Category: Articles & Commentaries

Discussions on topics of interest to drivers concerning things they may not understand about their vehicles as well as articles on the future of the auto industry.

Two Agencies Cite Evidence That Hands Free Is Not Distraction Free

Hands Free?

Earlier this month, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a study stating that new vehicle hands free features may actually increase mental distraction. Now, a report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) finds that a 2013 truck, train collision at a highway railroad crossing in Maryland was caused in no small part by the driver of the truck being distracted Distractedby a telephone conversion that was taking place, despite being hands free. The driver was seriously injured. Four others received minor injuries as a result of a post-crash explosion.

On the plus side, AAA’s research did find that it is “possible to design hands-free technologies that are less cognitively distracting.” The research used a five-category rating system, with a score of 1 being the least distracting. The results are not too surprising, in that the accuracy of voice recognition software has a significant influence. Systems with low accuracy and reliability generated a high level (category 3) of distraction. Also, composing text messages and emails using in-vehicle technologies (category 3) was more distracting than using these systems to listen to messages (category 2). The quality of the systems’ voice had no impact. Listening to a natural or synthetic voice both rated as a category 2 level of distraction.

Best Scores

Toyota’s Entune® system came in with the lowest (highest!) score at 1.7, while the Chevrolet MyLink® was found to produce a high level of cognitive distraction (rated at 3.7). The Hyundai Blue Link (2.2), Chrysler Uconnect™ (2.7), Ford SYNC with MyFord Touch® (3.0) and Mercedes COMAND® (3.1) systems were also tested.

One surprise was a separate test Apple’s Siri (from iOS 7). Using the same metrics, the researchers found that hands- and eyes-free use of the Siri in-car system generated a category 4 level of mental distraction!

With scores as low as 1.7 – noted by AAA as about the same as listening to an audio book – it is clear that auto manufacturers can get it right. “It is clear that not all voice systems are created equal, and today’s imperfect systems can lead to driver distraction,” Bob Darbelnet, AAA’s chief executive officer, said. “AAA is confident that it will be possible to make safer systems in the future.”

But, regardless of the system, driver’s still need to pay attention and in the Maryland crash, the first cause is that the truck’s driver simply failed to ensure that the tracks were clear at the private crossing. The NTSB focused first on “distraction due to hands-free cell phone.” It did add however, “the limited sight distance due to vegetation and roadway curvature; and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) inadequate oversight of the motor carrier,” which was allowed to “continue operations despite a serious and consistent pattern of safety deficiencies.” The NTSB sought not to assign blame but only to determine the facts of the collision.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the  use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2014/10/two-agencies-cite-evidence-that-hands-free-is-not-distraction-free/

Seven Things to Know About Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems

Know Your TPMS

Its Fall (2014) and time once again for your car’s equivalent of Seasonal Affective Disorder, your Tire Pressure Monitoring System or TPMS. If equipped, one of the two TPMS warning indicators shown will soon attempt to get your attention (Drivers most commonly describe the lights as horseshoes with exclamation points or arrows in them but they are actually a “slice” of a tire). Here are seven things you should know about TPMS.

Tire Pressure Monitor Symbol1)

Unlike any other yellow/amber or red light, these indicators do not normally point to a problem with the car. Rather they are meant to inform. It may be annoying, but the light is doing its job and alerting you to the risk of low tire pressure.

Rare Tire Pressure Light w/Arrows2)

The light comes on (first) in the fall primarily because air shrinks when it cools. So as autumn takes hold and the weather cools, the air in your tires—including the spare—will shrink causing the pressure in your tires to go down. If you are fortunate enough to have a system that also shows the actual pressure in your tires, you will be able to see that they have all “lost” the same amount of pressure.

3)

If the cause is cold weather, no air has actually been lost – it is simply that the existing air is no longer capable of filling the same space! In colder climates, you will likely be prompted to add air to your tires two or three times before the onset of spring. Note that tires will warm while driving, and so the light may resolve itself after a few miles. You will see the light again once the tires cool down. Also, if you garage your vehicle at night, you may only see the light while out and about in the cool air, which can be confusing.

TPMS Malfunction Indicator4)

The text indicator, TPMS, is a Malfunction Indicator only. If your vehicle is equipped with this additional tell tale and it remains lit, the Tire Pressure Monitoring System is not operating and needs to be checked by a qualified repair facility.

5)

If your vehicle has only the picture symbols AND there is a malfunction, the indicator will flash. Have it checked by a qualified repair facility.

6)

Do not ignore the possibility that one tire may have picked up a nail or other object and is actually leaking air. This will activate the same warning light. Make a visual inspection of your tires any time the light comes on. A leaking tire will quite likely look “flatter” than the other three. Get to your favorite service department fast!

7)

No other system in your car requires attention due to the season! Fortunately, the cure is relatively simple, and while service departments dislike the annoyance of constant calls regarding TPMS light “trouble” in the fall, most will check and refill your tires at no cost. After all, they will and should be happy to have you available for additional service!

And finally, if your car is NOT equipped with a Tire Pressure Monitoring System, your tires will still need some seasonal help. Check your tire pressures!

Related posts and videos:

https://dashboardsymbols.com///2010/09/tire-pressure-monitoring-system/

TPMS video.

And this one, helping you fill your tires!

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the  use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2014/09/seven-things-to-know-about-tire-pressure-monitoring-systems/

Crash Revisited: NTSB Cites Pilot Mismanagement

It Was the Pilots

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has cited pilot mismanagement and confusion in the crash of Asiana Flight 214 in San Francisco in 2013. The Agency also blamed the system’s complexity in the accident that cost the lives of three passengers.

We’ve called attention to this before (here) and care about this because the auto industry appears hell bent on creating cars with the same Auto Braking Indicator Symbolsorts of automated systems, albeit ground-based. In fact, recent advertising from Hyundai touting their crash avoidance system hints that drivers no longer need to pay any attention at all!

The industry should pay very close attention to, and heed the experience of, our aviation brethren. Automated systems do require operator attention. And if highly trained and experienced pilots can get confused, what chance does the average driver have?

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the  use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2014/06/crash-revisited-ntsb-cites-pilot-mismanagement/

Automotive Culture Needs an Empathy Reboot

Automotive Culture

DashboardSymbols.com was founded on the basis that the industry was leaving its driver’s behind at crucial points in the driving experience – namely when something goes wrong. Recent events reinforce this basis.

First, General Motors and the ongoing saga surrounding very, very bad ignition switches. Evidence continues to point to GM treating the problem as a customer satisfaction issue early on and later to discover how to alter the behavior of their customers in order to rectify the problem of their cars shutting down unexpectedly. At first, the company warned against possibly hitting the ignition key with a knee or a bag, or some other foreign object and thus turning off the car. Later, drivers were instructed not hang heavy items on key chains, a warning that remains in force for cars not yet serviced in a recall.

Who Know?

Second, we got a call from a Kia Motors customer who tried to determine in advance of the battery in his key fob going dead just how to start a 2014 Optima. No one in sales or service at the dealership where he bought the car actually knew! They each pointed to a slot in the glove box, which had been removed for the 2014 model year. The customer called Kia’s California headquarters where he Kia/Hyun Start Style 6was told that the start button is simply to be pushed by the key fob itself if the fob’s battery goes flat. He called us since we turned up in a search for the answer, and we had it wrong too! We had the procedure, but not for the 2014 Optima. (We had access only to the 2013 model year manual and have since confirmed his answer and updated this website posting.)

In both stories, one element of a car company serving the public got it wrong – at corporate in the first instance and at the dealership level in the second. The underlying issue to us at DashboardSymbols.com is a lack of empathy for customers. It is far too easy and convenient to look for where a customer is misusing the equipment or to leave them to their own devices rather than to expend energy looking for a possible problem or a real answer. Even as there was ample evidence that several parties at GM knew the ignition switches were bad, others at the company who were hearing complaints failed to go beyond looking for how the customer might have caused the problem. And anyone at the Kia store (who will remain nameless) could have opened the owner’s manual from a new Optima and supplied the correct answer.

Widespread Problems

These problems are not confined to GM or to Kia dealerships. They are part of a culture deeply entrenched with service and sales personnel who all too often quite frankly see their customers as stupid. “Not that question again!” And they are just as entrenched at the corporate level as evidenced by the growing number of tell tales thrown into cars with little regard for the average Joe who just needs to get the kids to school on time and get to work. The car culture puts a new system in a car, and makes a new tell tale. Over 270 of them on DashboardSymbols.com and growing.

BMW Cylinder CoverAnd adding insult to injury, there are now 11 manufacturers building cars with hidden key holes, and not one has thought to put the instructions in an app for a locked-out customer to reference. Its in the manual after all – locked in the car.  The customer is supposed to remember having been shown. Once. As if anyone really learns anything that way.

A little empathy, a mile walk in their shoes, rather than the cynicism will go a long way at GM, and the industry as a whole, to change the current culture. Or at least soften it.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the  use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2014/06/automotive-culture-needs-an-empathy-reboot/

A New Name for Adaptive Cruise Control Revisits an Old Question

Kia LogoAdaptive Cruise Control

Adaptive Cruise Control systems have been available from many auto manufacturers now for several years, These are systems that allow a car to maintain a set distance from a vehicle ahead of it. Kia Motors now in 2014 has it available in its Cadenza and K900 models. The fact that the company has chosen to call the system “Advanced Smart Cruise Control” prompts this piece.

Never mind that manufacturers were already bouncing between the names Active and Adaptive Cruise Control and Radar Controlled Cruise Control. Now the motoring public has a new name – and a new acronym (ASCC) – to adjust to.

Too Many Examples

This is not the first time we’ve commented on the topic of nomenclature. Drivers already face too many instances where their automobiles can make them feel inadequate and under the gun. A look through our Acronyms page finds three names as well for blind spot monitors, five versions of lane departure systems, and no less than twelve names for stability control (go ahead, count them up!). Is any of this really necessary? The answer is no…

It is a wonder that drivers know any the names of the many Smart Cruise Control Malfunction Indicatorfunctions of today’s vehicles and understand what they do. It is a greater wonder that they recognize its associated warning light! Seriously, does the light shown on the right mean that other car is about to hit? We’ve been asked that question!

In the meantime, beleaguered sales and service personnel spend hour after hour explaining advanced systems to their customers and struggle with what is an Automotive Knowledge Gap – drivers simply don’t understand their cars. Meanwhile, the industry continues to build the equivalent of the old VCR with a clock that only a select few know how to program.

Anti-lock Brakes (ABS) and Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) are standard names across the industry. Where is the consistency, the standards, the sanity, when it comes to other advanced safety systems?

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the  use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2014/05/a-new-name-for-adaptive-cruise-control-revisits-an-old-question/

Lights Out: Where to Turn if a Warning Light Fails??

What if a Warning Light Fails?

This is not a new problem, but with the increased reliance on electronics and the increased number of warning lights, it is one that will likely be seen more and more.

Cadillac is recalling its sleek ELR (Electric Long Range) coupe (2014) because of a software problem in the car’s electronic stability control (ESC) system. All electronic systems undergo a diagnostic during start up, and in this case, the system software may inhibit certain diagnostics. This means that some fault conditions would not be detected if they occurred, which further means that the ESC malfunction indicator light will not illuminate.

In the case of the ELR, there are but a few hundred cars to be concerned about (656 vehicles from the 2014 model year not equipped with adaptive cruise control) and fortunately GM discovered the problem in house, not after crashes. But the larger concern remains: an increased reliance on electronics across the board and more importantly in safety systems and the reliance of those systems on electronic self-diagnosis and electronic warning lights.Indicator Failure

What warning exists for the failure of a warning light itself? The answer of course, is that there is none. The indicator to the right is a fake we made up only for this piece.

For the record, many, many years ago, an oil sender failed on a personal car. The sender itself leaked all the oil out of the car, rather quickly it might be added, but never once activated the low oil pressure warning light. In this case, a mechanical failure in an electronic sender cost an engine, but in today’s vehicles, a warning light failure could cost a whole lot more.

To correct the ELR’s problem, GM will only need to recalibrate the electronic brake control module. An electronic fix to an electronic problem. Not very satisfying or confidence building, and reflects on the industry as a whole, not simply GM.

GM’s recall letter to NHTSA can be seen here.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the  use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2014/03/lights-out-where-to-turn-if-a-warning-light-fails/

Stuck in the Snow? Turn Off the Stability Control System!

I Got Stuck in the Snow

I just got caught. I live, eat and breath advanced automotive systems, and a neighbor had to clue me in. I missed it. I didn’t think of it. Turn Off the Stability Control System!

My car was stuck in the snow, and I had the stability control system on.

Slip Indicator SymbolWith the system on, as soon as one of the wheels starts to spin, the brakes want to slow that wheel down and the symbol to the left will be seen on the instrument panel. In some cars, even the engine power will be reduced, all of which conspires to leave you stuck. So there you are trying to gain some momentum, and bang, down you go. And I didn’t think of it…

My embarrassment is balanced by the recognition that most of you out there would likely have missed it too. In fact, you may not know why the Stability Control Off button even exists!

So, try to log into the backs of your minds that the reason you have an Off button for your stability control or traction control system is that there are times when turning it off is useful. And for most drivers, finding yourself stuck in mud or snow with a need to rock your vehicle back and forth will be that time. The motion helps build some momentum to push through and get free.

Too Many Names

Stability control systems go by way too many names, including AdvanceTrac, Automatic Stability Control (ASC), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Dynamic Stability and Traction Control (DSTC), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Interactive Vehicle Dynamics (IVD), Precision Control System (PCS), StabiliTrak, Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC), Vehicle Dynamics Control Systems (VDCS), Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), and Vehicle Stability Control (VSC). Check them out here.

Slip Control Off IndicatorDespite the alphabet soup, they all do the same thing, and are an important safety tool while on the road. A warning light, like the one to the right, will be illuminated to remind you to turn it back on when you are safely underway.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the  use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2014/02/stuck-in-the-snow-turn-off-the-stability-control-system/