Thread: touchscreen steering wheel Carputer.

Originally Posted by justchat_1

As a former EMT.....that's the stupidest thing i've ever heard. The difference between an airbag or just a seatbelt is usually burned face compared to broken neck and face-take your pick.

I really just don't care for them, I guess its preference. Ive heard of people being killed by air bags too, so nothing is 100%. Also on new cars they seem to make them so sensative..... The Youtube video is a perfect example, even if it is staged.

Yea they've been computer controlled since the early 80's...and unless your car has brake pedals for each wheel not sure why you wouldn't like traction or skid control.

If your an experienced driver you don't need all that cr@p. It takes away from driving the car. Just like the new Mercz, like the E class. It almost doesn't even need a driver, what fun is that?

Looks Great! Lot's of hard work paid off for you. Hopefully it doesn't bother you too much that you can't change tracks/volume while turning. I think that might drive me nuts. Maybe a few hard buttons near the gear shift would solve that? That's what I'm working on next for my own project.

Auto-shifting manuals...cars that park themselves..or brake before an accident...i'll give you that kills driving. I'm a fan of the full driving experience (my car has an engine I built and a manual trans) but when im hitting a wet curve hard, driving experience can only do so much, theres a top speed I can safely take the curve at. When I have stability control though I can actually up that speed by a good bit because as I take the turn, my back inside wheel brakes and actually pulls me through the turn. No matter how good of a driver I am, I can't brake individual wheels. Same thing with off-roading (different car), I want no-ABS but skid control and dual-lockers. Its kept me out of a tree dozens of times.
I see the big difference being critical activation systems (activate on impact, or as your sliding out of control) verse non-essential luxuries (auto-revving the engine as you shift, parking itself, braking for you, cruise control, etc.). Many people consider even automatic transmissions or even EFI to be taking away from the full experience so I guess its just where you draw the line. But I would much rather be in a bad situation in a modern car then a 60's pre-airbag, pre-abs, pre-crash testing vehicle.

I've seen enough cars crash because of ABS - but that's for a certain style of driving (ie, buy those that want to be able to optionally turn it off - much as traction control can be).

I know a guy that wrote off his 2-week old supercharge Crappadoor SS while turning on to a freeway on ramp in the wet at about 4-5 times the posted advisory sign - he reckoned his traction/stability control "wasn't good enough" LOL! I suspect that sort of driver NOT be given the option of optional controls - except maybe on his playstation.
And it was that type of driver that once caused German insurance companies to impose a 10% SURCHARGE for "cars with ABS" policies.

But I remember when laminated windscreens were banned here. That problem however was later overcome the same way the merkan's solved deaths caused by airbags.
And just as well! But people now laugh at the mere suggestion of NOT having laminated screens.

It took ABS many years to be able to stop equally as well as non-ABS cars on gravel surfaces. They would on average take 30% further to stop.

And hence one of the key points - ABS and traction control are considered "safety enhancements" because they are intended for the non-performance driver (so as to save lives etc).
The ultimate ABS was that on old motorbikes (ie, pre-Guzzi interlinked front & rears).

I'm not sure what rally cars do for airbags.

As for me, after hearing how cars won't unlock or start because they are parked in a certain part of town, or outside shops with certain alarm systems, I doubt I'll be worried about ABS, stability controls, and airbags for a while.

A recent quote "only when enough deaths have occurred will they overcome this security-chip crap".
A much older quote - copper and optic cables for communications are redundant and worthless "because everything will go wireless".
What foresight some have eh?

my take on all of this-- a screen in the stereing wheel has a certain cool factor, but i think that combined with my bad luck, and moving vehicles, i think i would like to keep my airbag..


as for zx1's, and just chats converstion-- i chime in on that also:

the parts that you put on your car can make it almost as safe as all of those safetey features that the oems are adding--

my first car came with abs, and worlds cheapest, hardest, longest lasting tires... a couple weeks after having it, on of the front tires slid on a crack on the pavement, abs kicked in for too long, and i abs-ed my way into another car(without abs, i would have stopped about 3-4 foot shorter)...

after that, i upgraded the tires to something much better, and forgot i had abs, even in bad weather, and snow...

my current car doesn't have abs, but i use high performace tires that more than make up for it-- the only times i have slid, the slide was shorter than distance abs whould have added...

though i can say that my 04 work truck has abs, and poor tires, and the abs programming is getting better, to the point that it doesnt frustrate me as bad as it used to, and also stops shorter.

for trans selection--i regretably drive a auto with a autostick option, and am constantly switching to autostick mode for better control(i prefer manuals)..

as for the automated systems that brake certain wheels, etc, i can understand how people grow to like them, but i don't. i feel that these systems lead you too much away from keeping the driver within their own limits- which can end up hurting later when the driver grows to rely on the system for a level of control that would normally be beyond their level of driving, or use a car without these systems.

i guess i draw the line at when the computer controls the cars movement--computer engine management is great, though i can understand how some would prefer carbs, and no computers...