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I think those automatic shoulder belts some cars had is a much worse feature.
I caught a couple of those in my face, or across my nose. Bad idea. As a smoker way back then (long since dropped the nasty habit) that belt knocked a couple cigs out of my mouth, to get ashes and embers everywhere.
I had a 1994 Mazda Protege that had those automatic seat belts. Went out to the garage to change the oil once. It was nosed up to the garage wall, as usual. No problem, the usual technique with most cars was to pop it into neutral, give it a push to roll it back a few feet, then set the brake.
But nooooo.... due to the new transmission interlocks, you had to press the brake pedal before you could move the shift handle. Leaned in, pressed the brake pedal with left hand and pushed the shift lever with the right hand. It still didn't go. Oh, OK, you also had to have the ignition on before the shift handle would release.
Fished the keys out of my pocket while still leaning into the open window, put them in the ignition, turned it... and that damned seat belt zipped quickly up the door frame and damn near strangled me. AND pulled me back away from the ignition so I couldn't turn the sumbitch off!
Finally got untangled from it and got myself out of the open window. Whew. Reached in and turned off the ignition... and of course the same damned seat belt immediately zipped back DOWN the door frame and trapped me again. Should have seen that one coming, I guess.
And the car was STILL nosed up against the garage wall, too close to slide under it to change the oil, and refusing to move.
Finally just got into the car, sat in the seat, put on the #@!**&% seat belts, put my foot on the brake, started the engine, put the car in reverse and backed out two whole feet. Shut it down, waited for the belts to retract, got out of the car.
Yes, I DID open the garage door before all of this happened.
The 1983 Renault Alliance: It did not have reclining seats, but if you got the upgraded model, you got the one piece "shell type seats" that kind of "rolled" back and forth on a curved track, kind of like a mini Viking Boat ride at the county fair. They would stop in any position you wanted if you releases the handle, but alot of people used them as of rocking chairs when they were bored at stoplights. But they were kind of neat cars, when they came out in '83. The seats, without the rocking feature, were used in Jeep Cherokees for a number of years too.
How about those first mini-spares that came with a small canister you had to use to inflate them with before use??
One piece air cleaner/air filter used on Chevy Vegas? You had to replace the entire thing every time you needed to change one..expensive and now impossible to find..
Can't forget the Rim-blow steering wheels from Ford/Merc/Lincoln.
Had them in my 300 and now my SHO. Here in SA they work great because rain is so sparse that in a 2 mile stretch you can have the wipers on/off/on/off/on/off/etc. Gets to be a pain in the butt.
Everyone who's owned a car w/ automatic seatbelts has become entangled in them at least once, including me.
I'd say the most useless feature is dual climate control. Do any of them work?? I have it on my cars and I can't tell the difference between the Driver and Passenger vents even when they're set to a 10 degree difference.
Fake blow off valves that are meant to make the car sound like it is turbo charged. Usually found on crap cars, or ones of so little worth, that a turbo conversion would cost more than the car.
I've tripped out my traction control/stability control in a swerve. Little disconcerting at first, but nice once you realize how it works. I'll be interested to see what it does in snow. Thankfully I can disable it if need be.
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You said it came on as a result of stomping the brake. So either you meant the ABS came on, or you're stomping the brake in a swerve, which means you need to go to driving school.
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CountryCarr
One piece air cleaner/air filter used on Chevy Vegas? You had to replace the entire thing every time you needed to change one..expensive and now impossible to find..
Pricey, yes, but you can find 3rd party ones if you Google for them.
My father used a 1974 Impala as a company car. It had a seatbelt interlocking system. All passengers had to be buckled up before the engine would start. More often than not, the system didn't work. Even if all the passsengers were buckled up, my father would have to pop open the hood and reset the system. What a pain.
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Goofy Car Stuff..!
