What were car designers thinking when they...

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What were car designers thinking when they...

Way too much nanny stuff in cars these days. I think they put it in in anticipation of gov't regs. It really tees me off that the "hill holder" feature in my 124 can't be driver (or dealer, for that matter) disabled.:bang:

And would it have killed them to make that high-mounted touchscreen fold down, so I don't have to look over it in order to see the road?
 
Put auto up/down on only 1 window. Surely it can't be that much of an expensive circuit.
Bizarrely my car has auto down on all 4 windows but only auto up on the drivers :confused:

Not bizarre, but due to safety regulations.
Driver's window doesn't need anti-trap because the driver is deemed competent to press the button to back the window off if they start to trap their head/neck/arm/whatever during one-touch closure.
Passenger windows need anti-trap protection for one-touch close. There have been deaths, e.g. child with head out of window kneeling/standing on window switch so the window closes across their neck.
The expense for the passenger windows is in having current or movement sensing for the window motor or sensors in the window seal.
 
Put auto up/down on only 1 window. Surely it can't be that much of an expensive circuit.
Bizarrely my car has auto down on all 4 windows but only auto up on the drivers :confused:

I believe it's to do with the complexity of your cars canbus system. If it's not one touch it is likely to be direct wired, if it is it'll go via the BCM. Also one touch requires anti pinch if it's not the drivers window I believe.

The Mazda commits this particular sin and takes it one step further. The drivers side window is one touch and wired via the BCM so it is on a one minute timer after you switch off to allow you to roll it up of you forget. The other windows stop functioning the second you switch off..so you pull the switches and all but one window stays put if you've had all 4 down.
 
Put auto up/down on only 1 window. Surely it can't be that much of an expensive circuit.
Bizarrely my car has auto down on all 4 windows but only auto up on the drivers :confused:

Not bizarre, but due to safety regulations.
Driver's window doesn't need anti-trap because the driver is deemed competent to press the button to back the window off if they start to trap their head/neck/arm/whatever during one-touch closure.
Passenger windows need anti-trap protection for one-touch close. There have been deaths, e.g. child with head out of window kneeling/standing on window switch so the window closes across their neck.
The expense for the passenger windows is in having current or movement sensing for the window motor or sensors in the window seal.

Many years ago, a child died in a Fiat Tempra, whilst they were a current car. I think the child was only 2 or 3 years old, and had pressed the auto up with their head out of the window. It lifted the child by the neck and effectively hung it 'til it died.
From that moment, Fiat removed one-touch from all their cars, only adding it back in quite recently.

At the time the death was widely publicised, but like all such events, only the main headlines, no facts, so Fiat took all the blame - it was obviously the car manufacturer's fault. It could have happened in almost any car of the time as the sensor and auto-back-off was quite new, and not very reliable.

The fact that the child was left to play in the car was not mentioned.
The windows would only operate with the ignition on.
So the parents had left a small child in the car, with the keys in. Yet no parental blame at all.

Fiat are presumably still very cautious of this, even now.
 
Quite likely.. given the location of it.. and GM parts

Just noticed this - the 9000 / Croma / Thema / 164 were pre-GM. The 9000 was probably the last 'proper' Saab, even though it was a joint venture.

(The 164 was always the best of the 'Type 4' cars, though - with both the Saab and the 164 being the most individualised)
 
Many years ago, a child died in a Fiat Tempra, whilst they were a current car. I think the child was only 2 or 3 years old, and had pressed the auto up with their head out of the window. It lifted the child by the neck and effectively hung it 'til it died.
From that moment, Fiat removed one-touch from all their cars, only adding it back in quite recently.

At the time the death was widely publicised, but like all such events, only the main headlines, no facts, so Fiat took all the blame - it was obviously the car manufacturer's fault. It could have happened in almost any car of the time as the sensor and auto-back-off was quite new, and not very reliable.

The fact that the child was left to play in the car was not mentioned.
The windows would only operate with the ignition on.
So the parents had left a small child in the car, with the keys in. Yet no parental blame at all.

Fiat are presumably still very cautious of this, even now.

Around that time I had a Citroen BX with all round electric windows. I remember discussing news of a similar accident with a BX and my wife saying her car (Austin Metro) was immune to such things (virtually no electric goodies).

Some cars have an all close feature on the door lock by holding the key in the lock position. Others do it on the remote locking fob. It's another canbus feature with minimal cost to the manufacturer.
 
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