Climb into a modern car and you’ll face a bewildering plethora of new stuff, including electronics, software and equipment. We all have our bête noir but here are mine… Add your own at the bottom.
Electronic handbrakes
EU Directive 98/12/EG states that an independent parking brake should be capable of holding a car on an 18 per cent gradient. It’s not that difficult, but car makers can’t resist fiddling. An electronic park brake was first fitted to the 2001 BMW 7 Series and I think was supposed to free up space on the centre console for cup holders and the like. You’ll need to judge for yourself just how successful that’s been, though initially, they were swank switches for technology obsessives. And when the rest of the motor industry realised just how cheap they were and how they dovetailed with other autonomous braking systems which were starting to be introduced, they all piled in.
