Weird automotive engineering solutions

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If it was, it must surely have been flashing "WARNING - CUPHOLDER NOT PRESENT. Please take to your nearest Buick dealership immediately"
 
now, now, people...don't go yarping at Home because he rants on a decidedly english, etc routine. it's probably the same as the rumors I've heard of people shutting their engines off at every stoplight to save gas.

believe me, I've seen people who don't give a rat's glutes about bothering with any of their bulbs. they're too busy tring to GO somewhere, which is why I always get the horribly beat up vehicles. as a matter of fact, whenever I get a vehicle, I have to replace approzimately 50% or more of the light bulbs because people don't tend to notice when they're getting dim (my four runner required replacing all the running lights and even one of the backups because of neglect)

I'm adding another 'bad engineering solution a la lights...
who's the idiot that designs nearly opaque taillight you can't see a brand new bulb though
another idiot...why are they making those Euro style aftermarket tails for over here with tiny little pinhole lenses and tons of bling. you can't SEE them at night.
 
RE: Another Idiot: I think you answered your own question with "Tons of Bling." The faction that buys that sort of accessory tends to be inexplicably attracted to shiny objects. I think they may be part seagull. :P

As well, the designer of the device often is not an engineer, doesn't consider anything like safety...only if it looks "cool." This is why people with Art degrees should not be allowed near cars....

Okay, I'm done.
 
I suppose we're just two driving cultures apart, then.

But you'd be surprised at how many American drivers completely fail to see those dazzling bright LED brake lights sitting at a stop light as they continue barreling down the road at 40 mph. If you're in the front of the line like I was it makes more sense to keep an eye out behind you than in front of you. Makes you wish they were all equipped with a police car's arsenal of strobes and light bars and sirens.
 
homeforsummer
Even on the occasions I've driven autos (both in the States a few years back and in the United Arab Emirates recently) I've still always knocked the box into neutral and used the handbrake at stop lights. With a little common sense and observation you can guess when the lights are about to turn green again and put the car back into drive and lift off the handbrake ready to go (and seriously, I didn't even get beeped at by the notoriously impatient Arabian drivers so I could hardly be accused of holding up traffic). Sitting on the footbrake in an auto is not only lazy but also causes more transmission wear. Sitting on the footbrake in a manual is just lazy and unnecessary.

When I'm sitting at lights on a main road I hold the footbrake until the car behind me has come to a halt - always safe to make sure they know you aren't rolling anywhere - but I'm considerate enough not to keep my lights dazzling them whilst we sit there going nowhere anyway.
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It becomes incredibly necessary once you realize it takes a grand total of 5 minutes in a parking lot to get a license in this country. Chances are the lady coming up behind you has her phone on speaker, is putting make up on and steering with the left leg while braking with the right, and won't bother to notice you at all.

I'm never bothered by bright brake lights. That includes whether in an SUV or a sports car. I'll just look elsewhere until they turn off. Why would I stare into a bright light, when I know that when it turns off, that's when I need to pay attention? Personally, I find not using the footbrake at red light/stop sign is utter stupidity, whether it be a manual or slushbox.
 
I use the handbrake probably 30% of the time at stop lights, 65% footbrake and the last 5% I'm expecting a quick change and don't use either.
 
IMO using the handbrake at stoplights is more lazy and dangerous than not, and I've had plenty of instances where my car/life was saved because I don't do that.


Also, I've never been bothered by tail lights, even the bright LED ones. If they bother you, don't stare at them.
 
If it's gonna be a long red light, if it's a hill or if I'm getting something while I'm at the stop, it's the hand brake.. Footbrake because you react quicker, and because my handbrake tends to slip a bit at steep hills. That's kinda a dilemma, sometimes air comes into the braking system making the foot brakes slip as well :D
 
Keef
I suppose we're just two driving cultures apart, then.
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I think you've hit the nail on the head there 👍 Different driving situations require different ways of driving. If I'm likely to be rear-ended over here, it's because some doofus has slipped off the clutch (in a manual) or the brake (in an auto) and the car has lurched forward into me - not due to them not seeing my brake lights on. Though as i've mentioned a few times, if traffic is still approaching, I leave my foot on the brake as a warning. Though some people clearly haven't grasped that yet:

mustangGT90210
Personally, I find not using the footbrake at red light/stop sign is utter stupidity, whether it be a manual or slushbox.
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Perfect Balance
IMO using the handbrake at stoplights is more lazy and dangerous than not, and I've had plenty of instances where my car/life was saved because I don't do that.
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I have to say you're clearly fairly unlucky if your life has been saved several times just by sitting on the brakes at some lights... personally my life has been saved by more mundane stuff, like anticipating hazards, or quick reactions. I rarely find myself in life-threatening situations sitting in traffic. Big queues sure can be dangerous...
 
I got rear ended in a work car the other month at a stop light, I was already sitting behind the car in front of me with nowhere to go when the girl behind, apparently buried in her NavMan hit me. It was an auto car, so I was on the brakes. I think in Australia at least, that no matter which brake you use, it's likely to be another factor that gets you hit at a stop light.
 
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Wolfe
How about that for an addition to the thread? It's not very weird (being so incredibly common), but I personally find the automatic crawl to be a very irritating engineering solution. I feel like I almost have to stand on the brake on my parents' cars to keep them from moving. Because of that, I also almost killed my sister and myself once, accidentally creeping out onto a busy 55mph crossroad because I was distracted like that guy that hit me. Shifting to park and back to drive is a solution, but a clumsy one. Personally, I prefer the solution of avoiding automatics forever.
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If they didn't do that it'd be much harder get the car moving. That's just a part of having the fluid in the converter being moved my the motor, your brakes just over power it until a certain point.

It's really not that annoying, you don't have to hit the brakes that hard to get the car to sit still.
 
I often get that feeling in an automatic of wanting to punt it into Neutral from time to time, to keep it from "creeping", to slow down excessive engine braking or to counteract throttle over-run on new, emissions-friendly cars... it can make you feel like a real idiot... you let off the gas to slow down and the car is still going... forcing you to stutter-brake like a newbie.

-

One very interesting engineering point (though not an innovation, it's clearly unusual) for me is the AWD on the Subaru Impreza, which... presumably, due to the lack of torque on the non-turbo models... has a low-range transfer case.

Quite where and when you'd use this on a car with the ground clearance of a shopping trolley is beyond me, but I bet it makes it ridiculously easy to climb 40 degree slopes. :lol:
 
mustangGT90210
Why would I stare into a bright light, when I know that when it turns off, that's when I need to pay attention?
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Hmm.

Perhaps this is part of the problem then. I quite like paying attention all the time, even when at rest...

mustangGT90210
Personally, I find not using the footbrake at red light/stop sign is utter stupidity, whether it be a manual or slushbox.
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Why?

Given that the situation described above seems endemic in your driving culture but unheard of in ours, why am I utterly stupid to use my handbrake when static (and not on a slope)?


Corollary to that, you've just decelerated your car to a stop. Which is better for your car:
1. Remaining on the footbrake - you now have warm pads clamped onto a single spot on your brake discs.
2. Holding the vehicle on the clutch (applicable to inclines and manual cars only).
3. Pulling on the handbrake - you now have a single purpose drum brake locked in place (except in vehicles with a disc handbrake - which isn't as common as you might think).
 
Is having warm pads clamped to a single spot on the disc really that bad when you've only been street driving? I could understand it being bad from track driving, they would probably melt together.:lol:
 
homeforsummer
Sitting on the footbrake in an auto is not only lazy but also causes more transmission wear.
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No, it doesn't, actually. It generates and extremely small amount of waste heat and no additional wear whatsoever. You could sit with an auto car idling and in gear forever without damaging the transmission. Unnecessarily shifting into and out of park, on the other hand, causes an entire shift-cycle's worth of extra wear each and every time you stop.

Sitting on the footbrake in a manual is just lazy and unnecessary.
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:confused: Why? There are a dozen reasons why I want my brake lights on - the main reason being I want every one behind me (or coming up behind me) to know that I am stopped, and not planning on moving.

I'm considerate enough not to keep my lights dazzling them whilst we sit there going nowhere anyway.
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DAZZLING? How dazzling are brake lights? I've never been dazzled by brake lights. The only annoying rear lights I find are the extra-bright rear foglights on European cars, when driven by prats who insist on running with the foglights on in clear weather because they think it's cool. Those are dazzling.
 
Paulie
Is having warm pads clamped to a single spot on the disc really that bad when you've only been street driving? I could understand it being bad from track driving, they would probably melt together.:lol:
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On stock pads and discs found on most cars, certainly.

Duke
There are a dozen reasons why I want my brake lights on - the main reason being I want every one behind me (or coming up behind me) to know that I am stopped, and not planning on moving.
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Fair enough, but if the guy closing on your rear bumper can't see the giant red light on the pole he's legally obliged to heed (and the cars zipping across his field of view), his level of care over your red lights might not be as high as it ought.

I'll note that, if I am the last car in the queue I will occasionally rest my foot on the pedal (so the lights are active but the calipers aren't) if there is a car approaching my rear, but not if he's already stopped behind me.


Seriously though, I can't think of a single incident amongst anyone I know where they were rear ended at a set of lights by someone who either failed to stop or set off before they had - though it's a little more commonplace at roundabouts and non-light-controlled junctions (people looking to the right to see a gap to join setting off into the gap when the person ahead hasn't gone yet) but still quite rare.

If it's happening so often to our US members, it certainly suggests a cultural difference. I should also add that in almost all UK incidents where a vehicle is rear-ended, the following car is the one held to be at fault.

Duke
DAZZLING? How dazzling are brake lights? I've never been dazzled by brake lights. The only annoying rear lights I find are the extra-bright rear foglights on European cars, when driven by prats who insist on running with the foglights on in clear weather because they think it's cool. Those are dazzling.
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The power rating on my rear foglights and my brakelight filaments (they're dual sidelight/brakelight bulbs) are identical :D
 
Guys, Guys, GUYS! I think we're running much off topic with this "stoplight techniques" thing.
 
Famine
I'll note that, if I am the last car in the queue I will occasionally rest my foot on the pedal (so the lights are active but the calipers aren't) if there is a car approaching my rear, but not if he's already stopped behind me.
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Exactly what I've said roughly three times now without people getting the hint. Let's hope people spot it more easily in purple text.

Or maybe they'd spot it better if it was BRIGHT FLIPPIN' RED.

Anyway, regarding the dazzling I mentioned, people may also have missed that I said I do much of my driving while it's still dark, and in town too where there's lots of traffic. Being England, it's often raining too. In these situations I find brake lights quite dazzling, so it's annoying sitting behind people who insist on keeping their foot on the brake.

Jim Prower
Guys, Guys, GUYS! I think we're running much off topic with this "stoplight techniques" thing.
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Agreed. Though it might have stopped a page or so ago if people didn't keep on bringing up exactly the same point as the person before them.

Anyhoo.

Del Sol roof anyone?



Always made me laugh when people say the Merc SLK was the first with a folding hard-top, when even the Del Sol wasn't (pretty sure things like that appeared back in the 30s... if not electrically powered). But I do like the Del Sol's way of going about it.
 
In the States, the following driver is held to be at fault as well. Doesn't mean that I want to be rear-ended, though.

Meh, I still don't see sitting with your foot on the brakes as a problem. And I do nearly all of my own maintenance.
 
They did a manual version as well. The electric one is impressive (as long as it's maintained well so the motor doesn't burn out) but it also takes up an even larger chunk of boot when it's stowed than the manual version does.

But still, it looks cool.
 
homeforsummer
Always made me laugh when people say the Merc SLK was the first with a folding hard-top, when even the Del Sol wasn't (pretty sure things like that appeared back in the 30s... if not electrically powered). But I do like the Del Sol's way of going about it.
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Ford's Skyliner of '57-'59 had a hardtop that stowed in the trunk. There was also a Prototype Mustang with a similar roof. (which, in the Questionable Mods thread, someone copied.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Skyliner


A bit of research, though, confirms that Peugeot was first to go into full-production with one. Leave it to the French....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_402
 
The mk1 Toyota Previa
What do you do when you have a big car, want to sit 8 in comfort but need to keep length to a minimum (Japanese tax and general ease of use I think). Make it MR :D

Okay so it's not that fascinating but the engine on the mk1 Previa was an almost-boxer (75 degree) situated under the front seats. You in fact have to fold back the front passenger seat to gain access to the dipstick. All other fluid reservoirs are located under the bonnet.
 
Eric.
Whoa, I never knew they worked that way. I had just assumed you took it out and stowed it by hand...That looks way too complex for a "Civic."
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They don't work that way; it's an aftermarket kit.
 
ExigeEvan
The mk1 Toyota Previa
What do you do when you have a big car, want to sit 8 in comfort but need to keep length to a minimum (Japanese tax and general ease of use I think). Make it MR :D

Okay so it's not that fascinating but the engine on the mk1 Previa was an almost-boxer (75 degree) situated under the front seats. You in fact have to fold back the front passenger seat to gain access to the dipstick. All other fluid reservoirs are located under the bonnet.
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I wonder how working on one of those would be?

I've always thought it might be kinda cool to do some kind of a chop job on a previa turning it into a track car. Using the supercharged all-trac version would be nice. All though I haven't really looked into it much. Seems like it may have good weight distribution.
 
ExigeEvan
The mk1 Toyota Previa
What do you do when you have a big car, want to sit 8 in comfort but need to keep length to a minimum (Japanese tax and general ease of use I think). Make it MR :D

Okay so it's not that fascinating but the engine on the mk1 Previa was an almost-boxer (75 degree) situated under the front seats. You in fact have to fold back the front passenger seat to gain access to the dipstick. All other fluid reservoirs are located under the bonnet.
Click to expand...

That's actually pretty cool. I had no idea that my aunt and uncle had a MR minivan.
 

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