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Comment by freedomben | Hacker News Reader

> Mazda’s viewpoint is that using touchscreens is dangerous while driving, so they specifically deactivate it above around 5mph.

My Ford (which brand I will never buy again by the way) disables much while driving as well, which is utterly infuriating for the passenger. If they think it's "safer" then they didn't do much research because it just leads to us using our phones instead, which are far more distracting.

Thanks for mentioning this about the Mazda. I had considered looking at one for my next purchase, but I'll look for something less tyrannically paternalistic and full of misplaced self confidence and hubris.

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> My Ford (which brand I will never buy again by the way) disables much while driving as well, which is utterly infuriating for the passenger. If they think it's "safer" then they didn't do much research because it just leads to us using our phones instead, which are far more distracting.

Toyota owner checking in with this exact pain. Whenever my wife and I go on a road trip, we rarely use the built-in nav because the car needs to be at a complete stop in order for you to program it, even if it's the passenger manipulating it which has effectively zero safety risk. Total madness.

You can rootkit your Mazda and disable the “tyranny” if you like. It’s no big deal, I just never felt the need to do it.

May I ask why you're turned off by Ford?

Yes absolutely. I bought a practically brand new vehicle from them (Expedition) and have had all manner of crazy breakages, and even the dealer can't fix them properly (but will still charge me $2,000 for the "repair" even if it didn't actually work). Just the top things:

1. The backup camera faults out about 40% of the time. Usually it gets riddled with digital artifacts that make it impossible to see important details (like was common when watching video files under weak hardware during the 90s/00s). This becomes a major problem when backing up to a trailer hitch or backing into a tight parking spot. I took it in twice to the dealer and the first time they said they couldn't find anything wrong at all (and charged me a hefty diganostic fee) and the second time they said the camera was bad and replaced it (for almost $1,000). Within a few days the new camera was glitching like the old.

2. The Throttle Body fails every two years and has to be replaced (which is not cheap). When this happens also, it enters "limp mode" which essentially leaves me stranded wherever I happened to be when it decided to die. Unlike an older (and better) vehicle it doesn't give me the owner/operator (who has to pay the bill) the option of saying, "I accept the risk and command you to run." I lived in Alaska for a few years and this could literally be a death sentence to somebody if it happened in the wrong place. As much as I hate the inconvenience of the design, I can't even imagine the rage and hate I would have after freezing to death because it refused to operate.

3. The blower motor stopped working, so Heater and A/C don't work. This is at best highly uncomfortable (and when paying $40,000 for a new vehicle, is unacceptable), but at worst it's a major safety issue. In the winter time the windshield and windows will fog up and I can't clear them. The dealer has replaced nearly every part involved (blower motor, resistor, etc) at $700 per pop, and it never fixes it. Utterly infuriating.

4. The bluetooth is awful. I frequently have to pull over to the side of the road and reboot my vehicle in order to fix the damn radio. It's like having a windows 95 powered car.

5. The physical controls for the rear heater/AC (which does at least blow unlike the main) are broken for some inexplicable reason.

6. The tail light bulbs burn out every few months and frequently need to be replaced. It's not terribly hard but I have to get out my tools and take off the tail light to change the bulb. Takes about 15 minutes but I'd much rather do something else with that time, and I hate randomly becoming a cop magnet every time one burns out.

There's more, but I am weary and must stop.

The problem for (1) is not the camera. It's very likely moisture in one of the connectors in the wiring harness in the tailgate. The fix is contact spray and taping up the connector with duck-tape. (You can test if this is the problem by opening and closing the trunk when you’re in reverse to see if that makes the video worse/better)

Thank you! I will definitely look into this

Too late to edit the original but wanted to add, this is a 2017 Ford Expedition and all of these problems have existed since I bought it in late 2017 (except item 3, which started in December of 2019).

Thank you for mentioning these details.

I've been considering a light-duty hybrid/electric vehicle for a while and the Ford Mavericks have caught my interest - I've been holding off because I don't want to be an early adopter of new technology that may or may not spontaneously break/wear out after a few years.

I'll have to do more research on vehicles - It sucks how you can only get massive heavy-duty giant trucks in North America - there's an entire market segment that wants light-duty trucks but nobody wants to serve it (regulatory emissions restrictions or otherwise)

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