To hate that the car decides how to drive?

[Pouffeycat]

I got a new car last month. I have been driving to work and back and not much more. But I have noticed that the steering has been pulling at certain points. I thought maybe it wasn't aligned properly...
It pings at me if I am not in the centre of a marked lane.
Last night it slammed the brakes on when something ran over the road in the dark.
I live rurally.
I don't like not being in charge of the car.
I have been driving for 30 years and have never had any accidents.
I feel unsafe in this thing.
If someone had been behind me last night in a non smug car,there would have been an accident. I wasn't being safe, because the car took over!
Looking online it seems they make it hard to turn the systems off.
Am I just a dinosaur that needs to get with the technology?

Go back to the dealer and ask how to turn lane assist off , my sister has it on her new car and she said it’s a liability and has switched it off . I’ve recently bought a new car and the criteria was electric windows and air con and it was quite difficult finding something that was basic enough as I’m not prepared to pay for gizmos that I don’t want and won’t use . I’ve been driving for 40 years and definitely didn’t want a car that thought it was more intelligent than me .

The keeping in the centre of your lane is called Lane Keep Assist (LKA) or similar. Mine turns off at the push of a button to the right of my steering wheel. Consult your vehicle manual. It’s likely to be easier to turn on and off in an instant than you’d imagine.

Automatic Emergency Breaking (AEB) I’m not sure if this is easily disabled or not on most vehicles. However it will rarely happen and is quite an obvious safety benefit surely, if you don’t react in time? Not a big deal

I had a courtesy car like this for a few days last year when mine was in the garage. I didn't like it all!! It did the same, pinging at me if i wasn't in the centre of my lane, and pulling me to where it thought i should be. I live rurally aswell so it was a pain in the arse when I was using the whole road when it was quiet. I'll stick with my old car that actually lets me drive it 👍

Completely agree with you. I would rather run over a rabbit than have someone run into me. I taught my DS to drive and found it difficult to buy a car without cruise control, parking cameras and with a proper handbrake for hill starts but I was determined for him to learn to drive properly without aids. My mum hates electric hand brakes but it is near impossible to buy a car without. Makes you wonder why we still need to take tests if we're not trusted to drive.

Yeah, you’re a dinosaur. Active safety features like this save lives. Why would you turn off things designed to keep you and other road users safe? You’ll adapt to them quickly.

Mine has both of these features and I hate them. The braking feature is not remotely a safety benefit as it is not effective at reading the road - mine took control and braked violently because we passed a van in a layby. It was terrifying.

I’ve been driving my make of car for decades but these features are seriously making me consider switching to a different make.

I don't understand AT ALL how the insurance for this works if it brakes for you to prevent you running over a squirrel but the car behind SLAMS into the back of you

Insurance would find YOU in the wrong - yes, I know you're supposed to leave a safe distance to the car in front but if they've got a camera and it sees you emergency braking from 60>0 for a squirrel YOU will be found at fault !

😂 😂😂 your faith in technology is touching (and a little frightening) They are actively dangerous, permitting AI to override the reactions of the driver who is actually there and reading the road. I’ve had mine try to swerve me back into lane when I’m passing a line of parked cars, for instance.

If it's hard braking for rabbits etc you would be held accountable for stopping, you are meant to drive on if traffic behind for anything smaller than a dog. Weird rule but it's the highway code. So not very safe!

That was my thought!
Would data be taken from the car to prove that it was in charge at the point of an accident?
Who is then liable? The car company?

Maybe because she can drive? I have mine turned off because I can drive, and have been doing so incident free for nearly 50 years. I don't need to become dependant on a computer for road safety. Computers malfunction. I am not opposed to people who might feel more secure with such things, but name calling someone because they don't fit into your narrow view of acceptable is nasty.

My automatic breaking came on earlier for no reason at all earlier. I don't like it either op. I'm a perfectly good driver. I don't need technology to take over that for me, and not even do a very good job of it.

Whatever it was, it was small, rabbit or possibly cat.

Yep I hate mine to ... and turned it off. I was overtaking a row of parked cars on a narrow street so just nearing the white line, friggin car pulled me back over. 2nd time I was just about to undertake a car who was turning right, my car obviously detected a crash as it slammed the brakes on. If nothing else it shits you up because you arent expecting the reactions from the car !!!! I defo wont be driving auto pilot cars 😂😂

Urgh I have all of that turned off. My car has some anti stall festure too meaning the car revs before biting point and I fookin hate it cos I end up bunny hopping alot cos I forget its already in the revs it needs.

If you need technology to ensure the safety of other road users, maybe you shouldn't be on the road in the first place. Some of us can actually drive well and have done for many years.

You can turn it off completely or,in mine, set it to Mild, Normal or Intense or whatever it's called. You also do get used to it.

Oh thank God I thought it was just me! Recently bought a car with parking cameras and I’m worse at reverse parking using them… don’t trust myself the way I used to . I’m 53… driving 34 years

I don't even like the start/stop function in my car - I've spent 27 years managing just fine with clutch control at junctions/traffic lights (even on hills).

The white line monitor which twitches the wheel is dangerous rurally as the roads are very different to say motorway or town driving. I turn it off local driving as some of our roads especially the single track ones are undriveable with it on. It does white line and road edge and it seriously impinges on the safe aspect of driving rurally.

Happy to use it on two full lane roads and larger just not country rds

I like lane assist when I'm on long motorway journeys but turn it off otherwise. The breaking thing can be unnerving if you aren't expecting it. I have a Volvo. It's packed with these features but they're all easy to switch off.

We’ve had this with the lane assist. Nearly knocked a cyclist because the car swerved back after DH moved out.

Dealership said they can’t override it but we can switch it off. Every time we start the engine. So go to a shop, switch it off before driving. Stop for a coffee, switch it it off before driving. Fill up on the way home, switch it off before driving.

It’s bloody annoying as dangerous.

I cannot stand these kind of cars - totally with you OP. I even cannot stomach an automatic!

I once hired a car with all this stuff and drove it 600 miles straight from the hire place. The assisted things I found I noticed and got used to pretty quickly but when I first got in the car I was completely lost and had to go back in to the counter and ask them to show me how to start it

OP asked if she (?) was a dinosaur, I said she was a dinosaur. Not name calling, just answering the question.

It’s not blind faith in tech, it’s faith in proven and mandated safety features. There are studies that show the benefits of AEB in particular in preventing and reducing the severity of accidents.

This has nothing to do with being able to drive or not - I don’t have any of these features on my car - but I can appreciate the investigation and engineering that goes into them.

You should watch some of the old videos of people talking about seatbelts when they were introduced - there’s a familiar tone.

‘I don’t need to wear a seatbelt because I’m a careful driver’.