Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age Hits 12 Years

Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by kayodelycaon on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:38AM (#27571075)

Worse for you. I happen to like bluetooth, backup cameras, wireless keys, and a lot of the other modern features cars have now.

Manufacturers definitely went wrong putting important controls in the touch screen. That’s a usability nightmare. I’d consider the rest to be personal preference.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:43AM (#27571149)

Wireless keys are a feature from the 90s.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by whynotminot on Sunday June 20, 2021 @01:11PM (#27571965)

So are cell phones. But there’s a difference in their quality and ubiquity now right?

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 20, 2021 @05:02PM (#27573883)

No? They let you unlock your car from a distance. This is of pretty questionable utility in the first place, since you can't benefit from the unlocking without being next to the car, but it worked then just as well as it works now.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by whynotminot on Monday June 21, 2021 @12:29PM (#27580764)

Mine at least does a lot more than that. For instance, it's smart enough to know if you put the key in the trunk and will automatically open the trunk back up. It has pretty good awareness of where it is in relation to the car, which gives me more confidence in using it that I won't do something stupid and lock myself out (or at least not be allowed to do something stupid). If those earlier systems from the 90s were just as precisely "self aware" then I'll concede this point to you, but I suspect they weren't so well integrated.

As far as the "questionable utility goes", I frankly love it. I love just walking up to my car and having it unlock for me. Sure, it's not much, but it's kind of the equivalent of Touch ID or Face ID on a phone these days. Sure, entering a PIN code isn't the hardest thing in the world, but it's the little things that make life just a smidge less annoying, right?

You didn't address my point regarding their ubiquity now, so I feel like you kinda decided to only address half my point...

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by kayodelycaon on Monday June 21, 2021 @11:24PM (#27587606)

I meant RFID keys. I never need to take mine out of my pocket. My door unlocks when I touch it. My car starts when I push the on button.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by ceejayoz on Sunday June 20, 2021 @01:12PM (#27571971)

My 2016 Corolla still came with an old fashioned key.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by Silhouette on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:55AM (#27571284)

Manufacturers definitely went wrong putting important controls in the touch screen. That’s a usability nightmare. I’d consider the rest to be personal preference.

I'm not sure I'd consider permanent connectivity and the related telemetry and OTA updates to be personal preference. These are often being used in ways contrary to the owner's or driver's interests, from invading privacy to "licensing" vehicle features that can be disabled later, and they come with significant security and safety risks.

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