new cars are weird

[REWahoo]

While you still have both keys, buy a cheap replacement on eBay and get it cut at a hardware store. With the two original keys, you can program the new key using the dog and pony routine yourself and save a bunch.

My new-to-me 2015 car came with three keys, all programmed. Since they are pricey to replace it's great to have a spare.

I also keep a keep a cheap replacement key (with or without the immobilizer chip) that is cut but not programmed. It is only good for unlocking the door in case I lock my keys inside the car....and don't have my backup set.....and can't find my OnStar code.

It is difficult to lock your keys in one of these new 'keyless' cars. It senses that the key is still inside the car somewhere and will not allow you to lock the doors from outside until it can no longer detect a key is inside the vehicle.

 

[Bestwifeever]

It's not a new car--it's a new computer (with a new OS) that has wheels on it.

 

[REWahoo]

It's not a new car--it's a new computer (with a new OS) that has wheels on it.

That would explain why the User Manual has 60+ pages dedicated to how to enter/exit/lock/unlock/start the vehicle...

 

[RetireAge50]

A co-worker left his keys on his desk so my boss and I decided to play a joke and move his car to a different location in the garage. We were able to open the doors but neither of us could figure out how to start the car. Was like an airplane cockpit with all the choices. We returned the keys with the car unmoved.

 

[calmloki]

...
It is difficult to lock your keys in one of these new 'keyless' cars. It senses that the key is still inside the car somewhere and will not allow you to lock the doors from outside until it can no longer detect a key is inside the vehicle.

We bought a replacement car this summer - 2008 BMW wagon. The doors lock or unlock if you touch the door pull in the right place and a key is close enough. So she keeps a key buried in her purse and I have the key in my pocket and we amuse the parking lot as we each try to enter the locked car and the doors are locking and unlocking frantically as we reach for the doors.

Same car has no oil dipstick. You have to let the car run for 6 minutes and toggle a lever on the turn signal stalk, then press a button and wait..wait...wait as a sensor determines whether and how much oil is in the car. Doesn't tell you what the oil looks like. The indicator had been saying that the level is perfect and it hadn't used any oil in 2000 miles or more - then suddenly the indicator said it was down a 1/4 quart. Drove a week and now it claims to be full and perfect. I assume the sensor had the hiccups, but don't know. Gonna keep driving till the secondary indicator - smoke and grinding halt - says the oil is needing a top up.

 

[NW-Bound]

It is difficult to lock your keys in one of these new 'keyless' cars. It senses that the key is still inside the car somewhere and will not allow you to lock the doors from outside until it can no longer detect a key is inside the vehicle.

Now, that's something I would not mind having.

Can I get all these nice features without the ones like the infamous "unintended acceleration"? I cringe when thinking about possible future "unintended left turns".

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Sounds like GreyHare and you have the new HID headlights (as do I). Cross your fingers and hope they don't go out on you. From Consumer Reports:

I don't know where Consumer Reports shops for their HID bulbs, but I bought a PAIR for my Infiniti for less than $100 about a year ago. As a matter of fact, Amazon has some highly reviewed HID bulbs that fit my car for $29.99 for a PAIR! BUT...even though I bought them, my originals still work fine on a 7 year old car with 85,000 miles on it.

I personally LOVE the HID bulbs...the light is clear and crisp and the illumination of what I *need* to see is exemplary. Now when I get in my wife's truck with the old school halogen bulbs...ugh. It's terrible!

 

[travelover]

..........
Same car has no oil dipstick. You have to let the car run for 6 minutes and toggle a lever on the turn signal stalk, then press a button and wait..wait...wait as a sensor determines whether and how much oil is in the car............

This is pure genius. Kind of like designing a ball point pen that works in space instead of using a pencil.

 

[hurricane harry]

I have had occasion to rent a car several times in the past year, and I must say I don't like them at all. Far too many multi-function buttons and confusing computer displays for my taste. None of them work in any intuitive fashion, and I suspect it would take sustained study of the owner's manual to learn all the features and functions. Heck, even getting the radio to turn on was a major production in our last rental. I think my next car will be a 1955 Ford pickup.

I have had the same experience.
I will never buy another new car.
Clunker cars and motorcycles for me.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Funny story about newer cars and the big, thick owner's manuals. When we bought the '09 Infiniti, my wife was laughing at me since I was reading manual. But that was OK, since during my perusal of the manual, I came across some information that would be pretty important to her. Well, about a week later, I got the call...she couldn't figure out how to open the fuel door. She said she looked and looked and looked for a handle, a switch, ANYTHING but to no avail. I reminded her about the 400 page owner's manual that was sitting in on the kitchen table and said, "I bet it's in there!" Of course she wasn't very impressed and after cussing me for a minute, I told her the trick. When we got her a Toyota, she came home and immediately started to read the manual.

Oh, the trick you ask? You have to unlock ALL the doors to unlock the access door. If you only unlock the driver's door, it's a no-go.

 

[ERD50]

... I reminded her about the 400 page owner's manual that was sitting in on the kitchen table and said, ....

Yep, things are not simple, and often frustratingly complex.

I make a point of downloading manuals to my computer. This was a good thing recently. DD called me, she was ~ 60 miles away visiting some friends, and said she was getting an oil light warning on her dash just as she pulled up to their house. Oh No!

After some back and forth, and me looking through the manual on my computer, and her sending me pictures from her phone, we determined it was just a reminder that it was time to change the oil! Whew.

But they used the same oil can icon for that reminder, so it was confusing from her description. But I was able to verify that it was NOT the red light oil can, indicating low oil pressure (an emergency - stop the engine NOW).

They should use a different icon for the oil change warning.

-ERD50

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Yep, things are not simple, and often frustratingly complex.

I make a point of downloading manuals to my computer. This was a good thing recently. DD called me, she was ~ 60 miles away visiting some friends, and said she was getting an oil light warning on her dash just as she pulled up to their house. Oh No!

After some back and forth, and me looking through the manual on my computer, and her sending me pictures from her phone, we determined it was just a reminder that it was time to change the oil! Whew.

But they used the same oil can icon for that reminder, so it was confusing from her description. But I was able to verify that it was NOT the red light oil can, indicating low oil pressure (an emergency - stop the engine NOW).

They should use a different icon for the oil change warning.

-ERD50

Yeah, that's not very smart.

 

[Walt34]

I also found a lot of other things that are weird on a new car. They now have power windows and no longer take cassette tapes...

...and where'd they hide the ashtray and cigarette lighter?

 

[REWahoo]

I don't know where Consumer Reports shops for their HID bulbs...

I'm pretty sure CR assumes people go to the dealer or independent mechanics for such repairs/purchases, thus the high costs. No mention in the article of DIY.

... I bought a PAIR for my Infiniti for less than $100 about a year ago. As a matter of fact, Amazon has some highly reviewed HID bulbs that fit my car for $29.99 for a PAIR.

+1

I converted the headlights from halogen to HID on one of our cars, purchasing the conversion kit (wiring harnesses, high voltage ballasts, and bulbs) from Amazon for less than $60. They work great but that is only because the headlight assembly was designed to use HID bulbs from the get-go (projector type assembly with a 'fish eye ' lens in front of the bulb).

Do not place HID bulbs in the old reflector type headlight assemblies or you'll blind/be hated by every oncoming driver regardless of how you attempt to adjust your lights. Only the projector/lens type will work effectively and have the "shield" that drops down as aja8888 described in post #9 above.

 

[Andre1969]

I've seen videos of people using toothpaste to remove the cloudiness from headlights. Don't know if it really works but may be worth a try.

It will work for awhile, but the cloudiness in a headlight is actually the plastic deteriorating. So you're just removing "dead" plastic and exposing a new layer to deteriorate...and that new layer might start clouding up even quicker.

I had a 2000 Intrepid that I tried the toothpaste trick on when it was maybe 8 or 9 years old. It helped somewhat, but it started to cloud up again. The car got totaled about 2 weeks after the 10 year mark, so I don't know how long the lights would have ultimately lasted.

One of my friends bought a used '95 Grand Marquis, and its lights deteriorated so badly that the passenger side actually cracked towards the bottom, and would get water in it. In 2004, he bought a new light from the dealer, and came by my house, thinking I'd be able to put it in for him. I couldn't figure it out, so he had to pay a mechanic $75 to put in that $225 light fixture. And then, a month later, he traded the car and got a whopping $600 for it at CarMax!

I ended up replacing my Intrepid with a 2000 Park Avenue, which is now 16 model years old. Its lights are clouding up, but they still seem to illuminate the road ahead pretty well. I'll be curious to see how long they last. The car has other issues, so I'm guessing it'll be traded and wholesaled off, or junked, by the time the lights get too horrible.

 

[mpeirce]

Recently my DF borrowed one of our cars. It has a key fob. With the fob in picket, you lock the door by touching the outside of the door handle. You unlock it by touching the inside (natural when you grab the door handle to open it).

Anyway, I got a call. "I can't lock the door!" he said. I repeated my instructions of tapping the outside of the door handle. "Nope," he said, "Ever time I try it, it opens right up!"

I had to explain to him he was unlocking when he checked and to just look for a little red light that blinks when it locked. Yup, that was blinking away.

I don't think he still trusted that the door was really locked...

 

[Dash man]

Recently my DF borrowed one of our cars. It has a key fob. With the fob in picket, you lock the door by touching the outside of the door handle. You unlock it by touching the inside (natural when you grab the door handle to open it).

Anyway, I got a call. "I can't lock the door!" he said. I repeated my instructions of tapping the outside of the door handle. "Nope," he said, "Ever time I try it, it opens right up!"

I had to explain to him he was unlocking when he checked and to just look for a little red light that blinks when it locked. Yup, that was blinking away.

I don't think he still trusted that the door was really locked...

My new car has an app that sends me an alert if the car is left unlocked, plus i can just lock it from my phone.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[FUEGO]

But they used the same oil can icon for that reminder, so it was confusing from her description. But I was able to verify that it was NOT the red light oil can, indicating low oil pressure (an emergency - stop the engine NOW).

They should use a different icon for the oil change warning.

I'm hoping new cars have better communication with those displays in the car. Like instead of the red/yellow oil lights on my 15 year old Honda, I hope it displays a message saying "oil change due now" or "low oil pressure - STOP CAR IMMEDIATELY!" as applicable.

The tech is here, but do they go the last little bit to communicating what the end user should do? I haven't ridden in any new cars lately so I honestly don't know what current cars do.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

It will work for awhile, but the cloudiness in a headlight is actually the plastic deteriorating. So you're just removing "dead" plastic and exposing a new layer to deteriorate...and that new layer might start clouding up even quicker.

I had a 2000 Intrepid that I tried the toothpaste trick on when it was maybe 8 or 9 years old. It helped somewhat, but it started to cloud up again. The car got totaled about 2 weeks after the 10 year mark, so I don't know how long the lights would have ultimately lasted.

.

Here's a photo of a car headlight that I refinished a year ago. I started with 400 grit, then 600, and finally 2000 grit. At that point the headlight wasn't very clear. A clear coat really made it look nice. So far there's no sign of deterioration. The photo doesn't do it justice.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=akcv10&s=9

 

[rdy2go]

My last two company cars have start buttons and when I get into an older car I always start looking for the button to push. I'm trained now.

 

[ERD50]

I'm hoping new cars have better communication with those displays in the car. Like instead of the red/yellow oil lights on my 15 year old Honda, I hope it displays a message saying "oil change due now" or "low oil pressure - STOP CAR IMMEDIATELY!" as applicable.

The tech is here, but do they go the last little bit to communicating what the end user should do? I haven't ridden in any new cars lately so I honestly don't know what current cars do.

Her car is 5 years old, so fairly current. But I agree with you, they should take the extra steps to make it crystal clear. No reason not to with the available technology.

The oil change reminder was in the text display area of the dash (and monochrome), whereas the oil pressure light is a dashboard light. The difference probably would have been obvious to me, but it wasn't to her, and with her description, it took a while for me to convince myself.

But I sure was glad she called me. To have run it w/o oil pressure would have been a BIG problem. I guess I got through to her on that. Just when you think those kids never hear a word you say!

-ERD50

 

[meierlde]

I'm hoping new cars have better communication with those displays in the car. Like instead of the red/yellow oil lights on my 15 year old Honda, I hope it displays a message saying "oil change due now" or "low oil pressure - STOP CAR IMMEDIATELY!" as applicable.

The tech is here, but do they go the last little bit to communicating what the end user should do? I haven't ridden in any new cars lately so I honestly don't know what current cars do.

Actually my 2011 Cruze has a message center that displays such messages. It tells you the percentage of time till an oil change is due, and would warn when one was due (as did my 2001 Chevy Pickup). Had a leak in the cooling system and the engine got hot, told me it turned off the ac and other messages. Also provides a tire pressure monitor that displays the pressures numerically so you can use that with a tire pump to inflate the tires. (note that this shows how cold weather can take the tire pressure down)

 

[NW-Bound]

The new VW rental I drove recently had no mechanical key slots as a backup to the key fob. Quite a few new cars are like that. If the car battery is dead, you are in big trouble. Can't pop the hood to jump the battery in order for the key fob to work. What do you do?

I understand that some cars can be jacked up to gain access to the wiring to the battery to allow it to be jumped. On others, they could reach the hood release mechanism with some contraption. Either way, it's something done on a car lift, not by the roadside. Oh joy!

 

[Gumby]

The new VW rental I drove recently had no mechanical key slots as a backup to the key fob. Quite a few new cars are like that. If the car battery is dead, you are in big trouble. Can't pop the hood to jump the battery in order for the key fob to work. What do you do?

I understand that some cars can be jacked up to gain access to the wiring to the battery wiring allow it to be jumped. On others, they could reach the hood release mechanism with some contraption. Either way, it's something done on a car lift, not by the roadside. Oh joy!

You could end up like this unfortunate guy. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...-trapped-corvette-dream-car-article-1.2253934

 

[aja8888]

The new VW rental I drove recently had no mechanical key slots as a backup to the key fob. Quite a few new cars are like that. If the car battery is dead, you are in big trouble. Can't pop the hood to jump the battery in order for the key fob to work. What do you do?

I understand that some cars can be jacked up to gain access to the wiring to the battery to allow it to be jumped. On others, they could reach the hood release mechanism with some contraption. Either way, it's something done on a car lift, not by the roadside. Oh joy!

The newer VW's have a hidden key slot within the handle button of the driver's door. It's shown in the owner's manual.