Side Blinkers Drive Schwoerer Bonkers
The facelifted Audi A6 is the first of Ingolstadt’s machines to abandon conventional front indicators; instead, they’re located on the side mirrors. Other brands are set to follow suit. This is a bad, even stupid, idea. When you hold a conversation with somebody, do you look at their ears? Of course not. You look into their eyes and try to interpret their facial expression. This is hard-wired into people’s brains, so we’re pretty good at it. Cars have faces too and car makers go long ways to make them expressive and individual. Some are supposed to be cute. BMWs for the supposed benefit of [überho] prestige are supposed to look masculine. And some are unintentionally genital. But it’s not a stretch to say that all intend to be recognizable. So why make them less readable? You’re in traffic, you want to see what the other guy is going to do, so you look at his car’s front, hoping for a signal. Sure, blinking mirrors are better than no blinkers at all. But I surmise that the average driver sees them a split-second later than he would front-mounted ones. And locating indicators on mirrors sucks anyway. They are more prone to break in normal driving conditions than fender-mounted indicators. Will you be able to get a replacement high-tech-mirror for your Audi 15 years hence? I doubt it. And some side blinkers are downright dangerous; the ones on the VW Golf glare into your peripheral vision in rainy or foggy driving conditions. Car makers should stop introducing empty styling gimmicks.
More by Martin Schwoerer
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Indicator broken - watch for middle finger... It was funny when I was a kid, and its still funny now - because apparently it is a reality at Audi.
This is the most retarded thing i have ever heard of. Although come to think of it, no one uses the damn things anyway.
You imply that Audi is removing turn signal lamps from the front of the vehicle, but I doubt that is the case. According to the NHTSA, they are required at the front of the vehicle: http://tinyurl.com/4l2fcr Edit: Damn I just realized I read the trucks, buses, mpv's regulations. I feel dumb.