Control Issues
Posted on December 27, 2010 by Jesse O'Brien in In the Garage
I’ve always been a fan of manual controls on my vehicles, mostly because they make maintenance so much simpler and more straightforward. Here’s a short list of unnecessary features that end up on most cars.
Power Steering
Power steering is one of those features that distances the driver from the experience of driving.. Otherwise, a power steering pump and lines, and the possibility of the car becoming much more difficult to drive in the event of a power steering failure mean that I prefer not to have power steering racks in my vehicles.
The exception is large vehicles, like big trucks. They’re difficult to turn while moving slowly, and almost impossible to turn while still. Couple that with a long wheelbase and a broad turning radius, and power steering becomes a necessity.
Traction Control
I’ve had traction control on a few of my vehicles, and I don’t like that they have potential to limit my input to the car. I would prefer a limited slip differential over traction control in every case.
For winter driving, traction control is a great idea to keep around, but as long as you’re paying attention while driving (you should be), you don’t need it. Learning to control your right foot will give you more control than most traction control systems.
ABS
Anti-lock brakes are one control that I’m happy to have a computer control, but I think most ABS systems are over-active. Under extreme braking conditions or limited traction conditions, ABS evens the playing field. Everyone can brake reasonably well as long as the wheels are pointed forward and the brakes are held.
Especially in New England, ABS is an absolute must-have feature, despite adding complexity to the vehicle and distancing the driver (slightly). I just want ABS systems to wait slightly longer before taking over braking controls.
Cruise Control
I hate cruise control. Any time it’s active I feel uneasy and out of control. The real problem is that cruise control failures are frequently catastrophic. For example, on my BMW the cruise control system opens the throttle plate and is resisted by a spring. At any time, it could malfunction and slam shut. If that happens while getting on the highway or while passing another car, or even in the middle of a corner, it could very likely lead to an accident.
Windshield Wipers
After owning my e36 for a few months, I realised that BMW went completely out of their minds with taking control of the car. On the intermittent setting, the wiper speed is controlled by a computer. The computer checks the car speed and computes a wiper speed. There is no way to manually control how intermittent they are.
Power Windows, locks, and mirrors
I don’t like electrical troubleshooting, and like using my hands. Therefore, manual glass and locks makes a lot of sense for me. It simplifies maintenance considerably, and slightly decreases the overall weight of the vehicle (which improves everything).
Automatic Transmissions
My major complaint about automatic transmissions is that releasing the gas pedal does not cause the car to decelerate. The brakes are more strained because they’re constantly fighting the engine power, and this is reflected in the poor efficiency of automatic cars versus manual-transmission cars.
*I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. The site has had a few backend technical issues that really need to be solved, so I’ll continue posting sparsely until I’ve finished working those out. Thanks for bearing with me.
Glad to see some of the issues have gone, there are still a few images that take up the whole screen etc. Finally got my crx up and running, again i doubt you remember but i nearly kicked the bucket with it a few months back and again i thank you for inspiring me!!
I still haven’t fixed all of the issues, it’s a problem with my host. I plan to switch over to my own server in the near future to finish fixing ALL the issues with the server. Shoot me an email and let me know how the CRX has come along.