New car disaster!

[Marchrider]

some of this conversation has me doubting the wisdom of my earlier plan to slow cars down by displaying a 20 mph sign on my back - when the car responds to this the driver will use 'kick down' to over ride the cars safety controls, and instead of gently slowing, the car will violently accelerate at full throttle, possibly loosing control and killing me - so possibly not such a good plan after all.

 

[Electric_Andy]

All of these stories have put me off buying a newer car if it has these features. We were going to sell both of our 2014 cars and buy a newer one, but I'd sooner have an older one with lower miles and just the basic functions. I do love cruise and speed limiter, and adaptive CC would be handy on long trips, but apart from that I'm happy with auto lights/wipers and heated seats!

 

[Alex321]

All of these stories have put me off buying a newer car if it has these features. We were going to sell both of our 2014 cars and buy a newer one, but I'd sooner have an older one with lower miles and just the basic functions. I do love cruise and speed limiter, and adaptive CC would be handy on long trips, but apart from that I'm happy with auto lights/wipers and heated seats!

Most cars built in the last decade will have manually set cruise control and speed limiter.

It is mainly only the ones sold since July this year that will have speed limiters set by detecting speed limits, though there were a few being produced before that which did.

 

[grldtnr]

Oh - didn't know that

I knew it was possible - just didn;t know they were that far advanced along the road

Perhaps this feature be will be a good thing, time will tell if it works on the M- ways, with all the speeding morons in the outside lane.
I am in aware if that can be turned off, but why fit limits in the first place.

 

[Alex321]

Perhaps this feature be will be a good thing, time will tell if it works on the M- ways, with all the speeding morons in the outside lane.
I am in aware if that can be turned off, but why fit limits in the first place.

The hope is that many people will not turn it off, and even those who do will be more likley to take notice.

Whether that will be true remains to be seen. It will take a few years to really tell, since it only became mandatory on new cars in July.

 

[Drago]

Has he taken it back this morning?

 

[derrick]

Collected new car today after test driving one that I was assured had the same software.

I was swearing at it all the way home. Beeps for every speed sign, beeps constantly if you go over the limit by 1mph (even if it's misread a 30 sign in a side road, which it does), lane departure tried to put me in a ditch. It's unacceptable.

Apparently you CAN turn this off. It must be done before every single drive, and it takes about two minutes of manipulating a fiddly and fragile stalk to do so. New EU regs, apparently.

The manufacturer has a 14 day money back guarantee which I shall be using. I think I've managed to find a pre-registered car from the previous model year which isn't afflicted with this stupidity, and where the stuff stays turned off.

Can't you just get it all deleted, it's only spftware.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Can't you just get it all deleted, it's only spftware.

There are likely to be legal issues with doing that, or at least you'd have to have it done by a verified dealer who would charge the earth. Also it would probably invalidate your warranty and/or lease hire agreement if you don't own it outright

 

[Alex321]

Can't you just get it all deleted, it's only spftware.

Not if you want the car to run. It will all be integrated with the rest of the vehicle software, and modern cars will not run without that.

 

[gbb]

All this sounds like the phasing in of driverless car technology....
I havmt got a problem with the idea in principle BTW...

 

[presta]

All of these stories have put me off buying a newer car if it has these features.

I think if I were in the market for another car I'd be looking for a Cortina or a Capri. Another Accord would be my first choice, but they're rare as hen's teeth now, and I doubt the ongoing availability of spares.

 

[derrick]

Not if you want the car to run. It will all be integrated with the rest of the vehicle software, and modern cars will not run without that.

it can be deleted from the ecu without afecting the rest of the car, just like deleting adblue problems, it's just software.

 

[Dadam]

Not if you want the car to run. It will all be integrated with the rest of the vehicle software, and modern cars will not run without that.

I don't know about this recent speed limiter specifically but depending on the car model there are all sorts of settings that can be tweaked by the end user with a laptop and the right cable and software. I have a 10 year old BMW and I know that things that can be set include auto-folding the mirrors on locking by the fob (currently have to hold down the lock button to fold the mirrors) and the audible chirp when setting the alarm can be turned on (has to be silent for new cars but isn't illegal to turn it on afterwards)

 

[Jody]

I don't know about this recent speed limiter specifically but depending on the car model there are all sorts of settings that can be tweaked by the end user with a laptop and the right cable and software. I have a 10 year old BMW and I know that things that can be set include auto-folding the mirrors on locking by the fob (currently have to hold down the lock button to fold the mirrors) and the audible chirp when setting the alarm can be turned on (has to be silent for new cars but isn't illegal to turn it on afterwards)

Software is definitely becoming more locked down as the years go but most are still able to be tweaked. For instance I cannot disable stop start via the OBD port but you can change the coolant temperature range to something unrealistic so it cannot meet it's parameters mening it's effectively disabled.

I would have thought safety software wil be harder to remove or disable but where there is a will (and profit) ......

 

[Marchrider]

I don't know about this recent speed limiter specifically but depending on the car model there are all sorts of settings that can be tweaked by the end user with a laptop and the right cable and software. I have a 10 year old BMW and I know that things that can be set include auto-folding the mirrors on locking by the fob (currently have to hold down the lock button to fold the mirrors) and the audible chirp when setting the alarm can be turned on (has to be silent for new cars but isn't illegal to turn it on afterwards)

my understanding is that manufactures are doing their upmost to restrict access to their software, laws have always ensured that some openness exists so as vehicles can be fixed by 3rd parties - but the big players hate this, and as always the mercedes, the land rovers jaguars of this world will have their way, what you can fiddle with and customise will get less and less

And as someone noted up thread, any customisation will just be a big excuse for dealers to get out of warranty guarantees.