this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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As a big "car guy" as well as an engineer, I completely agree that cars are over-engineered these days.
My parents are getting up there in age, and my mother has been saying she wants a new car. My dad already doesn't drive, just to give yiu an idea on their age. So my mother wants to replace her 2014 Subaru with something slightly bugger and higher up to make it easier for her to get in and out, and new cars are so complicated I'm having a hard time picking a car for her.
Similar deal with an uncle. He recently bought a Rav4 and the car just does not stop beeping and buzzing and has a ton of extra features that are supposedly to make it safer, but ultimately make driving it much less safe because it distracts the driver. This particular uncle isn't even that old, but he's not particularly tech-savvy.
On top of the over-engineered mess that modern cars are, there is also the latest money-grab from car makers. They are trying to turn basic features into subscriptions. BMW infamously started making heated seats a subscription. So they install the heating elements in every car, but to activate them, yiu have to pay them $X/year. They got so much blowback from that nickle and diming of their customers that they've since walled back on that policy a little, but make no mistake about it, the idea will be coming back as more customers are fooled into accepting it.