Any one else struggle with the Vauxhall Indicators as fitted to the latest Vectra.
SWMBO has recently been provided with a company Vectra which has these indicators where the stalk always remains in its parked position but indicators flash a just few times when stalk is pressed or stay on a bit longer sometimes. Also they are difficult to cancel, often results in opposite indicator being activated.
An accident waiting to happen if you ask me, "standard" indicators much easier and safer to use.
Anyone else think this should be the subject of a factory recall?
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They are designed that way it's not a fault. Thoroughley irritating, one reason i would not buy one. Vauxhall sorry i mean GM have tried to reinvent something that does not need reinventing. Discussed in backroom many times before.
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Like Renault's card-instead-of-key on Meganes, another pointless "advance" that irritates rather than enhances the driving experience.
How many more examples can BRs think of?
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The trick to these indicators is:
Lightly press the stalk to make the indicators flash 3 times, then they self cancel. Handy for lane changes.
Press the stalk harder and the indicators remain on until the movement of the steering wheel cancels them, or you can self cancel them by lightly tapping the stalk in either direction. If you're indicating right, then it's easier to tap the stalk toward the right to cancel so you don't accidentally then turn on the left indicators if you press the stalk too hard.
Personally I like them, but the trouble starts when getting into a car with "traditional" 19th century indicators. I forget myself and still only tap the stalk lightly for them to briefly flash. Trouble is, they don't.
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OK thanks for that will give this a try and see how we get on.
Trouble is I only drive this car at weekends but will get SWMBO briefed on how to use.
Hopefully she will get used to them.
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BMW's run flat tyre things.
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Mondeo in the 2004 Model year are similar, but better than the Vectra ones. Press down (or up) slightly on the stalk and they do the same three flashes and self cancel. Which I like.
But if you press down/up further they work like normal indicators (clicking into position) and stay on until you cancel or wheel turning auto-cancels. Think Audi's have this and someone will probably say MB/BMW too.
Had Vectra's a few times and takes some getting used too. The Mondeo has best of both worlds. If it weren't for saving face, surely VX would have changed these by now.
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however high tech your system is it must have a tactile click.
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Audis and VWs (not sure whether all VWs ) have this - should be standard practice. It's just the usual lane-change facility only it does 3 flashes, which are more likely to be noticed.
I'm sure you get used to the Vauxhall system, but the point is surely 'why should you have to?' The same goes for i-drive (BMW), run-flat tyres and electronic, or foot-operated, parking brakes.
My Audi is very well-equipped but has none of the above. Anyone know in what way I am missing anything by not having them? I'm not just being sarcastic - it's a genuine question. Am I actually being inconvenienced, or is my car somehow less safe or effective?
I was thinking of adding alloy wheels to the list, but this is a different point, a matter of personal taste.
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Another pointless "advance" - rain-sensor wipers. Who needs need to be told when it's wet!
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I thought exactly the same as you, until I owned a car with them. Now I find them very useful, especially when a lorry goes the other way and splatters water etc everywhere. I would not go out of my way, however, to make sure that my next car had them.
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I actually like rain-sensitive wipers - another control I don't need to touch and when it's intermittent it's very handy.
I do wish that automatic lighting was mandatory, grey cars on grey roads in twilight conditions without lights are a damn menace.
I like the Renault card system too, not for the usual reasons - just that it eliminates the problem of a bunch of keys jangling!
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DD
That's the theory, but two of the Vectras I've driven didn't give the 3 flashes for a 'light touch', just the one. Or, to be more precise, the function 'died' on one of them part way through the journey. Plus, no matter how hard I try I always at some point end up signalling the 'wrong way' rather than just cancelling. On one of these I couldn't get the intermittent wipe to function either.
That's not mentioning how difficult it is to switch the rear wiper off. Goes on fine, but switch off? Uses the same 'return to centre' system as the indicators. Dangerous fiddling with the thing and not concentrating on the road.
Too much electronics to no good purpose and definitely something that didn't need reinventing. I quite liked the new Astra 'till I saw it used that system.
JS
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John S,
Not experienced those problems on any of the 5 different Vectra's I've driven, or mine.
If I have to cancel the indicators manually, I give the stalk a light tap in the same direction as the indicator is flashing. No chance of then accidentally putting on the other one then ;o)
The rear wiper *should* give an artifical "click" from the same speaker that the indicator noise comes out of to confirm it's been turned off.
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DD
Well, maybe I've been unlucky, but I did hundreds of miles in these hire cars, and still didn't crack that rear wiper. It completely lacks logic having the 'on' and 'off' in the same direction, and despite checking the manual I still found it took several attempts to get the thing off. Frankly I'd prefer a decent switch rather than an electronic click - I can tell if the wiper is on or off in my Astra just by the position of the switch. I first thought it was like the old Novas which had a similar bizarre switching system for the rear wiper. Don't get me wrong; I've generally been pleased with Vauxhalls, but features like this on the new ones really pig me off. This really should have been a case of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it!'
JS
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I have heard that the sensitivity of the indicator stalk can vary between Vectras. I personally have got used to it and quite like the three flashes for changing lanes, but I still on occasion get trapped with them not cancelling or going the other way - which is infuriating. A colleague of mine also has a Vectra and he hates them and reckons they're an accident waiting to happen.
The rear wiper is a pain - you push it once to activate it and it stays on intermittent unless you push the stalk again to de activate it with an audible click as Dave says. However, I don't want a rear wiper intermittently scraping a dry rear screen so to default to intermittent is a bit silly IMO - unless you're stuck in traffic.
If you had a higher spec Vectra (Elegance, SRi or Elite) it wouldn't have had intermittent front wipers, only rain sensitive - these things are a curse, especially at this time of year when your screen is filthy and the sensor doesn't know what it's doing. For the past fortnight on the motorway I've been manually flick wiping instead of using rain sensitive which is a completely backward step. The rain sensitive only works when you have a constant rain.
My only other gripe with my Vectra is the auto dimming rear view mirror which means on unlit motorways at night I don't know who is behind me and I cannot override the thing!
I wanted the SRi and unfortunately all these technological marvels came as standard!
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The acid test would be whether Vauxhall's system would be accepted within the aircraft industry for an essential system. You would probably find that the answer might be yes initially but if it either led to, was suspected of, or was contributary to an "incident" it would be replaced with a good old fashioned intuative switch.
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