The biggest reason not to buy a new car? Intrusive safety systems that make me never want to drive again

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If the Oxford English Dictionary was looking for a new entry to aptly define ‘irony’, it couldn’t do better than test driving the latest Smart #3.

Besides having a frankly ridiculous name (yes, you have to say the nameplate) and offering a distinctly average driving experience, the newest electric model from the joint Mercedes-Benz and Geely show has one of the most annoying infotainment and in-car security systems . currently on sale. And that’s saying something.

It includes an in-car driver monitoring system that uses a camera mounted just behind the steering wheel to constantly monitor and track the driver’s line of sight. If you feel like your eyes have been off the road for too long, bam! It reaches you with an audible and physical notification.

However, Smart has also seen fit to include everything except the front and rear window defrosting function in the 12.8-inch tablet-style infotainment system. So if you want to make the inside of the cabin warmer or cooler, you’ll have to dig through the various menus and submenus to find the controls.

Do this and… Bam! Another distracted driver alert pops up, lowering the volume of whatever you’re listening to and possibly causing you to miss a significant portion of that podcast, audiobook, or radio show. Block the front-facing camera and… Bam! Warnings right at the kiss.

I’ve lost count of the number of modern EVs I’ve driven that play music with voice notifications throughout the entire drive, and it’s only going to get worse.

This could be forgiven if this were the only overbearing system in the game, but Smart #3 and its oddly styled little sibling in model #1 go even further, with lane keep assist notification and an audible bong if you dare go 1 mile per hour over the speed limit and – shock, horror – from behind , warnings of another vehicle approaching from the front or sides.

The process of shutting down all this stuff is frustrating and even more maddening. I won’t bore you with the details, but disabling everything requires diving into the vehicle settings and then going through two more submenus (and obeying more written warnings). Meanwhile, the driver attention system also collapses.

It’s safer to pull over, grab a coffee, and begin the painful task of randomly poking at the screen. Meanwhile a small animated cheetah (which is supposed to make AI voice control more approachable) wanders around aimlessly, seemingly taunting you.

Not all security systems are the same

Last month, Smart released an over-the-air (OTA) update that added a ‘Ride Setup’ button, allowing users to create a profile and have their preferred driving modes and assistance system settings activated with the press of a button.

This is almost an admission of guilt, but it would be wrong to put all the blame on Smart, as the number of car manufacturers with obviously offensive safety systems is increasing every month.

We have reached a point where innovation in passive security has slowed and software-controlled active systems have become popular.

Vehicles from Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis) love to sound alarms when a speed limit change or impending danger is detected, with varying degrees of difficulty when it comes to disabling those settings.

Lexus, honda and Mercedes-Benz, for example, have long been purveyors of physically pulling the steering wheel in the opposite direction when the driver senses they are getting too close to a central reservation, despite the fact that many roads in Europe are barely wide enough for the brands to pass. still huge SUVs.

I’ve lost count of the number of modern EVs I’ve driven that play music with audio notifications throughout the entire drive, and it’s only going to get worse.

Since passive safety systems such as seat belts, airbags and crumple zones were first introduced, traffic accident rates have plummeted worldwide, while anti-lock braking systems (ABS), traction control and emergency braking functionality have undoubtedly even helped reduce fatalities. further.

However, we have reached a point where innovation in passive security has slowed and software-controlled active systems have become popular.

So much so that the world’s leading safety assessment programs, such as North America’s New Vehicle Assessment Program (NCAP) and Europe’s Euro NCAP, are constantly increasing the number of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) a manufacturer needs to achieve top marks. or a flashy full five-star safety rating to be plastered on posters.

This is why an affordable brand like Dacia often receives a lower star rating than many of its European rivals. To keep costs low, it does not add complex and often expensive active safety systems. Although Dacia cars perform as well as their rivals in physical crash tests.

This is part of the reason why things like automatic speed limit recognition and lane keeping assist systems are increasingly being combined with nannying technology, like the aforementioned driver monitoring cameras.

Dealing with backlash

But therein lies the problem; Some of the world’s leading safety assessment programs have found that an alarming number of drivers are disturbed by excessive noise in the cabin and are turning off potentially useful systems.

We want to completely eliminate ghost braking situations or experiences where safety systems engage for no reason

Accordingly Research by the road safety charity For brake and AXA insurance in the UK, more than a third (41%) of drivers surveyed in a new survey have turned off features in their cars designed to keep them safe.

Because many of these systems are embedded in layer upon layer of touchscreen menus, there’s a good chance drivers will unknowingly turn off truly useful features like emergency braking support, which can have a huge impact on road safety. from hitting the car in front, which decided to hit the brakes for no reason.

Last year Euro NCAP general secretary Michiel van Ratingen said: Car “We are working with manufacturers to minimize ‘noise pollution’ in the cabin and the more disruptive features of these technologies.”

Similarly, a discussion I had with the man in charge of management, Martin Magnusson Volvo’s ADAS and software systemsHe explained that he is concerned that many modern drivers are likely to want to turn off many active safety systems, negating the tireless work he and Volvo as a whole have done to create these systems.

The EX90, for example, is the first production car to be equipped with Lidar technology as standard; Volvo hopes this will read the road ahead much better than any camera-based system could, reducing unwanted interference from those systems. Pair this with intelligent AI and it will be able to determine a more ‘human-like’ course of action.

“We want to completely eliminate phantom braking situations or experiences where safety systems engage for no reason,” Magnusson told me at the EX90 launch.

To further complicate the issue, there are a number of reports suggesting that some of today’s ADAS technologies may not actually reduce the number of vehicle collisions.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an American non-profit organization reviewed crash data Here are the results from BMW vehicles equipped with active lane keeping assist: “Neither lane departure prevention alone nor the same feature combined with partial automation had a significant impact on crash rates on limited-access motorways or roads with lower speed limits.”

A noisy future

It’s easy to sound grumpy when broaching the subject of modern safety systems in vehicles, but if you really enjoy the thrill of driving, now’s not a good time.

Electrification is making modern cars feel more homogeneous than ever before, while automakers’ desire to create light, fun and cheap vehicles that spread joy on rural roads is being replaced by a penchant for infotainment and technological firepower.

Yes, adaptive cruise control is great under the right conditions, and the little yellow light that appears in the side mirrors when there’s something in my blind spot is really helpful. But being constantly reminded that you need to ‘drive safely’ and ‘be careful’, pulling the steering wheel independently or slamming the car on the brakes in an imaginary emergency is not.

We feel like we’re currently in an awkward middle ground where the technology (and surrounding legislation) isn’t robust enough for fully autonomous vehicles; driver notifications would be unnecessary in this case, but manufacturers continue to collect active safety toys to help sell cars regardless.

It says a lot that so many automakers now make available a single button to turn all of this stuff off. Maybe it’s time to get rid of the cruel nanny? Or buy an old Dacia instead.

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