My Nissan Leaf has automatic wipers and lights, and over the past couple of months I've driven a number of other newish cars with the same
functions... and I've come to he conclusion that auto wipers and lights are rubbish!
The headlights come on when I drive under a bridge, and go off shortly after - to oncoming traffic it must look like I'm flashing them. Also, if
the weather's a bit gloomy, the car will decide to put the headlights on, then off, then on again, etc. I can't turn them totally off
either - it's "auto", "sidelights" or "headlights", no "off" position. All the other cars I've
driven recently were equally poor. My Leaf has the extra novelty of automatic dipping when set to auto and it detects oncoming traffic - but the high
beam doesn't come back on until about 10 seconds after the other car has passed, leaving me driving on dark roads with insufficient lighting.
As for the wipers - I can turn them fully off, but there's no longer an intermittent wipe position - it's "auto" only. Works OK
(mostly) but there are often times where the screen is covered with drops of water and the wipers don't operate, and on other occasions the
wipers are working on a dry screen and making a rubbing noise. Quite often I end up using the single wipe at regular intervals, rather than the auto
setting. I had no problem using the traditional intermittent wipe in the past.
To me, these seem like gadgets for the sake of having gadgets. I wouldn't call them "safety features", as I consider them to be
annoying and needless distractions. Am I alone in this? Do other people like them, or hate them?
My 12 year old SAAB has both of those features as did most of the Peugeots from the late 90's early 00's that I owned.
They aren't modern gadgets. Just sounds like Nissan aren't very good at making them.
I've got both on my 10year old Mondeo and both work fine and the light don’t flash on/off driving under bridges. It sounds light Nissans switching parameters need tweaking
I recently drove a Vauxhall SUV thing (instantly forgettable model name*) and that was just as bad. Also, in the past, I had a Ford Focus that also
drove me nuts with its lights and wipers.
Maybe it's just me - but would be so hard to put an off position on the light switch, and an old-fashioned intermittent position on the
wipers?
* Just looked it up - it was called the " Vauxhall Crossland X". No wonder I forgot it! Amazing amount of power out of a turbo 1200cc
petrol engine though.
David,
You already gave the Vauxhall SUV name -I was thinking of the equally forgettable "Mokka".
Electric parking brakes, stop/start engines, self locking doors and having to put your foot on the clutch to start are just a few of my pet hates, ask anyone who works on cars especially if they are using a two post lift.
You're not alone - I have a 3 series with these features and they are great, I also had a Mondeo with them and again never an issue. However the turd of an Alfa I had before that would put it's wipers on full tilt on a lovely dry sunny day for no reason and yet you could be hurtling down the motorway in the rain and they'd be doing nothing. The lights were equally unpredictable!
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
Electric parking brakes, stop/start engines, self locking doors and having to put your foot on the clutch to start are just a few of my pet hates, ask anyone who works on cars especially if they are using a two post lift.
Central locking that activates as you pull off really annoys me to the point I've had main dealer disable the feature on several cars now.
I have this feature on my BMW,
It works well for the most part...
Being a BMW...not a clue how the indicators work.....
With Jaguar automatics (and probably other marques), having to press the brake to engage/disengage gears when in stop/start crawling traffic (e.g.
most of the M6/M5 from Merseyside to Worcester!) whilst grappling with a rotating selector knob and a 'flip switch' for a handbrake!
Michael.
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Central locking that activates as you pull off really annoys me to the point I've had main dealer disable the feature on several cars now.
Seat Leon I had for a while came with it switched on by default. What annoyed me was when I stopped at the rail station to collect my wife the doors stayed locked unless I fiddled about to unlock them. The Seat dealer told me it was a "security" feature (I presume to stop random people opening the doors at traffic lights). It just seemed a real annoyance to me personally.
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Seat Leon I had for a while came with it switched on by default. What annoyed me was when I stopped at the rail station to collect my wife the doors stayed locked unless I fiddled about to unlock them. The Seat dealer told me it was a "security" feature (I presume to stop random people opening the doors at traffic lights). It just seemed a real annoyance to me personally.
My Mazda has all those and they generally work great except the stop start which is flawless EXCEPT when I drive into a car park, pull up and want to
listen to the radio without the engine running for 5 mins.
For whatever reason it will not stop the engine in this scenario. I'm doing exactly the same as on a road - footbrake on, in neutral, clutch up,
but the engine doesn't stop.
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Seat Leon I had for a while came with it switched on by default. What annoyed me was when I stopped at the rail station to collect my wife the doors stayed locked unless I fiddled about to unlock them. The Seat dealer told me it was a "security" feature (I presume to stop random people opening the doors at traffic lights). It just seemed a real annoyance to me personally.
I've found that if you have had the windscreen replaced and not to the same original OEM standards then the auto lights and auto wipers never work as well as they should!
I dread to think how much a replacement windscreen would cost on my Leaf - there's all sorts of gubbins peeking through the top of the screen...
quote:
Originally posted by McLannahan
I've found that if you have had the windscreen replaced and not to the same original OEM standards then the auto lights and auto wipers never work as well as they should!
quote:
Originally posted by Daf
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Seat Leon I had for a while came with it switched on by default. What annoyed me was when I stopped at the rail station to collect my wife the doors stayed locked unless I fiddled about to unlock them. The Seat dealer told me it was a "security" feature (I presume to stop random people opening the doors at traffic lights). It just seemed a real annoyance to me personally.
Surely keeping the wife locked out is a good thing?
