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That's interesting, because Mercedes's Traction Control system almost killed me one night. Apparently it's possible to accidentally induce a very slight but co

That's interesting, because Mercedes's Traction Control system almost killed me one night. Apparently it's possible to accidentally induce a very slight but controllable oversteer slide by overshooting the exit to a fast curve and touching a rumble strip with the outside tires. No surprise there. In a normal car, you keep your front wheels on the line you want to follow, release power, then smoothly add power to "shift weight" to the rear wheels and increase traction (acceleration causes the rear suspension to compress, making the rear tires push harder on the ground, increasing the normal force and increasing rear wheel traction). Doing that stops the oversteer (rear wheel skid). In a Mercedes, the car assumes that you're an idiot for doing that, cuts engine power to the drive (rear) wheels, and applies breaks to the OUTSIDE REAR WHEEL. That procedure has the effect of decompressing the rear suspension and decreasing traction to the rear wheels, which are already skidding. The slide that resulted was unrecoverable. Yank the parking break and shift into neutral while in a hard corner at 40mph if you want to know what it felt like. For a few seconds, my instincts and the car's Traction Control fought each other as I tried to correct for the skids that improperly braking the rear wheels was causing. Finally, I came to rest having skid across the double yellow…and then somehow the automatic transmission stalled. It was a "mistake" that could have been fixed in less than a second driving a 1908 Model T. After a hundred years of innovations, Mercedes has completely removed the driver from direct control of the vehicle, WITHOUT an option to turn off those so-called "features." I spent the next several months talking to people who did tuning for Daimler-Chrysler for a shop in Montana, cracking ECU encryption to reprogram the fuel injectors and intake system to perform well at high altitudes. And apparently there's no good way to turn off that Traction Control system except removing large chunks of code from the ECU, which voids the warranty and might have serious side effects. When I learned more about how the Traction Control system actually works, I sold the car. I will never own another Mercedes. They breed laziness and irresponsibility without giving competent drivers the control they need to drive safely. I'm currently an avid BMW fan because of two major factors: first, it's possible to buy manual transmissions without special ordering a new car from Germany; second, it is possible–by holding a button on the console for a few seconds–to COMPLETELY disable traction control. I have driven in snow and ice, torrential downpours, and heavy traffic in the last year. I haven't driven with Traction Control on since Mercedes almost killed me in 2006. Frankly, I think EVERY SINGLE ONE of the safety features you suggested is a horrible idea. Pay attention to what you're doing, and don't drive if you're not physically and mentally capable of driving. I don't want my car to wake me up if I fall asleep driving…I want to be smart enough to not drive that night. Frankly, the more I hear about Mercedes safety features, the more distance I like to keep between me and them on the highway.

gfodor 15y ago
You may not want the car to wake you up, but you'll certainly want the car of the incompetent driver next to you to wake him up before he careens into you on the highway.
- mostapha 15y ago
  No, I don't. I'd rather he have to take responsibility for his actions and decide whether he really needs to take that chance instead of thinking "it's okay that I'm exhausted…my car will wake me up."
  - gfodor 15y ago
    Most of the time, in my own experience, when I am close to falling asleep while driving, I would have never been able to realize how tired I was before leaving on the trip. Even if you feel wide awake before you leave your destination, a late night drive on the highway can induce sleep, with the hum of the highway and the flying by of the lines on the road. You're basically suggesting that people decide to not get in their cars if they even slightly think they might be too tired to drive. You know as well as I do that there's no way to measure this (unlike drinking, where if you consumed any alcohol in the last several hours you shouldn't get behind the wheel.) So, it's a bit of a pipe dream to think drivers are actually in the position to make a judgement call about their own risk of falling asleep at the wheel before leaving. Regardless, my point was that these safety systems are meant to protect responsible drivers from irresponsible ones. I'm skeptical that the presence of safety systems could somehow convert a responsible driver to an irresponsible one.
    - mostapha 15y ago
      You don't make the decision to drive and then that's it. At any point, you can decide "i'm too tired," and pull off. Take a nap in your car. Let someone else drive if you're not alone. Call a cab and pick up your car in the morning. Call Safe Ride, and they'll send a driver and a moped that will fit in your trunk if you're somewhere they operate. There are always alternatives to putting yourself in a dangerous situation. And, I believe these systems will lead people to drift further into these types of dangerous situations before even thinking about safer alternatives.

gfodor 15y ago

You may not want the car to wake you up, but you'll certainly want the car of the incompetent driver next to you to wake him up before he careens into you on the highway.

mostapha 15y ago
No, I don't. I'd rather he have to take responsibility for his actions and decide whether he really needs to take that chance instead of thinking "it's okay that I'm exhausted…my car will wake me up."
- gfodor 15y ago
  Most of the time, in my own experience, when I am close to falling asleep while driving, I would have never been able to realize how tired I was before leaving on the trip. Even if you feel wide awake before you leave your destination, a late night drive on the highway can induce sleep, with the hum of the highway and the flying by of the lines on the road. You're basically suggesting that people decide to not get in their cars if they even slightly think they might be too tired to drive. You know as well as I do that there's no way to measure this (unlike drinking, where if you consumed any alcohol in the last several hours you shouldn't get behind the wheel.) So, it's a bit of a pipe dream to think drivers are actually in the position to make a judgement call about their own risk of falling asleep at the wheel before leaving. Regardless, my point was that these safety systems are meant to protect responsible drivers from irresponsible ones. I'm skeptical that the presence of safety systems could somehow convert a responsible driver to an irresponsible one.
  - mostapha 15y ago
    You don't make the decision to drive and then that's it. At any point, you can decide "i'm too tired," and pull off. Take a nap in your car. Let someone else drive if you're not alone. Call a cab and pick up your car in the morning. Call Safe Ride, and they'll send a driver and a moped that will fit in your trunk if you're somewhere they operate. There are always alternatives to putting yourself in a dangerous situation. And, I believe these systems will lead people to drift further into these types of dangerous situations before even thinking about safer alternatives.