Direct TPMS can tell you the exact reading for the PSI and temperature of each tire, worth it for any sporty car.

I sell cars and work closely with our service department so I think I know a thing or two about tires and TPMS. Of course they will go bad eventually and need to be replaced, but I’m not wrong that they need to be replaced with every tire replacement like you said. My car is almost 7 years old and has been through…

I don’t get the hate for pushbutton start/proximity key.

Not to mention that there always needs to be a human-operated, purely mechanical way to slow or stop the car. The only acceptable redundancy for an automated system is a fully manual one. I will never own (or willingly drive for long) any vehicle that doesn’t have a mechanical e-brake.

Does anyone actually accomplish this “set it to 68 and don’t touch it again for a year” nirvana that we keep hearing about on these threads?

My experience with both direct and indirect TPMS skews heavily towards preferring direct. My wife’s Honda uses an indirect system based on the ABS sensors. Anytime we have a rainstorm it will inevitably go off when in a long sweeping turn on the highway. The number of false alarms and unplanned exits to check tire…

The GM backup lights are awful. Even when I owned a modern GM car I always thought something was wrong with the transmission or a sensor that the back-up lights are on. It’s also nerve racking walking through a parking lot and you see a GM with reverse lights on. I got a five year old, should I wait for the car or is…

Screens that I can’t turn off.

Electric E-brakes. It’s a solution in search of a problem. The regular manual e-brake works just fine, and didn’t get in the way when driving.  Aside from the general sense that “making everything electric” automatically makes it better, I don’t understand the rationale.  Also:  makes winter driving less fun.

This x 10000.  And even if you try to signal them that the lights are off - they still never get it...

can i change my answer to be:
the jalopnik slideshow is the worst automotive feature

There’s two for me and they both relate to GM.  The first is the vibrating seat in their SUVs.  I turn that shit off as soon as I can.  It’s annoying and unnecessary since they also include flashing lights and audible alerts.  The second is their insistence of using the reversing lights whenever the stationary vehicle…

The commercials showing the driver assistance tech show it saving people doing crap you really shouldn’t do behind the wheel. “ The new [insert-brand-here] will look out for you”, while the driver is turned 180 degrees away from the windshield or staring directly at their phone.

Never understood the hate for this one. I have both kinds of cars and would never choose the keyed ignition anymore.

I can deal with most of the modern safety features, mainly because I drive in such a way as not to trigger them.

Easy.  An instrument cluster that is backlit even when headlights are not on.  Because of that, I often see people driving down the freeway with no headlights or taillights on because they have no clue they are off.

It’s not so much that the features that annoy me it’s that they are being marketed with commercials full of inattentive people being bailed out by the nannies.

putting the volume and ac controls on a stupid ass screen. 

The lack of visibility. That seems to be widespread but isn’t really a feature. I have to crane my neck to see around my rear view mirror and all the sensors when going around on-ramps.

Pretty sure on any even moderately optioned 1/2 ton these days the tailgate lock is also power actuated and locks when you lock the truck.