comment: >
  
  Yeah,  our Equinox occasionally shows a message on the dash screen  that says "Keep Your Eyes On The Road"... where we have to do the exact opposite to turn the message off.
context: I was always taught to put your signal on when merging. The mirror thing is weird, though. Does it have a settings menu to turn that shit off? >
  
  The mirror thing points your mirrors down to see the floor, your backup camera has other angles covered. It's not a bad feature. >
  
  Yeah maybe I’m an old man, just hate not being able to look at my mirrors and see what’s behind me >
  
  This is a feature so you can see curbs and stuff lol >
  
  Seems like it would be for backing in, but not backing out >
  
  Some of it I think is just a hazard until you know it is there and what to expect.
  A car I recently rented had a collision alert sensor thing. Rental place didn't tell me the car had it, I had never driven a car with it before, first time someone cut me off it went off and it made me panic for a second because I had no clue what the flashing light and beeping was. Second time it happened though it wasn't an issue.
  The lane assist however, which is probably what you talking about when merging I can see where it is helpful but it is just god awful. Same rental had that, going down the highway I was coming around a bend and there was a semi coming the other way that was just a bit over the centerline so I tried to take the turn a little wide and go on the shoulder just a bit to give him room, damned car almost steered me into the semi to correct it. >
  
  "The shift knob"
  UGH, I didn't even know these existed until I moved my coworker's car for them the other day. Worst "innovation" ever. >
  
  BMW still has a shift handle.  What OP is referring to is you pull back to put it in drive, or push forward to put it in reverse.  The park button is on top.  It also will not let you get out of the car while in drive/reverse.
  Most cars have a similar setup now.  Very few are still using a system of pulling through reverse and neutral to get to drive. >
  
  Touchscreens should be disallowed as well. Give me something I can manipulate while not having to take my eyes off the road. >
  
  Yes!   
  One of the things I like about my car vs the newer versions of it is I still have buttons to control just about anything. There is some stuff you need the touch screen for but none of it is stuff you should be doing while driving (like syncing your phone...) Everything else can be done with the push of a button, no need to dig through menus or anything like that. >
  
  It's a BMW. You're not SUPPOSED to signal! >
  
  Ask the "smart" features are just bullshit addons so can justify charging a premium for technology that hasn't changed much in 80 years.
  Plus get some more shit that can break that you then have to pay to get repaired. >
  
  They are helpful when they are needed. Love my backup camera. It prevented me almost back into my neighbor’s small dog (it ran towards me for pets when it saw me got into my car). Lane departure is dumb but I guess it can be helpful when driver is tired. Collision sensor works sometimes. It did save me once when the car in front of me all of sudden hard-braked. Another life saver is the blind spot sensor. When I just started driving I was really bad at merging. It saved me couple times with the beeping. 
  I kind of grew up with these features so I am pretty comfortable with them. I am okay with touchscreen but would love some more physical dials/buttons for things like AC… >
  
  My wife's car is like this with the lane departure.  It's a Honda.  I live in California.  The lanes confuse the hell out of the car, so while I'm trying to follow the actual lane, it's trying to follow what it thinks the lane is, which almost causes accidents.  
  My own car is even worse.  It has those "touch" buttons to adjust the heater/air, so you have to take your eyes off the road to locate them on the screen and it's more like a push-button thermostat in your house.  It could take you 30 seconds of repeated button-pushing to go from a cold temperature to a warm temperature.  
  Oh, yeah, and the fob.  That stupid thing has a button combination that will start the car, unlock all the doors, and put down all the windows.  Three separate times, I went to the dealership to ask them to turn off that feature.  They continuously tried to talk me out of it saying I might need to start my car while I'm not in it, put the windows down, and unlock all the doors for some reason.  Then, each time they told me they disabled it, I'd walk out to my car to find it running with the windows down and the doors unlocked.  My work-around:  I covered the fob with a plastic tube that makes it impossible to accidentally press the buttons. >
  
  The car isn't following what "it thinks" is the lane. It has sensors that detect the lines and uses that to keep you inside them. >
  
  Either way, it’s not following the actual lanes and it being incorrect almost gets me into an accident. >
  
  You can disable the lane departure feature pretty easily. I have a Honda and I have mine disabled. >
  
  Yes, thank you.  We disabled it on this one, too. >
  
  this reminds me of the last time i flew to vegas for work. flew into vegas, picked up a rental car for a 3-hour drive, the first thing that happens is that i can't even figure out how to change the radio it's so goddamn confusing. finally i get the radio set, and i start driving.
  i'm in an unfamiliar city, the sun is setting and it's getting dark. and i'm trying to find the highway. and this fucking car ... i swear, the steering wheel is vibrating, there are bells and chimes going off, what the fuck? and i honestly don't know WHY it was doing that because i didn't have the mental capacity to focus on why it was doing that. i was focusing on merging and finding the highway and ... YOU KNOW important shit!! >
  
  Re: the smart key fob and carjacking. 
  That is nothing new. Most cars built in the last 20+ years (yes, even with a traditional ignition key) cannot be easily "hot wired" anyway because they have an immobilizer system that prevents the engine from starting unless the key is in the ignition (the key head will have an embedded RFI chip that the system detects). >
  
  The one feature I believe is a must have in its current form is emergency braking. In a split second that you're bit paying attention, it can save your (or someone else's) life. In my experience, this feature (I drive a Chrysler) is basically invisible until you need it.
  The others I agree can be more hassle than they're worth. >
  
  I rented a 22 Toyota Camry and when I had auto center for lane keeping on, when the lane widened, the damn car thought it should be in the center of the widening then when I went over passing marks it dinged at me to get in proper position. Also the right side of the road at one point went to gravel without painted lines which made it want to move over.. it’s stupid drive your damn without it trying to kill you to ‘keep you safe’… >
  
  Relative has a Toyota "modern" with all that bullshit and it's Constantly beeping and jerking the wheel if you aren't driving "correctly". >
  
  have a newer tahoe, the worst part is when the sensors get blocked by mud/snow/whatever and it starts freaking out alerting me there's something about to crash into me when theres not