you need an identity to charge an electric vehicle and the various how’s/why’s… also cause you can have a problem so the hire people must have to get on their training schedule
My 2003 mini van tells me how many miles to empty, around 70 miles a low fuel warning comes on. Around 20 miles left it says you’re on your own you idiot.
I haven’t run out of gas in years but it’s exciting trying not to.
When I put 21 gallons in my 20 gallon tank I know it was close.
Of course if I run out I won’t be locked in.
I just read a story about AAA testing tow vehicles that can provide emergency charges just like delivering gas when someone runs out.
Back in my day, we just called this “The Door Handle.” Of all thinks to make electronic…My trunk on my 2018 Nissan Rogue didn’t latch correctly and then refused to open. After watching youtube for a half hour I found one that suggested unhooking the battery and reconnecting it. It worked, but a fucking handle/latch would have been fucking appreciated. At least the hood latch is still manual or I would’ve been well and truly fucked.
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This is why I hope to never have to drive a car with anything but a mechanical linkage for the steering and brakes. Seeing vehicles malfunction because of software problems is terrifying. If malicious actors could get involved I would never drive again.
My job over the last six or so years has involved driving lots of different cars, probably numbering into the hundreds, and the expansion of touchscreens for practically every function has concerned me greatly. It’s illegal in many countries to use a touchscreen mobile phone while driving or even sitting in a car with the motor running, and yet exactly the same technology is now required to drive cars. How is this any different? Having to try to find a non-tactile button to first switch to a different function, like from the radio to heater/demist, and then operate different modes for fan and temperature, again without having anything tactile to tell you where the switches are is utterly unacceptable, and downright dangerous.
I’m sure someone will say, well, just set everything before setting off, but that’s equally unacceptable, because circumstances change all the time.
And what do you do if the entire screen fails while you’re driving? It can and does happen, like the Mercedes A-Series that was being driven out of QC following bodywork repair, and the entire dashboard went black. Imagine that on a motorway at 70mph late at night…
I chose my current car for a number of reasons, but an important one was that it only has a touchscreen for the radio and satnav, the dash is entirely analogue, and the radio and environment controls are large knobs that can be operated by touch without looking, even with gloves on.
The screen briefly displays the volume and fan/temperature, but that’s not necessary, for reasons that should be fairly obvious!
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I ask myself that constantly.
It’s illegal in BC to even touch your phone while in the car, yet Teslas are driving around with their operators staring down at the screen trying to find a button… So far I’ve managed to avoid cars that use touch screens for anything more than playing podcasts, but that may not last much longer. I hate the feeling of needing to take my eyes off the road to look down at controls. It feels dangerous (because it is). I wish everyone was equally bothered by that.
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No joke: the Mercedes SLS with gullwing doors really did have explosive bolts to help free the door in the event of an accident.
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Does it have special reserve power to scold you?
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RTFM, kids.
Car rental companies don’t give you the manual. I’ve spent weeks in rental cars with controls that I could not suss out.
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If you use it during normal operation you will get an alert that you could damage the window.
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So in a rental car why aren’t instructions, the ones needed in an emergency, prominently displayed or at least on the back of sun visor and then you’re told where those instructions are.
Also, how hard would it be to have an isolated battery that’s only used in an emergency to power essential things like the door locks?
Anyone remember this on the sun visor?
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My family were talking about this the other day. “Dial” a phone was a favourite.
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