Is the Formentor safe??

[jamesehanson]

We've had our Formentor since the middle of April - we have the 1.5 v2 in White with the Pano Sun Roof

And I'm in two minds about it

It drives really well, loads of space and looks very cool had loads of comments about the car.

But... the infotainment system is glitchy buggy and dangerous

Distracted driving is an offence and "Looking at your phone, or any other electronic device" is classed as distracting driving

So has anyone tried to change the radio channel while in Apple Car Play

or

Change the air conditioning without accidentally hitting the heated seat

or

find the heating at night and turning the volume up as the touch bar is not lit at night

Multiple click presses and touches on the screen and taking your eyes off the road sounds very like looking at your phone or electrical device to me.

You can use the voice to change things but .....

I feel that a class action lawsuit is very close

Also, the screen is buggy and slow

I got in the car two days ago and my wife had been driving so she changes user on the screen - as she should - and now it is stuck on the s-pin loading screen and just says waiting for the next hour and the screen is unusable - cannot change heating - radio look at maps nothing - worked the next day when I cam t the car 12 hours later.

The screen has gone blank on numerous occasions and once it was glitching different coloured squares when my wife went to drive it

The app is supposed to be able to lock and unlock the car - this has never worked and the dealer is stuck on why that happens


So it's going into the dealer to look at it

FIngers crossed

Lets get your thoughts on this Formentor owners of the world

 

[Napmasterflash]

Your screen might be buggy which isn't great but I think generally if you set the car up properly and use the technology it's perfectly safe

 

[jamesehanson]

Your screen might be buggy which isn't great but I think generally if you set the car up properly and use the technology it's perfectly save

So one thing I didn't say in the article is that I'm very tech proficient - I'm the person who people ask to come and sort out their computer

So I have spent a lot of time doing this setting up the car

Now imagine I'm not a very tech-savvy person - they have no chance to set up the car without investing a lot of time and in most cases, they will not bother

let just look at the radio so the biggest radio stations are usual BBC Radio and local radio stations - they are not the first stations you see on the preset list

you can add them to your favourites but you still have to scroll up slightly as they are hidden by default and you have to press the favourite part of the screen to get to them

- eyes off the road - distracted driving

 

[Napmasterflash]

So one thing I didn't say in the article is that I'm very tech proficient - I'm the person who people ask to come and sort out their computer

So I have spent a lot of time doing this setting up the car

Now imagine I'm not a very tech-savvy person - they have no chance to set up the car without investing a lot of time and in most cases, they will not bother

let just look at the radio so the biggest radio stations are usual BBC Radio and local radio stations - they are not the first stations you see on the preset list

you can add them to your favourites but you still have to scroll up slightly as they are hidden by default and you have to press the favourite part of the screen to get to them

- eyes off the road - distracted driving

You can set up your favourites so they scroll through using the steering wheel buttons and display on the dash which seemed like a good solution to me.

 

[jamesehanson]

Here is an article about distracted driving from 3 years ago

Vehicle infotainment systems dangerously distracting, especially for seniors

Many of the interactive information and entertainment systems turning up in newer cars may be distracting enough to increase the risk for accidents, especially for older drivers, a new AAA Foundation study finds.

www.reuters.com

 

[Napmasterflash]

Here is an article about distracted driving from 3 years ago

Vehicle infotainment systems dangerously distracting, especially for seniors

Many of the interactive information and entertainment systems turning up in newer cars may be distracting enough to increase the risk for accidents, especially for older drivers, a new AAA Foundation study finds.

www.reuters.com

I agree with all that but still think most of the settings you need can be accessed easily when driving and the others should only be fiddled with when stopped.

 

[Cuprakash]

With android auto especially you do everything by voice control and i normally never change my climate on the fly as it's always left on 19 degrees and auto.
And yes,change the radio channels with the steering wheel controls.
If you don't think that it's safe to use controls on the move then don't.

 

[Agnes.Surrey]

I agree, changing anything while driving is a pain. That's why I use Travel Assist to keep me in lane and brake for me. But it only works on certain roads. And that's why it's there. I also wondered how many accidents will be caused by touch screens. It's not Formentor only, but all cars with touch screens.

It's really difficult to press right thing, while driving and everything is shaking. I minimise the contact with touch screen. Use TomTom for navigation and sometimes not listening to anything in the car. Then, the only thing left to change is aircon.

I wouldn't let my friend drive this car. She's "young" driver and she doesn't use all bells and whistles in her own car (start/stop, Hold, Distronic), because she doesn't feel confident enough. So Formentor, with start stop and other gadgets coming up at every start would confuse and distract her.

 

[EuKiwi]

We've had our Formentor since the middle of April - we have the 1.5 v2 in White with the Pano Sun Roof

And I'm in two minds about it

It drives really well, loads of space and looks very cool had loads of comments about the car.

But... the infotainment system is glitchy buggy and dangerous

Distracted driving is an offence and "Looking at your phone, or any other electronic device" is classed as distracting driving

So has anyone tried to change the radio channel while in Apple Car Play

or

Change the air conditioning without accidentally hitting the heated seat

or

find the heating at night and turning the volume up as the touch bar is not lit at night

Multiple click presses and touches on the screen and taking your eyes off the road sounds very like looking at your phone or electrical device to me.

You can use the voice to change things but .....

I feel that a class action lawsuit is very close

Also, the screen is buggy and slow

I got in the car two days ago and my wife had been driving so she changes user on the screen - as she should - and now it is stuck on the s-pin loading screen and just says waiting for the next hour and the screen is unusable - cannot change heating - radio look at maps nothing - worked the next day when I cam t the car 12 hours later.

The screen has gone blank on numerous occasions and once it was glitching different coloured squares when my wife went to drive it

The app is supposed to be able to lock and unlock the car - this has never worked and the dealer is stuck on why that happens


So it's going into the dealer to look at it

FIngers crossed

Lets get your thoughts on this Formentor owners of the world

I've had mine for 4 months now, and to be honest I find that I'm LESS distracted in the Formentor, as it just auto hooks up to Wireless Android Auto straight away, and then I do everything by voice, change music tracks on the steering wheel etc... never really have to use the touchscreen at all.

I do think it sounds like you have a buggy unit and should go to the dealer to get it sorted. Once it's working, there are very few issues with it.

 

[Terry99]

I sympathise. It would drive me nuts. I’m a bit old school, and find touch screens difficult to use without taking eyes off the road - prefer buttons for regular actions.

 

[EuKiwi]

I sympathise. It would drive me nuts. I’m a bit old school, and find touch screens difficult to use without taking eyes off the road - prefer buttons for regular actions.

I do agree with this, would much rather have physical climate controls - the touch ones are rubbish, and not having dedicated heated seat buttons etc... very annoying. But in the end, I just control everything by voice and I find it works really well. Unless I'm doing stupid speeds on the Autobahn, and then the noise becomes an issue

I have hit the 155mph limiter a few times also on the Autobahn already - crazy how planted it feels still at that speed.

 

[EuKiwi]

I agree, changing anything while driving is a pain. That's why I use Travel Assist to keep me in lane and brake for me. But it only works on certain roads. And that's why it's there. I also wondered how many accidents will be caused by touch screens. It's not Formentor only, but all cars with touch screens.

It's really difficult to press right thing, while driving and everything is shaking. I minimise the contact with touch screen. Use TomTom for navigation and sometimes not listening to anything in the car. Then, the only thing left to change is aircon.

I wouldn't let my friend drive this car. She's "young" driver and she doesn't use all bells and whistles in her own car (start/stop, Hold, Distronic), because she doesn't feel confident enough. So Formentor, with start stop and other gadgets coming up at every start would confuse and distract her.

I find the travel assist here in Germany works brilliantly - haven't had it really glitch out yet that I can recall... I suppose when it does I might not be able to let anyone know about it

I just use voice control for everything while moving, changing climate settings is easy for example using this method. And as my car just immediately hooks up to wireless Android Auto I just 'Hey Google' everything with changing playlist, putting in a nav destination and the like.

I would much prefer a physical wheel-type interface for the infotainment, totally agree - but at least it's easy enough to get around.

How on earth did you get 35 mpg btw? I only get about 30... mind you there are occasional high-speed screamers on the Autobahn, so that's probably not helpful... at 155mph it's doing about 8 mpg

 

[Agnes.Surrey]

Easy, we have 70mph/115km/h limit on motorway. And at 115km/h car is quite efficient.

 

[EuKiwi]

Easy, we have 70mph/115km/h limit on motorway. And at 115km/h car is quite efficient.

I don't seem to get 8l/100 even around those speeds though to be honest. Most of our roads are limited to 100km/h and even on trips where I never touch the Autobahn I seem to only get about 9.2 or 9.3 overall.