Twice now I’ve had newer rental cars do something that I didn’t expect at a point where suddenly slowing down was the worst possible reaction, and the only thing that prevented something bad happening was an even more dramatic control input. In the most recent case it involved swerving into another lane to avoid…

Second the get rid of them all. So far these “aids” has cause more close accidents than they saved. Almost crashed an Outback in snow because the ABS would not let the car turn! Had to pump the brakes. Stuck in sand because traction control cuts throttle. Had to carefully press the brakes on a Toyota because once the…

I was hit that way. Backing slowly out of a spot with a van to my right in a fairly low car. Woman was going fast down through the parking lot (so a driver following her told me) and my car caught hers before I could even see past the van. I had to take the insurance hit as I was reversing. Fucking lame.

I would think that this is more of a short-term reaction, and the track day organizations will adapt to allow cars equipped with these systems to run, perhaps with a mandatory and documented removal of a fuse or some other verifiable temporary fix. I seriously doubt this is a death knell so much as a speed bump.

How many of these issues would be solved by actual driver training and holding people responsible for their stupidity?

Concerns over ABS were overblown, though. But automatic breaking? If a car takes brake and throttle control from the driver, and engages an emergency breaking maneouver on its own, under _some_ conditions, and the method and conditions will vary greatly between manufacturers, models, model years, trims and potentially…

I can see the value, I just don’t like the end game. It makes people less connected with their car and eventually leads to the automated car take-over. There will be a point, probably in my life time, that we won’t be able to drive ourselves. As an enthusiast, this is sad. As someone who likes freedom, this is…

You know they’ll release a stripped down, no safety feature, track day version of the car and then charge you MORE for it.

I haven’t noticed any weird behavior, but they tend to either have everything already disabled or they’ll walk us through the motions to turn any interruptive tech off for any track time.

People freaked out when ABS was introduced, too, with equally legitimate concerns about systems kicking in or not working right. I remember ABS issues being blamed for Sean Edwards’ death, even though he was riding right-seat in a 996 Cup.

Seriously. If you NEED backup cameras, collision detection, and lane departure warning you should not be driving.

Yeah, I know. It’s mainly the advertising that bugs me. “Oh you’re wandering out of your lane. We have a device for that.” Yeah I have a device too, it’s called my fucking brain. But no, it’s cool to be a hapless fuckwit in our society. Don’t know anything? That’s cool bro, google and your echo chamber of…

At some point you’re just going to have to accept that most people aren’t good drivers and aren’t going to change their way

One thing I have to say to this, Western New York (Genesee Valley and Niagara PCA) only really have one track to work with, and that is Watkins Glen.

Yes, those commercials drive (ha) me fucking crazy. They are basically saying “it’s OK if you drive distracted, we’ve got your back.”

amen - infuriates how stupid it is to advertise how it seems to now be ok to be inattentive at the wheel... no harm in driving 4000lbs of metal into people yup. ugh

Or just simply not have this tech in cars. Cheaper and far more simple.

Get that shit out of cars anyway and stop advertising people on the TV being distracted. “Don’t you hate it when you’re lost in a dreamworld singing like a rockstar while driving and then you rear-end a family of 5 doing 70 mph? We do too.”

Just when I didn’t think they could get any uglier.