Safe Speed Forums

Bit topical ( bit of fun), with a point to prove , and a question to answer - do all makes warn of low temperatures at the same point .
eg -I drive a small VAG oilburner which "bbings" at 4C. I seem to remembeer that an old Astra flashed a warning at 2.5 .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

All my recent cars have had this set at +3degC.

Off topic, but one thing that really annoys me about snow and ice is the people who don't think about where that park and the impact this will have on others. They park so that if you slide a little you will go right into them whereas a few feet further along would be safe and out of the way. These are probably the A to B brigade with no interest in cars or motoring (i.e. don't think about others).

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I've only been in one car when it actually binged to announce the temp had dropped below the threshold though I know the Pug would start flashing at 4 deg and stop at -4.

So far ,we've got VAG 4c,PUG (possibly al Pug at 4), and unknown at 3. And Vauxhall at 2.5. Any more /

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I used to be able to set mine in my former car and I had that set to 1 degree. Any higher and it would be going all the time ! As it was it was usually on constantly for weeks at a time !

The current car that doesn't have anything I now have an after market one but have ordered a waterproof thermometer so that I can try and place it at an appropriate place outside the car to get a current air temp reading as I go... that can help to tell you where the colder parts of roads are ... so on your regular routes you can begin to learn the very cold spots ...

I happen to be in London at the moment and it all white ! So pretty ...

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

My Pug 406 HDi (a June 2000 model) flashes the outside temperature display when it falls to +3 C, and it continues to flash at lower temperatures. It also issues a warning bleep when the temp. drops to +3, but I can't remember if it continues to flash when it gets down to -8 or -9, which I saw a couple of years ago. I seem to recall it probably does, but I'm not entirely sure.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

My mates Mondeo bleeps at a certain temp +1C (i think)

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

My last four Peugeots - 406, 307sw, 206, and the 208sw ALL flash at +3°C, and sound a warning bleep when they get there.
All continue to flash down to -3°C.

The 208sw is particularly annoying in that it beeps at 10mph if you have not fastened your seatbelt, and it gets louder and LOUDER and LOUDER even if you fall back below 10mph.
The only way to stop it is to fasten the belt behind you, or slam it into reverse, in which gear you can go like the clappers without the warning bleeps! Driving from the supermarket car park space to the filling station 100 yards away and putting it into reverse is not best practice!

It also bleeps for a door being open, or the rear glass (not hatch) being left undone - but only after you have set off into traffic!!
Of course you have to stop and get out to shut the rear glass, which is not always convenient or pleasant in bad weather or dodgy neighbourhoods!

I did manage to overcome it's desire to automatically LOCK all the doors as soon as you had moved more than 3 feet.

To my mind there is far too much time and money spent on bleeping warning devices, and electronic gizmo's that serve no real purpose, except to comfort idiotic drivers who without them would simply go to pieces - and should probably not be allowed onto the road.
I even got a warning that the battery in the key plipper was failing, over a year before my WIFE'S key finally gave up the ghost - and mine was still going!
The 208 keeps telling me the side light bulb is faulty, because I cannot be bothered to buy and fit a resistor across the LED lamps I replaced the original bulbs with!

Pah! Rant over... as you were!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Ah they love their bleeps! You've probably sussed it by now, but you can toggle the auto-locking on and off by pressing and holding the interior door locking button for more than about 10 seconds. It should bleep and display a message saying what it's done.

Lots of car manufacturers fit "bleeps" because they get extra EuroNCAP points (and points mean stars)! In other words, if you do your EuroNCAP crash tests and end up just a couple of points short of 5 stars, you can sometimes get your 5th star by adding other "safety features" (like distracting bleeps)! Once you've fitted the bleeper, the rest is just software and doesn't cost them anything.

On the subject of ice warnings, I think my current SEAT one might be more sophisticated than a simple temperature "switch". Trouble is, it hasn't been warm enough for me to verify. I think what happens is that it constantly monitors temperature. If the temperature is on its way down, it bleeps and puts it's icicle symbol up at 4 degrees. IF, however, it has been cold and is warming up, it keeps it on until about 6 degrees (presumably the reasoning being that there could still be ice about if it's previously been colder).

Another VAG ariant. Mine don't have auto lock- it's a pov spec. I've never noticed if it comes off. I'm more interested in miles left/time etc. I know it's cold, so what next ? I've gone back to time ,and noticed if temp falls I'll get another alarm .And that's another VAG at 4 c for a bing.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Of course I forgot about the beeps for leaving the key in and opening the drivers door, or leaving the lights on and getting out of the car!

Last year I bought a new microwave with digital settings from ASDA.
The following day I took it back because it bleeped too often and too loud.
Perhaps ALL bleeps should have either an on off switch, or volume control capable of reducing it to nil!!!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Wat - no low fuel bong ,Ernest

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Of course not!
If you are so dumb that you don't know how much fuel you have used, or fail to look at the gauge, then you should think twice about getting behind the wheel!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Quite agree . Mine is more of source of amusement than something I regard as accurate. Like you ,I can't see the need for all the bings /bongs and other noises I get .I started driving when a radio was an option and if you left lights on ,then you could always use the starting handle .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I've actually had experience of "counter-productive" "bongs"! This SEAT is the first car I've ever had where I've flattened the battery by leaving the side lights on accidentally. It has a "bong" if you take the keys out of the ignition with the side lights on, and another if you open the driver's door with the side lights on, but as it already bongs when it applies it's electric handbrake and when it gets cold and for a whole load of other reasons, I must have just mentally "switched off" to the bongs! (Which, I feel, is rather an own-goal for the bong designers)!

Another member of the anti bong party . Although I do find the bong if I leave the indicator on after switching off and openg my door useful as in this condition the relavant sidelight is lit.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

LED side lights are your friend!

They go a lot longer without flattening the battery!
I also prefer the light output from the front LED sides, as the light is patterned by the SMID array, and stands better out from a distance or in fog more than the usual filament bulb, with a piercing ice white light.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Yes they're good - and arguably, if that bright, I've have seen that I'd left them on from outside the car in the first place! Unfortunately, my company won't run to a car with those just yet. That said, soon pretty much all cars will have those high-intensity Daytime Running Lights and pretty much all those will be LEDs. In a way that's a pity because the intense bright white of an LED used to mean (to me at least) "cyclist" and now they're a lot harder to spot in the clutter of bright white LEDs on the cars around them.

I fitted my own LEDs - less than £5 each end, including the number plate illuminators.

The cycle thing is more a question of looking for position and of course if they flash.
I use a combination on my bike to make me obvious.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Yes, definitely, SEAT (which probably means VAG) comes on at 4 degrees on the way down, but won't give the all clear until 6 degrees on the way up.

Mrs. M's Nissan X-Trail seems to warn at 3 degrees - not sure if it does anything different on the way back up.