Beware of high tech running amok

Beware of high tech running amok

Some features are nutty, unnecessary or maybe both

Frank Aukofer
Automotive News
February 25, 2008 - 12:01 am ET

COMMENTARY

Volvo has a high-tech feature called BLIS.

But it's anything but blissful. It's mostly annoying.

And it's unnecessary, just like many of the other high-tech, high-cost and

mostly useless features being foisted on gullible buyers as manufacturers 
think up ways to sell vehicles with faddish technology for technology's 
sake.

Among them:
-- Rain-sensing windshield wipers: They usually don't work, and besides, 
what's wrong with setting the interval yourself?
-- Auto-dimming mirrors: You can't see anything but headlights at night.
-- Keyless push-button ignition systems: How about inserting a key and 
twisting it?
-- Radar cruise control: It slows you so the guy next to you can jump in
the 
lane in front of you.
-- Air-conditioned and heated seats: They're not needed if you sit on 
good-quality cloth instead of trendy leather.
-- Surround-view cameras: What's wrong with looking around?
-- Proximity warning systems: You can't tell whether it's picking up 
something in back or near the front fender.

By now everyone has heard about the BMW iDrive, a hopelessly complicated 
system to do simple things, and Comand, which got Mercedes-Benz into a lot

of quality trouble. Lexus has a self-parking system that needs about five 
times as much parking space as the average driver uses.

Some of the stuff has marginal value, like rear cameras on SUVs that can 
keep some rutabaga brain from backing over a child. And Lexus has a face 
recognition system that sounds a warning and applies the brakes for the 
idiot who is drunk or nods off. Infiniti has a lane departure system that 
sounds a chime and gently applies the brakes to bring the car back in
line.

There are some extremely worthwhile high-tech inventions, including 
stability and traction control, antilock brakes and tire-pressure 
monitoring. But some are off-the-charts silly, like BLIS and similar 
systems.

 This is BLIS?

BLIS stands for "blind spot information system." Cameras are mounted under

the outside mirrors; they pick up cars approaching on both sides from the 
rear.

When a car shows up in a supposed blind spot, a light inside on one
A-pillar 
or the other illuminates to tell the driver something he should already 
know.

It's not exclusive to Volvo. Mazda has one, and other manufacturers and 
suppliers have or are working on similar devices.

They are costly and pointless. They don't always work as advertised,
either, 
often providing false warnings.

Virtually all automobiles and trucks these days have large outside mirrors

with broad ranges of adjustments. Anyone can adjust the outside mirrors so

that blind spots do not exist.

All you have to do is adjust the left outside mirror so its right side
lines 
up with the left side of the inside mirror. And adjust the right mirror so

its left side aligns with the right side of the inside mirror.

I am continually amazed at how many engineers, designers and even some 
automotive journalists believe in blind spots. They either don't know or 
refuse to learn how to adjust their outside mirrors properly. Or maybe 
they've been brainwashed by somebody's marketing department.

In Europe, they've even institutionalized the fallacy by installing those 
ridiculous split reduction mirrors, which are supposed to eliminate blind 
spots but are mostly confusing and fortunately not legal in the United 
States.

I think the blind-spot myth was propagated by generations of driver 
education instructors who told students to adjust outside mirrors so they 
could see the sides of the car - a "reference point."

The problem is that if you adjust them that way, you get the same picture
in 
all three mirrors - and blind spots.

Then what?

So, with Volvo's $695 BLIS, a light goes on when a car approaches. What
are 
you supposed to do then? Guess where it is? Glance over your shoulder? All

of that is distracting, and distractions are the No. 1 cause of accidents.

The Mazda system, called BSM, has a page and a half of small italic type
in 
the owner's manual with warnings about how the thing might not work,
similar 
to those prescription drug advertisements on TV that warn of possible 
disablement or death if you use the product.

The best part is that it says in boldface type: "Do not rely completely on

the BSM system and be sure to look over your shoulder before changing 
lanes."

Better yet, eliminate those expensive, complicated and unnecessary 
technology-spawned systems. Reduce the price of the car and spend the
money 
on something useful, like a tush massager.