think it can be - particularly when an eager kid in the passenger seat is flicking through apps! But a bit like when we all realised how distracting mobile phones or iPods were (remember those !?) you have to be disciplined. I do flick onto the energy page while I’m driving and will select a playlist on Spotify but those are momentarily like any other car in my view.

The speed not being right in front of you is also not a problem as the cruise control (incidentally engaged by one action unlike most “normal” cars) automatically sets to the local speed limit (it’s very similar to the system on a modern BMW GS if anyone has one of them). I find it extremely intuitive. FWIW regards the front/rear defrost settings (in my view) are the same as most modern cars in that they switch off after a certain time - so again, hard to argue it is distracting to go into the screen settings (you turn them on before leaving your driveway right?).

Finally regarding the herc early on in the thread …. At least they were on centre line. The “alarm going off in their ears”…. Well, that was part of the issue !

 

[jerrytug]

Looks like this thread is for people with entrenched opinions (maybe based on experience?) and too much time on their hands?
Time someone kicked it into touch
Edit to add - the whole thing is the fault of the current Tory government, should never have taken us out of the Eu, which is the best thing ever to happen to a bunch of disconnected, disparate countries based around a greedy French nation (nothing new there), a German state who are (is?) desperate to rule Europe, totally shafting Greece in the process.
There, that should do it....

Er, you are contributing to it....

 

[Kayos]

Your questions are answered in post #1.

Yes but have YOU ever driven a modern car, with a touchscreen?

Post one is several paragraphs of meandering diatribe

 

[minimutly]

SHOUTING now are we? that will get the padlocks out....

 

[Kayos]

SHOUTING now are we? that will get the padlocks out....

Easiest way to emphasise on my phone, bit of a luddite if I'm honest

This thread is akin to this sort of conversation: "Do you like black pudding?" "No" "Have you ever tried it?" "No, but I know I don't like it".

Sums it up perfectly if I'm honest

 

[Wozzaaah]

17 pages of drivel and I can't see anything good ever coming out of it now so I think it probably is time to call it a day.
Sorry all.