Here's the Modern Safety Feature Motorists Hate the Most

Passenger vehicles have never been safer, with a bevy of high-tech aids available to keep nervous motorists safe, and feeling safe.

For the most part, we enjoy these handy driver’s aids. After all, who wants to end up in hospital, or have their insurance company come collecting for an arm, a leg, and a few other pounds of flesh? However, one safety feature, found on an increasing number of new vehicles, has all the popularity of Chrysler’s grating Electronic Voice Alert of the 1980s.

We’re talking about the lane-departure warning. According to Automotive News, motorists don’t like it. Not one bit.

Consumer feedback consistently shows that motorists welcome systems designed to prevent a collision. Forward-collision warnings, often coupled with automatic emergency braking, remain popular — and with good reason. Motorists like a system designed to save their bacon and avoid (mainly) rear-end collisions. These are the type of collisions most motorists worry about.

Lane-departure warning, while designed to keep motorists safe, isn’t seen that way. Instead, most motorists see it as a nagging critic of their style of driving. The systems alert motorists if their vehicle leaves its lane without signalling.

David Kidd, a senior researcher with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told AN that the group “had high hopes” for lane-departure warnings. They soon found that motorists didn’t like having a “turn-signal nanny” riding shotgun.

There’s a simple reason behind the negative reaction. “We are seeing benefits from other systems, but with lane-departure warning, we are not,” Kidd said.

An IIHS study found that two-thirds of drivers turn off the system, while less than 1 percent of drivers shut off the forward-collision warning. Drivers are also more likely to turn off the system if it uses audible warnings. Many drivers don’t use their turn signal when there’s no other vehicles around, and don’t like being bothered by the system. They also don’t like having their passengers hear it, as it reflects negatively on their driving.

This defeats the purpose of having the system, which is meant to alert drowsy or inattentive drivers headed for the ditch or the oncoming lane.

The solution could lie in simply changing the way the system warns the driver. According to the report, when General Motors switched from an audible lane-departure warning to one that sends vibrations to the driver’s seat, two-thirds of drivers left the system on.

[Image: Michael Gil/ Flickr]