Modern technology has given us many great things in the automotive world, like a 450 HP Corvette that gets 29 MPG. It has also given us this crap.
10.) Illuminated Door Sills
These will only be entertaining until you come to the earth-shattering realization that you spent many real human dollars on adding LEDs where you scrape your dirty shoes.
Suggested By: Manwich, Photo Credit: Audi
9.) Voice Recognition
This feature would be great if it did work, but rarely does. It ends up being more frustrating than not.
Suggested By: Franz86, Photo Credit: Ford
8.) Eco Light
Flashing lights usually mean something has gone catastrophically wrong with your car – they shouldn't be used to tell you you're not driving economically enough. Stef Schrader has a few choice words about the eco light:
"Warning lights exist to tell you that you're doing something wrong, or that something is different than usual in your car. That's why you get one for low tire pressure, DSC off, transmission overheating, etc., etc. There's an item that you should be aware of.
But far more useless than "Check Engine Soon" is a light that's supposed to tell you that you're doing something right: the eco light.
As much hate as the CEL gets, it at least does the job of a warning light: tells you when something is off from normal. Either you'll want to get that checked into (particularly if you have an emissions test to pass in your area) or you'll want to tape it over with electrical tape and go on your merry way.
Eco lights don't let you know that anything is amiss, yet they flash rather distractingly in your direct line of sight on the gauge pod. It's the flashing that's the worst. Flashing lights usually mean something seriously bad is going on, not that you're merely waffling in and out a certain level of fuel consumption.
As much as we talk about distractions in the car, whoever invented a flashing warning-style light that tells you when you're driving like the car's makers would like you to drive needs to be deported to North Korea. It's the absolute worst idea ever.
BTW: the average MPG gauge will tell you that you're hypermiling well far better than a light working in real-time that goes off every time you accelerate ever, ever will."
Suggested By: Stef Schrader, Photo Credit: Stef Scrader via Oppositelock
7.) Dynamic Steering
Automakers: we don't want steering that can go artificially light for "comfort" or artificially heavy for "sport." We also don't want a steering ratio that is constantly changing, either – just give us one good setting.
Suggested By: 365Daytonafan, Photo Credit: Raphael Orlove via Jalopnik
6.) CVT Paddle Shifters
There are no set gears in a CVT, hence the 'continuously variable' name. Adding paddle shifters to a CVT kinda sorta defeats the whole purpose of having one in the first place.
Suggested By: Stig-a-saw-us-wrecks, Photo Credit: Subaru
5.) Push Button Transmission
No need to reinvent the wheel, especially when reinvention can make the wheel much less safe.
Suggested By: High Road, Photo Credit: Lincoln
4.) Lane Departure Warnings
If you think you need this on the highway, then you probably shouldn't be driving on the highway in the first place.
Suggested By: burglar can't heart click anything, Photo Credit: Mercedes-Benz
3.) Night Vision
Night vision is a seriously wonderful concept, but today's applications are useless. If these were in HUD setups, that would be one thing, but the display is on the dash, forcing you to take your eyes off the road.
This is useful really only if you need to sneak up on someone, and your name is James Bond.
Suggested By: macanamera, Photo Credit: Autoliv via Jalopnik
2.) Social Media Integration
No. No. No. You don't need to post to Twitter, Facebook, or whatever when you're driving. If you think you need this, please don't drive ever.
Suggested By: Miss Mercedes - smart Guru, Photo Credit: Mercedes-Benz
1.) Navigation/Infotainment
Why spend lots of your hard earned dollars on something that the smartphone you probably already own does better? If you don't own a smartphone, it's still way cheaper to get a portable navigation system.
Lets hope Apple CarPlay and Android Auto make their way into new cars soon, because they are desperately needed.
Suggested By: red014, Photo Credit: Mercedes-Benz
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Top Photo Credit: Mercedes-Benz