And you though "your door is ajar" was annoying

Blind_Io

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In the future your car will piratically stalk you with emails and texts whining about icy roads or it's damned fuel pump. - may also whine to each other about your inability to change the oil on time.

PARIS (Reuters) - Imagine your car warning you of an icy road ahead, reading aloud the text messages arriving on your phone and sending you an e-mail that your fuel pump needs replacing soon.

This is the vision driving automotive telematics, a technology that has been largely a flop so far but that proponents say needs only a successful business model to be a runaway hit.

"I personally believe it is going to be in every car. It is just a matter of time," said Karl-Thomas Neumann, the head of German supplier and tire maker Continental AG's (CONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) automotive division.

Continental agreed in April to pay $1 billion for Motorola's automotive electronics business and thus vault itself into vehicle computing and communications technology.

It thus became a leader in a market whose potential, Neumann said, was "billions, definitely."

Thomas Weber, head of research at global number five carmaker DaimlerChrysler (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), said telematics technology was far advanced in Europe but still needed authorities to award, for example, frequencies that would let cars talk to one another.

"When these agreements take hold we will have a real boom," he said.

Carmakers have already been marketing the technology as a safety boon, for instance by automatically altering rescue crews if your car's airbags detonate, a so-called emergency call.

"What has not been solved is managing the e-call center and handling the costs for a call center in a Europe that is not so unified and that has lots of individual states and languages. There is still some work to do there," Weber said this month.

A debate is raging over whether the technology should be embedded in the car or if the vehicle should simply support portable gadgets like mobile phones and digital media players.

Philippe Aumont, head of product planning at French automotive supplier Faurecia (EPED.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), said the devices had to be embedded to protect them from thieves.

"Integration remains important to ensure you keep your stuff," he said.

Mark Spain, senior director of U.S. software group Microsoft's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) automotive business unit, said the answer was installing cheap and updateable software in the car that would support a broad range of hardware and services.

"The reality today is that digital experience breaks as you enter the car and we believe that should not happen," he said, especially at a time when people often spend more time in their cars then in front of their computers.

"The cockpit of a car is a very interesting environment and we believe that software is the key to unlocking it," he said.

Once cars are equipped with a global positioning system, a wireless communications connection and a link to a service provider, the sky is the limit on what services are available.

Paying for them is a different matter, however, with many potential customers balking at paying monthly subscription fees for e-call or remote door unlocking services they may never need.

"The consumer is going to think: 20 euros a month, that's 240 euros a year," said Hans Eric Destree, a mobile electronics expert at auto supplier Visteon Corp (VC.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

"How often does it happen that I'm going to have an acute car problem? Maybe once every 5 years. That is 1,200 euros for that one telephone call. I think I'm not going to do that. That is the problem that we have with telematics."

Russell Shields, chief executive of U.S. group Ygomi, said early projections for the telematics market have been mainly disappointing.

"If there was a belief that people were running off and buying cars because of the telematics service then you would see a strong effort from people to get it right. It hasn't reached that point yet but it may in another two or three years," he said.

"If you look down the road 10 years from now you are almost sure to have the safety communications in the higher-end cars at least, but the actual way that evolves is completely unclear."

What could serve as a money spinner for carmakers is telematics' ability to feed back data on how cars are performing and what potential problems may soon arise.

This could save millions by allowing dealers to stock only the parts they know customers will need at their next service.
 
My dad actually went in and physically turned off the buzzer on our old car. :lol:
 
Sorry, I honestly didn't notice it.

Get a better monitor you guys!
 
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

I hate the "no seatbelt" bong we get on our car. The faster you get, the more annoying it gets.
 
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

I hate the "no seatbelt" bong we get on our car. The faster you get, the more annoying it gets.

Pro Tip: Wear a seatbelt!
 
Imagine your car warning you of an icy road ahead, reading aloud the text messages arriving on your phone and sending you an e-mail that your fuel pump needs replacing soon.
What's wrong with that? GM does that already (oh good, another reason to hate them :p). Let's face it, not everybody is that car-savvy like us awesome people, and it'll not only save them some time and money down the road but also protect the car from driving around with faulty parts. Either way, it's a good idea to remind us for a checkup every now and then, and as long as it's non-intrusive it won't be that harmful.

I agree, though, whinging about icy roads should be something that your significant other should do, not your car. Our Legacy bongs every time the car's in any gear and both front seatbelts aren't on: shut up, we'll get to it in a second! (We never go anywhere without our belts, btw.) :x
 
West said:
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

I hate the "no seatbelt" bong we get on our car. The faster you get, the more annoying it gets.

Pro Tip: Wear a seatbelt!
+1

Should have mentioned when it annoys me - when we're on our farm and traveling from one section to another at under 30km/h. There is no one around as it's private property and we're not going fast so we don't damage the paint work and having to wear the seatbelt there sucks.

There should be a way to disable it. But then stupid people will disable it when they're in the city and then crash and die :p
 
West said:
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

I hate the "no seatbelt" bong we get on our car. The faster you get, the more annoying it gets.

Pro Tip: Wear a seatbelt!

The problem is that for many people it's the last thing to do before driving, and when you use your car in a private area at 10mph it's ... so f***ing annoying. The worst thing in my car is that usually the bong stops just before I put the seat belt, so it's purely pointless. A visual on the dash is more usefull (and it doesn't stop).

The only bong which worth is for the lights.
 
It's articles like these that make me think I'll be hanging on to my MR2 for many many years to come. I don't want all that crap in my car dammit.
 
thank god im living in europe..
the only time the cars here boing .. is whegn your turning of your car and the lights are still on... (in cars that dosent have automated lights)

and my car .. beening primaraly made for "uhhmuurican" also boings when i put it in revers... ive been on the hunt for that boing for 3 weeks now...
 
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
West said:
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

I hate the "no seatbelt" bong we get on our car. The faster you get, the more annoying it gets.

Pro Tip: Wear a seatbelt!
+1

Should have mentioned when it annoys me - when we're on our farm and traveling from one section to another at under 30km/h. There is no one around as it's private property and we're not going fast so we don't damage the paint work and having to wear the seatbelt there sucks.

There should be a way to disable it. But then stupid people will disable it when they're in the city and then crash and die :p

normally there's a fuse in the fusebox for the seatbelt warning
but a friend took it out on his dads A6, didn't help
did the same when he got his new 5 series, didn't help either

so there is a fuse, but if you take it out, the damn thing keeps working :roll:
 
bone said:
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
West said:
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

I hate the "no seatbelt" bong we get on our car. The faster you get, the more annoying it gets.

Pro Tip: Wear a seatbelt!
+1

Should have mentioned when it annoys me - when we're on our farm and traveling from one section to another at under 30km/h. There is no one around as it's private property and we're not going fast so we don't damage the paint work and having to wear the seatbelt there sucks.

There should be a way to disable it. But then stupid people will disable it when they're in the city and then crash and die :p

normally there's a fuse in the fusebox for the seatbelt warning
but a friend took it out on his dads A6, didn't help
did the same when he got his new 5 series, didn't help either

so there is a fuse, but if you take it out, the damn thing keeps working :roll:
Yeah and I'm not sure what it does to your warrentee either. I know chipping factory DVD players in your car so they DON'T stop when the vehicle starts moving screws your warrentee.
 
Yet another reason I am go to buy a 2005 or 2006 Mazda MX-5 for summer fun, and for commuting, buy the cheapest car possible to avoid the electronic nagging. My current car, for example, is a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire. No ABS, no traction control, no power windows or locks, manual transmission. I CONTROL THE CAR. No fancy electronics means no fancy electronic problems.
 
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

:thumbsup: I think you need to switch to Lotus instead of Mercedes. ;)
 
Love Subarus for this, Subaru has weird way to turn off all the annoying chimes and weird stuff. DRL off? pull off these wires. Annoying seatbelt chime? Put your seat belt in and our really quickly for 20 seconds.
 
jayhawk said:
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
What useless features. All they'll do is add weight and be another thing you've got to worry about.

:thumbsup: I think you need to switch to Lotus instead of Mercedes. ;)
Great thing about Merc is once they add weight, they always add a new engine which produces even more horsepower :D

But yeah, I admit - so many useless features.
 
jayhawk said:
Yet another reason I am go to buy a 2005 or 2006 Mazda MX-5 for summer fun, and for commuting, buy the cheapest car possible to avoid the electronic nagging. My current car, for example, is a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire. No ABS, no traction control, no power windows or locks, manual transmission. I CONTROL THE CAR. No fancy electronics means no fancy electronic problems.

Ehh but ABS and traction control are good things. No matter how fast your foot is you can't hit the brakes as fast as ABS can.
 
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