Cars have come a long way. Manufacturers are striving to compete in the market, and hence they are offering literally all the features a buyer could want. From sunroofs to heads-up displays, here are 5 overrated car features, and 5 underrated car features!
Underrated Car Features
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Rear Seat Belt Reminder
Seat Belts are just as crucial for the rear passengers as they are for front passengers. Following the government norms, nowadays both the front passengers get a warning if the seat belt is not fastened. However, the mandate doesn’t extend to the rear passengers. There are still some cars that shed out a tiny warning when the rear passengers aren’t wearing their seat belts. This small light helps in translating safety from 20% to 100%, for sure.
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Tire Pressure Monitoring System
This one is surely an excellent inclusion in cars! How often have you skipped checking your car’s tire pressure just because it’s so much effort?! Well, with the TPMS, you can check the tire pressure in all 4 wheels with just the click of a button, without getting out of your car! This feature is crucial for someone going up and down the highways regularly.
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Driver Drowsiness Detection
Technology has come a far way, and machines understand us, humans, now more than ever. Using the pressure felt on the steering, a car can now detect the alertness levels of the driver. If it stands below a certain level, the car gives out a warning telling the driver to take a break. This usually comes up as a Coffee Mug sign on the instrument cluster.
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Auto Up and Down Windows
This is surely one of the most underrated car features! This small feature literally transforms your experience with the windows! Not many cars offer this feature though. Volkswagen/Skoda cars would always have this feature, but due to local production, it has been eliminated. Currently, the 5th generation Honda City is one car that gets an Auto Up-Down feature for all 4 windows.
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Auto-Dimming IRVM
Another feature a lot of cars miss out on is an auto-dimming IRVM. Switching the mirror setting manually is not a big task, I agree. On the contrary, it is such a small task that we forget to do it almost every single time. This is not an expensive addition to a car, and manufacturers should offer it as a standard feature.
Overrated Car Features
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Heads-Up Display (in city cars)
A HUD is a very useful feature, for a race-car driver. Regular driving inside and outside cities is not so engaging that one cannot look at the speedometer. Moreover, the HUDs on budget cars tend to be even more distracting since it pops-up on a different screen altogether!
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Sunroof
In the last few years, Indian buyers have gone crazy for having a sunroof in their cars. Ever since budget cars like the i10, i20 and some other hatchbacks started getting sunroofs, there has been no end to this fad. A sunroof is especially unnecessary for Indian conditions since the temperatures are on the higher side and there’s so much dust on most roads. Most people who have cars with sunroofs don’t use them as frequently as they would like to, because of these 2 reasons!
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Wireless Charging
How hard is it to plug in your phone? Not too hard right? I do understand the convenience that wireless charging brings along, but is it useful in cars? Not really. Primarily because they’re so slow. This is one of the most overrated car features out there! A USB slot would charge your phone much much faster than a wireless one. In a lot of cars, it is also very difficult to find the right position for your phone on a wireless charger! Even after you find it, one big pothole might make your efforts go to waste. I might as well just use a cable and get out with a fully charged battery.
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G-Force Indicator
This is probably that one piece of information that no one ever uses. Even while off-roading, people hardly ever refer to the numbers on the G-Force indicators to make their next move. Things like vehicle angles, power and torque figures can still be used by a small number of people, but not the G-Force Meter. This is surely one of the most unused car features!
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Screen Mirroring
How often do you mirror your phone’s screen onto your car’s infotainment, never, right? Well, neither does anyone else, especially after Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have come into the picture. This feature is not only useless; it is also a safety hazard.
I think HUD is a good feature for city cars also because some drivers( mostly new) depend on rpm meter and gear indicator to change gears , here HUD will be helpful as they don’t have to look down and can be more focused on the road