Dumb Pointless Products

[Shollia]

I just have to rant about a dumb product I just saw a commercial for.
If you want to list some then please feel free!! heh


I don't know what car it is... but they seem to think that that 1.whatever seconds it takes drivers to turn on their windshield wipers is WAY too long. So what do they offer? Wipers that will detect water or whatever on your windshield to save you that 1.whatever seconds!
YAY!
I swear.... this has got to be the dumbest idea I've seen in a while. GIVE ME A FREAKIN BREAK... who the heck cares about the second it takes you to turn on your windshield wipers???
It's not like you have to take your eyes off the road or something to turn them on!
Good grief..... just stupid and so pointless.

[kanashimi]

Well, there are those infamertials (sp?) that rant saying "it's so sharp, it can cut through a shoe! "... why do people need to cut through shoes XD

Though, advertising those sorts of things are kinda sad, but me sitting through them is even sadder really XD

[Christopher]

Well, there are those infamertials (sp?) that rant saying "it's so sharp, it can cut through a shoe! "... why do people need to cut through shoes XD

Though, advertising those sorts of things are kinda sad, but me sitting through them is even sadder really XD

What if an old womans house collapses? Won't somebody think of the children?!

[Asparagus Queen]

I don't know what car it is... but they seem to think that that 1.whatever seconds it takes drivers to turn on their windshield wipers is WAY too long. So what do they offer? Wipers that will detect water or whatever on your windshield to save you that 1.whatever seconds!
YAY!
I swear.... this has got to be the dumbest idea I've seen in a while. GIVE ME A FREAKIN BREAK... who the heck cares about the second it takes you to turn on your windshield wipers???
It's not like you have to take your eyes off the road or something to turn them on!
Good grief..... just stupid and so pointless.

http://www.bmwusa.com/vehicles/X3/30i/features.htm <the car

Well, the point of that one is so that you don't have a choice if your wipers are on. If it's raining, your wipers have to be on. Some people use so much RainX, or think they're cooler than wipers, and don't use them when they should be. Or possibly a drunk thinks he doesn't need them either. It's dangerous to not, so they made it so you have to. It's like having your daytime running lights always on, some people think they don't need them, but it's not safe for the rest of the drivers for them to not have them on, so they made them always on.

Besides, I doubt they got it right anyway, because it would have to be able to dected the right amount of rain, not just any rain. If one drop falls on your windshield, and the wipers go on, they'll just squeek across the windshield. And if it rains hard, will it find the right speed to go? *shrug*

[Charisma]

I think the car technology is pretty neat, it sort of makes me anticipate more for the future. I agree that the commericial is dumb though, if they wanted you to praise this feature they shouldn't have made it like 2 seconds was such a big deal, even in the examples they show about what you could do with those two seconds is like you basically can't do anything, which you really can't. I think in a way they ridicule their own innovation at the end of the commercial, pretty crappy.

[MyleneFarmer]

Funny you should post this, given yesterday I saw a car with "windshield wipers" on the lights. I had never seen this before, and honestly, I'm not sure I understand the use...I mean, the heat of the lights should take care of melting any snow that hits when driving right? And surely it isn't necessary for rain...

As for the auto-wipers for actual windshields, I think they're a little silly. They're probably seen as "one less distraction" so you can focus on the other distractions: changing out cds, listening to the DVD player in the backseat, screaming at children, eating a McMuffin, and slurping down a double mocha latte with soymilk cream. Now you don't have to completely release the steering wheel when you need to use your cellphone and turn on the wipers at the same time! *gaspshock*

Speaking of driver distractions, a few months ago I saw someone driving an automatic while smoking a cigarette and talking on a cell phone (not the hands-free variety, either). I have no idea how that person was able to actually drive, unless they were using their knees to steer like my brother does. *shudder* I worked in transportation safety for way too long.

[shapu]

Wipers on the lights are to wash away all the mud that's going to splash up on your volvo sedan or lexus SUV. You know, when you go driving through the forest.

In the rain.

In the dark.

Duh.

[Charisma]

Wipers on the lights are to wash away all the mud that's going to splash up on your volvo sedan or lexus SUV. You know, when you go driving through the forest.

In the rain.

In the dark.

Duh.

Hey don't hate, I always use the wipers on the lights of my Cadillac when I'm going off roading.

Hmmm I thought it was to take off the snow like a scraper sort of when you were getting ready to go on the road

[Paul]

Wipers on the lights are to wash away all the mud that's going to splash up on your volvo sedan or lexus SUV. You know, when you go driving through the forest.

In the rain.

In the dark.

Duh.

Hey don't hate, I always use the wipers on the lights of my Cadillac when I'm going off roading.

Hmmm I thought it was to take off the snow like a scraper sort of when you were getting ready to go on the road

I think those look kinda neat.

[Xil]

Wipers on the lights are to wash away all the mud that's going to splash up on your volvo sedan or lexus SUV. You know, when you go driving through the forest.

In the rain.

In the dark.

Duh.

Man, Im always driving my luxury cars through the forest.

I don't know what you're all thinking.

[sparkygoesforth]

Pointless? cerainly not - those automatic windscreen wipers serve two important purposes:

1) The customer will feel that they are getting the latest unique gadgets, which they can then show off to their friends - as if having a BMW doesn't make you look smug enough already = more cars sold = more revenue for BMW.

2) Being a new electronic gadget they will invariably break just after the car is out of its warranty period, thus requiring an expensive visit to a BMW-approved garage = more revenue for BMW.

(By the way, the BMW is nowhere near the first manufacturer to use rain-sensing windscreen-wipers. Honda* and Citroen have been doing this on their high-spec models for a couple of years now.)

*If anyone remembers the Honda 'cog' car commercial from a couple of years back (with all the bits of cars rolling into one another in a chain reaction) this features their rain-sensing windscreen-wiper system.

In all seriousness if done right this could be a really good system - I thought about building one myself a few years back. Ever get irritated that if it's spitting just a little you put the wipers on 'intermittant' but they either wipe too fast (=squeaky wipers) or too slow (=rain build-up between wipes affects visibility)? The trick would be to get the rain sensor onto the windscreen where the wipers wipe the rain off it - that way it would only activate the wipers when just enough rain had fallen to impair visibility - meaning that the speed of intermittant wipe would automatically adjust to the density of rain falling. If they do this then yes, that is a useful system. The problem I thought of was that presumably they use the resistance of the water falling between two electrodes to detect rain - and if these were somehow embossed into the windscreen they would quickly become worn away by the constant wiping.

Last edited by sparkygoesforth on Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[smudgeoffudge]

Yeah, that sounds like a useless invention. I mean, it only takes a second to turn on the wipers. But I guess some people don't bother to use wipers, they think they can see fine or something. So like someone said above, they just made it so you have to use them. I guess that is ok if it stops accidents.

A real useless invention is something like..um..an inflatable dart board..or a can opener in a can!

[Shollia]

Alrighty... stop focusing on the wipers and think of more products! heh

Or possibly a drunk thinks he doesn't need them either.

O_O I think we'd have a bigger problem is a drunk was driving.


I'll come up with some more useless products in a bit... i gotta get me some coffee

[hiddenneggs]

yesterday I saw a car with "windshield wipers" on the lights. I had never seen this before, and honestly, I'm not sure I understand the use...I mean, the heat of the lights should take care of melting any snow that hits when driving right?

Clearly, you don't live in Montana.

Snow aside, even on highways (not to mention unpaved roads, which really do exist some places without resorting to driving through the forest) there can be enough dust and dirt building up that it effectively dims the lights. I know that on many a trip, in addition to cleaning the windshield at service stations, it's been needful to take the squeegee to the lights, too.

How well the light-wipers work for such things, I don't know.

[o_0]

Look what it did to the penny!

Need I say more?