Yes of course Gareth, but I was trying to be tactful and you're absolutely right, it just seems to be the more expensive marques that have the nut behind the wheel.
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VW Bora (51) 2.0 SE
VW Touran (54) 1.9 TDI
Coming Soon: Citroen C8 2.0 HDi SX
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I think it's general. It used to be mainly a Ford problem.
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Could it be that you tend to watch for indicator failure on those marques rather than others, skewing the result?
I liked the idea of taking the car to the garage because they're on the blink, by the way, as clearly they are the only items that should be.
Maybe when lane keep assist becomes more widespread (not on my car but I've driven a couple that have it) the issue will die down anyway, as the steering wheel gets pulled back to a straight position if you fail to indicate, and car whistles at you annoyingly. After it's done it twice you tend to indicate every time!
Edited by Dipstick on 03/01/2008 at 12:40
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With the increase of side indicator repeaters being moved from the front wing to the door mirror, like with MB, Skoda etc could there be a chance that you don't see them indicating as quickly? If you are about 50% alongside you can't see the rear indicator.
Since I got my first car with door mirror repeater I have noticed an increase in driver pulling out onto roundabouts in front of me, despite me indicating. I do wonder if its just an increase in poor driving or are the other drivers looking at my wing to see if I'm inidcating right...
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Having learned to drive before the invention of winkers I've conditioned myself into not slavishly relying on seeing other drivers using them to tell me what the other drivers are going to do. On a motorway all I generally need to do is to observe the speed and position of vehicles in front relative to the other traffic. Similarly, at a junction I don't need to see the winkers of another car winking for me to know which way it's going to turn ~ I can generally tell from their position on the road etc.
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What a great word, M. Snail!
And you've proved there really are a lot of winkers on the road.
Edited by Dipstick on 03/01/2008 at 15:32
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Use of indicators depends on who's there to see you use them (apparently).
A former employer sent staff on a 'defensive driving' course where you went out with a police driving instructor. With him on board, I duly arrived at a T junction where he asked me to turn left. I automatically turned on the left indicator.
He asked: "Why? There's no other driver in sight. Only signal when another relevant driver is there to see you signal your intentions."
So I asked: "What if another driver was in my blind spot" (or whatever).
He stuck to his guns.
That's one spin on it.
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So I asked: "What if another driver was in my blind spot" (or whatever).
Blind spots only exist for drivers that don't look around sufficiently. Before changing lanes or overtaking etc. I always turn my body to look over my shoulder to double-check.
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Only signal when another relevant driver is there to see you signal your intentions."
I've heard this before.
But: (i) you might have failed to spot someone - no-one's perfect - and it's always wise to have a fail-safe; (ii) what about pedestrians? most drivers seem to think they don't count; (iii) it does no harm.
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Indicators have become design victims now. SWMBO's MKV Golf are the epitome of fashion over function the rears are near invisible when the driver is braking (quite likely during an indication) the fronts are buried in the headlamps and the repeaters are on the mirrors. The mirror mounted ones are in the wrong "plain" of vision for motorcyclists (any live ones don't trust indicators anyway) and consequently make things difficult at roundabouts. The Skoda's are a paragon of visibility front and rear with "chromed" repeaters on the wings. There is a study by some university (saw it on BBC website a few months ago) that score the Focus particularly badly on indicator design.
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Pugugly - which Skoda model? My 2007 Octavia does not have wing repeaters but has them in the mirror. However the confusing thing is that being a top of the range model, it has a nice badge, roughly the same shape, size and location where wing repeaters would go.
Its a confusing world out there ;-)
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Roomster...bog standard. Don't start me on how I miss the LED Indicators on my BMW !
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And when your winkers are on the blink, it means they are working properly.
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No they're not.
Oh, hang on, yes that is right.
No, I mean...
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Don't get me started about indicator repeaters in the door mirror. At first if you bumped your black door mirror you could probably fix it yourself and touch in with a bit of black paint. Then the body coloured ones made the whole thing a whole lot more expensive.
I dread the thought of the cost of sorting out a minor bump with this new fashion. At a guess main dealer prices probably start around £300 - £400.
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Don't get me started about indicator repeaters in the door mirror. At first if you bumped your black door mirror you could probably fix it yourself and touch in with a bit of black paint. The manual adjuster could be a pain at times.
Then they were electrically adjustable, then they became heated.
Of course the body coloured ones made the whole thing a whole lot more expensive again.
Don't some cars of the temperature sensor in a door mirror too.
I dread the thought of the cost of sorting out a minor bump with this new fashion. At a guess main dealer prices probably start around £300 - £400.
Cars might be cheaper now but the dealer has got to get his money from somewhere. Where better than from some deliberately exposed part crammed full with as much equipment as possible.
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