As technology continues to adapt and improve, we keep seeing big changes to the car industry, but not all of them are welcomed by every driver. There are, unfortunately, a lot of features that find their way into cars despite nobody ever asking for them or needing them. In fact, you probably don’t even know some are found in your own car.
Of course, some people will find a use for a car’s navigation system despite having two map apps on their phone, or perhaps they enjoy having fewer buttons to press, but I personally find myself seething at these features. From feeling useless to plain irritating, here are the features found on modern cars that I can’t stand.
How We Chose These Things
After scouring the internet for lists of useless car features, I found myself thinking: “There’s someone out there who likes this stuff.”
From there, I went to car sites and forums and looked for the features that garnered the most complaints from car enthusiasts. These may be useful features, but some drivers will turn them off and completely ignore them. Don’t feel bad if you enjoy these features yourself, but you can’t make me like ’em!
Gesture Controls
As if the switch to infotainment screens hasn’t been dystopian enough, BMW and other brands also have something called “gesture controls” that require you to touch even less stuff, making driving more intangible than ever.
Nothing can make you feel dumber than swirling your finger around in the air to make the volume turn up and down in your car. I refuse to believe it can get any worse than this. A frustrated Reddit user said, “I gave it a gesture it couldn’t interpret and turned it off myself.”
Blue Tinted LED Headlights
I get why this is useful, it’s bright. However, there has to be another way to allow drivers to see without completely blinding everyone else on the road in the process. There is currently an entire subreddit dedicated to drivers who also hate these lights.
The Guardian notes that a big part of the ‘too bright’ issue is glare—cooler white LEDs can feel harsher, headlight alignment matters, and taller vehicles like SUVs put headlights closer to eye level for other drivers. With more SUVs and pickups than ever before on the streets, you’re bound to get hit right in the face with lights all night long.
Auto Start/Stop
Auto start/stop is a function in newer cars that will automatically shut off the engine whenever you’re idling, including at a stoplight. A lot of car enthusiasts have opted to turn off this feature due to how frustrating it can be to have their car fire up every time the light turns green.
Some car models have worse auto start/stop features than others. One Subaru owner on Reddit said, “The engine restart is exceptionally harsh, causing a jolt every time. The restart is also too slow. By the time my foot is pressing on the gas, the engine is still cranking.”
WiFi
Is anyone really in dire need of WiFi in their car? You know you can just, I don’t know, use your phone… There’s just really no good reason why anyone needs WiFi built into a car, making it a pretty useless feature, in my opinion.
Some drivers claim that the WiFi comes in handy if you have kids using iPads or if you find yourself in places with spotty service. But many car companies make you pay for WiFi connectivity every month, so I can’t get behind it. Many automakers charge a monthly fee for in-car Wi-Fi, often around $10–$20+ per month, depending on the provider and plan, depending on the provider, just so you can do the same thing you already do with your phone’s data plan, now in a car!
Navigation
Again, there are plenty of GPS options that are right on our phones, including popular apps like Waze. Is there really a reason we also need a navigation system on our car’s touchscreen? It could create fewer steps for anyone who doesn’t want to figure out their car’s Bluetooth, I guess.
But for the rest of us, it’s almost like we can just put our phone on a mount and use the GPS on its screen or connect our phones to the car to display its GPS on the car’s touchscreen.
Autonomous Driving
Cars with autonomous driving are nowhere near the level where they can be trusted to take full control like in a ’50s sci-fi cartoon. Instead, cars with autopilot need constant babysitting. I’m not sure what the point of putting a car on autopilot is if you have to stare at the road and look for possible dangers the entire time.
And this may be a personal gripe, but what is even the point of a car anymore if you aren’t driving? Just take the bus. Clear the highway for the rest of us.
Electronic Parking Brake
Carmakers seem to believe humans are becoming so lazy that pulling up a parking brake is too much effort for us. Instead, many cars have opted for the electronic parking brake, which takes a simple touch of a button to activate.
I don’t see the point of wasting time switching to this button, but I guess it’s just another example of cars wanting us to do less and less, with some manufacturers even wanting us to wave our fingers around like a doofus.
G-Force Meter
The g-force meter is so pointless that many people with that feature in their car have no clue what it even is. There is an almost 100% chance you’ll never need a G-force meter in a car, even a fast one. Some people may find this cool or interesting, but useful? I’ve yet to see a good argument, personally.
G-force refers to acceleration measured in multiples of g (the acceleration due to gravity), which measures the force created from a rapid change in speed or direction. For context, fighter pilots can experience up to around 9g in high-performance maneuvers, according to Simple Flying. Why a car needs to measure something in the single digits is beyond me.
Wireless Charger
In an attempt to de-clutter your cabin, many car brands have opted to include wireless charging options. While not really a necessity, this could still be a bit useful in some cases, like when you forget your USB charger. The fewer cables, the better, some could argue.
However, wireless chargers are known for charging very, very slowly. Another car owner on Reddit even admitted that their Ford Mustang Mach-e only charged their phone 1% every hour. Despite barely charging your phone at all, you can definitely expect it to feel like it’s been sitting on the surface of the sun when you touch it.
Social Media Messaging
CarPlay has some useful features, like accessing your phone’s GPS and Spotify. But was it really necessary to make it so you can read texts and social media messages? Not only does this feel like another way to make us stare at screens every second of our lives, but it doesn’t seem safe.
According to The Times, touchscreens are said to be more and more distracting as they add more features. One report cited testing where some basic touchscreen tasks took up to 22 seconds to complete, even for basic functions like changing the volume or AC levels. I can’t imagine how long it could take to reject a text message or work request.
Voice Recognition
Voice commands can be useful if you don’t want to take your hands off the wheel to adjust your car’s volume or heat (or listen to a Hinge message, I guess), but that would require them to work.
According to a report by The Autopian, voice controls react very slowly to your voice commands, especially when compared to just touching a button or turning a knob, which auto makers seem vehemently against us doing at all costs. The other issue? They don’t do a very good job of recognizing your voice, especially if you have an accent, so you may find yourself yelling something over and over.
Lane Keeping Assistance
What I’m about to say may be controversial, but if you are unable to drive within the lines, you probably shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car. However, carmakers have decided that they want to help these fools with something called “lane keeping assistance,” which will take control and maneuver your car back towards the center of the lane if you start going over.
The issue? Many drivers, including members of the Subaru Outback forums, have found it to be quite unsafe. Who knew that having your car jerk you around against your will while at high speeds was probably not the smartest feature to put in a car?
Driver Attention Alerts
There are new car models that will basically coddle you, which is great for anyone with mommy issues but terrible for anyone else who doesn’t want a car to tell them to drink coffee and sit up straight.
While it may be useful to have a car gently remind you to keep your eyes on the road, Drive.com.au reports that the feature isn’t even accurate and will start blurting out demands that aren’t even helpful or relevant at all. I don’t personally drive to have my car neurotically warn me about the exact direction my eyeballs are moving.
Change-Up Indicator
As if driver attention alerts didn’t make cars presumptuous and judgmental enough, we also have the change-up indicator. This is a feature that basically scoffs at you for thinking you know how to drive a manual in an attempt to humble you fast.
In Europe (via EU type-approval rules), many new manual-transmission cars are required to have a gear shift indicator to support fuel-efficient driving if they sense the gear isn’t right for the speed you’re at or the hill you’re on. This is to help drivers with fuel management, but can you imagine this going off while your friend is in the car already judging your lack of heel-toe downshifting? And it’s not just a Europe thing, many cars in other markets include shift indicators too. Let’s hope we are spared.
Beeping Backup Warning
Cut me a break, will ya? Now, you’re not even safe from your car shaming you while reversing. Obviously, having a backup camera is great, well, that’s what my friends tell me (none of my cars have this feature). Parking sensors can be an extra layer of protection when your camera doesn’t catch all the angles…
But do you really need your car to beep at a dramatic volume incessantly if you are getting close to a wall or another car? Isn’t that what the image we’re looking at is for? It’s sort of like having a friend scream prematurely when they think you’re getting too close to the car in front of you. Like, okay, I get that we’re getting close, but give me a chance before you flip out!
Automatic Headlights
In case you’re one of the few drivers in the world who can’t tell it’s dark outside, some new cars have provided automatic headlights. These will basically turn on whenever the car senses that the lighting has become dark enough to warrant it. This can be useful if you’re too lazy to flip a switch.
The issue, however, is that the sensors aren’t always accurate, turning on lights when not needed or taking too long to switch on. When that happens, you have to do it yourself anyway, defeating the purpose. Drivers on Reddit are now calling it one of the dumbest features in their cars.
Rear Seat Entertainment
I’m not saying that I don’t want kids to have access to Skibidi Toilet during a long car ride. I’m just saying that they can watch Skibidi Toilet right on their phone or iPad.
Having ugly screens attached to back of your headrest just looks like something out of Pimp My Ride. It’s even tackier since it’s not needed at all.
Rear-Hinged Doors
While reverse-opening doors may have been considered cool in the past, they have been surpassed by the many other dramatic door-opening features, like butterfly and scissor doors.
But the real issue with suicide doors in the modern age is that they make it quite difficult to get out of tight parking spots. You may find yourself a bit trapped, creating a sort of Final Destination-type vibe as you try to exit your own car.
Keyless Entry
Maybe this is personal bias, but do we really want to open our car with a phone or a card? What happened to having physical keys? There are drivers on Reddit who agree with me and are unsure where to even put their keys now that they aren’t being put into the ignition.
Even if you prefer a keyless entry, there are some issues with this new system as is. First, a lot of drivers misplace the fob and have no way to really lock or start their car anymore. Another issue is that cars with keyless entry are easier to steal. Car thieves can use a relay attack (signal-relay devices) to extend a key fob’s signal and unlock/start some keyless cars to get into your keyless car and drive away, according to a report by Leasing.
Feeling Annoyed Yet?
These are just some of the features that car brands continue to toss in as a way to make a car feel advanced or luxurious, when in reality, they just make the car feel bogged down, exhausting, and pretentious.
From nagging beeps and assistance to accusing us of being lazy, these car features may be useful to some, but can also completely ruin the driving experience… if you even remember they exist.