Random Irritations

Blue in Munich

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The irritating safety features of modern cars. Broad daylight, sunny day, and can I get rid of the “Please switch on your dipped headlights“ warning?

The issue isn’t so much with having the headlights on, it is the fact that the car has now decided it is dark and dims the dash and satnav screens making them harder to read.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Its a guess at the end of the day, to varying degrees of certainty depending on how close to the day it is. On all accounts, if you assume tomorrows weather will be the same as todays youll be more accurate than most weather forecasts :)

If they had to post degrees of certainty no one would bother looking lol. Best looking at the radar yourself imho :)
I was told that a good way to guess what is likely weather-wise is that in the UK for two days out of three the weather tomorrow will be the same as it is today. So - down here in Sometime Sunny Surrey, yesterday was lovely and today is lovely, so tomorrow it won’t be.
 

RichA

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My wife uses the BBC weather app. I use the rather pessimistically named Dark Skies.
From experience, when mine says there's a 15% chance of 0.1mm of precipitation at some point on any given day, the headline symbol on hers is a dark cloud with raindrops.
 

USER1999

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The irritating safety features of modern cars. Broad daylight, sunny day, and can I get rid of the “Please switch on your dipped headlights“ warning?

The issue isn’t so much with having the headlights on, it is the fact that the car has now decided it is dark and dims the dash and satnav screens making them harder to read.

It still bugs me that if I am reversing, and open the door, the par puts itself into park, and you stop very suddenly. I can then put it back into reverse, with all the associated warnings. There are times when parking that hanging out of the door is useful.
 

USER1999

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Reversing camera may help ?

Got one. Don't trust it due to distortion. Fine if you want to park 12" away, but not if you want 2" away. Don't trust the sensors, as they don't pick up very low walls, or railway sleepers. Where I park at the flat, the low wall is actually under the rear bumper a bit, but I need to park this close as the spaces are not designed for 5m plus cars.
The car can self park, and I don't trust that either.
Often the trouble with the camera distortion is magnified by the wing mirror cameras. The car is pretty long, and the cameras let the rear wings get very very close to impact before picking up, when 'on screen' there is loads of space.
 

Swinglowandslow

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Got one. Don't trust it due to distortion. Fine if you want to park 12" away, but not if you want 2" away. Don't trust the sensors, as they don't pick up very low walls, or railway sleepers. Where I park at the flat, the low wall is actually under the rear bumper a bit, but I need to park this close as the spaces are not designed for 5m plus cars.
The car can self park, and I don't trust that either.
Often the trouble with the camera distortion is magnified by the wing mirror cameras. The car is pretty long, and the cameras let the rear wings get very very close to impact before picking up, when 'on screen' there is loads of space.

Well ,let it get you to 12 inches away and then get to your 2 inches the same way you did before you had a camera. Why moan about an aid that has limitations but makes it easier to do some things than it was before.
No one expects it to eliminate all difficulties, surely??
 

USER1999

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Well ,let it get you to 12 inches away and then get to your 2 inches the same way you did before you had a camera. Why moan about an aid that has limitations but makes it easier to do some things than it was before.
No one expects it to eliminate all difficulties, surely??

How I did it before was to open the door. Now, I have to remember to stop, open the door, and put it back in reverse. I then get warning dings, alerts on the dash, etc, which are all distracting.
 

pauljames87

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How I did it before was to open the door. Now, I have to remember to stop, open the door, and put it back in reverse. I then get warning dings, alerts on the dash, etc, which are all distracting.

So it's tech fault you can reverse without the door open? ??

Mirrors..

How would you reverse round a corner...

Keep that door open ?
 

rudebhoy

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Absymal customer service from Premier Inn.

Need to stay overnight in Leeds next week. Booked hotel 3 weeks ago and got ermail confirmation.

Phoned them up yesterday to find out how parking worked (they have a discounted arrangement with a nearby multi storey). Got answering machine message saying "due to COVID restrictions, this hotel is currently closed and will reopen on 17 May. Went on website and sure enough, it was now impossible to book a room next week - although I could book at their other Leeds hotels.

Phoned up their call centre to check, and they confirmed it was closed. I asked why I wasn't notified, didn't get an answer. Was told they had now cancelled my booking, I'd get an email confirmation straight away and a refund.

So, if I hadn't phoned to check the parking, I'd have turned up at the hotel at 7pm next week to find it closed and me stuck in Leeds without a room.

BTW - It's now 24 hours later and no sign of the "immediate" cancellation email either.
 

Swinglowandslow

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The irritating safety features of modern cars. Broad daylight, sunny day, and can I get rid of the “Please switch on your dipped headlights“ warning?

The issue isn’t so much with having the headlights on, it is the fact that the car has now decided it is dark and dims the dash and satnav screens making them harder to read.

Yes, I know what you mean. It took me a while to find the master switch to switch off the Lane "straying" bleep warning. Every time I crossed a white line ( dotted or solid) it would sound off.
There are going to be problems about this when we have driverless cars, if there isn't a rethink.
On our main road, there are cycle lanes marked out from each edge. They take up quite a chunk of the road width. These markings are indicators, I know, rather than no go areas (a la bus lanes). But you wouldn't think so, seeing some drivers. Been some near misses as cars pass each other.
Now, if this bleep technology about lane straying, which at the moment is advisory, is taken to driverless cars, I think there will be a problem.It could be that the computer will use no discretion and the cars will be kept out of the (cycle ) lanes at all times?
Of course, this is many years away, but driving has always allowed discretion ,being human controlled, but when it's a computer.........?
 

pauljames87

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Yes, I know what you mean. It took me a while to find the master switch to switch off the Lane "straying" bleep warning. Every time I crossed a white line ( dotted or solid) it would sound off.
There are going to be problems about this when we have driverless cars, if there isn't a rethink.
On our main road, there are cycle lanes marked out from each edge. They take up quite a chunk of the road width. These markings are indicators, I know, rather than no go areas (a la bus lanes). But you wouldn't think so, seeing some drivers. Been some near misses as cars pass each other.
Now, if this bleep technology about lane straying, which at the moment is advisory, is taken to driverless cars, I think there will be a problem.It could be that the computer will use no discretion and the cars will be kept out of the (cycle ) lanes at all times?
Of course, this is many years away, but driving has always allowed discretion ,being human controlled, but when it's a computer.........?

My car does a lovely jolt of the steering wheel when you move out of lane to move you back into lane lol

Works most of time ie if you change lanes without signaling

However sometimes it doesn't which doesn't help driverless talk

Need complete upgrade of roads to actually not be rubbish
 

USER1999

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So it's tech fault you can reverse without the door open? ??

Mirrors..

How would you reverse round a corner...

Keep that door open ?

Do I really have to explain again?

I do it to avoid driving backwards into concrete blocks or railway sleepers that the sensors do not pick up, in a specific instance parking at my flat.

An exhaust for my car would be mega bucks, so I would have to be a flipping idiot to write it off on a railway sleeper.
 

pauljames87

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Do I really have to explain again?

I do it to avoid driving backwards into concrete blocks or railway sleepers that the sensors do not pick up, in a specific instance parking at my flat.

An exhaust for my car would be mega bucks, so I would have to be a flipping idiot to write it off on a railway sleeper.

Do you mirrors not work?

Have you tried the simple solution of installing a little ramp that will hit your wheels when you reach it so you know when to stop ... Placed a safe distance from the sleepers?
 

USER1999

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Do you mirrors not work?

Have you tried the simple solution of installing a little ramp that will hit your wheels when you reach it so you know when to stop ... Placed a safe distance from the sleepers?

You can't see the sleepers that well in the mirrors due to the distorted view, and the size of the car, and as it's not my parking space, they are communal, modifying it is not an option.

The sleepers are there because other muppets used to reverse into the fence.
In other places, there is a rockery, which the sensors don't pick up either.
 

pauljames87

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You can't see the sleepers that well in the mirrors due to the distorted view, and the size of the car, and as it's not my parking space, they are communal, modifying it is not an option.

The sleepers are there because other muppets used to reverse into the fence.
In other places, there is a rockery, which the sensors don't pick up either.

Move your mirrors when you park? Thought all posh cars lowered mirrors when in R
 
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