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Driving and Roads

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 473
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It is still a thing. We had a temporary replacement work van a couple of weeks ago with a radio that sat there saying

WAIT 11 MINUTES THEN ENTER THE SECURITY CODE

Except even after much longer than 11 minutes it did not let you enter the code. That is why I have a portable Bluetooth speaker to use when the radio on whichever van I am on that shift is not working. Just got myself a small Bluetooth controller to use with it which I can strap to the steering wheel to Play/Pause/Skip/V-/V+ without having to stretch to the speaker placed on the dashboard. This is in readiness for the new fleet of Iveco EV vans we are getting and current Iveco vans have awful radios even when working as (badly) designed - the Italians are hopeless at auto-electrics!
 
It's as Gomezz described, quoting from the book: "Security coded radio: To deter thieves, a radio or CD unit that requires a security code (or pin number) to operate it." I stand corrected as I didn't realise it was still a thing, I can't remember the last time I saw one, and our cars aren't anywhere near new. And yes, it does say "pin number", all in lower case.
 
DIN slots for car radios and the like are from a different age. All cars come with an integrated thing now. There is nothing to nick. Except the car itself of course. Or just bits off it in broad daylight if parked in certain cities apparently.
 
prpr said:
There is nothing to nick. Except the car itself of course. Or just bits off it in broad daylight if parked in certain cities apparently.
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I'm going to assume that the car on bricks in someone's front drive was a DIY mechanic dealing with a problem around the front axle - otherwise they've had two front wheels nicked.
 
prpr said:
DIN slots for car radios and the like are from a different age. All cars come with an integrated thing now. There is nothing to nick. Except the car itself of course. Or just bits off it in broad daylight if parked in certain cities apparently.
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And yet aftermarket screens that plug into old DIN slots are readily available to provide older vehicles with the modern ICE experience.

I recently changed to a newer car (from 1999 to 2019) yet was disappointed with its ICE screen. In particular when playing music/podcasts over Bluetooth from my phone it does not display the elapsed/total playing time. I could add a wireless Android Auto dongle to rectify that curious omission but hardly worth it as these days i mostly just trundle round on short local journeys.
 
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After an incident* yesterday I noticed that some of the new electric buses in Nottinghamshire do not have any side mirrors - some may not even have rear view mirrors. What they do have is two cameras mounted high up each side at the front of the bus and possibly one on the rear. In the cab the driver has large lorry-like "mirrors" either side of the steering wheel (obviously screens) showing two views each side. This had me wondering - does anyone know whether vans and lorries that don't have a rear view possible use this technology or not? If not, why not? Surely a good idea.

* Bus hit parked van at speed sending a side mirror flying into the air and making one hell of a bang. (Clearly bus driver's fault. Too fast and tried to drive bus through a space that didn't exist). On departing the bus I noticed no side mirror - and no space where one had been. Later in my journey caught another electric bus and spotted the cameras etc.
 
EEPhil said:
Surely a good idea.
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A good idea if a real mirror is impractical, or for reversing a long vehicle, and yes they've been a "thing" for years.

Real mirrors have the advantage of maintaining depth perception. A camera+screen combo produces a 2D image at the distance the screen is from the driver.
 
Cameras (instead of wing mirrors) have the additional pro of reduced drag. On balance, I think I would advocate a proper rear-view mirror in combination with cameras for other external views. There is at least one model of EV on the market with no rear window at all, so the rear-view "mirror" is a camera – no choice.

The BIG advantage of proper mirrors is they don't go wrong and then the vehicle diagnostics insist you're not allowed to drive it until an expensive fix has been completed.
 
Black Hole said:
instead of wing mirrors
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I debated (with myself - a sign of madness, surely) whether to use the term wing mirror, door mirror or something else.
How many modern vehicles have wing mirrors? (Yes, I do remember true wing mirrors)
Wildebeest said:
Some wing mirrors can also be hugely expensive, with glass that's heated, auto-dimming etc 😟
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...and may contain indicator repeater lights.
 
Wing/side mirrors have the advantage of always working whereas cameras often fail (in my experience of the vans at work). On my car the wing mirrors are best for positioning when when reversing into a parking space with the camera good for telling you when you are reversed up close to the kerb/bollard.
 
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