OT: Latest New Tech. Options In Cars- Actual User Experiences

Mercedes Benz - Distronic.

Almost impossible to ram or sideswipe as it has dopper radar on all sides, and if it calculates impact, it will automatically apply brakes and it can apply left and right independently, as well as directly control the steering, to keep you in lane. It can bring the car to a complete stop to prevent you from hitting something in front of you. It can also calculate if there is an object (like a deer) on an intercept from the side and will similarly apply brakes.

If it senses that you've fallen asleep, or are going off lane it will shake you, and if you don't respond it will keep you in lane, then stop the car.

It's still no Tesla but it's pretty impressive.

Just brought a new car this year also Mercedes Benz, new features are off the charts safety wise, but programing radio was a pain, built in GPS works great with new traffic features but programming was a real challenge on the learning curve but after 4 months I am overall pleased and continue to be amazed at the shit that the car is capable of.

My key fob has a key in it. My ignition is push button start. So any battery issues, ect, I have a key to get in and start the car.

What people will buy drives the market. I couldn't care less about keyless starting, but I like the safety features as mentioned by tusclfix. It isn't rocket science to take your keys out of your swimming gear. SHEESH !!

VM- Read my post. Do you routinely leave your keys under beach towel and hope nobody will steal them ? That or risk water damage to key fob. Again, I'm talking the keyless ignition, not the large number of older cars that have a regular ignition key and fob. Fob being used to lock/unlock doors and open trunk. If fob battery dies in those versions, you won't have fob control to do those things, but you can still unlock doors with key. The newer cars, if start/ignition control module does not get a signal from recognizable fob, you can push start button all you want, but nothing is going to happen.(except you geting po'ed)

Maho, what kind of car do you have ? Are we on the same page here ? Yes, the newer keyless ignition cars do have a key, but they're merely an alternate means to get in the car if fob or car battery dies. Are there cars with a Fob actuated push button start AND a key ignition as a backup ? I've not seen any cars like this.

I've left my spare key in the glove box of my car and killed the battery. Never do that or get one of the RFID shields to put the spare key in. My car was being serviced and the dealer gave me a top of the line Toureg to use. It had the adaptive cruise and lane assist on it.

It was kind of cool, but it doesn't nudge you back into the lane, but gently vibrates the wheel. Not worth it IMHO.

As far as tires.... I have top of the line Michelin Pilots on my car. They are nail magnets with the consistency of bubble gum. Rather than use the goo they give you, I just bought a compressor and have to use it all the time. Tires suck for durability

minnow, where I go to the beach, noone steals my shit. I could care less about the current technology. I have many friends that worked for GM and produced all these gadgets. When they told me about them, I'd shake my head and tell them to sell that crap elsewhere.

I have had no problems with my key fob, and I don't go to the beach often enough for that to be a concern. My BMW doesn't have a spare because it comes with run-flat tires that you can drive on for 100 miles after you get a flat. My BMW also does not have a dip stick--you check the oil level on the car's computer.

Mercedes gives you the option of keyless or keyed, and the keyed comes with a removable key embedded in the fob which also has the remote lock, unlock fob, just leave the fob in the car (glove box) and remove the key from the fob like you would for a valet, lock the glove box and keep the key to enter the car and open the glove box, you should not have any problems. Mercedes also has a satellite system called Embrace which will send someone out to repair a tire or anything else as well as being able to remotely unlock the car and remotely start the vehicle using an app on your smart phone. There are all of the new safety features like active cruise control and lane assist which are awesome, like I said I am continually being amazed by the new technology as my last car was a 2009 and this stuff is wild in a great way.

Technology still amazes me to this day. I wouldn't be surprised in 10 years if there are cars that can fly.

The only problem with the Mercedes keyless is if it detects the FOB outside nearby (but not in the car) it will unlock the door. So no hiding the key under a wheel well or something will you're at the beach. First few times I thought the locks were broke and it wouldn't lock because of that function lol.

This is a very good question: at what point do computer control "safety features" actually become less safe. The commercial airline industry has wrestled with this question for years. The more automated the planes functions are, the more likely the pilot will miss something due to inattention when something unusual happens. Several crashes have been attributed to this.

My Accuras and Odyssey are all pretty mainstream with nothing special as far as cutting edge safety technology goes, and my 1972 Lotus is a death trap bless its heart...I would be scared shitless letting any car drive itself as that poor sucker letting his Tesla drive him should have been, instead of watching Harry Potter when he hit a van at 55 mph.

To tusclfix- you are correct that is why I opted for the keyed fob, the salesperson who sold me the car explained how it works and after his explanation, I opted for the non pushbutton starting fob which contains a key and a RFID chip into which you insert the fob to start the car.

larryfisherman, I've owned 2 cars that fly. LOL

My swim trunks have a waterproof pouch attached inside a cargo pocket that zips up. I can put my keys, DL, CC's and money in there and keep it all with me. Plus, when i used to have the life proof case on my iPhone all I had to do was take my boots off if I was going out in deep water.

I like all the fancy features but I hate the fact that everything is controlled by computers now. I feel like a car should be a car and mechanical in nature. I'm trying to fix mrs sea's UVO radio where all of a sudden after putting in a new battery the speakers won't work. Everything I've found said it could be the radio, amp or the anti-theft system. What's worse is I've noticed UVO is powered by m$oft so no wonder it just crapped out out of the blue. She also has those little anti-theft key fobs with a key that flips out. Well guess what? The flip part is just glued on so of course her key came off the flipper part and I have to find the right one aftermarket because I refuse to pay $300 for one at the dealer. I've tried to gorilla glue that bitch back on and it can't handle the stress.

To Rockstar- regarding the airline industry it is safer now than it has ever been all due to advances in technology, the rate of failure per million miles flown is minuscule, the problem is that a failure is usually catastrophic, and gets tremendous publicity, but failures fortunately are a rarity.

25 this is true, i part because they have struck a balance between automation and keeping the crew busy.

I've test driven the mercedes 2016 model (I forget which model exactly) and their Lane assist and cruise control is pretty decent but not great. Same with self parking. I wouldn't rely heavily on driver assistance but it is a neat parlor trick to drive with no hands

I also tried inbuilt GPS, it wasn't as impressive as Google maps on my phone.

@seaboard- So you have absolute trust wrt waterproof claims ? I'm a skeptic, I'd have to make several "dry runs" with a newspaper clipping or old cheap calculator before I take the leap of faith.

@25- PM coming your way later.

@rs666- "Several crashes have been attributed to this." Which ones ?

To expound on things a bit: I took a test drive in a loaded Chevy Impala a few months ago that had the lane assist option. Dealer rep had me hold the wheel straight with a slight curve coming up. I could feel the wheel nudge me over back in lane. Feature keyed on the camera image of the lane lines.

Although an example often cited for the desirability of this option is the driver falling asleep, IMO, this could also be useful in the whiteout snowstorm scenario, or heavy summer downpour, except for the lane assist keying on the camera image. I'm curious if anyone driving a car with this feature under those conditions have experienced the system going apeshit on them, and running them off the road. If you can't see the lane markers, the camera can't either. Seeing an occasional lane marker just might throw off the LA enough to make it do something that you'd just as soon not have it do. Ideally, lane assist should be GPS based, but that would require a system with the accuracy of finding a dingleberry on a gnats ass. OK, engaging in hyperbole here, but being 50' off approaching an intersection on my current Garmin would not be up to that task.

minnow I'm not sure but i believe the lane assist and warning features use a Doppler radar not cameras for sensors.

minnow, yes I was of course skeptical as with most things so I did dry runs a couple times and my swim pouch and the life proof cases work as advertised. I have used them dozens of times without fail. Another thing about my swim trunks is that they're "high adventure" swim trunks. When I get out of the water they'll be dry in 5-10 minutes on a hot day. If it wasn't for my lifeguard patch sewn on them you'd think they were just a regular pair of shorts.