I’m an “armchair enforcer” of a different variety:
I’m in favor of elements on cars that have become mandatory over time - up to a point though!
Seatbelts for all seated positions, mirrors, inside and out, turn indicators, minimum bumper compliance, minimum brightness standards for vehicle headlamps and tail lamps, anti-lock brakes, airbags, stuff like that.
I’m sure cars would be a lot lighter, faster, more fun, and easier to maintain without all that stuff being mandatory, but I’m glad we have it.
Yeah, those items are good and no problems. I’m a little hesitant with some of the electronic stuff like crash avoidance and lane monitoring that pulls the wheel out of your hands but I’m open to them. A number of times though I’ll give someone or something wide birth in anticipation and wouldn’t want Robbie the robot fighting me. I’m all for the blind side indicators though.
Yes, “always-on side view cameras” from one or two cameras is very distracting. My 2020 Honda Fit has a Right Side (passenger side…) camera installed on that side view mirror. When you turn on the right turn directional it brings up the image in the center dash Info screen. There is also a button on the end of the directional that I can turn on the side view camera full time… If turned on full time, that constant movement on the info screen is very distracting while just driving down the road.
If side mounted cameras for both sides of the vehicle also operated this way, it would elevate the constant turning of the head to see if the coast is clear to change lanes. The new construction techniques with much thicker roof posts needed to install the side airbag curtains make for a more concerted look to see if it is safe to change lanes.
The manufacturer could easily design a multi positional switch that would allow the cameras to operate only when the directional is used or on demand…
I have side view cameras on my car. They do not take the place of mirrors, but do enhance the view. When I activate the blinker the camera on that side of the car activates and provides a better view of the lane or shoulder on that side of the car. When the blinker goes off the camera turns off.
Well I may have come across the stupidest safety device yet. My 23 year old Maytag commercial washer broke and repair parts are no longer available, so I bought a new washer. After about a month, I ran a load that got severely unbalanced. It would nearly beat itself to death before it would stop the spin cycle. After it came to a complete stop, it would start to spin again until it slammed around enough to stop spinning again. And once more after coming to a complete stop, it would start up again. It kept repeating this until the cycle timed out.
Now you ask why didn’t I just rebalance the load when it stopped spinning. I tried but the hood is locked down and can’t be opened when the computer is in spin mode. You can’t stop it mid cycle either. I even unplugged the washer, the hood remained locked, and after I plugged it back in, it went right to the place in the cycle it was in before I pulled the plug.
And here I thought the new gas cans which are near impossible to use were a stupid design.
Repairclinic.com is a great place stuff like that… I now look up the part numbers and then google them and a lot of times you can even get the parts from Amazon and eBay…
You should be able to push and hold the start button for a bit and it will pause and unlock the lid once paused…
The point being, “safety features” are not always great. Yes 30 years ago we could open a washer while it was spinning, a brake would stop the drum when the lid was opened. My guess, someone got injured when the brake did not engage, followed by a liability lawsuit, now we have these “features”.
I did go to their web site about another issue and it wasn’t very helpful. I did read the owners manual, today for the third time.
BUT, there is always a but isn’t there. The control panel is black with silver lettering. I can read it just fine but today I noticed a faint line under the word START. It looks like just a dark gray line. I got a 3x magnifying glass and a powerful flash light and then I could read it. It says “press and hold 3 sec to cancel.
I had not even noticed the line until today when I went looking for it. All the other lettering is bright silver and big enough to see, this one is a medium dull gray and very, very small. No where in the owners manual is this line even referenced, or anything about canceling a cycle. I specifically says for an unbalanced condition to let the machine finish its cycle, then redistribute the load and run a drain and spin cycle.
I have a 5 year old Maytag Centennial “Commercial Technology” agitator-less washer that I’m very happy with.
The start button is also the pause button. Once in awhile, usually with blankets or sheets, I’ll get an out of balance. Just push (don’t hold) the button. It will spin down (be patient) and then unlock. Even out the load and push start again. Works good, lasts a long time!