Volvo's "safety" innovations--a substitute for good driving?

H

Hey Moe!

New member
I have watched the Volvo commercials for the "collision warning," and the blind spot indicator in the outside mirror.



I applaud Volvo for the technology. However, doesn't it seem like all of this is a substitute for good driving?



If you are a good, alert driver, and not fussing around with anyting inside the vehicle, shouldn't you be able to see what is ahead? And, which good driver doesn't look over the shoulder before making any kind of lane change?



The Volvo innovations are nice, but IMHO, they do not substitute for good driving. Sorry to rant, but it seems like much of modern-day culture is not tuned into driving well.



Feel free to turn on the flamethrowers if I am wrong.
 
I completely agree with you. I can't tell you how many times my dad has told me that it is better to be overly defensive in your driving than to not. Within reason that is. I always check my blind spot before making a lane change, signal, etc. But, however, most drivers on America's highways don't it seems. Like when I was going back to school from St. Pat's weekend, a semi almost came over into my lane while I was still there. Luckily I honked my horn and he got back over, but he was glaring at me after I passed him like it was my fault. :nixweiss
 
Yeah, that seems to be the way things are trending at the moment. Automatic headlights, memory seats, etc. Don't get me wrong, those things are nice, but my mom had to drive my car at night once and didn't know how to turn anything on because it doesn't do it automatically like her Regal does. I think, also, that there is a correlation between this and the amount of maintenance/upkeep one does with their vehicle. Those who don't maintain or care about their car are the ones who typically want/need these safety innovations. I know my sister doesn't care about her car, do basic maintenance, or even wash it for that matter, and she has been in 2 accidents in the last month, 3 over the last 3 months or so.
 
Hey said:
And, which good driver doesn't look over the shoulder before making any kind of lane change?
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I once rear-ended the car ahead of me when they nailed the brakes at the same instant I turned my head to check the next lane. Sometimes you can't win. :sadpace:
 
Being a Volvo owner, I understand your comments and agree that devices can't substitute for good driving skills. There are numerous posts on this subject in Volvo forums.



One safety feature I purchased with my XC90 was the reverse sensors. This too had a heated discussion with some members in that forum. My decision to purchase the reverse sensors were due to personal opinion and experience.



The XC90 was for my wife. She is a very defensive driver, a bit too defensive for my taste. With my kids as passengers, I can deal with it. I told her that no matter how safe "you" drive, you can not always anticipate the unexpected. For example, 2006 VW commercials.



Heck, I think I'm the safest driver when I enter my ride, but am I? Are you? Guess we are all the safest driver in our own mind.



As for safety features, bottom-line, buy it if you feel it is of some value or don't buy it.
 
In the perfect world, these aids would just an extra measure of protection. Unfortunately, people start relying on them to be the primary means of alerting them to danger.



I know I'm guilty of it in my mini-van that has the backup sensors. When I'm backing up, I listen for the beeps to tell me when I'm getting close to something behind me. When I'm driving my other car, I have to remind myself that I don't have beeps to help me out.
 
Hey, Moe! After your 300+ post, this was the first time I've noticed your user name. It's funny to see Moe again as I used the tag FlamingMoe during my online gaming days.
 
Oh gee...get me going on trying to make cars idiot-proof :rolleyes: Now we can't even turn off the ABS in our Audis, which used to be a handy feature for certain conditions.



And yeah, heh heh, most people think they're God's gift to driving...but if you attend driving schools and get (objectively) evaluated, well, then you know where you really stand. After my wife bent a Benz, we both got a *lot* of training and finally learned how to really drive. Funny how those "unexpected incidents" don't happen as often now. Even the deer-incident ended up being an interesting story instead of game-over thanks to my automatically doing what I was trained to do.
 
Accumulator said:
Oh gee...get me going on trying to make cars idiot-proof :rolleyes: Now we can't even turn off the ABS in our Audis, which used to be a handy feature for certain conditions.



And yeah, heh heh, most people think they're God's gift to driving...but if you attend driving schools and get (objectively) evaluated, well, then you know where you really stand. After my wife bent a Benz, we both got a *lot* of training and finally learned how to really drive. Funny how those "unexpected incidents" don't happen as often now. Even the deer-incident ended up being an interesting story instead of game-over thanks to my automatically doing what I was trained to do.
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LOL! I remember when I had "advanced driver training" when I started as a test driver at GM, then again when I went to VW. At GM most of the drivers were young guys, but I was being trained by a woman who was a veteran at the proving grounds. She was *very* good at what she did, one of the best at GM, and was training a retired fellow and me at the same time. After multiple exercises where the older guy was having difficulty with some of the maneuvers, she demonstrated it one more time and he looked over at her and said, "You're a really good driver for a woman". If looks could have killed, that guy wouldn't have made it home that day. :grrr



"Driver training" is not what you get in high school from the football coach. Proper driver training is done off the street where you can learn the limits of you and your car so when you need them on the street, you can hopefully survive in one piece. You can be driving an old Chevy Caprice (one of the training cars at GM), but it's amazing what you can do with a car if you know how to handle it well. We had cars set up for rapid tire deflation (and re-inflation) at speed for blowout training. We had a car where the trainer in the passenger seat could punch a button and lock the rear wheels on a wet skidpad. We had all sorts of other things set up to do off-road recovery, lane-changes, you name it. And what it demonstrated more than anything else is how much I *don't* know. Yes I learned a lot and I've done amateur racing as well, but I'd love to have more training to advance my skills. I have no illusions that I'm the safest or best driver out there, I'm just one more guy trying to do my best to survive the road.
 
velobard said:
You can be driving an old Chevy Caprice (one of the training cars at GM), but it's amazing what you can do with a car if you know how to handle it well. ..
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Heh heh, my most, uhm.. intense.. training was done in Caprices and I wouldn't feel handicapped in a good RWD sedan with no "modern safety stuff" no matter what the situation. I'm currently looking into another "specialized" course, and they use Crown Vics. I myself always learned more in cars like that than I did in Formula Fords.



And yeah, I've met women who can drive circles around most guys. My wife usually outdrove most guys she shared a track with, sometimes including me! Women can make *very* good instructors too, if the male students aren't suffering from testosterone-induced learning disabilities.
 
Accumulator said:
And yeah, I've met women who can drive circles around most guys. My wife usually outdrove most guys she shared a track with, sometimes including me! Women can make *very* good instructors too, if the male students aren't suffering from testosterone-induced learning disabilities.
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:chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:



I have a good friend who has been a high performance driving school instructor for around 15 years (regularly for BMWCCA, sometimes Porsche, sometimes even the exotics). He said that women make the best students because they listen, rather than heading out onto the track trying to prove something to the instructor.



About 5 years ago, I took a high performance driving school down at Road Atlanta. There was another woman in my class who, after spending some time out on the skid pad, said she now realized how stupid it was to be paying more attention to the kids in the backseat than the road.
 
Titania said:
..women make the best students because they listen, rather than heading out onto the track trying to prove something to the instructor...
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Yeah, we hear that a lot regarding all sorts of training in all sorts of fields, but especially in areas where guys get their machismo challenged.



And heh heh, glad to hear your friend got her priorities sorted out :D And props to *you* for taking that course too.
 
Accumulator said:
And props to *you* for taking that course too.
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I dabble in Autocross a bit, too. The Road Atlanta class was pushing things up a notch. :)



Now that I've got a car better-suited to the track, I'm seriously considering getting my butt out there this summer.
 
Titania said:
Now that I've got a car better-suited to the track, I'm seriously considering getting my butt out there this summer.
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Go for it, you'll be glad you did. Speaking of a car's suitability for track use, my wife took a stock S-class Benz (!) to a weekend class at Mid-Ohio back in '94. She ended up passing a *lot* of guys in very sporty cars and later complained about some guy in a Z-28 who wouldn't give her the pass when the instructor said to and was killing her lap times with his awful line :D



We never seem to have time to do this sort of stuff any more :( but I still try to take a course now and then to keep from getting too rusty.
 
One of the car magazined recently reviewed the new Volvo S80. A couple of issues they raised were that the blind spot monitoring systme quicky became clogged with ice and stopped working and that the collision warning system really doesn't do anything other than light up. I have an Acura RL with the CMBS (collision mitigation braking system) and if it senses a potential colision, first it beeps and a warning message light up. If you don't slow down, it will apply the brakes and tighten the seatbelts (gets your attention fast). The next step is a hard braking (never got to that one yet). When it automatically applies the brakes, ti also tuns on the brake lights. That's a good system.



LL
 
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