Disclaimers: I admit I don’t have the right words for this. Probably Matthew B. Crawford does. This is not supposed to be a “get off my lawn” post, but more about the nature of things.

I drove a rental vehicle last night.

It was an alienating experience.

The wheel turned at the slightest touch.

There were multiple lit screens and multiple audible alerts, constantly asking for attention. Following distance update. Lane update. Turn update. Engine update. The volume and timing of beeps was like being in a hospital emergency area. The screen reflections on other windows made it look like something was on the periphery, as well.

Alerts were also opinionated in unnecessary ways that don’t always hold true. Turning on a turn signal to signal intent resulted in hyper-flashing if somebody was in the lane. Crossing the center line on a what-could-otherwise-be-a-fun-and-efficient-curve-of-the-road when nobody is around resulted in warnings.

My overall sense of the drive was that I was missing the actual signals of driving because the design favored secondary signals over the more-direct ones. I can’t see how this doesn’t add to the problem of distracted driving instead of ameliorating it.

Granted, we usually keep our cars 10+ years, but it was shocking to me how poorly these systems are designed for actual humans. The only good thing I could say is some of the buttons were still at least tactile instead of touch screens.

Are most new cars like this?