@ai6yr I actually just got rid my mine. Ever since they released that stupid “curvature assist” mine was slamming on the brakes on the highway with nothing on the road. Imagine, going from 75/80 to 28 in less than a second and fearing some semi truck could plow right through you.. Multiple tickets to teport the issue and there was no fix. They would tell me my car is fine and that’s “just how it is”…
@beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr So should the rather milder features that *all* modern cars seem to have where they try to wrench the steering wheel out of your hands.
(Though at least with non-Teslas you are actually likely to still have your hands on the steering wheel in the first place.)
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
I had to rent 6 different cars in 2024 and I learned pretty quickly that the ones with the "automatic safety" features were by far the worst and in some instances, dangerous.
I will drive my 2017 vehicle until it can't drive anymore.
@AnnieBuddy @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr The "automatic safety" in the minivan we rented this summer was a HAZARD. It would auto-brake if you tried to reverse, and it eventually locked the brakes we had to get it towed, lol. It ended up a common problem, based on the tow truck driver having JUST COME from another mini van with the same problem, and the rental car company said "yeah, they do that"
@ai6yr @AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr I mentioned a rental car wrenching the steering wheel out of my hands and the rental company guy said "yeah, they do that".
@TimWardCam @ai6yr @beatricejess @kylferr
I had one that did that on a very windy mountain road. It couldn't understand the sharp turns in the road and kept fighting me. In the night, in the rain, and I'm driving an unfamiliar road. Fun times!
Another one couldn't see oncoming traffic around those hills and so the automatic high beams would blind oncoming traffic.
This is something people need to know, especially if they are not driving one of these vehicles.
@AnnieBuddy @ai6yr @beatricejess @kylferr Somebody must have spent time and money and effort designing and building these dangerous features.
WHY???
And how come they're allowed, aren't there any regulators?
(The answer to the second question is clearly "no", otherwise there wouldn't be cars that require you to take your eyes off the road to look at touch screens.)
@TimWardCam @ai6yr @beatricejess @kylferr
Why? To sell cars to lazy people.
Lazy is abdicating your responsibility to pay attention. I see it everywhere today.
@AnnieBuddy @ai6yr @beatricejess @kylferr But these features impose MORE work on the driver, not less!
@TimWardCam @ai6yr @beatricejess @kylferr
Most people don't realize that until they have bought or leased it.
@AnnieBuddy @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr There is a lot of that "abdicating your responsibility to pay attention". I see that a lot with Tesla drivers (shudder)
@ai6yr @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr
Amazingly (to me, anyway) is there is a direct correlation between people who will abdicate their driving to a Tesla autopilot, being the same people who would fight tooth and nail if you suggested they take a train or public transportation.
@AnnieBuddy @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr There's a correlation, for sure. Used to be it was the early adopter eco/climate people, and now it definitely has shifted to be the tech-bro friendly folks.
@ai6yr @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr
Who don't want to mix with the regular folk - or be mistaken for one.
this is the point to all the tech bro shit. to remove interactions with people. as an autistic person I get the urge to not interact but we all still need each other, as a society, to function.
@AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr Some of the automatic "safety" features can be turned off, if you spend long enough reading the hundreds of pages of manual. But the ****ing things switch themselves back on each time you start the car.
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
My car has brake assist, but the hilarious thing is that the sensor cannot see if the sun (or highbearms) is shining directly at it, which coincidentally when I am also most likely to be blinded and maybe need assistance. Good thing I adjust my driving rather than rely on it.
@AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr I chickened out of landing an aeroplane once when the sun was directly in my eyes. Once I was stable in the go-around the instructor, who had been silent so far, said "we could just fly around for half an hour until the sun goes below the horizon". (Yeah, sure we could, at £3/minute or whatever it was.)
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
That's scary. Glad you landed safely!
@AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
Wasn't scary. In fact I've never been scared when flying. OK, so when taking off with no other pilot in the aircraft there's always that feeling that "hey, the only way I'm going to be alive in an hour's time is if I don't fuck up", but the clever trick is not to say it out loud if you've got passengers.
I think basically I trust my training, plus what I've learned from reading the accident reports, etc.
Like the time there was a smell of burning shortly after take-off. What instantly came to mind was the pilot who misdiagnosed an engine fire (in their case it was actually an electrical fire), turned the engine off, crashed into houses and died. So, bearing this in mind, I did nothing. At all. For seconds and seconds and seconds. Whilst I thought about it.
And eventually I worked out that this was probably the first time this autumn that it was cold enough for anyone to have turned the cabin heating on in this aircraft, so the burning smell was a summer's worth of dust heating up in the heating system.
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
""hey, the only way I'm going to be alive in an hour's time is if I don't fuck up", but the clever trick is not to say it out loud if you've got passengers."
😂 😂 😂
@AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr One does do some expectation management. Part of the passenger briefing is:
"If I talk to myself don't worry about it - this is a habit you get into during training, so that the instructor knows what you're doing, and many pilots do it.
"If I swear at myself there's still probably nothing for you to worry about. It probably just means that I've done something slightly less neatly than I think I should be capable of."
But I did have a passenger worry when I made a bog standard radio call "final touch and go". The passenger thought that "touch and go" indicated that were was something dodgy about what I was doing - that's not what it means.
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
The scariest flights I have been on where those where I could see what the pilots were doing.
Like the time the pilot started casually tapping on a gauge while we were in flight.
@AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr 🤣
I guess you can get sticky gauges, though I've never had one. Such an instrument should probably be placarded as U/S until it can be fixed, I'd have thought.
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
It must be awesome to be able to fly, though.
@AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr The problem tends to be
* when you're young you don't have the money
* when you're mid career you don't have the time
* when you're old you can't get the medical
@TimWardCam @AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr I don't drive or pilot, but one morning I was crossing a road that ran directly east to west, as is common, and I realized the rising sun lined up directly with the road, just at the morning commute, so that any drivers driving east into the city would be blinded and unable to see me crossing, or anything else for that matter, and drivers going the other way would be unable to look at their rear-view mirrors. And I thought this situation must be very common but I rarely see it mentioned.
@foolishowl @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
It is an issue, that's for sure. I always wear sunglasses, but that isn't a guarantee that I will see someone if they are in the middle of the road, or even traffic lights sometimes. So the rule is drive according to the conditions, and if you're a pedestrian or cyclist, be aware that you may not be visible, too.
I am a pedestrian/cyclist more than a driver, so I try to be wary, and respectful of all road users, but
don't jaywalk!!
@AnnieBuddy @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr I've lost track of the number of times I've had to dodge out of the way of a car that was driving through a crosswalk when the lights showed it was time for pedestrians to cross.
@foolishowl @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
Yes, most drivers should not be driving.
@AnnieBuddy @foolishowl @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr Yes, it would be interesting to apply piloting standards to being allowed to drive - it would certainly eliminate congestion!
Trouble is that bad drivers have votes.
Oct 22, 2026, 8:30 PM
@AnnieBuddy @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr The Bendix semi-truck version will sometimes slam the brakes for signs over the interstate.
Same system in all brands of truck, they just started integrating the control right into the ECU where it used to be a separate control... so they all do it.
I have also had a bunch of autumn leaves slam on the brake... 🍂
@MontgomeryGator @TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
This is why I always leave a car length for every 10km I am travelling on the highway. You just never know.
This should be a PSA for all drivers to be wary
@AnnieBuddy @MontgomeryGator @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr When I learned to drive I was taught that if I went into the guy in front it was my fault. The guy in front is always entitled to do an emergency stop for some reason which I can't see.
@TimWardCam @MontgomeryGator @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
** even if it is a hazard like a Tesla in autopilot
@AnnieBuddy
wow
that's fascinating.
i've no idea of such things other than understand they exist.
yet, i would have expected lidar or such, rather than optical sensing.
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
We're going to need a pre-drive checklist.
@AnnieBuddy @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr Yeah, to turn all the crap off. I've been coming to that conclusion too ... I think it's something I'll draw up for my next holiday, which will involve several hire cars.
One item you need for modern cars, which you didn't need for "traditional" ones, is "how to start the engine?"
If you're driving the car away from the hire company that's not a problem. But it *is* a problem if they deliver it to you and you don't try to use it until the next day (in the dark, inevitably).
@TimWardCam @beatricejess @kylferr @ai6yr
Make sure to check where your gas tank release button is. I spent 15 minutes searching and finally found it on the door of one car.
@beatricejess @ai6yr
To make matters worse, only had on Traffic Aware Cruise Control with everything off except lane departure warning as a just in case. Which is supposed to be a lighter version auto pilot/steer. Mine didn’t even have full self driving (FSD), just something you have to live with. I would have appreciated the option to at least turn it off.
@kylferr 😱