IN JEST THIS Melvin Durai
If you own a car that doesn’t have the latest features, don’t worry ….
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Every year, car companies such as Honda, Nissan and Hyundai introduce new models and update existing models. The 2015 Nissan Sentra, for example, has two important features that the 2014 Nissan Sentra doesn’t: Bluetooth and a USB port.
Those are standard features – every 2015 Nissan Sentra has them, whether the driver knows how to use them or not. You might think that everybody’s familiar with USB, but if you surveyed people at random, you’ll find many who believe it stands for University of South Bengal.
My family has owned a Honda minivan for four years and I have to admit that I’m still discovering features that I didn’t know it had. Did you know that there’s a button on the dashboard that allows me to adjust the volume of the sounds that my kids are making in the backseat? The button moves the side-view mirror, so my kids can see me glaring at them.
Our car also has Bluetooth, but I didn’t know how to use it until recently. It was only after my wife bought a Bluetooth speaker for our home and I managed to connect my cellphone to it that it dawned on me that I could do the same in our car. It’s all about “going wireless,” something we’re eager to do, right after the excitement of “getting wired” has died down.
Our Honda also has a rear-view camera, a feature that nobody values as much as my neighbour’s dog. It’s true – I was reversing the car from our garage one day when I looked at the screen on the dashboard and spotted the furry creature, which had wandered into our yard. I immediately hit the brakes, got out and took the small dog to its owner, who was grateful that he didn’t have to scrape his precious pooch off my driveway.
I was thankful I had a rear-view camera. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have spotted the dog in my rear-view mirror. I was also thankful to the person who invented the rear-view camera, and looking forward to owning a car that has side-view, top-view and bottom-view cameras. Side-view, so I can parallel park easily. Top-view, so I can look at the sky, even if I don’t have a sun roof. Bottom-view, so I don’t have to crawl under my car to see what’s making that annoying rattling noise.
Not all cars have rear-view cameras, of course, but eventually they all will – just as every car will be equipped with a GPS navigation system, in-car Wifi, and ATJA (automatic traffic jam avoidance) system.
If you own a car that doesn’t have the latest features, don’t worry. Your car is still far more advanced than the cars your parents and grandparents were exposed to.
Cars have been evolving ever since they were invented. The first cars didn’t even have brakes. You had to keep driving until you ran out of petrol. Then someone had a brilliant idea: why not stick your foot onto the road to stop the car? The scientist who conceived the foot brake was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
It was about a decade later that another scientist came up with a better idea: a hole in the floor board that allowed the driver to put his foot right on the wheel. Another few years passed before a third scientist came up with brake shoes. These were special rubberized shoes that went on the left foot of drivers.
These early drivers could use their car only in the daytime. The cars didn’t produce any light whatsoever, making night driving virtually impossible. Then someone had another brilliant idea: why not put a torch or flashlight inside each car, so the driver can hold it with one hand as he drives? “Too dangerous,” the critics said. “Drivers must keep both hands on the steering wheel.”
The solution is simple, others said. Hold the torch in your mouth, so your hands are free to steer. And soon everyone was doing that, embracing the revolutionary concept of “hands-free lighting.”