Windscreen wipers wiped out by McLaren

The replacement for windscreen wipers may be effective, but has anyone considered the possible effects of ultrasonic frequencies on animals, including humans?

What I would like to consign to history is the current trend of festooning cars with strings of LEDs as brake lights, indicators and daytime running lights.

I have an indicator on my car that tells me when a bulb has gone. That’s its just its gone, no clue as to which one, where etc, It might as well not be there.

Last time I bough a new car ( back in 2008 ) I was surprised that it didn’t have digital radio. Do they have that now ?

I’d be impressed if I had a car that could change traffic lights in my favour especially late at night when there’s no one waiting at any other signal. Oh h**l lets have that for during the day too. I can’t wait for smart traffic lights.

The gadgets I love and must have in any future car are in no particular order, Power assisted steering, cruise control, ABS.

It will never catch on. It may work on fighter jets, but they do not usually have vehicles coming the other way, swamping the windscreen with dirty water. In the floods, you can see the deluge approaching, and put on the wipers before it hits, so you are blind for only a few seconds. Waiting for ultrasonics to work would take ages, which, assuming everyone at that moment had no vision, would be interesting. Might work, in tandem to wipers, not instead of!

Just because its over 100 years old doesnt necessarilly mean its time to come up with another idea. The quality of wiper blades has improved alot in that time. If it aint broke dont fix it. However, having said that I did have a wiper motor fail on a Citroen once. The cheapest quote to replace was something well in excess of £200 if I recall correctly. So, if they would like to come up with something new which isnt going to cost the earth to replace when it eventually fails I’m all for it.

Most, or all, cars now keep the dipped headlights on along with the high beam.The large very bright patch of road close to the car is impressive and comforting but it reduces the driver’s ability to see detail or movement far ahead where the main beam is trying to illuminate. This is true for all drivers because the excessively bright area close ahead causes the driver’s pupils to dilate, reducing the depth and sharpness of his focus and making the distant road relatively darker.
I’d like to have the option of turning off the dipped lights when the main beam is on.

I understand that the MOT requires the dipped beam to remain on along with he high beam, possibly because the dipped lights are usually the outer pair and therefore important in indicating vehicle width. But this could be better arranged.

Round wheels were invented in Neolithic times: should we stop using them because they really are ancient history?

Well pneumatic tyres are well over 100 years old as is the basic design of the piston engine beneath the bonnet and don’t think multi-valve technology is anything new either. Mercedes and Peugeot ran cars with 4 valves per cylinder in the 1913 Grand Prix. The Peugeot even had twin overhead cams. Let’s ditch the lot.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but isn’t it a legal requirement to have windscreen wipers? If so this new system will have to be an “as well as” until the law is changed and that won’t happen quickly.

In fact the first recognizable petrol piston engine was built in Switzerland by François Isaac de Rivaz in 1806. So time the industry stopped wishing expensive and unreliable “innovations” like infuriating touchscreens on us and actually came up with a new idea.

My car has voice-activated systems; the radio/CD, the heating etc but, quite honestly, it’s easier to reach and push a button than try to think of the correct phrase out of the 140 possibilities. So often when I say ‘CD play track seven’, the response will be ‘Rear screen demister on’…bah!

Has nobody realised that it’s not just rain that windscreen wipers are used for, what about all the insects!!!

I have found it interesting reading the different comments of what should/should not be included in our cars. The spare wheel, although I never want to use one should be reinstated to all vehicles.
I remember having the headlight main beam operated by a press switch on the floor operated by the left foot. the system worked well but was eventually replaced by a multiple position rocker switch on the dash and then a stalk on the steering column , as was the horn eventually. The stalk is now multiple stalks with multiple functions. Buying a new car meant deciding on an optional extra, heater or without heater, radio, no radio, or (radio cassette) on some models only, The electric demister for the rear screen was purchased from the accessory shop and stuck on the rear window in your spare time.
On one occasion I was wanting air con on the new car and the salesman just couldn’t understand why I needed that for driving in the UK, he thought I was mad. Two of the selling points highlighted during car advertising was, Self cancelling Indicators, ” And it also has a very useful parcel shelf in the rear.” Rear windows are so small these days that it may not be a good sales pitch any longer. As far as the indicator are concerned manufacturers need to let a lot of present day drivers know that the Indicators will only cancel if they are activated in the first place. I often wonder if these are an optional extra on todays cars. I would like a speaker system within the car that would allow me to talk to rear seat passengers without having to talk in a raised voice and vice versa so that I can hear them also. Is there anything out there yet ?

Consigning car tech to history

No 3 – should have been the electro-mechanical ignition systems used on petrol engines.

Who could forget having to change the contact breaker (or the effect of it breaking if not maintained), fiddling with the gap, vacuum advance, cracked distributor caps, faulty coils, etc., just to get an ill-timed spark out of some paraphernalia that would have been more at home in Frankenstein’s lab.

The other big improvement has been in the durability of synthetic rubbers. No more cracked radiator hoses, split transmission boots, leaking brake cylinders, peeling door seals and, of course, longer-lasting wiper blades.

The trouble with progress is it costs so much more to put these gadgets right when things go wrong – and you can rarely do it yourself. So no longer fit a new wiper blade, but an ultrasonic generator for which you’ll need a payday loan. The Xenon headlights on my car cost – £100 for the bulb and £450 to replace a failed ballest (off with the front bumper). Is it worth it? No.

Someone mentioned daytime running lights – an EU requirement (like straight bananas). I find these distracting and totally unnecessary for much of the day. I worked out (someone may like to check) that the energy required to operate these lights on all the vehicles on our roads is sufficient to provide all the electricity requirements for 360 000 homes day in, day out. Is there no joined-up thinking?

Claims for whiplash are often blamed for increased insurance premiums,this clearly suggests that a number of accidents are caused by one vehicle running into the back of another; therefor fitting sensors to prevent tailgating would be my chosen addition. Speed adjusted of course.

I would also like the front indicators to be seperate from the headlight cluster, as they originaly were, since it is often difficult to define the indicator flashing on an oncoming vehicle in the dark when they are in close proximity to each other.

On the subject of lights, I would like to see a requirement of two bulbs for each of the brake light fittings on all vehicles, so when one goes, the other will still burn.