Hyundai consider ditching annoying technology
One of Australia’s most popular car makers looks set to give in to popular demand and get rid of it’s in-vehicle technology, even if its safety ratings suffer.
It’s the most common complaint of new car owners: beeping, bonging driver assist systems literally driving us to distraction.
Every new car sold in Australia now features some form of ADAS, or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.
It can be really useful stuff like autonomous emergency braking (AEB) taking over if a collision is imminent; blind spot monitor (BSM) preventing side-swipes, and rear cross traffic alert (RCTA) stopping you reversing into moving vehicles.
We like these.
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But there’s also less appreciated assistance, ranging from annoying nannying to full Orwellian nightmare.
Cameras monitor the driver’s face and beeps if your eyes stray off the road. Excellent for microsleeps, but in my experience, they can trigger if you’re operating the touchscreen, or even scold if you’re looking both ways when approaching a junction.
Lane keeping and lane centring (a particularly exasperating development) will pogo the car between white lines as it aggressively tugs the steering wheel.
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Like shop sales assistants besieging with “Can I help yous?” ADAS has become a well-intentioned but overly-pestering turn-off.
And turn off is exactly what many drivers do to these systems before each journey.
It’s a faff, but my driving routine has become close door, seat belt on, then dive through menus to disable the speed limit, lane keep and driver attention warnings.
Why? Because I trust my own driving and don’t desire the automotive equivalent of helicopter parenting.
Nobody doubts ADAS is well-intentioned and potentially lifesaving, but most are overly strict, poorly calibrated and prone to making mistakes like mis-reading speed signs.
Hyundai has for years faced criticism that its new cars are particularly over-nannying and over-bonging.
But could the Korean brand be first of the big players to row back such systems?
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Hyundai’s already made it easier to shut up speed zone beeps by holding down the steering wheel’s mute button. In its new Palisade SUV, we’re promised it can be turned off permanently, and remains off even after the engine’s turned off.
There’s also now a shortcut button on the wheel to give quick menu access for silencing the driver monitoring and lane departure warning.
Could the brand go further still?
When asked if Hyundai could differentiate itself from rivals by ditching annoying driver aids, Hyundai Australia CEO Don Romano replied: “It could be an option.”
With new Chinese rivals stealing Hyundai’s (and others’) market share, and China’s cars typically amongst the worst ADAS offenders, scrapping the most annoying systems could be the perfect response.
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“We’re going to have to fight to make sure we maintain our place in the market,” Romano continued, and making its cars less whinging would be a blessing for many new buyers.
Anecdotally, potential customers have rejected new Hyundais after test drives fraught with bongs and beeps.
Tim Rodgers, Hyundai Australia’s Product Planning and Development Manager, said many of their friends and family are customers, “so we hear it first-hand.”
Rodgers noted they’ve encountered every type of opinion on ADAS, ranging from those glad it’s fitted so they don’t speed, to others agreeing with car journalists who find them a bloody nuisance. “I don’t think we can satisfy everyone,” he sagely said.
It’s not entirely the car manufacturers’ fault, as regulators mandate some ADAS and safety body ANCAP won’t give out maximum five-star ratings without certain systems fitted as standard.
But if many drivers turn off safety assist for each journey to avoid the constant tellings-off, it feels a pointless waste of everybody’s time.
If they only intervened in a proper emergency – as AEB successfully does – rather than warning of 1km/h over the limit, or slightly too close to a white line, then drivers would be more inclined to leave them on.
Those who do endure the audible reprimands and steering wheel tugs are often so desensitised to the constant barrage that warnings are ignored anyway.
I’ve heard arguments that ADAS only need save you once in your driving career and it’s worth it, and that’s fair.
But if manufacturers could just reserve ADAS for proper emergencies, the driving world would be a better place.
Hyundai, you know what you must do.
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