Since Tom and Ray operate a car service business, it’s not surprising that none of their suggestions were to make owner-maintenance of cars easier! However, I would like to see this given much more focus than today. How about an oil filter that you can access simply by lifting the hood, and not spilling oil over exhaust pipes and chassis crossmembers? And a simple oil drain valve that is reliable and can’t be cross-threaded by the average quickie-lube high school kid? To this we can add easy access for belts, coolant changes, etc. It would be a nice start!!
Some sort of missiles and a targetting device.
Many cars have the instantaneous MPG indicator as well.
And some don’t come from the factory with it enabled, but if you know how to hack the navi computer, you can get to the screen that displays it.
I would like to see turnsignals installed on vehicles.
Also, as a mechanic, I would like to see a device that would not allow the vehicle to start until all trash has been cleaned from the vehicle. I have had cars towed to my shop from other shops who refuse to work on a car that looks and smells like a landfill.{They tow the car into my lot in the dead of night with a note -FIX IT,CALL ME}
as far as car maintenance goes, as posted by LuigiNC, ALL mechanics would love to see cars built to be serviced easily. I am not worried about people doing their own maintenance. They are in the minority of car owners.My 85 year old mother is not going to change the oil in her car.It sure would be great for me though!
the way some people drive, blind would be an improvement
Here’s one to protect me, the militant pedestrian. A calm, sedate, but easily recognizable back-up alarm. Yes, there are backup lights, but an audible warning would be great. While we are at it, let’s get rid of the loud blaring beep-beep-beeps that are more dangerous to your ears than getting nailed by a steel bumper.
Dashboard display of faulty lights (particularly those in the rear).
Checking your tires regularly won’t keep them inflated if you drive over a nail. These systems used on some commercial trucks warn the driver and use the on-board compressor to keep them inflated so you can pull over safely without driving on a flat. There are enough people who can’t or won’t change a flat that these systems could keep you from having to wait for AAA in 110 degree weather. I wouldn’t want them to be standard, but making them optional might be a good idea.
A child car seat sensor, like a lights on/keys in the car bell, to tell drivers that the rear facing car seat is occupied! No more dead kids in high temperature cars.
I would like to see the automobile industry modernized. I think it should be brought into th 18th century. The automobile industry should introduce interchangeable parts and move beyond just replaceable parts.
Applying the Personal Computer Industry model to the Automobile Industry
If the federal government is going to go into the car manufacturing business, they might as well do a good job of it unlike the present industry. Perhaps the federal government could put the people's interests first.
The automobile industry is on the verge of rapidly moving from expensive vehicles powered by inefficient heat engines and complex mechanical transmissions to relatively inexpensive electric cars powered by fuel cells, Atkinson cycle engines, and diesel cycle engines. It may be too late to create a market based upon technical competition instead of advertising "competition," but maybe not. (See article on Chinese electric automobile referenced below.)
There is an opportunity to create an automobile industry based upon a model like the PC model having a standard bus and components having standard electrical and physical interfaces. However, I fear that, if someone outside the automobile industry does not step in, it will continue in its wasteful pattern of the past 50 years, specifically, multiple, incompatible components that perform the same function but providing absolutely no advantage to consumers in exchange for their incompatibility.
Consider how well an industry standard has served the personal computer business. A standard operating system would serve the automobile industry in the same fashion. An industry standard configuration concentrates available capital on solving problems with real economies of scale. It encourages innovation because automobile producers could become car assemblers, buying most of their components and assembling cars, as most computer manufacturers do today ? not building multiple sets of infrastructure to produce parts that function in exactly the same way yet are physically incompatible. It allows for lower barriers to market entry because a manufacture can buy components and assemble the product rather than having to invest immense capital to create an entire, new, automobile also having parts incompatible with all the other automobile manufacturers.
If all automobile manufacturers used one mechanical and electrical interface like the PC industry, then a parts manufacturer or inventor could manufacture to one standard, not a multitude of different standards for different automobile manufacturers, thereby saving immense capital investment and also increasing the likelihood that an assembler would accept an innovation as has been the case with personal computers. The assembler companies would be much more receptive to new technologies because they have zero capital invested in current technologies.
Throughout the past century,electric systems and controlling software have replaced mechanical systems. Electronics and software have replaced mechanical components in telephones, watches, tape recorders, record players, ovens, electric power generation (fuel cell), typewriters, etc. The automobile industry is on the verge of its own electric revolution.
The current automotive industry structure is a vestige of a once competitive transportation market. The existing automotive industry is one where each manufacturer creates cars with functionally identical but non-substitutable parts. Many hundreds if not thousands of different oil filters, fuel filters, starter motors, fuel pumps,transmissions, etc. operate in precisely the same way but producing no advantage over one another. It would be a shame if an entire new automobile industry grew into the same wasteful pattern as the old.I would like to go back to the old X frame vehicles, like the 59 Bel Air they crashed for the IIHS video(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF6JUB7bCE ). Steel dashboards, non collapsible steering column, seatbelts optional, actual glass windows, side vent windows, bench seats, column shifters for automatics. Maybe if driving were a little more dangerous to everyone involved, more people might actually pay attention to driving instead of their cell phones, lest they want a face full of engine parts.
Link doesn’t work.
- Automatic EJECT seat for anyone who drives and talks on phone and/or texts.
- A ‘3 tries and you are out’ where the engine shuts down for improper lane use.
- Size limit. A Living room on wheels is unnecessary.
AMEN! Who hasn’t witnessed a driver who thinks that they are driving safely and they are all over the road and unaware of their driving environment? Also delays their start from a green light and hindering the movement of traffic.
What so many others have said: “old-fashioned” features, and let the people who really need or want them get the fancy stuff.
I’m not sure if this was mentioned, but one old-fashioned feature I’d like to see (along with crank windows and manual locks) is: wing windows! Boy, do I miss those.
One new-fangled feature I’d like to see is some sort of seat belt alarm thingie that would make a truly annoying noise if you waited too long to fasten your belt, and, even better, a smart sensor to go along with that that would not let the car drive until the belts were fastened.
Yes, but mine do that for overheat or some other malfunctions, but they don’t do it for low/no oil pressure.
Tom and Ray you fellas have nailed it with your ideas for standard features on automobiles.
The only feature that I would add might be a monitor/indicator in the instrument cluster that would notify the driver when a headlight, brake, or running light was burned out.
I’m not sure why you’d want these three features as standard equipment. They were all developed to compensate for poor driving habits. A properly driven automobile will NEVER need these technologies, so why burden everyone with the cost and complexity of unnecessary equipment? Let those who need it buy it. Better yet, refuse to sell a car to anyone who requests these things, and the roads will be rid of another sub-par driver.
Cadillac once had small indicator lights on the front fenders and over the rear window that remained lighted when a corresponding headlamp or taillight was lighted. If the headlamp or taillight bulb was not functioning, the indicator light was also out, letting you know you needed to replace the bulb.
You want a ‘smart’ key — I want a dumb key — one that opens all the doors, works the ignition and DOES NOT COST $85 to replace! I want a car with a paint job that is not peeling off after 5 years. I want a car with a windshield and dash board that doesn’t reflect the damned sun right into the driver’s vision, virtually blinding him/her. I want a car/truck that doesn’t rust thru the panels — after all, they have been making these for 100 years — isn’t it about time they solve basic problems? And I have a 1996 F-150 and a 2004 Focus — to my regret.