Chekov

Philip8969,
I think where we disagree is how potentially dangerous manual inputs while driving can be as compared to those other items you mentioned. Most of them just take a second or two and are easily incorporated into good driving habits. But manual nav inputs, as I explained before, can take your eyes off the road for a much longer time than any of those other things you mentioned. Certainly, seat controls, bluetooth and voice commands should not take your eyes off the road at all. I think Nissan agrees with me, and so the lockout.

And your all or nothing argument is not a realistic solution. Surely, pointing out one bad thing does not justify having another, nor does it mean we should have none.

As for intelligence testing, I was being satirical while trying to make the point that our cars are made to help keep the multitudes of inattentive drivers from harm. Unfortunately, in our litigious society there’s no way around it unless we’re willing to pay another $500 or so on the sticker price to cover Nissan’s liability. I don’t care for that solution much, so I’m willing to live with the lockout.

In my case, I would never manually input destinations while driving even if I could. I’m very happy to use the faster and safer voice command approach. In that regard, it’s still hard for me to understand what all the fuss is about.

xapache

Ok Chekov, believe it or not I did try out your suggestion, I timed myself on manual entry versus voice prompts. I was faster manually inputting, albeit sitting in my garage, then voice prompts. Now as this was not a statistically accurate test (I didn't do the timing multiple times) nor am I very proficient at voice entry, I will concede that I felt more likely to be "eyes out" rather than "eyes in" most of the time while use voice.

Once I learn the system better (I've only had my car for 1 week) I could honestly say I will use voice entry should the need arise while driving. Rare as it might be to change destinations after departing.

As for intelligence testing, well even smart people make dumb mistakes. In my line of profession (medical helicopter pilot) I see it all the time. On the interstates, in the top 5 reasons why people crash on a straight-as-an-arrow road; texting, while doing so they drift onto the shoulder and then panic recovery and that is when the multiple rollover begins. Drinking and driving is and will always be #1 for us, but I've never picked anyone up for GPS entry related crashing. There's always room for the first time, sadly.

Drive safe and let us all enjoy our G's....

Philip8969

Chekov:
I am glad we have well established what we disagree on. But, I think we will have to agree to disagree lolz.

I did go tryout your suggestion. Voice commands took me a few seconds longer. Not really a big deal tho. I feel like that might have been because I was trying to go as fast as possible too.

One last thing to mention. I find it interesting that all the portable GPS systems allow you to program while moving. You would think it would be just as important for those to have some sort of lockout. I am surprised Garmin, TOM TOM, etc have not been sued. Or maybe they have and I just haven't seen anything about it. Interesting though, nonetheless.

carz

Inputting an address into the system is quite a task....and requires a lot of time with your eyes off the road and on your screen....the voice command certainly saves a lot of time with the input....especially if you kind of have an idea where you're going....ill usually set out and put in the address via voice....saves a few minutes.

However the point was brought up earlier that searching for a song or artist on your iPod requires almost as much time with ur eyes off the road. im surprised they allow that to be done.

What I want to know is....why are the car manufactures obligated to do the screen lock.....but the handheld gps companies can get away with it? they can easily lock out the screen as well

Chekov

That’s a good question because as you may know not all car manufacturers have this nav lockout. I believe Nissan does it for two reasons: (1) They don’t have to put a factor for lost law suits into the MSRP and thus maintain their competitiveness, and (2) The potential bad publicity from manual input accidents could have a vast negative affect on the company (look what happened to Toyota who also has nav lockouts but their sudden acceleration problem did them in anyway). As far as the portable companies are concerned they too either have it in their prices or because it actually would be quite difficult to hook up a lockout feature without the owners’ involvement which most owners are not likely to do.

Gobbler Man

the voice commands do work very well and are very easy to use, except when you cant get the voice recognition to get the street name correctly. kept trying to change how i said the street name. i never thought it would pick it up. otherwise, it was a great system to use the voice commands. i preferred the voice commands aside from the little recognition problem.

SM_Shadowman

Deep pockets, that's why. It certainly wouldn't be the first time someone (perhaps misguidedly) sued a big corporation for the actions of one of its customers who was using its product. I'm not expressing any opinion on it, just saying that's how things are.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

This reminds me of McDonald's and their overly hot coffee.. and those endless debates.


I wish the voice activation was more usable -- i.e. if I want to find the nearest Best Buy .. there is no way to voice activate that while driving that I know of... however I can input the address of anyplace if I know the address while driving..

hispeed-lowdrag

iTrader: (7)

this is the one complaint about voice activation that I agree with. Sometimes the "nearby places" command is very helpful, other times it is useless.

It WOULD be nice to be able to say a specific store and have it look it up. but as is, it is still pretty nice

Chekov

I’m not sure I understand your comment. To find the nearest Best Buy via manual input you would have to first know its address, and if you know the address you can certainly use voice commands.

SM_Shadowman

You can access more options when the car is stopped. Like searching for business locations by category -- retail stores, auto repair shops, etc. These options are not available when the car is moving, even with voice. All you get is the "Nearby Places" which is a severely limited version of that.

chasemyaccord

iTrader: (2)

Ugh...I don't know how some of you can say the voice recognition is just as quick as punching it in. I can type in a destination at least 4 times faster than I can do it through voice...no naming the state, then waiting for the voice prompt to complete, then naming the city, then waiting for the voice prompt to complete, then naming the street, then waiting for the voice prompt to complete, then naming the house number, then waiting for the voice prompt to complete, then saying "calculate route," then waiting for it to say "calculating route..."

i would've been done typing it in by the time i said the city name. not a big deal to me, but usually i'd much rather stop and type it in (or type it in before i depart) rather than use the stinkin voice. if only we didn't have to wait for the voice prompt to complete...*drool*

Chekov

Chasemyaccord,
Just try taking your eyes of the road to type in a long address like: 14589 Mission Valley Blvd, Thousand Oaks, CA at 70 mph and you may get the scare of your life.

hispeed-lowdrag

iTrader: (7)

he's not comparing it to the manual input. He is just saying (as I agree with) that he wished the voice commands were more in depth.

Like if you could say "find closest best buy" and it would find it. That's what he is saying, nothing involved with the manual input.

Chekov

I guess you’re talking about the “Points of Interest” category. Yes, you do have to be stopped, but it still isn’t going to give you guidance to many specific businesses like the nearest Best Buy. Alas, the system is not perfect.

In that regard, one thing that has always annoyed me is getting details of an accident if you have the traffic info feature. Although you can get the specifics while moving of an accident the accident screen will show both where the accident traffic delay starts and where it ends. The problem is the ending point is often on a second screen that is dimmed until the vehicle makes a full stop for around 3 seconds. Surprisingly, when you’re creeping along bumper to bumper that rarely happens, so you never know for how long you’ll be stuck in traffic. I feel if they’re going to give you the first screen while moving they may as well give you the second.