Rant - Volvo

[m4lu6]

So I'm sitting here in my living room, chomping on a bit of food, and I see a commercial come on the toob, a Volvo commercial.

Bill, or Bob, or whatever whitey's name might be, is cruising along with Yanni, or Raffi, or whatever whitey listens to on his Bose SuperDuper stereo.

The voice-over says, "bill doesn't have a clue that there's a motorcycle in his blind spot". Bill looks in his rear-view, his side-mirror, with this sh*t eating grin on his face... "But this volvo is equipped with blind-spot detection system!"

SHAZAM, a bike motors on by, with inches to spare, and we focus again on bill, with his prozac filled grille plastered, ear-to-ear. "AH, thank god for my Volvo's blind-spot avoidance system! That bike could've scratched my paint!"

Meahwhile, Bill, or Phil, or whatever , well, Mr. Xanax should've turned his kinked-"O Ring" neck and LOOKED in his blind spot, like a responsible driver.

Thanks Volvo, for making it guilt-free, and easy-peasie, for some assmunch like Bill, to squash me because he puts all his faith into your 'blind spot' detection system!

[ANDS!]

Hmmm - I think these commercials work because they exaggerate the situation, not because they assume everyone is going to rely on this new system to cover the reliable Human Eye.

[DivideOverflow]

If it helps people not hit bikers, put it on every car. People can think whatever the heck they want. Not everyone checks their blindspot... some people are just lazy and stupid. Them being at fault doesn't change anything when they kill someone... the person is still dead, regardless of fault. So if volvo came out with a system that says "Hey jackoff, don't change lanes!!! You obviously haven't noticed everything around you, so I'm going to do it for you, stupid." GREAT! Please give them to everyone.

[shalihe74]

Hell, this sounds like an improvement to me. My experience is that most folks don't check their mirrors - much less their blind spots! - before changing lanes. Having a little gadget saying "Hey, crazy donkey, don't do what you're about to do..." sounds great.

(This slightly grumpy post brought to you courtsey of the am-fm in a SUV who tried to merge into me today.)

[bmgibben]

I agree with the initial sentiment. People should not be given anything else to make them pay less attention while driving. My view for most drivers is that they will do absolutley anything to do nothing. Including not checking blind spots, mirriors, signaling, forced passing, etc. This is somewhat of a pessimistic view, but in my short 5 years of driving, I have found that for about 30% of drivers, this holds true in at least some of their daily driving habits.

So while I think that cars should be as attention demanding as possible to keep people focused on driving, I realize laziness is the greatest motivator for invention. So if this new volvo feature keeps motorcyclists safer, or keeps that 20-over-the-limit minivan from merging into my front quarterpanel, then all the better.

[noodlenoggin]

American car buyers want:
Automatic transmissions so they don't have to shift for themself
Cruise control so they don't have to push a pedal for themself
Automatic headlight shutoff so they don't have to remember to do it.
Automatic headlight TURNON so they don't have to remember it's dark.
Memory for their seats and mirrors so they don't have to do it themself every time.
Auto-dimming mirrors so they don't have to flip the lever themself.
Rain-sensing wipers so they don't have to flip the switch themself.
Brake-assist so they don't have to step on the pedal hard for themself.
Run-flat tires so they don't ever have to check their pressures.
Airbags so they don't have to wear the belt
Power locks so they don't have to push all four buttons.
Power windows so they don't have to use their arm muscles on a crank.
Parking sensors so they don't have to look in their mirror
Cruise control sonar so they don't have to look through their windshield.

I think the only thing drivers of new cars really have left to do anymore is sip latte and read the paper.

Oh, and we own a Volvo. Best car we ever owned -- 8 years and 156,000 miles so far.

[Scott58]

Volvo has always been ahead of the curve in safety.

[Skier]

American car buyers want:
...
Airbags so they don't have to wear the belt
...

That's not their intended purpose. It's called a supplementary restraint system for a reason.

Sadly, the rest of your list is spot on. I don't like what the vast majority of my fellow Americans want in a car. I love my econobox with manual mirrors, lights, locks, windows, transmission and steering.

[Logitech105]

I love my econobox with manual mirrors, lights, locks, windows, transmission and steering.

+1

American car buyers want:
Automatic transmissions so they don't have to shift for themself
Cruise control so they don't have to push a pedal for themself
Automatic headlight shutoff so they don't have to remember to do it.
Automatic headlight TURNON so they don't have to remember it's dark.
Memory for their seats and mirrors so they don't have to do it themself every time.
Auto-dimming mirrors so they don't have to flip the lever themself.
Rain-sensing wipers so they don't have to flip the switch themself.
Brake-assist so they don't have to step on the pedal hard for themself.
Run-flat tires so they don't ever have to check their pressures.
Airbags so they don't have to wear the belt
Power locks so they don't have to push all four buttons.
Power windows so they don't have to use their arm muscles on a crank.
Parking sensors so they don't have to look in their mirror
Cruise control sonar so they don't have to look through their windshield.

my car has none of that - except cruise.
It's a big go-cart. And fun to drive.

1991 ford escort gt

[dr_bar]

Logitech105, gee I hope that isn't a recent picture....

Today was a sunny and relatively warm day for a ride here in Vancouver...

More rain for tomorrow...