The state of the auto industry is one of opposites. There are sport utility vehicles with more horsepower than sports cars, and pickup trucks equipped like luxury flagships. Americans hold on to their cars for over 11 years yet new-car sales broke records in 2015 and again in 2016. Yet we’re also paying record-high prices of more than $34,000 to load up our vehicles with stuff that aggravates us.
So much stuff. Even though there are few new-car duds, consumer complaints are on the rise because of technology ranging from balky voice commands to glitchy touch screens and enough bells and whistles to make you dizzy.
At best, it makes us safer and provides convenience. At worst, and too often, it makes us confused.
Complaints on the suite of systems generally known as infotainment accounts for 22 percent — the largest category — of consumer complaints in the first three years of ownership, according to the 2017 J.D. Power vehicle dependability study.
“Increased complexity equals increased problems,” Consumer Reports warned consumers (and automakers) in its 2016 car reliability survey.
Here are the biggest sources of new-car frustration.
Touch screens
Looking at it from an evolutionary view, touch screens had to happen to get to the next thing. With the backup camera mandated in all 2018 model year vehicles, it made sense to combine audio, climate, navigation, phone and vehicle info functions into the screen. But too often, especially in Asian makes, the buttons are too small, the interface too layered to safely execute a simple command.
It becomes something many drivers would rather not use.
Sensitive controls
Give Cadillac credit for trying something new when it debuted the CUE system in 2011 for model year 2013. Cadillac User Experience used capacitive, or touch sensitive, technology such as on a tablet to change the temperature or radio volume.
The design was sharp, and the hidden storage unit behind the panel was clever, but functionally it took several attempts to nail the right temp or volume. It was worse than a button. There’s no sense in reinventing something to make it worse.
Gear shifters
Like buttons, gear shifters didn’t cause many problems a decade ago, yet engineers and designers were intent on reinventing them. Spawned by BMW and mixed up by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, some gear knobs default to a middle setting, so it’s unclear if it is in park, reverse, or neutral. So a driver can shut off the engine and step out of the car while it is in neutral.
FCA had to recall 1.1 million vehicles due to vehicles rolling away and injuring owners, and in one high-profile case, Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin was killed when his Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled away and pinned him against a brick pillar.
Lockout mode
Some makes assume there are no such thing as passengers by locking out phone pairing or navigation settings while the car is in motion. We get it, we shouldn’t be pairing phones while driving, but an easy override to allow a passenger to do it could be to detect if the passenger seat belt is engaged.
Start-stop
Automatic start-stop shuts off the engine at stop lights or other sustained stops to save fuel and reduce emissions. Let off the brake or put it in gear, and the engine starts up again.
Most luxury makes have it and many mainstream models are getting it.
The issue is not the technology itself, but the inability in some cars to disable it with a button, say, if you’re in the stop-and-go crawl commute, or most problematically, if you’re turning left at a light and need to gun it.