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Useful feature I have never seen in a car

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Old 07-27-18, 08:31 PM
  #46  
RXSF
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yep mercedes cars do turn on the headlights when the wipers are auto activated
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Old 07-30-18, 12:00 PM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by jrmckinley
I admit I only buy used vehicles so am sometimes a bit behind the times on features, but I also rent cars almost every week which gives me exposure to 2017 and 2018 models from various manufacturers. One thing I have never seen is a car that will automatically turn on your lights when it's raining. In the "auto" headlight setting, the lights only come on when it is dark outside. Anyone who has ever been in FL during the summer and driven through one of our daily afternoon thunderstorm monsoons knows there are times when you can't see more than 15-20 feet in front of you - so you really need to have your lights on in order to allow the car behind you to see you. Almost every week since summer started I have been in some type of rain storm where no one on the interstate exceeds 35mph because the rain is that heavy and visibility is so limited. We have rain-sensing windshield wipers - why not a feature that also turns on the headlights when it senses rain for a certain period of time (30 seconds maybe) and then turns them off when the rain stops?

I have to assume this exists- if so, please let me know which manufacturers and models you have seen offer this very simple but helpful and safe feature. It seems like a no-brainer.
funny you mentions this as it is cali law that your lights have to be on if its raining as of 2017. ( i've never seen it enforced, they dont ticket for this) Maybe this will be added to cali cars as an option? Most cars turn on the wipers automatically when they sense rain.
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Old 07-30-18, 04:13 PM
  #48  
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Switch your headlights on when it rains. I just saved you a couple hundred bucks on rain sensors.

Last edited by theory816; 07-30-18 at 04:26 PM.
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Old 07-30-18, 05:09 PM
  #49  
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Originally Posted by bob256k
funny you mentions this as it is cali law that your lights have to be on if its raining as of 2017. ( i've never seen it enforced, they dont ticket for this) Maybe this will be added to cali cars as an option? Most cars turn on the wipers automatically when they sense rain.
This has been the law in PA long before 2017. Fatal flaw is that police would need to get out of their cars in the rain or snow to write a ticket.

And sorry, but "most" cars do NOT have rain sensing wipers. Maybe most Lexus models do....
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Old 08-01-18, 03:28 PM
  #50  
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Default Useful feature I have never seen in a car

To have dinner waiting for me when I get home.
Oh wait, I'm m...
Never mind. Next thread.
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Old 08-02-18, 07:17 AM
  #51  
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I am one of those weird people who, day or night, doesn't matter, If I am in my car(s) and its not in park, my headlights are on. I just turn them off when I get out of the car. Not that hard.

Jeeezus, how did humans function back in the day when we had to shift our own gears, use dial-up internet, and put a key in a door if we wanted to lock or unlock it. Nevermind even further back, when we had a round key for the doors/trunk and a square one for the ignition.

Blows my mind that people have forgotten things like phones that had buttons and cords, or cars without ABS. I am only 33, not that old.

20 years from now, my children will be like "dafuq is an iPod?"
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Old 08-02-18, 08:20 AM
  #52  
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Originally Posted by ArmyofOne
I am one of those weird people who, day or night, doesn't matter, If I am in my car(s) and its not in park, my headlights are on. I just turn them off when I get out of the car. Not that hard.

Jeeezus, how did humans function back in the day when we had to shift our own gears, use dial-up internet, and put a key in a door if we wanted to lock or unlock it. Nevermind even further back, when we had a round key for the doors/trunk and a square one for the ignition.

Blows my mind that people have forgotten things like phones that had buttons and cords, or cars without ABS. I am only 33, not that old.

20 years from now, my children will be like "dafuq is an iPod?"

I have an accord, and driving it versus the gs350 is more exercise now lol!
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Old 08-04-18, 12:10 AM
  #53  
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Okay so this is an aftermarket ad-on for my truck. Convex rear view mirror, aka the one in the cab. Stock one is way too small, looks like something they put in a basic Yaris or Corolla. Doesn't do **** for rear visibility, hell its so small it doesn't even show the entire rear glass. Go to Advance Auto, get a convex rear view mirror that clips onto the stock one, best $12 I ever spent. You can actually now look in the rear view mirror and see in the left and right lanes behind you. Stuck some of those round circle convex mirrors on the left and right mirrors, now I don't even have to turn my head to change lanes, all the mirrors cover every single blind spot on the truck, best $20 I ever spent.

I know cameras are cool and all that ****(still wish my truck had a backup camera), but seriously just some well placed convex mirrors do the same damn thing as those blind spot cameras on Hondas and that all around view on Infinitis.
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Old 08-04-18, 12:19 AM
  #54  
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Originally Posted by ArmyofOne
I am one of those weird people who, day or night, doesn't matter, If I am in my car(s) and its not in park, my headlights are on. I just turn them off when I get out of the car. Not that hard.

Jeeezus, how did humans function back in the day when we had to shift our own gears, use dial-up internet, and put a key in a door if we wanted to lock or unlock it. Nevermind even further back, when we had a round key for the doors/trunk and a square one for the ignition.

Blows my mind that people have forgotten things like phones that had buttons and cords, or cars without ABS. I am only 33, not that old.

20 years from now, my children will be like "dafuq is an iPod?"
First car was an old Buick, then I had a Camaro(that did have keyless entry which was nice), then another old Cadillac. I never realized how damn annoying those two square and round GM keys were until I had a Toyota with one key that worked both ways.

Its whatever you get used to IMO. I drove only manual transmission for the past 7 years until a couple months ago, never annoyed me in the slightest. Like I said its whatever you are used to.
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Old 08-04-18, 05:28 AM
  #55  
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Originally Posted by Aron9000
First car was an old Buick, then I had a Camaro(that did have keyless entry which was nice), then another old Cadillac. I never realized how damn annoying those two square and round GM keys were until I had a Toyota with one key that worked both ways.
I'm not necessarily for automated everything, either, but I have to admit that those old GM separate ignition/door keys were indeed a PITA. Especially considering that Ford and Chrysler each used a single key.....and Ford made a big deal out of the fact that the key was double-sided and would fit no matter how you inserted it. I don't remember much about the old AMC keys...but I think they were much like GM's.
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Old 08-04-18, 09:00 PM
  #56  
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Originally Posted by Aron9000
First car was an old Buick, then I had a Camaro(that did have keyless entry which was nice), then another old Cadillac. I never realized how damn annoying those two square and round GM keys were until I had a Toyota with one key that worked both ways.

Its whatever you get used to IMO. I drove only manual transmission for the past 7 years until a couple months ago, never annoyed me in the slightest. Like I said its whatever you are used to.
LMAO! I completely forgot about the round and square GM keys. I had a 1989 S10 Blazer as a 16 year old punk - and I had both keys on that. Then at age 17 my dad did a surprise upgrade to add a remote start that leveraged a timer and I could have my truck start in the parking lot of high school "on its own" at a programmed time- this was late 90's so my truck wasn't new...but that particular option didn't exist for any vehicle. So I had a pretty cool ride. I did still have to use that square GM key to turn the ignition into the "on" position so I could drive away, but it was pretty cool walking out to a truck that was running with good music playing and AC on blast. Thanks, Dad!
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Old 08-05-18, 08:26 AM
  #57  
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Originally Posted by Johnhav430
And it's funny that the most direct way would be the driver turns the lights on, when it's raining lol
why is that funny?

My wife's car is in auto by default, so we leave it at that. Also because if taken out of auto, the DRLs turn off (why haha).
I thought drl's are required by law?

Originally Posted by patgilm
While off topic, the one feature I do like on my IS350 that I don't have on my other cars is the ability to rewind live radio. I miss that with my other cars.
Yup my last car, jeep, and current one, g90, have this and it's so nice. My g90 'pauses' radio when i get a phone call so after the call it carries on right where it was. it's the little things.

Originally Posted by theory816
Switch your headlights on when it rains. I just saved you a couple hundred bucks on rain sensors.
here we go, i knew the smart *** comments weren't far off.

get a stick, saved you money on auto
use gas and brakes, saved you money on cruise control or even more on adaptive cruise control
get exercise with manual crank windows and save money too...
and on...

Originally Posted by ArmyofOne
Jeeezus, how did humans function back in the day when we had to shift our own gears, use dial-up internet, and put a key in a door if we wanted to lock or unlock it. Nevermind even further back, when we had a round key for the doors/trunk and a square one for the ignition.

Blows my mind that people have forgotten things like phones that had buttons and cords, or cars without ABS. I am only 33, not that old.
but you sound old.

20 years from now, my children will be like "dafuq is an iPod?"
uh teenagers today don't even know what an ipod is.
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Old 08-05-18, 10:18 AM
  #58  
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I would venture to say most cars turn the headlights on when the wipers are on nowadays. Every car I've had since the mid 90s that was NOT a Toyota/Lexus product turned the lights on when the wipers are on.

Its one of the things that really bugs me about Lexus actually, that their products don't turn the headlights on when the wipers come on. My 17 LS460L turns off my adaptive cruise when the auto wipers go to high speed, but it cant turn the headlights on when the wipers come on? Silly.

All the way back to 1995 my dad's 95 Cadillac STS had this feature.
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Old 08-05-18, 12:38 PM
  #59  
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Originally Posted by bitkahuna
I thought drl's are required by law?
They are not.
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Old 08-05-18, 12:40 PM
  #60  
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Originally Posted by ArmyofOne
I am one of those weird people who, day or night, doesn't matter, If I am in my car(s) and its not in park, my headlights are on. I just turn them off when I get out of the car. Not that hard.

Jeeezus, how did humans function back in the day when we had to shift our own gears, use dial-up internet, and put a key in a door if we wanted to lock or unlock it. Nevermind even further back, when we had a round key for the doors/trunk and a square one for the ignition.

Blows my mind that people have forgotten things like phones that had buttons and cords, or cars without ABS. I am only 33, not that old.

20 years from now, my children will be like "dafuq is an iPod?"
Really? Dial up internet is your support for your argument? Feel free to give up your high speed connection and go back to dial up.
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