Rant: Current car commercials

theDreamer

Lately I have noticed a new trend in car commercials, many luxury brands, but even some non luxury brands. The idea that they are developing new software & hardware to prevent accidents. Now I am not against the idea of technology progress or the idea of preventing accidents, but why are companies spending so much money on new technology without upgrading current tech?

Brakes:
-A good upgrade for any car and through racing and other sciences have developed some major forward steps. Pads, current pad technology is great in that we can have great bite with low dust and no noise. Calipers, bigger calipers and proper design helps in cooling and making sure your brakes perform the same time and again.

Tires:
-A optimal upgrade which OEM manufactures could easily pick up. It might sacrifice a bit in noise or tire life, but with how much sound control and noise reduction built into cars an average driver would not even notice.

Heavier is better:
-Not sure how this became such a prominent thought in the industry, but you have cars which are very light weight (sub 3500) which stop better, just as good crash ratings and have solid real world results.

The reason for some of these points is that, you reduce stopping distance, you eliminate many accidents. Both on the highway, red lights or stop signs, etc.

One of the main commercials which has set me to write this post is a Mercedes commercial. They have 4 or 5 people talking about how they were falling asleep, drifting lanes, person in front of them stopped short. Why is Mercedes having to fix a human error or not provide better stopping abilities in their cars. Instead they want to develop nanny controls which stop for you or pull you back into your lane to correct your drift.

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

Jeffblue

I agree and i've noticed this trend too. put more emphasis on driver aids that help a driver's inability to control their car, and less emphasis on helping the driver control their car.

you mentioned tires. it's a commonly held belief that summer tires/high performance tires/low profile tires are more expensive to produce. that is false. they only reason it costs you more to buy a 285/30 series tire than a 215/55 tire is because of the economies of scale that producers can achieve because of the volumes in the high profile, passenger tires. more people buy them, they produce more, the cost is less per tire. Same goes for tread compound. if your average run of the mill car demanded a better tread compound, tuned for grip and less so for tire life/road noise etc, then a better handling tire would become less expensive.

heavier is better really pisses me off. like, i'm really glad ms soccer mom feels safer with her 5000 lb suv because its heavier. the fact of the matter is, heavier is safer, only if everyone plays by that logic. a 5000lb suv is going to annihilate a corrolla, not because a corolla isn't as safe, but because of simple physics. and the fact of the matter is, theres always a bigger fish. you feel safe in your big SUV? lets see how it fairs against a semi-tractor trailer or a dump truck....

instead of engineering cars to give their drivers a better ability to avoid accidents, there is this notion that if a hazardous situation is to present itself, you're probably gonna crash, so just brace for impact. its like their whole message is "hey... accidents happen, and we know that you probably aren't paying attention to driving, so if we can, our car will help avoid accidents by keeping your car in its lane, and when it can't, you'll crash, but you'll be ok because your car is heavy. oh, what was that? you want to be able to avoid an accident by braking? oh, no your car can't stop quickly enough because its too damn heavy. Have fun now!"

theDreamer

Bump.

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

vipor

I hate the whole heavier thing. They make cars small and light when gas went up a while ago and now that they get better mpg (20+) they just start making them huge again. One of the major downfalls of the Z34 is it's weight.

Z31 - 2900-3000lbs
Z32 (2 seater) - 3200lbs
Z33 - 3200-3600lbs
Z34 - 3250lbs

The 240Z was only 2355lbs lol.

My 240SX at ~2700lbs felt very quick with it's mere 155fwhp

__________________

2009 NISMO # 0193 | QAB | Albums! | 05.04.10 (Dynojet) 291.94hp/248.28tq
Oil Cooler (DIY) | Custom Headlights | GTSPEC Braces | F.I. Long Tube Headers

shadoquad

Yes, but at least the Z34 is lighter than the Z33. It's part of what made me look at the car. "Nissan made the Z lighter and more powerful? I would like to know more."

But agreed, I hate how bulky autos have become. They're flat out huge. I also hate the "crossover" trend. Conceptually, there is not much difference between old station wagons, minivans, SUV's, and crossovers. They all haul groceries and get kids to soccer practice.

370Zsteve

What you don't mention is that much of the added weight is due to Government-mandated safety features. Without the mandated features, the Z34 would have come in much lighter than the Z33!

__________________
SOLD MY Z MARCH 2018 - another Core OG moves on - new ride 2019 Z Corvette Grand Sport - no mods necessary but already have eyes on HFC and intakes LOL IT NEVER ENDS.

shadoquad

Lloydy

Saw this add last night and totally agree. Are people really that bad at driving now, that it's become acceptable to admit "well yeah I was half asleep/not concentrating while I was driving, but thank goodness I was in a Mercedes, so now I can carry on not concentrating/sleeping or whatever I was doing, cos my car will just save me every time"

__________________

theDreamer

Exactly, I am all for the lane changer warning light or proximity sensors, but when my car is starting to drive for me because I fail to perform the duties required of me I need to get off the road.

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

Jeffblue

"I had just polished off a bottle of jimmy bean on my way home from the bar. I was totally wasted, but thankfully, my Mercedes Benz wasn't."

"I had just snorted 5 xanyx before leaving my friends house. On the way home, i looked down to load some meth into my pipe, and i didn't realize that the truck in front of me had stopped. I was about to take a hit of meth, but thankfully my mercedes benz wasn't"

theDreamer

We need to make this commercial right now!

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

ThoriumHotdog

The worst drivers I see are the texters.. I'd rather have some tweaked out meth addict or some coke snorting douche in traffic than a stupid teenybopper texting messages.

WarmAndSCSI

I'd rather have any of the above than ANY teenager driving on the same roads as I. I haven't been exposed to how poorly this age group drives until recently, but it's just horrendous. I have no idea why they let some people drive to begin with. It ought to be an even more exclusive "privilege."

__________________

shadoquad

We all had to start somewhere, though.

Texters are a huge problem, BUT, the real problem is that people don't pay attention to the road. It's been an issue since well before MMS. Road maps, lipstick, hamburgers, coffee, laptops, passengers...

MD legislation is in order right now that states that holding a phone to your ear while driving is against the law. However, it's ok to use a wireless head set. What this has effectively done is drive the market up for bluetooth headsets while doing nothing to fix the problem. Whether you hold the phone to your ear, talk over bluetooth, or hold a conversation with the passengers sitting next to and behind you, it doesn't f*cking matter. The problem is that you should be focused on the road. So the State of MD officially endorses spending excess money on a bluetooth gismo that you don't f*cking need, while the accident rate stays the same.

ThoriumHotdog

Yes. An intelligence test for all drivers would be nice. All others can have nanny-mobiles without steering wheels.

Then there are the really really old ladies behind the wheel of a car and they can barely see over the dash. Now, that sounds like a cliche but I was almost killed by one in a pristine Cadillac. Perhaps a annual driving test should be required for the elderly.