The other day I locked myself out of my car. It was still running, and low on gas. I must have inadvertently pressed down on the lock button as I was exiting the car. I quickly looked at the other doors and of course, they were all locked too. It wasn’t because I locked them myself. It was because my car has an “auto-lock” safety feature that annoys me at least 20 times a week. As soon as I put my car in drive, it goes around and locks all my doors. Man, is that maddening, especially on a cold day with an armful of stuff to put in it.
To make a long story short, my husband comes with the spare key which is not a key at all and hits the unlock button. Guess what, it doesn’t unlock. Darnit, this must be some other safety feature but I have yet to understand it’s purpose. At this point, my car’s been running on empty for 1/2 hour, I have my spare key and I still can’t get into my car. The key is not really a key at all, so I can’t go about doing it the old fashioned way. I frustratedly look at my door again and see a real keyhole on the door. Then I remembered that one time my all in one remote unlocker/car starter thingee fell apart and revealed an actual key inside. After a little figuring, I finally unleashed the key from within and unlocked my door. The story ends happily. I did not run out of gas and I decided to take the day off from work because it was a floating holiday anyway.
This little episode made me think of all the gimmicky technology features that I can really live without. Part of me doesn’t like the ecological impact, but part of me thinks these things are just a nuisance that don’t serve the purpose well. Today, I’m only going to focus on cars, but I already have a list in my head of household products too.
So here’s my personal list:
Sensors
Do any of the sensors that are put on cars actually serve a practical purpose besides costing you an expensive trip to the mechanic? Most of the time, the car still runs even if the sensor is bad, yet, you still have to be concerned when that ! signal shows up on your dashboard because it could be something much worse.
While we’re talking about sensors, my passenger airbag sensor is way too sensitive. I really can’t fathom why sitting my briefcase on the seat would sound off that annoying “your seatbelt is not on” beep. Even supermodels weigh more than my briefcase. You know what sensor would be useful, one that told me when my headlight is out. To this day, I still rely on some nice person to walk up to me and let me know.
Power Packages
I don’t know a person who’s had a late model car with power features that hasn’t had their sunroof or window get stuck in the open position. Yeah, power windows are nice, but it’s just one more thing to repair. If I were on a budget, I’d want my car to be as break proof as possible. The first car I bought (Toyota Corolla), had a manual transmission, crank windows and old fashioned locks. It didn’t even have a trunk light. I loved that car. It was so good to me. When I was poor, I didn’t want extra things breaking on me and I sure didn’t want to be paying for them either. Nowadays a lot of these features come standard and you don’t even have a choice anymore but pay for this stuff. I now have grown accustomed to these features and like them, but I still think the manual options should be an option to accomodate the thrifty crowd.
The Panic Button on my Keychain
I wish this were optional. The only time it’s ever used is when my toddler fishes through my purse and finds my keys. He knows exactly what that red button does and feels truimphant anytime he manages to set the alarm off before I catch him with the keys. On my last keychain, it was in a strange spot and I always hit it instead of my unlock button. It got so annoying that I researched if there was some easy way to disable it. I did find one way, but I ended up disabling my whole key chain in the process.
Carpeting in Family Vehicles
Back in 2008, my husband finally got his dream car, the Honda Element. That car has no carpeting which is brilliant. It’s SO easy to clean. You can literally hose it out if you want to. I suppose carpets look nice in the showrooms but it doesn’t take long before those carpets are covered with winter slush and have Cheerios and fruit snacks stuck to them. At the very least carpets should be optional and/or have a darker color to choose from. One car I ordered I picked the grey carpeting and when I got it, I thought I got the wrong car because it was almost white. Nope, that was their version of grey. What a nightmare that car was to keep clean.
I suppose I should also write about the few favorite things on cars that don’t always come standard.
FEATURES I LIKE
Fold Down Back Seats – I remember one of the company cars I had did not have this feature. I inherited it from another salesperson and I was very dismayed when I was trying to bring home some big item and the back seat didn’t fold down. I finally found out was an optional feature that you had to pay extra for it. I’d happily trade a sensor or two for a latch for my backseat.
Child Safety Locks – This is the manual button you press on your door to keep the back doors from getting unlocked and opened from the inside. This is much less annoying than the auto lock safety feature and you still can open the doors from the outside if you want to put something in the car.
Extra Power Outlets – Although I love that newer cars have more than one power plug, I don’t understand why cars just can’t have a regular power plug instead of the cigarette lighter technology. I mean how many people do you know who even have a cigarette lighter attachment in their car anymore?
Well, that’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure I’m missing a few. Let me know you’re favorite and least favorite car features. I’m very much a practical utilitarian car buyer. I don’t care about power, how it looks or bells and whistles. I just want it to be practical, reliable, get good gas mileage and perform well in the snow. I really don’t care about how fast I can go from 0-60 but that’s just me.
Leave a Reply