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Merging the Best Car Features of the Big Three
Nov 28 2008 by Emily Hansen
With all of the financial strife in the auto industry, I’ve been thinking about a solution where the Big Three automakers merge. Here are the best features that I’d want to take from each company’s lineup of cars:
With all of the financial strife in the auto industry, I’ve been thinking about a solution where the Big Three automakers merge. Here are the best features that I’d want to take from each company’s lineup of cars:
• From GM, their alternative-fuel vehicles, from their two-mode hybrids to their Chevy Volt, a plug-in electric car. Of course, I’d also like to keep the work that GM has done with hydrogen power. And I’d keep GM’s OnStar system, for its top-notch safety innovations and in-car communications system.
• From Ford, I’d opt for Microsoft’s Sync media-integration system. From the extended Ford family, I’d keep all of Volvo’s safety innovations: their whiplash protection system, lane-departure warning, driver alert control, City Safety system and integrated booster seats.
• From Chrysler, its Yes Essentials seat fabric, which is stain- and odor-resistant. That’s a must for any mom. Of course, I wouldn’t want to go without Chrysler’s Sirius backseat TV or its heated and cooled cupholders.
Now, even without financial strife, there are some features that I believe every car on the U.S. market should have:
• An audio system that includes an auxiliary MP3 jack should grace even the least expensive entry-level cars. Everyone wants to listen to tunes, right?
• I can’t and shouldn’t live without heated seats (lovingly referred to as butt-warmers around here). They might not be a necessity in some climates, but where I live, they get used in at least seven or eight months of the year.
• A backup camera or, at least, backup sensors. Airbags for all passengers should also be a standard feature, not an option, please and thank you.
• Steering-wheel-mounted controls: They should have backlighting so I can see my volume-control buttons even when it’s dark in the car.
• And I need auto-up on all four windows in any car, and safety sensors to stop little fingers and hands from getting pinched.
Which features do the Big Three excel at? What features do you think every car sold in the U.S. should have? Tell us below in the comment section.
User Comments
My Honda Odyssey has a switch that gives the driver the ability to override (off, on, or “door”) all of the interior lights. I’d love to see that feature on every car I own.
Anyone with several young children who has owned a minivan with power side doors and a power rear liftgate will understand when I say what a near-necessity those are. Seriously, if I had more cash, I’d buy a second minivan so that both my wife and I could have our own.
Auto-up used to be found on some power windows through the 80’s (maybe even early 90’s?). Lawsuits stemming from little kids getting strangled by those windows killed that feature.
Skinner -
We still have auto-up features on power windows. They just come with “pinch protection” now so that (like a garage door) if it senses something in its way, it reverses motion and goes back down to prevent a potential window strangulation.
Stow and Go in all minivans and the Flex refrigerator optional in all cars