[rconti]

I just had a rental Corolla in Europe. It had a lot of driving assistance features, and they're all absolute dogshit (and, I think, mandated by EU regulators). It's a pain in the ass to turn them all off every time you start the car, and I don't know how any drives these cars with them enabled.

The cluster flashes CONSTANTLY. It flashes to tell you there's a speed limit change. It flashes to tell you there's a crosswalk. It's a cacophony of alerts that lead to immediate fatigue and make all alerts meaningless.

The car beeps constantly. It beeps to tell you the speed limit changed (which happens multiple times per minute in many places). Often in places where the speed limit change isn't signed, but implied -- every interchange on the highway, the limit dips for a side road, then increases again after you pass the side road. It beeps persistently to tell you you're over the speed limit by 1kph, and keeps beeping for at least 5 or maybe 10 seconds.

It tugs at the steering wheel constantly, when it thinks you're too close to a white line. I got news for ya, in countries with narrow roads, you're ALWAYS near a white line. It tugs you towards an oncoming bus because you're cheating too far towards the opposite shoulder. It tugs you towards passing vehicles because you dared make room for faster traffic to go by (see this a fair bit in eastern europe).

Too many of my recent rentals have been Toyotas, usually hybrids (RAV4, Corolla Cross, Corolla).

Give me the Mazda.

[catigula]

So, the interesting thing about this is that I've heard it before but I didn't really understand it until I drove with my father-in-law, who drives like a mental patient.

His cluster was flashing constantly, warning him of imminent doom. And it was warning him correctly, because he was accustomed to driving incorrectly.

Of course, he hadn't been in an accident in some time - but this was more thanks to luck of the draw, his ability to ride the razor's edge, and other people's attentiveness.

I own a modern Toyota and I am never hassled by the safety features.

I own it because I just don't care about cars and it's that car.

[rconti]

| His cluster was flashing constantly, warning him of imminent doom. And it was warning him correctly, because he was accustomed to driving incorrectly.

In the cars I've driven, the cluster flashes all happen regardless of how you drive. The speed limit changes and crosswalk indications and so on, will always trigger. (Unless you disable them -- however, in a foreign country, where I don't understand the customs quite as well, I was willing to tolerate the annoyance to reduce my odds of running afoul of the local constabulary).

The one exception is the speed limit indicator continues to flash if you dare exceed the posted (or, sometimes imagined) limit.

[cosmic_cheese]

It’s possible that my car (NA market 2023 Nissan EV) just isn’t as “vocal”, but as a relatively new driver I’ve found myself changing my habits to not anger the machine. These days it rarely gripes at me.

[rconti]

Arguably some of them are useful (speed? as much as I hate to say it).

I don't think the "don't drive anywhere near the edge of the lane" is a good practice. There are lots and lots and lots of good, pro-safety reasons to come near the edge of a lane, or even cross over it, and I'm not sure it's helpful to train drivers to stay in the geometric center of the lane. For example it's one of the things I hate about autopilot the most, the car tries too aggressively to center itself.