A new survey has found that lots of people are actually pretty annoyed with all the new driver assistance technology that's out there.
Does your car beep at you when you start to sway out of your lane? How about when you go too fast? Or trail behind another car a little too closely? Are all those chimes, bongs, and whistles really starting to get on your nerves? You're not alone.
A recent survey from J.D. Power found that these driver assistance technologies can be so annoying that a majority of people are turning them off.
J.D. Power's 2019 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study, which was just released over the weekend, found that on average 23% of new car owners are really annoyed by driver assistance alerts. That annoyance ranges depending on the brand, with one unnamed domestic brand scoring as low as 8%, while some import brands scored as high as 30%.
That's high enough that around 61% of owners reported that they sometimes disable their alert systems just to have some peace and quiet.
The survey was based on responses from 16,400 new vehicle owners that answered questions about their first 90 days of ownership. Questions looked at several subjects, including collision protection, driver assistance, entertainment, navigation, smartphone mirroring, and comfort and convenience.
While most people reported they would disable their driver alert systems, a curious majority also still said they'd look for those same systems on their next vehicle. Of those that were annoyed by the systems, 63% said they'd still get similar systems on a new car, while 91% of drivers who were not annoyed by the systems would look for it on their next car.
The survey also broke down the results by specific vehicle, with the Kia Stinger achieving the highest overall score of 834 out of 1,000. Other winners included the Hyundai Kona and Toyota C-HR in the small crossover segment, the Kia Forte in the compact car segment, and the Chevy Blazer in the midsize SUV segment.
Another interesting thing that emerged from the survey was that a clear majority of users preferred to use their smartphone's navigation and features rather than the one provided in their car. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are clearly winning over car manufacturers when it comes to navigation and entertainment, which is causing some carmakers--such as the new Lotus Evija--to not include such systems at all and instead just have a mount for the driver's smartphone.