[lethbridge]

I was watching Harry’s Garage review of the DB12 (yes please) and hadn’t realised that the speed limit alert bongs were mandated from 2024 and that in the not too distant future you may not even be able to disable them on any car. Not looked into this, but is this on all new cars sold or new models launched from 2024?

The disable process seems a faff buried in the touch screen as opposed to a handy button next to the stop/start button! Plus you have to do this every time you start the car. The bongs seem to be a continuous warning. I’ve always bought new cars but this is seriously making me think twice as it would really annoy me. I’d also be reluctant to code my next car assuming you even could due to the ever increasing scrutiny over warranty claims.

Would this influence your next choice of car including if you’d buy new (some I believe don’t allow you to disable, others will be really awkward to disable, etc)? Or perhaps you think this is a good idea? The trouble is it doesn’t seem well implemented so even if you are the perfect driver you’ll still get plenty of false alerts…

… and yes I know this is an inevitable direction of travel and sooner or later we won’t be able to exceed the limit at all and we’ll probably automatically end up getting NIPs through the door with no police involvement if we do manage to speed… but at the moment we still have some choices around how we police ourselves…

[TodmordenLad]

Had this'feature' in my Mazda, and found it intensely annoying - no bong but a persistent "Reduce your speed" mantra. Fortunately it could be easily muted in the sat nav screen.

[JustChris]

Nanny state stuff is going too far

[Watsey]

I wouldn’t buy a car that has such intrusive tech, and if that means driving my 2012 3L diesel for the next 20 years then so be it.

(I appreciate there are recent cars without this nanny tech, but as I already plan to keep my F32 for ‘ever’ I may as well make the point)

[MY340i]

Nothing a laptop and some coding can’t fix

[jenshb]

A few years ago I was given a new (current) 320d courtesy car (remember those? while my car was in for a service, and I noticed that the speed limit in the HUD changed from white to red if the speed limit was exceeded. I would find that feature annoying. Didn't look in the iDrive to see if that feature could be disabled as I would only have the car for a day.

[agentorange]

We have people over here who won't buy a new vehicle that bongs because you haven't put on your seatbelt. Yes, seatbelt deniers have far from died out.

[AlwynMike]

Originally Posted by jenshb

A few years ago I was given a new (current) 320d courtesy car (remember those? while my car was in for a service, and I noticed that the speed limit in the HUD changed from white to red if the speed limit was exceeded. I would find that feature annoying. Didn't look in the iDrive to see if that feature could be disabled as I would only have the car for a day.

Waze sat nav does that as well.
Not a feature that I dislike and in unfamiliar areas with multiple limit changes its a good at-a-glance reminder. The Waze average speed camera zone indicator is useful too.

[KRS_SN]

The lane departure autocorrect has to be manually turned off each time in mine again buried under menus. Initially hated it but now it's not that intrusive and I let it do it's thing.
The higher you are over the speed limit the louder the bong should sound sounds like a good deterrent then but the same sound level for bongs no matter if you are 2 miles or 20 miles over the limit would be a thoughtless thing.

[dopper99]

I dont need a speed limit alert. I have the wife constantly nagging me about going only 1-2mph over the limit.

[Wills2]

They are a bit of a farce especially on BMWs, my most recent encounter with the system whilst driving an X3 30e was pretty poor, I had a combination of false speed limit readings as low as 5mph, phantom front collision warnings slamming on the brakes and a lane keeping system that tried to steer me into a central bollard island and a bus at one point.

On one run where I had turned it all off, it actually was still on and try as I might it wouldn't switch of the lane keeping which I think is the most dangerous of the systems as often on our white lined strewn roads you have to drift left to create space for on coming traffic if that means touching the white line of an empty cycle path the car will try and steer you back towards the oncoming bus you're making room for...it's such a dangerous system.

[boba-fett]

These have been around for as long as I can remember, early adoptions of this tech are called the wife.

[xenon]

On my G21 it is possible to change the "You're Speeding" warning (of the limit flashing in the dash or changing colour in HUD) to completely off or to a tolerance of how much above the limit it nags. For urban limits (i.e. <=50) I leave it on but for others leave it off and I think it's quite useful.
The hateful lane-departure warning can be turned off completely or set to just vibrate (as distinct from actively steering) and with the latest software version it stays off between journies too.

[Alscoob]

Originally Posted by lethbridge

Would this influence your next choice of car including if you’d buy new (some I believe don’t allow you to disable, others will be really awkward to disable, etc)? Or perhaps you think this is a good idea? The trouble is it doesn’t seem well implemented so even if you are the perfect driver you’ll still get plenty of false alerts…

I definately think it would, that would drive me mad, but as I never buy new, I hopefully would still have a choice.

My 540 G31 is about as new as I would want to go in this respect and while some of the 'tech' can be handy I still feel it is still a bit much for me and find myself switching off stuff so I can to try to get back to a car I can drive and make my own decisions on.

I had an i drive notification Friday that there was a software update to be installed over the air and spent a fair bit of time reading the 'what it does' to make sure as best as I could that it wouldn't affect anything thats there. Seemed okay as the car is standard, so updated it, nothing of any note spotted after, apart from reconfiguring some settings I had as they went back to default. I does however make you wonder what they can sneek in without you knowing, so thinking that it's likely to be the last one I do in case the dreaded bong arrives one day!

Also, it did specifically state that if your car had any modifications, tuning, special coding etc not approved by BMW they would be overwritten and you may 'experience significant problems including damage & BMW / BMW service outlets accepts no liability for resulting damage'. Although I currently have no changes I wonder how many people that have will just install it without reading the small print!!

[MashinBenzin]

Never mind the speed limit warnings.

Car: beep beep beep, you’re about to kill that person highlighted in red on the screen.

Me: they are on the pavement

Car: beep beep beep, you’re about to have a head on smash

Me: this is a victorian era road, not California, we will pass safely

Car: beep beep beep……

Me: it’s fine, chill

Car (in ACC): no reaction

Me: the 3rd lane in front cleared 20 seconds ago, just bloody go

[RobUK]

I wouldn't buy a car with un-silenceable speed warnings, not least because I know of several locations (north and south) where the car gets it wrong. If automatic speed reduction or NIPs were integrated with this, then heaven help us.

Seems like yet another example of a fledgling technology being forced on the public before it's ready.

[jenshb]

Originally Posted by RobUK

I wouldn't buy a car with un-silenceable speed warnings, not least because I know of several locations (north and south) where the car gets it wrong. If automatic speed reduction or NIPs were integrated with this, then heaven help us.

Absolutely. I added the speed limit display to my options when I bought the car (16-plate). It is a useful feature in unfamiliar surroundings, but it does sometimes pick up the speed limit signs on sliproads, sometimes it fails to register the speed limit on overhead gantries (changing from 60 and back to 70 for example), so I don't trust it blindly.