Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[TimFox]

I have used my windshield washer to suggest to a tailgater that he back off.

[rsjsouza]

Another is the inconsiderate D heads that wash wipe their windscreen when someone is following directly behind them!!  Typically this happens in summer when they see a few particles on their windscreen in direct sunlight, so wash wipe and you get it too!!!Cretins!!

You probably never drove in warmer climates. Critters can get smashed at any time against the windshield and Murphy's law tells us they will be smashed *always* at your focal point. That and the occasional spray from another vehicle puddle that never dries due to the storm drainage system clogged by other class of idiots that can't be bothered to use a trashcan.

I have used my windshield washer to suggest to a tailgater that he back off.

Precisely this. If my windshield gets dirty for any reason and at any time and any speed, I will use the washer. If you choose to tailgate, you get sprayed. Simple.

[james_s]

One is meant to be considerate of other people. Just helps things run smoother, see.

What does it matter? You know when you wash/wipe your screen because it's a bit dirty, well now the chap following, whose screen was perfectly clear, now has a dirty screen that needs cleaning just like yours had.

Well I don't like driving around with bug splatter or bird poop on my windshield. I wouldn't have thought it would even get on another car, certainly I don't remember ever getting sprayed by a car that was in front of me. It's supposed to spray on the windshield, not up over the top of the car. I think if my washer is spraying them they're probably following too closely. Never even occurred to me that my spray would get on anyone else, it sprays onto the glass and runs downward and the wipers wipe it off to the side.

[Zeyneb]

Nowadays I always have a squeegee and a spray bottle of dish soap in my car.  When I am about to drive off and notice any bird poop or other mess on my windshield I can fix it right away. Or when something happens along the drive that can't be solved with the wash/wipe function.

[IDEngineer]

WRT rear fog lights... I've never seen a car in the USA with that. And I've been driving a long time, multiple brands from multiple countries of manufacture.

Front fog lights are commonplace, sure. But rears? In RED? Never.

MORE: Info from https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15343065/gah-what-is-that-blinding-red-light-oh-right-un-regulation-48/:

"Especially when weather conditions are variable, as in winter, you may find yourself following a car or truck with a bright red light that is always illuminated, regardless of what its brake lights are doing.  Those little red lights are the rear fog lamps. If you’re an American, you’ll be forgiven for not knowing such a light exists on many cars and trucks."

[james_s]

WRT rear fog lights... I've never seen a car in the USA with that. And I've been driving a long time, multiple brands from multiple countries of manufacture.

Front fog lights are commonplace, sure. But rears? In RED? Never.

You've probably seen it and not realized what you were looking at, it just looks like tail lights that are brighter than usual, it's part of the tail light assemblies in most cars, not a separate unit, often only on the left side but some cars have two. It has been a standard feature on Volvos since the early 80s, and I've seen it in BMWs too. I think most European cars have it, or at least a provision for it.

[IDEngineer]

Perhaps. I'm certainly sensitized to it NOW! 

I have a 2020 Lotus, and it was designed when the UK was part of the EU, yet it doesn't have any sort of rear fog lights. Hmmmm.

[coppice]

Perhaps. I'm certainly sensitized to it NOW! 

I have a 2020 Lotus, and it was designed when the UK was part of the EU, yet it doesn't have any sort of rear fog lights. Hmmmm.

Does it have amber turn signals? Most European cars exported to the US are adapted for that market.

[PlainName]

MORE: Info from https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15343065/gah-what-is-that-blinding-red-light-oh-right-un-regulation-48/:

Yep, that's them. Except the ones shown there are dinky kids compared to the stuff over here now.

Once upon a time there were regulations about the size and position of lights on cars (in the UK) and most were pretty similar. Then sometime around when LEDs because usable on cars, those regs appear to have been binned and now you get all kinds of stuff. Manufacturers use the lights to identify the car model and come up with truly weird configurations. And now stuff like fog lights are full-blown floodlights because that fits the brand ... logo, for want of a better word, better.

[james_s]

Perhaps. I'm certainly sensitized to it NOW! 

I have a 2020 Lotus, and it was designed when the UK was part of the EU, yet it doesn't have any sort of rear fog lights. Hmmmm.

For many years it was common for European cars exported to the US to have special US market headlights. Usually the taillights are the same, but it's possible the rear fog light(s) do not have the wire or bulb socket installed, if you're curious you could look at the tail lights and see if there's an unused reflector section. It may also be a separate assembly on UK/European market cars.

[vk6zgo]

However, just like with anything done using heavy machinery such as a multi-ton car, attention is paramount but a rare commodity in this world of adults with five-year-old attention spans, which can't either be bothered to read the manual or get a proper time to get familiarized with its controls. So we get these idiots that use fog lights or high beams constantly and can't be bothered to pay attention to their own dashboard.
Another case is how many drivers are completely ignorant of basic maintenance such as replacing a flat tire or inspecting the fluids.
[/rant]

My friend's wife ignored the low tire pressure warning, then ignored the weird handling and the noises and continued driving on a flat tire until the rim cut completely through the tire. Destroyed a nearly $1k wheel and a $250 tire because she was so intent on finishing her errands. I simply cannot relate to people like that at all, I don't think they should be allowed to drive.

Before we had fancy stuff like that, drivers would glance at their tyres when they first went out to the car in the morning, & notice if one "looked a bit low".
Another thing is that experienced drivers will notice something a bit funny about the "ride" well before the point of major damage occurs.

[vk6zgo]

Quite away from the car thing, one of my pet peeves is when someone posts a screen shot of some particular brand of DSO, asking for help with analysing a waveform.

These usually have all sorts of unconnected stuff on the display, which is confusing to others with a different flavour of DSO, or even, shock!, horror!  , an analogue Oscilloscope.

It would be helpful if the actual settings, like time/div, & volts/div, were included in the text to make it a bit easier.

Usually, the would-be "helper" is left to make an educated guess of such settings, but even when the guess is right, the graticule is often almost invisible, making "counting squares" as a sanity check on the strange displayed voltage & frequency readings difficult.

Not having a modern (or any) DSO, I am unsure if the unused stuff on their screens can be turned off, but if it can, it would add a lot to the clarity of screenshots.

[james_s]

Before we had fancy stuff like that, drivers would glance at their tyres when they first went out to the car in the morning, & notice if one "looked a bit low".
Another thing is that experienced drivers will notice something a bit funny about the "ride" well before the point of major damage occurs.

She ignored a big glaring warning indicator, weird handling and a nasty noise and you think she would have checked the pressure or paid any more attention without those gadgets? I don't. Some people are simply oblivious to such things.

[coppice]

Before we had fancy stuff like that, drivers would glance at their tyres when they first went out to the car in the morning, & notice if one "looked a bit low".
Another thing is that experienced drivers will notice something a bit funny about the "ride" well before the point of major damage occurs.

Things have changed. 30 years ago a car felt really different if the tyre pressures were just a little off. Now the pressures can be very badly wrong, and you barely feel it when driving. Modern low profile tyres don't even look that squishy unless the pressure approaches zero.

[AndyBeez]

I agree, three decades ago, 'puffy' or 'sloppy' tyre pressure meant the vehicle would fail to track, even on the straight line. As for braking, good luck with that on a summer's day. There's a good reason to "kick the tyres and light the fires", but with driver suspension modes, ABS and power steering, haptic feedback through the streering column is long gone. Try driving a classic car, your wrists will hurt.

Lookout for a tyre pressure warning icon that resembles a tiny space invader sprite somewhere on the digital binnacle. ( It's possibly been there since you took delivery ) A modern car is like an iphone, we just use the bits we understand. Which too often is often too little.

[james_s]

Lookout for a tyre pressure warning icon that resembles a tiny space invader sprite somewhere on the digital binnacle. ( It's possibly been there since you took delivery ) A modern car is like an iphone, we just use the bits we understand. Which too often is often too little.

This was a Tesla, the tire pressure warning was shown on a huge touchscreen in the middle of the dash. Even the small warning lights on the cluster should be hard to miss though, I always monitor all of my instruments regularly while I'm driving. There's no way a warning light would come on without being quickly noticed.

[AndyBeez]

Ah yes, so why did the Tesla not send a notification to the driver's iPhone? We live in an apps world, so Facebook is where many driver's attention is focused these days. Just observe the moms collecting their brats from the school gate.

[james_s]

Ah yes, so why did the Tesla not send a notification to the driver's iPhone? We live in an apps world, so Facebook is where many driver's attention is focused these days. Just observe the moms collecting their brats from the school gate.

You think that would have made a difference? She was so focused on running her errands that she ignored all sorts of warnings. This is not a matter of a person not noticing the warnings, they are actively ignoring them because their mind is focused on something else. It happens surprisingly often, talk to any professional mechanic and they'll have a bunch of stories about replacing destroyed engines that were overheated so badly or run out of oil because they had a cooling system failure or oil leak and the driver "just wanted to get home" and kept going until it literally stopped running.

[unknownparticle]

I have used my windshield washer to suggest to a tailgater that he back off.

Precisely this. If my windshield gets dirty for any reason and at any time and any speed, I will use the washer. If you choose to tailgate, you get sprayed. Simple.

Even if that happens to be when in a queue of slow moving traffic or, if the car behind is a safe distance?  That's just a fcuking inconsiderate, belligerent attitude..
Spray back from using wash wipe can reach quite a way behind.  No wonder there is so much gun crime in America.

[unknownparticle]

UK postal strikes!!  Causing me all sorts of havoc!!  Also, I didn't realise that Parcel Force is striking in sympathy!!  I'm still waiting for 2 parcels that were sent from Germany and Holland over 3 weeks ago, normally they would take about 4-5 days!!  And there is a consequential effect, people are sending stuff by other carriers to avoid the delays, which has pushed their volume through the roof so many of those are now taking much longer.
All intentional by Royal Mail of course, but still a PITA!!!  I do sympathise with mail workers, they are driven like slaves and whose wages aren't exactly generous.

[IDEngineer]

Even if that happens to be when in a queue of slow moving traffic or, if the car behind is a safe distance?  That's just a fcuking inconsiderate, belligerent attitude..
Spray back from using wash wipe can reach quite a way behind.  No wonder there is so much gun crime in America.

So my vision is obscured but my ability to clean it, and improve my safety, is dictated by the tailgater behind me?

If traffic is moving slowly the spray likely doesn't reach back to a following car. Same if the car behind is a "safe distance".

I get your point but think about the scenarios. Someone else's poor choices cannot always force me into making more poor choices.

[tom66]

Things have changed. 30 years ago a car felt really different if the tyre pressures were just a little off. Now the pressures can be very badly wrong, and you barely feel it when driving. Modern low profile tyres don't even look that squishy unless the pressure approaches zero.

This.  My Golf has 18" wheels with 1.5" sidewalls.  Had a flat a week ago.  All I noticed was a louder than usual banging whenever I went over a pothole in the road, but the ride otherwise felt OK.  About 30 seconds after the banging started the car's ABS-based TPMS warned of pressure loss.  The tyre was very hot to the touch and due to it being a wet day, steam was coming from it, so I imagine if I had tried to drive much further it could have turned into a blowout type situation.  I call that system a win - because while I'm reasonably attentive I can imagine my partner would not have noticed that. 

[unknownparticle]

If traffic is moving slowly the spray likely doesn't reach back to a following car. Same if the car behind is a "safe distance".

I get your point but think about the scenarios. Someone else's poor choices cannot always force me into making more poor choices.

The spray does reach back, sometimes even when stationary, the washer jets on modern cars are quite powerful, hence my peeve, because it happens to me on a regular basis!!
Maybe your perception of safe distance and tail gating is different to mine, but I don't tailgate when moving, the only time I get closer than normal is when in a queue or stationary, but even driving at normal speeds and at a safe distance the spray does reach back, because of airflow.  Anyway, it's a peeve of mine, don't want to labour the the point.

[PlainName]

UK postal strikes!!  ...  I do sympathise with mail workers, they are driven like slaves and whose wages aren't exactly generous.

Speaking to our posty, his big beef is that management have decided they will all work 9-5. Many of them want to keep working the current 4am-2pm but they're told they can't any more. Having done shift work I can sympathise - you get the benefit of being an employee but also get to enjoy half a day of daytime when you can go shopping and stuff, or just sit and soak up the rays.

[PlainName]

Had a flat a week ago ... could have turned into a blowout type situation

Er...