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Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

jalopnik.com

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Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#141

Post by edoceo »

chrisseaton wrote: post #72
chriswait wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article talks about this: "Now, I think the vast majority of drivers will understand what’s going on and treat them as normal blinking turn indicators, but these indicators hurt your brain, at least a little bit" I think you are interpreting "confused" as "I can't tell which way the car is turning", while everyone else is talking about "This UX forces me to use my brain when I shouldn't have to".

I guess I don't know what the author thinks they mean about 'hurt your brain'.

Cognitive Dissonance.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#143

Post by littlecranky67 »

sbarre wrote: post #85
kalleboo wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What had been a common signal for “you’re a little too close” I've never seen or heard of this. But seeing cars that flash their brake light under heavy/emergency braking is common (typically high-end European brands)

I've commonly seen people just throw on their hazard blinkers in case of drastic braking on the highway... especially in bad weather. I've done it myself when going from regular speed to unexpected traffic, in the hope that the person behind me is paying attention...

This is pretty common in Germany on the Autbahn - sudden change in traffic, i.e. much slower going cars and especially when approaching the end of a jam, you turn on your hazard blinkers to signal this to the following cars. It works pretty well and is very useful (especially because people might be going at 200km/h behind you, approaching the end of a jam). Newer cars have an automatic high-frequency hazard flasher that triggers when heavy/sudden breaking occurs, also to warn the cars behind you.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#144

Post by japhyr »

sircastor wrote: post #30
MerelyMortal wrote: post #6

> Mini has not heard any concerns from customers regarding the rear turn indicators I wouldn't expect them to: they cannot see their own turn signal lights while driving. If they happen to be behind another Mini, they already know about it and it may not throw them off-guard like others who aren't familiar with it.

I got really frustrated when I started to see 3 rapid flashes when a Toyota or Kia driver put on the brakes on the Highway. What had been a common signal for “you’re a little too close” was now shown every time the driver pressed the brake pedal. I guess I could’ve complained to one of the manufacturers, but what do they care? I’m not buying their cars.

This is the Pulse[0] "safety system". I was trying to buy a new truck this spring, and going through the back-and-forth of talking to a number of dealers. I had a vehicle specced out, and ready to commit to, and I asked to review the final paperwork. There was a $400 charge listed that hadn't been disclosed earlier. I was frustrated because I'd asked numerous times, "Am I going to see any additional charges on the final paperwork?"

The dealer explained that this is a "critical safety feature" that they install on all the vehicles they sell. He then explained that it makes the brake light flash whenever you press the brake pedal. I read about it for 10 minutes, and found there's a legitimate system in use in Europe that detects emergency braking and flashes the brake light. Since that system detects emergency braking and not just pressing the brake pedal, it doesn't go off all the time and actually means something to other drivers. The Pulse system is just a $30 part that's spliced into the wires right behind the brake light, that the dealer gets to charge $400 for it. And it annoys everyone driving behind you.

I live in a small town on an island with 14 miles of road. There were about five vehicles here five or ten years ago with this system, and they stood out because we all start to recognize each other's cars in an isolated town of 10,000. All of those cars are gone or have had the system removed. I told the dealer I'd look like an a***e to bring that system back to our town. He called back later to say I was lucky and they hadn't installed the system on this particular vehicle yet, and he got special permission to sell me one without Pulse. I told him I found a dealer that wasn't trying to upsell useless parts and hung up.

I've heard of people buying new without running into this kind of tactic. But this is the first time I've ever bought a new vehicle, and I ran into almost every issue I've read about when dealing with new car dealers.

[0] https://www.pulseprotects.com

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#145

Post by mshook »

jowsie wrote: post #92
sbarre wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've commonly seen people just throw on their hazard blinkers in case of drastic braking on the highway... especially in bad weather. I've done it myself when going from regular speed to unexpected traffic, in the hope that the person behind me is paying attention...

This is pretty standard in the UK, most higher end cars even do it automatically.

Even non high end do it. An old Clio or 207 from 15 years ago do that...

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#146

Post by [deleted] »

shotta wrote: post #80
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s dark, both rear red lights will be on. It could be motorcycles, if they are really close together but that sounds unlikely.

What I failed to articulate (I can’t get my brain to boot this morning) is that a decent amount of motorcycles use arrows as their turn indicators. When I see a blinking arrow at night, I assume it’s a bike.

[deleted]

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#147

Post by u801e »

petee wrote: post #124

I think the Ford/GM thing of using the brake lights also as the turn signal is far more dangerous -- when the brakes are on, a turn signal just turns the single light off. In traffic stopping quickly, and you can only see one light, you have a fraction of a second to determine if the car is stopping or changing lanes. I see this in traffic all the time, and nearly been hit by cars that look like they are braking but…

> Why are separate light colors not mandated?

They are mandated in any country that uses UNECE regulations for vehicle lighting. In the US and Canada, red turn signals are allowed as a cost saving measure. That's why you can see high end luxury cars with LED tail lamp clusters that have red rear turn signals in the US.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#148

Post by mjlee »

sircastor wrote: post #30
MerelyMortal wrote: post #6

> Mini has not heard any concerns from customers regarding the rear turn indicators I wouldn't expect them to: they cannot see their own turn signal lights while driving. If they happen to be behind another Mini, they already know about it and it may not throw them off-guard like others who aren't familiar with it.

I got really frustrated when I started to see 3 rapid flashes when a Toyota or Kia driver put on the brakes on the Highway. What had been a common signal for “you’re a little too close” was now shown every time the driver pressed the brake pedal. I guess I could’ve complained to one of the manufacturers, but what do they care? I’m not buying their cars.

I'm reasonably sure this is because in the US the rear brake lights are often also used as the turn signal and the hazard lights.

Under hard braking on European/Japanese cars the hazard lights will automatically come on. Because they're overloaded in the US it's hard to tell if it's that, or the brake lights flashing unless you're paying close attention to the middle brake light.

Edit: Just seen the comment about the Pulse system - didn't know about that!

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#149

Post by im3w1l »

mitjam wrote: post #102

This is a clever and effective marketing measure: it raises attention, is memorable, people talk about it and it is a statement in line with the brand.

Clowning around like this shouldn't pay off, and if the marketing people think it does then we need to start increasing the punishments.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#150

Post by loloquwowndueo »

shotta wrote: post #80
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s dark, both rear red lights will be on. It could be motorcycles, if they are really close together but that sounds unlikely.

What I failed to articulate (I can’t get my brain to boot this morning) is that a decent amount of motorcycles use arrows as their turn indicators. When I see a blinking arrow at night, I assume it’s a bike.

Just be careful, as you can see from this article it might not be the case. Better to be on the lookout and don’t assume things :)
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