I’ve never really liked the term “pet peeve.” It always sounded like the type of thing a sort of fussy person would keep track of in a little leather-bound journal, and that’s not really who I want to be. But, the word is useful in its specificity: some little habit or detail or practice that just rubs you wrong, and you end up making those annoyances your own special little irritants. They’re pet peeves, after all, and as pets, they need attention and need to be fed. So, that’s what I’m going to do right now, with two automotive pet peeves of mine!
A pet peeve generally is something sort of trivial, not Earth-shaking, and I think that qualifies for the ones I feel a need to share with you today, because, objectively, they’re not big things at all, and I should just get over it.
But I can’t. They don’t stop annoying me. So let me vent them out here, and hopefully I’ll be free!
Peeve One: Rear Windows Are Not “Windshields”
I feel like I encounter this one a lot, and every time I hear it, I wince a bit. And it’s not like it’s uncommon, or not accepted in general use. I know automotive designers like to call it a “backlight” but I always found that a strange and slightly confusing term, though it is better than “DLO” or “daylight opening” which just sounds like what an alien might call a window, were they unfamiliar with the concept.
I think the reason I don’t like “rear windshield” is because it simply isn’t a shield, dammit, not in the way a windshield is. The windshield literally shields you from the wind, from the air you’re pushing out of the way as you drive forward. The rear window? It just doesn’t do that. Well, I guess in reverse it does, a bit, but by that logic we’d call back-up lights “rear headlights” and no one does that.
This is a little thing, I know, but I feel like I can always spot someone who does not care about cars if they call a back window a “rear windshield.” Does that make me a dickhead? Does anyone else understand what I’m talking about here? I hope so.
Peeve Two: Using Clear Bulbs Instead of Amber Bulbs In Clear-Lensed Turn Indicators
Okay, this is a taillight-related peeve, so you know it’s important. I was reminded of this one again when I saw this Kia Soul the other day:
See what’s going on there? This one car is an object lesson in what I’m talking about. When car designers want an amber turn indicator – front or rear – but don’t necessarily want a big amber lens, they will often have a clear lens with an amber bulb inside, a compromise to get the proper color of light without all the bright visual orange some people – especially a lot of designers – seem to want to avoid.
When they do this, there’s a sort of unspoken agreement between you and the designer that when those bulbs need changing, you’ll find replacement amber bulbs and not just throw in some clear bulb, which hasn’t been the legal color of turn indicators since 1962. It’s like the people who don’t play ball here are going to ruin the concept of clear lens/amber bulb for everyone with this bullshit, because this lack of shit-givery is how we get mandated lens colors, people.
And let’s not forget the troubles we went through just getting from white to amber:
It wasn’t easy!
That Kia up there had one amber bulb and one clear one: for fuck’s sake, Kia owner, stop being so lazy! Where’s your sense of taillight dignity?
Man, after writing these out, they really do seem fussy and trivial. But I guess that’s the nature of a pet peeve, right?
Okay, now tell me yours! Make mine seem less inane, please?
Clear rear turn signals that are invisible when the sun is on them, followed by DRL’s on at night along with excessively bright LED headlights.
My pet peeve is when vehicle manufacturers use the reverse lights for anything besides indicating and illuminating when a car is in reverse.
WTF GM? Is that Traverse going to try and back over me as I walk through the parking lot or did the owner just remote start it, or lock/unlock a door. Maybe they light up when you forgot a child in the back, or the ash tray needs to be emptied. I don’t know the logic, but I do know it’s not standard and a pet peeve of mine.
People who leave a huge gap between themselves and the car in front of them when stopping. On a highway when cars may be coming up fast behind you, sure. But in the city it’s unnecessary and rude, especially when I means cars behind them can’t get into a turn lane. Seriously, sometimes the gap is actually big enough to pull into!
Ooh ooh! Vehicular pet peeves? Here we go!
I’ve got a few…
Never mind, It’s a work night and I’ve gotta get dinner started.
If I had the time I’d complain so hard right now!
*balls up fists and shakes them wildly whilst getting red in the face*
The third brake lights that flash several times before turning solid red are my biggest pet peeve.
Second is putting black covers over all the lights on a black car/replacing rear light housings on cars that have amber turn signals with those that are red. “It looks cleaner.” No, you’ve deleted significant design elements from your car and it now looks stupid.
Third is the dealership that goes beyond just putting their name on a decal or license plate frame on your car—they’ll place their name in big letters on the rear window as well. It’s usually a ‘buy here, pay here’ place, but I’ve noticed that Evergreen Kia in Chicago is guilty of this too.
Not really a pet peeve but more of an oddity is the person who appears to move to a new state, changes their license plates over to the state they now live in, and in the process also puts back on the frame with the dealership name on it. Better yet is if it’s upside down. It doesn’t need to be there! Throw it away!
That flashing 3rd brake light tells me they bought the car from a dealership that tacked that feature on as an overpriced upgrade. It’s a beacon letting us know who didn’t read the fine print.
It’s not a dealership overpriced upgrade. It’s standard from the manufacturer, the dealer doesn’t and can’t add that.
Definitely not. Flashing CHMSLs are not OEM installed. They’re almost always dealership installed like already stated. Car manufacturers are held to DOT standards. Car dealerships are not.
You get a like for the correct answer – 3rd brake lights that flash before turning solid red. These should be outlawed.
Ostensibly they were created to increase safety by drawing attention to the fact that you’re braking. Realistically they were created to add one more differentiating item to the useless comparison lists that marketers resort to way too often. Ironically, they work too well and will likely reduce safety overall. My attention is annoyingly drawn to these blinking menaces just to find out that a completely ordinary thing is happening. Super frustrating and it’s obvious that I will subconsciously train myself to ignore them … in the process making me more likely to ignore a true case of emergency flashing lights.
The real shame is that this could have been implemented in a useful way. Imagine if the flashing indicated severe braking effort. That would actually be helpful! But that’s not what was implemented … because that would require some actual effort to send additional information to the light assembly indicating the severe braking condition. Nope, we get the zero-effort, zero-value feature that it flashes every time any braking is initiated. Outlaw them!
I have a few friends who I believe learned it from each other, but under heavy/emergency braking will turn on their hazards, which does what you’re describing and draws you to the fact that something unusual is happening and to slow down much quicker. It really only works for them because they have rear amber flashers though, not ones that block out their brake lights. it’s just not something I’ve seen otherwise though, but it is helpful.
Where is our Autopian license plate frame?!?!?!?
When I buy from a dealer I make it a specific condition of my purchase that the car has no extraneous decals or other dealer bullshit attached to it when I pick it up. I’ve even had the sales person hand-write that onto the bottom of a sales contract before signing. It’s actually that big a pet peeve for me lol.
Turning on hazards and slowing down when it starts to rain in any lane other the the far right. I’m all for driving within your limits and if you feel like you need to drive 10-20 under the speed limit to be safe then have at it, in the right lane. But it is not safe to turn on hazards and slow way down in the left or middle lanes of the interstate because some drizzle started and the flow of traffic is still moving.
Also turning on hazards when coming into a slowdown on the interstate. There’s already a sea of brake lights lit up, every tenth car in random lanes putting hazards on just makes it more confusing and distracting to people coming up on the slowdown.
Oh, man. I have a few.
First, cutting off the oncoming lane when making a left turn. Sometimes that’s going to work out, and I guess you…save one second? But then, when I’m in that lane, and you have to swerve to avoid me? Just be prepared for a car to ALWAYS be there and don’t do that shit.
Second, people who can’t negotiate a curved road in their own damned lane. We are blessed with extraordinary driving roads where I live, but I have to be hyper-vigilant at all times, because multiple times a week I have to take avoiding action when somebody comes around a bend fully in my lane.
Lastly, for now: driving and/or parking the wrong way in an angled parking lot. You can tell which way traffic is supposed to go, doofus. Stop it.
This. THIS. THIS!!!! Just this morning I was driving down a road with a gentle left-right kink that 90% of people seem to be incapable of negotiating without crossing the center line. On the same road, there is a junction with two-lanes for a left turn, and yet folks think it’s perfectly reasonable to cut the apex from the right-hand lane, even if it means I have to slam on the brakes to avoid being sandwiched between the median and a generic SUV being driven by someone on their phone.
There is a greater than zero chance that my life will end in a fiery collision, because I after dodging into the shoulder to avoid the thousandth fuckwit that cuts me off this way I might just crack and go full Mad Max on the next one.
People who drive with their handicap placards hanging on their rear-view mirrors.
I hate it when people pronounce Reese’s pieces “ree-cees pee-cees”. What the fuck is a pee-cee exactly might I ask? Twits.
Oh this is about cars. Uhhhhh, I hate it when people try to direct traffic, but we all went over that recently in another article.
Is… Is that a thing? Who the hell does that, and how can we launch them into the sun immediately?
I catch people doing it all the time. It’s bizarre and I’m not sure why some people default to it despite, you know, most people knowing how to pronounce the word “pieces” in any other context.
Go hang out near a soft serve ice cream joint for a while and I bet you’ll catch someone doing it.
Really more of an American problem, we call them rear windows as that’s what they are. While were on pet peeves, why rota? It’s called a disk brake because it uses a disk to brake. The drum on a drum brake is called a drum.
It’s a ‘rotor,’ and this one makes some sense. Yes, it’s disc-shaped. But as part of an assembly that spins inside a stationary part, ‘rotor’ is reasonable.
Yeah, friction stacks in aircraft brakes are made of alternating rotors and stators.
Some disc brakes have multiple discs (airliners, for example), and half of those discs are rotating and the other half stationary. So “disc” is insufficiently precise, you need to identify your rotors and your stators.
Mine is using red for turn signals instead of amber.
Being able to tell immediately if someone is braking vs. intending to turn is very handy. Using red just seems cheap and lazy.
Euro Brands pay extra to stock an all-red taillight. I notice Merc doing this specifically
Torch, you’re going to be one helluva sumbich at the nursing home, is all I’m saying….
People calling things that are electrical electronic. Electric cars, blenders, fans, lawn mowers, motors, are not electronic.
I have to disagree with you about the rear windshield. It absolutely shields you from the wind!
Have you ever ridden in a car with a busted-out back window? It gets hella windy!
Depends on the car. When my f150 had no rear window, I expected some pleasantly strong ventilation. I was very disappointed to discover that the slipstream on the back of the cab means that you could barely tell the difference. The airflow and noise level were basically the same as when the glass was there, at all speeds under 65mph.
It’s been discussed before ad nausea,but if we’re talking pet peeves, I will go with drivers who have the right-of-way not taking the right-of-way. Happened again yesterday. Coming up the street to take a left into my driveway, there is a coming in the other direction. The oncoming car is moving fast enough, and I’m not in a rush, so I stop, signal, and wait. The oncoming car responds to this by stopping and flashing its headlights at me. I don’t know what they’re thinking; they’re the only car coming in the other direction as far as the eye can see, so they’re not holding up traffic to let me in. What kind of passive-aggressive nonsense is this?
Portlandia’s Yugo sketch covered this so well. This sort of obnoxious vehicular virtue-signaling has been around forever, but it’s somehow even worse now with all the electronic device distraction going on – we’re approaching zero traffic predictability now.
the wave-of-death…
every
damn
day
It’s idiots who think they’re being kind and polite, instead of fucking dangerous. I got hit on my bike thanks to one of these fuckwits once (they yielded the right of way to a left turn, who couldn’t see me in the bike lane and I got sprawled across the hood of the turning car, no serious injuries fortunately).
Refuse their courtesty, make them take the right of way. And if they get angry, get angry back, they are putting everyone in danger.
I used to hate it when I commuted on my bike and people would yield the right of way to me when it wasn’t mine. They think they’re being nice, but they’re just making it harder on me and everyone else by not following the agreed upon rules. Just keep going you dipshit, I’ll turn after you pass like I’m supposed to so I don’t get hit from behind!
No no no no no on the orange bulb behind a clear lens one.
I am with you on the fact that there should not be a white bulb there (i.e. a bulb that lights up white) because it is a turn indicator and those should absolutely be orange but an orange-tinted bulb behind a clear lense looks like a half-arsed effort to have a nice clear look.
There are bulbs without orange tint that light up orange when turned on, so the lens looks nice and uniformly white and glows orange when indicating
Completely agree! I replaced my orange bulbs behind clear lenses with clear bulbs that light up orange. Cleans up the look of the car when the bulbs are off, and still gives a nice orange glow when lit. Best of both worlds!
Mercedes can’t decide whether to put the PRNDL on the steering column or the center console. Do you know how many times I’ve accidentally grabbed a wiper stalk when intending to reverse? PICK ONE, YOU TEUTONIC TWATWAFFLES.
It’s not Mercedes’ fault, stop blaming her!/s
I feel your pain. My Mercedes has the shifter on a stalk on the right side of the steering column. My Ford has a dial on the center console. Transitioning between the two vehicles always causes me problems. I go to hit the wipers in the Mercedes and shift into neutral. I go to shift from reverse to drive in the Ford and turn on my wipers.
Got a new ride for the wife recently. It has shift buttons on the center stack instead of a traditional shifter or or the now popular dial. It’s far less annoying than I thought it might be, but I still have to look around when I get in there before I remember what’s going on.
Cars that pull half a lane to the left to prep for their right turn.
Or cars that come to a full and complete stop when turning right, not even at an intersection…. Or when they take the right turn at approximately 1.5 mph, dude, are you afraid you’re going to roll your RAV-4 at that speed?
Avoid Saskatchewan, lots of farmers who are used to driving in fields doing farmer stuff that appears to require wide turns. They carry over this driving behaviour on the street.
Oooh, I considered this one, too. You’re not in a semi, you’re in a Trailblazer. Fuckin chill.
Some of us truck drivers have issues getting out of the habit.
I think of these people as towing around invisible 30-foot trailers for all of their personal emotional baggage.
License plate frames with the dealer name on them — although that’s better than when they used to rivet a chrome label on the back.
When I worked for a dealer group, every time we tried to figure out our most effective marketing channel, it always came back to plate frames, followed by word-of-mouth. Everything else we actually spent money on – Digital, TV, Print, OOH (billboards) – worked the margins.
I’ve only had one last longer than the drive home, and that was because the sales guy asked if I was ok with him putting on the frame. Otherwise first thing I do when I get home is to toss it in the trash.
Every time they tried that I borrowed a screwdriver/wrench from them, removed the frame at handed it back to them.
I don’t begrudge the dealership for doing it, but I prefer the frames to decals or badging, as they’re straightforward to remove.
Yeah, I can live with the frame, it takes two seconds to remove with no permanent damage. But I will refuse delivery if they put any sort of adhesive decal on.
My father once bought an Explorer from a dealer who used the decals with individual letters/logos when applied. I spent 45 minutes with a hairdryer painstakingly & carefully removing each one…ugh.
Lol, I said yes to this request just recently. Cause, why not not. I like frames better than no frame, sucks that it’s for the dealership. As I said above, where is my Autopian frame????
I’d buy an Autopian frame right now, I’ve got a new car that needs frames!
I would buy at least 4, plus 2 mudflaps I’ve also been asking for.
Mudflaps! Great idea. These guys hate money or something by not offering the branded accessories we crave!
People who approach the stop lights like a drag race, constantly moving forward then when the light goes green “DUUUUHHHHHH” for twenty seconds.
“Don’t honk at me – I’m busy texting/scrolling Insta”
It’s always amusing when some guy five cars back jumps forward when the light turns green. Do these people have no foot control?
This is why I stop 10 feet back – so when the light turns green, I can lift off the brake and start rolling while everyone ahead gets their shit together.
I don’t know what’s worse, that staging or the creeping up to line from way back at the crawl of the automatic. It’s even worse when I’m riding my motorcycle.
I hate the crawl of the automatics, its miserable to deal with in my car or my bike because of the manual, and I’ve had people honk at me for not creeping up farther and just waiting where I originally stopped (like 5 feet from where I’d be able to creep to anyways).
It’s way too late to blame the designers and manufacturers (or standards organizations, whatev) but when amber bulbs came out they should have been given a unique base so amber and clear bulbs were not physically interchangeable.
totally agree! but it was before we all became so DUMB
Wildly swerving into the other lane when someone in front of you is turning. God forbid you should slow down at any point for any reason. You’d think these people were swerving around a crate labeled LIT DYNAMITE the way they refuse to leave some extra space when the turn signal ahead of them comes on and, horror of horrors, coast for 150 feet or so or even use the brakes. It’s clearly the proper thing to moose test yourself into oncoming traffic instead. Idiots.
I’m gonna stop myself there cause I think that’s already more than a pet peeve and violates the spirit of Torch’s question anyway.
I’ve seen a couple accidents caused by people doing this, not bothering to even check the other lane.
Also, I actively *like* it when people in front of me slow down to turn, especially up a hill, because I know that as soon as they’re clear, I can show off my acceleration and get back to the speed limit in the blink of an eye, which is fun.
I like how it is where I frequent, with a two lane road and a wider shoulder at popular turn offs in case you need to go around. I do dislike when I have to slow down on hills, but that’s mostly because I don’t have the power in my insight to then accelerate after slowing down on most hills on the roads I frequent
I feel like we can fix your pain Torch. Why can’t the bulbs be built with different pins. The indicator light wiring connection would refuse to accept a clear bulb if it needs yellow.
I know this will add 48 cents to every taillight wiring loom, but I think for your peace of mind we all can afford it.
I’m going to admit something. When I am on a long drive, I will shift lanes and pass cars until I find one with taillights I like enough to follow.
Am I the only one that does this?
I do this…. and get rightfully annoyed when a car where I don’t like the taillight design merges into the space between myself and the nice taillighted auto in front of me. Case in point, following a 1990s 300zx (excellent) and a Dodge Durango (not excellent) merges in… and it janks up my following space as well.
The amber bulbs substitute seems like another proof of Kias and effect.