A new study, conducted by Direct Line, has revealed the most hated pieces of driver assistance technology – and the figures show UK drivers are rejecting their safety kit.
The study started by ascertaining the number of cars on our roads fitted with each type of safety technology (such as lane assist, cruise control, parking sensors and drowsiness alerts). It then polled drivers to learn their opinions on each piece of kit.
Take lane assist as an example. The study found 36% of cars on UK roads are fitted with the technology, but a quarter of drivers who have lane assist don’t use it often because they find it ‘actively annoying.’ A further 11% refuse to use the technology altogether.
It’s the same story with adaptive cruise control. 34% of cars have the tech, but 16% of drivers never use it. Driver monitoring systems are equally hated – 20% of cars sport the kit, but 15% of drivers don’t like using it and 10% disengage it every time they get behind the wheel.
Drivers are even showing resistance to collision avoidance tech. 38% of cars have collision warning systems, but 13% of drivers find it irritating – so they swerve using it. 31% of cars also have collision avoidance systems (such as autonomous emergency braking), but 10% of drivers said they never use it in their car.
Why don’t UK drivers like using their cars’ safety tech?
The study considered this, too. It probed drivers to learn how much faith they have in their cars’ safety equipment – and plenty said they don’t feel comfortable with surrendering control of their cars’ functions over to a computer. They simply don’t trust they tech.
Remote parking assist and reverse parking assist are the most distrusted features, with 27% of respondents saying they have no confidence in each piece of tech. Cruise control was the third least trusted feature, according to 17% of those polled.
Unsurprisingly, given that data, the study found the three least used safety features on UK cars are cruise control, reverse parking assist and active cruise control.
What’s particularly interesting is that older drivers (aged 55+) – who didn’t learn to drive with such technology – are more likely to accept it compared to drivers aged between 17 and 24.
For example, 52% of older drivers like using lane assist, compared to just 39% of younger drivers. The gulf between the two age groups is even larger for hill start assist, with 62% of older drivers using the tech compared to 39% of younger drivers.
What do experts have to say about the results?
Matt Pernet, Head of Motor Insurance at Direct Line commented on the results of the study, saying: ‘Car manufacturers invest huge resources in developing technologies to make the driving experience safer and more enjoyable.
‘While it can be daunting to rely on unfamiliar technology, the features installed in cars undergo rigorous testing and help to keep our roads safer. Technologies like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), are safety systems that identify potential impact targets ahead, warning the driver by putting the brakes on to avoid a collision, have been shown to reduce car rear-end collisions by half.’
Keith Adams, Parkers editor adds: ‘I’m quite a fan of the best lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control systems. I cover a lot of miles, and I find both useful with the proviso that they’re not there to replace me, and that I don’t use them as an excuse to reduce my concentration.
‘However, poor and over-intrusive systems have shaken my confidence in the technology, with random braking, scary wheel tugging and erratic behaviour rendering them unusable. Automatic parking systems are rubbish – too slow, unresponsive and completely fallible. I tend to use them once and never go back to them.’
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Luke Wilkinson is Deputy Editor of Parkers. He has five years of experience as a car journalist, and spends his time writing news, reviews, features and advice pieces for both Parkers and its sister site CAR magazine.
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