10 Car Features That Sound Fancy But Are Totally Useless & 10 We Would Use Daily
10 Car Features That Sound Fancy But Are Totally Useless & 10 We Would Use Daily
Which Car Features Do You Use Most?
Cars nowadays are chock-full of different features, many of which we don't even know exist. Once you actually use them, however, many of them are more gimmick than game-changer. Meanwhile, other features quietly make everyday driving smoother, safer, and far more enjoyable. Here are 10 high-end features that aren’t worth the hype and 10 practical ones you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.
1. Gesture Control
Gesture control allows drivers to perform basic actions like answering a phone call with hand movements using sensors or 3D cameras. As cool as this may sound, it's actually rather annoying as the system is imprecise and prone to misinterpreting your hand signals.
2. Paddle Shifters on Non-Performance Cars
Paddle shifters are levers or buttons on the back of a steering wheel that allow for manual gear shifting. They were initially designed for sports cars, but are also on a lot of SUVs and regular sedans these days. Once the novelty wears off, most drivers never use them.
3. Rear-Seat Entertainment Systems
While these systems were once highly sought after, today, they're pretty much obsolete, given that everyone has tablets or other devices that work better. They offer more content and can be used outside the car, giving you more bang for your buck.
4. Head-Up Displays
Head-up displays project essential driving information onto the windshield, which seems neat and futuristic, but in reality, it can be very distracting. Most of this information is just a quick glance away on the dashboard.
5. Motorized Seatbelt Presenters
Motorized seatbelt presenters use a small motorized arm to extend the seatbelt closer to the person in the seat. It seems neat and fancy, but it's really an unnecessary gimmick that's hard to fix when broken and can be slow.
6. "Suicide" Doors
Suicide doors have hinges at the back instead of the front, opening backwards. They're visually striking, but inconvenient and make exiting in tight parking spaces difficult.
Herranderssvensson on Wikimedia
7. Engine Sound Synthesizers
Engine sound synthesizers really are as silly as they sound. They're sometimes installed in EVs to mimic the sound of petrol engines.
8. Soft-Close Doors
Soft-close doors have hydraulic systems that prevent the door from being slammed. It seems like a good idea, but the system breaks easily, and it's surprisingly expensive to fix.
9. Automatic Doors
The main problem with automatic doors is that they're slow. It looks neat when your door opens for you, but if you're in a rush, it's extremely annoying.
10. Voice Control
It seems like a great idea to have voice activation in cars so you have your hands free, but have you ever seen a voice control system in a car that actually works well? We haven't. You ask it to "play Taylor Swift," and it calls your mom.
Now that we've covered the most useless car features, let's talk about the ones that we'd actually use every day.
1. Heated Seats
Heated seats used to only be available in high-end cars. However, now they're in almost every new car. It's a feature that we love, especially in winter environments.
2. Adaptive Cruise
Adaptive cruise control automatically adjusts your car's speed to maintain a certain distance from the vehicle in front of you. It makes those long road trips so much more bearable, especially if you're stuck in traffic.
3. CarPlay
Without CarPlay, we'd still have stacks of CDs in our cars. CarPlay allows you to automatically connect your phone through Bluetooth, play music, and use your phone's GPS navigation system, which is usually much better than the one integrated into your car.
Jeffrey Paa Kwesi Opare on Pexels
4. Ventilated Seats
Just as heated seats are every cold-weather driver's dream, ventilated seats are just what you need in hot environments. They make getting into your sun-drenched car a lot more bearable.
5. Keyless Entry
How nice it is not to have to fumble around for your keys to open your car door? Keyless entry and ignition are a total game-changer when it comes to convenience.
6. Motion-Activated Trunk
New cars often have trunks that you can wave your foot under instead of having to open them manually. This enables you to load up your trunk without having to free up a hand.
7. 360 Camera
A 360-degree camera uses multiple wide-angle cameras to create a bird's-eye view of your car, so you see exactly what's surrounding you. Not only is this extremely neat, but it's useful, too, making maneuvering in tight spaces much safer and easier.
8. Blind Spot Detection
How many times have you gone to change lanes, thinking it's clear, only to have someone honk at you from your blind spot? This has happened to everyone, so this is why the new blind spot detection systems are so useful. They use radar and cameras to alert drivers when there's a car or object hidden from view.
9. Remote Start
For winter environments, remote start is a total game-changer. It's a feature that allows you to start your car from a distance, allowing your car to heat up while you're still sipping your coffee.
10. Full Self-Driving Mode
While full self-driving mode technology is still in its infancy, we really are pumped for it to be fully integrated into cars. Not only should it make driving safer, but it will also allow you to use your commute time wisely and will make life a lot more convenient, as, for example, you can find parking for you while you go eat dinner or attend an event.
