My 4 x 4 is dangerous

[Lucky_Phill]

Now that I have your attention........... hahaha

I want to tell you about my new 2023 Isuzu D-Max 4 x 4.

I will start with saying I like to " drive " my car and NOT " steer " it.

So many bells and whistles on this thing it is, in my opinion , distracting to a point of dangerous.

ELK. Electronic Lane Keeping.......... you drive near a white line, the steering wheel shudders and pulls you back away from it. I can even let go of the wheel and it will keep the vehicle within the lines.

Those little lights that appear in your side mirrors when a car gets near you... aarrgghhh ! they even come on for roadwork barriers... so distracting

Rain sensing wipers... FFS..... if ya windscreen gets rain on it... turn ya ###king wipers on..

The auto headlight thing........ seriously ? You follow someone through a road tunnel and their rear lights come on... could be brake lights, could be driving lights.... ? who knows.

The noisy alarms when you alight ya vehicle and leave ya keys in the ignition while door is open. !!!

The " radar " system....... you get too close to a car in front... the car brakes automatically.......... scary shite.. or... you are on cruise control and approach a car from behind going slower than you... car brakes.

The problem with this is, if you are driving in manual mode. you cannot use cruise control.

The " radar " also picks up speed zone signs and transfers those to the dashboard, unfortunately, it picks up 40kph school zones, outside school hours and that flashing light distracts you... dangerous, similar for 60 kph offramp signs on the highways.

Here is the worst problem, when offroad I turn Traction Control and ES ( Electronic Stabilising ) off, as any 4 wd 'er would do. because this brings into play the LSD and locking brakes, eg:- beach driving. Now, as it happened, I was offroad with all things turned off and a gust of wind blew dust up in front of me, the $###ing car braked, warning light on windscreen went off and the TC and ES turned back on.......... wow... how freaking dangerous is that ? It happened again when i was entering a dry creek bed.. mind you I was doing 10 kph, maybe ???

Every time I hop in my car and turn it on, I have to hold a button for 3 seconds to turn off several " sensors / alarms ". I have even pulled out the little metal strip in the drivers door catch to stop the " your door is open " alarm.I have also gone into settings and turned off as much as I can.

Upon my first service ( 15,000k's ) I enquired about these dangerous items and the service manager told me they are " safety features " required to get the right ANCAP rating. I told him they are bloody dangerous and turning drivers into steerers.

I asked him what would happen if I covered up the radar sensors on the windscreen.... he could not tell me if the car would go into limp mode or nothing will happen other than the " dangerous " safety features would not work.

My D-Max is a great car to drive, comfortable over long distance driving, plenty of power, great towing ability and payload capacity. Unfortunately for me, all these electronics are far more than distracting, they are dangerous, because of the distractions they create.

I have no idea, but suggest if I alter the radar system and I have a crash, my insurance company may see this as tampering with my vehicles safety features and void or dismiss my claim.

I say, what if these safety features are the reason I was distracted and had that crash ?

LP

[Dignity]

Phill, if every car on the road had such safety features I'd imagine there'd be gridlock as none of them would move. They certainly do take things to extremes, I know there's been a cry and hue about the speed limit beeps about how annoying they are when 1km over and they start on some model cars however my God Daughter moved to the Netherlands early this year and she already has 2 speeding tickets for being over 3kph and 1 kph. Yep, over there, there is no leeway whatsoever, hopefully we don't become the same over here.
The ANCAP safety ratings are being disputed by a number of car companies, some even refusing to get their cars rated all because of some of the extremes of their measures. Unfortunately so many 4WD's are used purely for mums to take their kids to school, hell we either biked it or generally walked it.
As you say it's the insurer's you have to be careful of.

[tunaticer]

I just want a car that drives and behaves like a car....but with aircon and a few horsepower to spare.
With AI entering the cars now the future is scary, our "level of control" will be obsolete.

Ask AI what is a decent environment to live in.....no doubt it will not say to turn back the clocks 50 years when it was decent.

[Dignity]

I just want a car that drives and behaves like a car....but with aircon and a few horsepower to spare.
With AI entering the cars now the future is scary, our "level of control" will be obsolete.

Ask AI what is a decent environment to live in.....no doubt it will not say to turn back the clocks 50 years when it was decent.

A friends daughter bought one of those EV's, Build Your Dreams or something like that and she tried to drive it only to find she had to tell the car everything she wanted to do, heaven help you if there's a glitch, my guess is that it's call the tow truck company. I like it simple also.

[bluefin59]

Iv heard all those things about the new model ,it’s fairly crap that you can’t isolate the features you don’t want permanently and yes I believe most are doing the card in front of the camera thing . Such a shame a great vehicle is suffering from too many Saftey features , sorry to hear that

[stevej]

to be fair you wouldnt be able to fix anything on a 2023 model fuel vehicle anyway so the fact its an ev is a moot point.

[disorderly]

Too much stuff to go wrong and all those over-riding "safety features" would annoy the heck out of me......I dont even want to upgrade my Pajero 2010...Electric windows and aircon is about as funky as I need to be....Damn, I forgot I even have cruise control...havent used it in at least 12 months....I just like to be in control of the vehicle when I'm driving..

[marto78]

I totally agree with you on the Dmax being dangerous Phill. I bought one a few months ago and actually hate driving it.

Can't use cruise control on the freeway because it wants to sit on the same speed as the slowest car in the next lane.

If you try and drive around something on the road and go over a solid white line it will try and steer you back onto a collision course.

About the only feature I really like in the thing is when you are backing out of a shopping centre carpark and can't see it alerts you if another vehicle or pedestrian is in the way.

With all the dangerous safety features in the sh!t box (yes that is what I have named it) you would think you would be able to connect an android phone without a bloody cable!!! 😡

You have also got to love the fact you pay $70k for a vehicle with no lumber support in the drivers seat. I have fixed this installing inflatable lumbar supports which now means I can actually exit the vehicle and not look like an invalid after driving for more then 30 minutes.

It is great on fuel tho compared to my 2018 hilux and the 200 series I just sold.

[GBC]

[QUOTE=Lucky_Phill;1705243]Now that I have your attention........... hahaha

I want to tell you about my new 2023 Isuzu D-Max 4 x 4.

I will start with saying I like to " drive " my car and NOT " steer " it.

So many bells and whistles on this thing it is, in my opinion , distracting to a point of dangerous.

ELK. Electronic Lane Keeping.......... you drive near a white line, the steering wheel shudders and pulls you back away from it. I can even let go of the wheel and it will keep the vehicle within the lines Press and hold the 'steering wheel' button for a couple of seconds and lane keep turns off

Those little lights that appear in your side mirrors when a car gets near you... aarrgghhh ! they even come on for roadwork barriers... so distracting also overridden when you do the above.

Rain sensing wipers... FFS..... if ya windscreen gets rain on it... turn ya ###king wipers on..

The auto headlight thing........ seriously ? You follow someone through a road tunnel and their rear lights come on... could be brake lights, could be driving lights.... ? who knows.

The noisy alarms when you alight ya vehicle and leave ya keys in the ignition while door is open. !!! - Undo the three screws on the steering wheel shroud and pop the long white electrical connector on the ignition barrel apart - no more beeps. Hilux is the same.

The " radar " system....... you get too close to a car in front... the car brakes automatically.......... scary shite.. or... you are on cruise control and approach a car from behind going slower than you... car brakes. -Set emergency brake sensitivity to 'near' in the menu. You can also turn cruise control back to stupid mode rather than radar cruise mode by pressing and holding the cruise control button if that is your preference.

The problem with this is, if you are driving in manual mode. you cannot use cruise control. x Agree - I could drive the ranger's box manually in cruise and i want it back

The " radar " also picks up speed zone signs and transfers those to the dashboard, unfortunately, it picks up 40kph school zones, outside school hours and that flashing light distracts you... dangerous, similar for 60 kph offramp signs on the highways.

Here is the worst problem, when offroad I turn Traction Control and ES ( Electronic Stabilising ) off, as any 4 wd 'er would do. because this brings into play the LSD and locking brakes, eg:- beach driving. Now, as it happened, I was offroad with all things turned off and a gust of wind blew dust up in front of me, the $###ing car braked, warning light on windscreen went off and the TC and ES turned back on.......... wow... how freaking dangerous is that ? It happened again when i was entering a dry creek bed.. mind you I was doing 10 kph, maybe ??Same on a recent Simpson desert crossing with tumble weeds etc. Slide a business card under the camera cowl and cover one of the cameras and the whole shebang is turned off permanently. Nil issues or limp home no matter what your dealer says.

Every time I hop in my car and turn it on, I have to hold a button for 3 seconds to turn off several " sensors / alarms ". I have even pulled out the little metal strip in the drivers door catch to stop the " your door is open " alarm.I have also gone into settings and turned off as much as I can.

Upon my first service ( 15,000k's ) I enquired about these dangerous items and the service manager told me they are " safety features " required to get the right ANCAP rating. I told him they are bloody dangerous and turning drivers into steerers.

I asked him what would happen if I covered up the radar sensors on the windscreen.... he could not tell me if the car would go into limp mode or nothing will happen other than the " dangerous " safety features would not work. Pigs arse - see above

My D-Max is a great car to drive, comfortable over long distance driving, plenty of power, great towing ability and payload capacity. Unfortunately for me, all these electronics are far more than distracting, they are dangerous, because of the distractions they create.

I have no idea, but suggest if I alter the radar system and I have a crash, my insurance company may see this as tampering with my vehicles safety features and void or dismiss my claim.

I say, what if these safety features are the reason I was distracted and had that crash ?

LP[/QUOTE

Yes, an interesting learning curve with these. The wife's car has it all too so I had some practice first. Some situations it is definitely not worth having, especially offroad (business card helps a lot here). I was driving along just a farm track and some long grass set off the emergency braking and shot the dog into the passenger floor well - he looks at the ute a bit suspiciously now. On the highway the radar cruise and all the safety is pretty awesome, it saved me from a roo i didn't see (looking at his mate) just out from Birdsville, just have to remember to indicate so it lets me change lanes. I have nearly 70K kms in mine now so I'm getting used to it.

[Brettoh]

Sure some of the electronic aids on some model vehicles could be tuned a little better.

Try not to ccompare the new tech with how you used to drive. Take it for what it is.
Driving a modern car with correctly working and correctly used safety features as you have described reduces the risk of a crash by more than 38%

Learn how to use and apply these aids to get the best out of them. Yes, your behaviour and the way you approach driving will need to change, but for the better.

[Dignity]

Sure some of the electronic aids on some model vehicles could be tuned a little better.

Try not to ccompare the new tech with how you used to drive. Take it for what it is.
Driving a modern car with correctly working and correctly used safety features as you have described reduces the risk of a crash by more than 38%

Learn how to use and apply these aids to get the best out of them. Yes, your behaviour and the way you approach driving will need to change, but for the better.

For the drive kids to school mums, no question but did you read the patagraph anout traction control and stability co trol etc, even I turn them off but let's look at Pill'case where a tuft of grass caused the vehicke to brake suddenly. Now if I was negotiating a muddy creek/waterhole crossing using momentum over slippery conditions and a tuft of grass caused me to stop and get bogged I think I'll be phoning you to come and get me out and advise me on how I should have driven with all these safely features.

[Lucky_Phill]

For the drive kids to school mums, no question but did you read the patagraph anout traction control and stability co trol etc, even I turn them off but let's look at Pill'case where a tuft of grass caused the vehicke to brake suddenly. Now if I was negotiating a muddy creek/waterhole crossing using momentum over slippery conditions and a tuft of grass caused me to stop and get bogged I think I'll be phoning you to come and get me out and advise me on how I should have driven with all these safely features.

I had no idea how to respond to Brettoh. I do see where he or she is coming from, but for us " drives " that have been around a while, " driving " is an experience, not steering.

My point was the alarms and flashing lights and auto responses are distracting. Being distracted causes issues. Given my experience and ability to argue,( legal term for present facts ) , I could very well make a case in court against these " safety features ", if a crash scenario happened.

Having a motor vehicle do things that not only distract in that instance, but make the driver wonder when next this could happen, is again, a distraction.

Ever since 1971 when seatbelts became mandatory, there have been very minimal options made available in cars that make them better to drive, power assisted steering, cruise control, air conditioning are some, but as to " Safety Features ", maybe ABS for road conditions is the only thing I can agree with, but even then, it is turned off when " offroad ".

The absolute best safety feature in a motor vehicle is the driver, an alert, mindful and aware driver, who is NOT distracted.

LP

[upstart]

I have a 2020 Hilux. I have the lane keeping function always turned off. It's pretty unsettling when it tries to steer your car towards the centre line on a narrow Bruce Highway bridge with a semi heading your way! I love the radar cruise control though. I use it all the time, even in city traffic.

[GBC]

I have a 2020 Hilux. I have the lane keeping function always turned off. It's pretty unsettling when it tries to steer your car towards the centre line on a narrow Bruce Highway bridge with a semi heading your way! I love the radar cruise control though. I use it all the time, even in city traffic.

Hilux's also don't have an electric steering rack like the isuzu and others so their lane keep is a function of the front brakes which puts the brake lights on and also slows you down - it is archaic and all the guys in our work fleet leave it off full time also in the hilux's which is kind of counter productive. Drive a nice sedan/suv with it and it is never any real issue.

[chris69]

So many things to play with i learnt how to anoy mercedes drives by coming up beside them and seeing there side mirrows moving the blind spot mirrow it would drive me crazy havig my side mirrows moving all the time just somthing else to wear out like all the other things to justify charging lots more money and more to maintain and service,and i hate the auto head lights on other cars.