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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that if a car comes with built in sat-nav...

43 replies

MummySparkle · 01/03/2016 13:51

It should actually be able to drive on the roads the sat-nav suggests?!?!

OP posts:
Sirzy · 01/03/2016 13:53

No sat nav is infallible. That is why the driver has to use common sense.

Original poster
MummySparkle · 01/03/2016 13:55

It looks like a road when I pulled on to it!! There was nowhere to turn around and now I'm stuck Blush

To think that if a car comes with built in sat-nav...
OP posts:
Original poster
MummySparkle · 01/03/2016 13:55

Looked rather

OP posts:
WhirlwindHugs · 01/03/2016 13:56

How good are you at reversing? It does look like a road!

Original poster
MummySparkle · 01/03/2016 14:04

It's all mud. I am good at reversing, but currently I have no traction whatsoever and I started sliding into the ditch. DP has a big 4x4 so is coming to rescue me, but I am well and truly stuck. Have DD in the car, so really don't want to end up in the ditch!!

OP posts:
newyear16 · 01/03/2016 14:18

I went down a road like that last year, courtesy of my sat nav. Luckily it was in summer and the road wasn't boggy, but it had very deep cart tracks and nowhere to turn round. It went on for several miles and I was really worried that I'd get a puncture or worse. It eventually turned into a proper road.

WhirlwindHugs · 01/03/2016 14:19

Oh no! Glad you're being rescued.

ouryve · 01/03/2016 14:22

Oh dear Blush

Your DH is going to rib you about that no end, isn't he?

Ours is a few years out of date, so panics and tries to turn us around on most of the A1(M) through North Yorkshire.

Beth2511 · 01/03/2016 14:27

I pulled into a cow full of cows once... My dads smart solution was to reverse out, onto a NSL dual carrigeway.. In the end i had to get him to open the fence, guard the cows whilst i entered field to turn around and get out that way.

Sat nav also fails to pick up a huge one eay system at my grandmas which is horrendous

Andrewofgg · 01/03/2016 14:40

People will follow the satnav even when there is a sign saying No bridge, satnav error and then not take the blame when they get stuck.

I knew a couple who first used their new toy to get to a wedding. Unfortunately the address she tapped in was that of the printer of the invitation, not the venue of the wedding . . .

Original poster
MummySparkle · 01/03/2016 15:14

Mine is 3 years old with no way to update it (annoying as my car is only 1!)

DP has arrived, I will never live this down! He had to push to make sure it didn't go in the ditch. Thing is, I don't think his land rover will fit under the fallen tree, he came in from the other end of the lane

OP posts:
LurkingHusband · 01/03/2016 15:25

My in-laws managed to follow their sat-nav down a tiny country lane while towing a caravan a few years back. It was so tight that some walkers couldn't pass and had to turn back. They managed to break both the little sidelights on branches.

At the time we also caravanned, and (not having a satnav) were following said in-laws. Right up till I saw them disappear into this completely unsuitable road. At which point I stopped, looked at the map, and found a better way (we arrived before in-laws).

Apparently the damage to their van was my fault, for ignoring them, and going my own way. (It's a measure of how batshit MiL was, that we didn't really find that strange) ...

DonttouchthatLarry · 01/03/2016 15:32

'Ours is a few years out of date, so panics and tries to turn us around on most of the A1(M) through North Yorkshire.'

My TomTom used to do this! Did the journey last week in my new car with inbuilt sat nav and it knew where we were Wink

Original poster
MummySparkle · 01/03/2016 15:33

Haha lurking husband, love that it was your fault!! Grin

I am free!!! Have to reverse about 1/4 of a mile. It was only when reversing that I realised how bad the track really was. No idea what possessed me to go down it really. I very rarely use the twat-nav, I only had it on today because the country lane shortcut that I usually go down was closed.

Bastarding thing! It once beeped at me for noes song the motorway telling me I was going too fast. When it was built the speed limit was 50, but it was 70 when I was driving on it. I couldn't work out how to make it shut up, so just had to ensure it for about 10 mins Angry

And today is clearly why I don't use it often, if I'd been driving without it id never have gone down there. I trusted the sat at that it would get better... Blush

OP posts:
Lonecatwithkitten · 01/03/2016 15:58

You need to use your general instincts on top of the sat nav. There was a horrific incident near here a few years ago where an elderly couple just followed the sat Nav into a ford without looking at the depth market in the ford. There was a fatality as a result, the ford was closed for a period till after the inquest when it was found that whilst sat navs assist you you shouldn't follow them blindly.

PurpleCrazyHorse · 01/03/2016 16:05

Check the options, there's sometimes an option to avoid dirt roads. Depends which one you have.

lionheart · 01/03/2016 16:07

My old Tom Tom does this kind of thing too.

LurkingHusband · 01/03/2016 16:11

You need to use your general instincts on top of the sat nav.

In another hilarious in-law satnav incident, I went with FiL about 40 miles, to collect something for MrsLH (like freecycle). Given that FiL would stuggle to find his ass with both hands, you'd think a satnav was invaluable.

So off we set. At this point (2006) we (MrsLH & I) just could not afford a satnav. So in-laws loved showing it off.

On the way there - north on the M6 (so "home" is south) FiL kept telling me how you needed to "be able to follow a satnav", and how difficult it was.

We collect item, head off home. Following the satnav. All well for a few miles, until I noticed we passed an "M6 South" road sign. And another. And another. I also noticed the satnav wasn't complaining. Just before we passed another "M6 South" sign, and were going on a road saying "M6 North", I queried whether we were going the right way. After a lot of bluster, FiL checked, and discovered we were heading to Old Trafford. We went 20 miles out of our way.

(If I knew then what I knew now, I would have stayed schtum, and let the old git drive into Manchester, and explain to all. However, as my previous story suggests, it would only have been "my fault".)

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 01/03/2016 16:13

We have a ford near us that goes round a couple of bends. Sat navs tend to lose signal just as they enter it & the river runs diagonally across it so cars that don't know it are regularly driving up the river & getting stuck.

Original poster
MummySparkle · 01/03/2016 16:26

Nope, no dirt road option to turn off - it's a really basic bit built into the car. We got the extra package for something else (rear electric Windows?) and the sat nav was part of it too. Can't say I'd have chosen it, and I'd be really annoyed if I had paid extra for it! It constantly takes us bizarre routes, no idea what algorithms it uses. We've tried all of the different route planning options for it and it's still shit!

OP posts:
OzzieFem · 01/03/2016 16:39

I was using a SatNav at night in a works car and approached a roundabout, the SatNav told me to take the fourth exit, while I was circling it and it suddenly hit me, yep, that was the road I had just exited!

Driving on a weekend to start a hobby and had been informed by the tutor that if using a navigational aid, to take no notice when it told you to turn left into xxxx road; it was wrong and I would end up deep in the state forest. Apparently they had quite a few students go missing in the past and mobile phones did not work that far out!

slicedfinger · 01/03/2016 16:43

Ours is eight years old, and gets really really really upset every time we drive up the M6 Toll road. Makes us laugh every time though, so we don't want to update it!

LBOCS2 · 01/03/2016 17:01

You need to use the google maps app. Because it's online and so many people use it, it's really really accurate - and great for calculating traffic time as well. I did a job where I was driving all over the south and it did me proud the whole time.

LurkingHusband · 01/03/2016 17:05

I was using a SatNav at night

That is the weirdest experience ... MrsLH and I drove 100 miles into darkest Wales for wedding a few years back. We decided to travel at night, and got there no problem, despite a lot of the roads being unlit.

It was only driving back (Sunday afternoon) that we realised we had no idea what the terrain we had driven 100 miles through was like. We saw valleys and hills we had no idea about. If we'd been driving following a paper map, we'd have seen the landscape ...

PedantPending · 01/03/2016 18:12

I have never used my sat nav, I have had my car for nearly 12 years. If I don't know where I am going or how to get there (by looking at a map beforehand and working out my route) then I shouldn't be driving.
I once tested the route to my house via sat nav, the suggested route diverted drivers up through the vineyards, well there are tracks and I might be allowed to use them as a resident, but I am pretty certain they are for the people who work the vineyards, not the general public. It was a good laugh finding that out, though!
Hope you managed to get pulled to safety oK.