Don't touch that button

[petewood]

Another post just reminded me of this... A guy I used to know was a sales rep for Sharp's the electronics company. One day he was asked to drive the car belonging to one of the UK directors from London to Exeter.
The car was a top of the range Lexus and whilst driving down the motorway this guy started playing with the controls to see what gizmos it had. Upon operating one of these controls he suddenly found his head touching the roof, his chest on the steering wheel and his nose close to the windscreen along with all the mirrors pointing in new directions.

He had found the pre-set settings for the directors wife, who was a very petite japanese lady.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I heard the same story, only it was about a Jaguar test driver, bored with tooling up and down the M40 he too played with the seating memory functions, and ended up selecting the one that somebody had programmed for all of the extreme-limit settings - seat as far forward and as high as possible, seatback as upright as possible....

The neat twist was that he could no longer reach the control, and was doing about 100....

 

[2scoops0406]

What I want to know, is that even with a car with memory seats, how come when you press your preference, you still have to slightly adjust things. Now I like to think that the motors aren't that accurate, the alternative is that I'm getting fatter, which is completely absurd of course.

 

[david and julie]

I reckon its to do with what shoes you are wearing. Some of the chunkier shoes/boots we now wear have much thicker soles than say trainers. My car hasn't got memory seats but i notice the difference straight away between workboots and shoes and have to adjust the seat accordingly.

Thats my theory anyway.

 

[AdamW]

I have a Mk4 Astra. I am 6'2" but if I put the seat all the way back I can't operate the pedals particularly well. If I have the seat in it's lowest position there is probably 6" between scalp and headlining. I reckon the car is designed to realistically accomodate drivers up to 6'7 or more.

Once a (female) friend insisted I pick up an antique sideboard she had bought on ebay. Me and the guy she bought it from were determined it would fit in my car. In the end, we managed to fit the 6' sideboard in the car. But I ended up driving to her place using my big toes to press the pedals (shoes had to be taken off) and with my face literally an inch from the steering wheel. I never went above 30mph for fear of the airbag punching me in the nads upon a collision.

After the insanity of driving 2 miles back to her's like this, I couldn't help but wonder... who on earth would need to be able to pull the seat THAT far forwards? I worked with a midget, and her car was specially adapted for her. I also knew an American girl who was 5'1", and she found she could drive a Buick with a relatively normal seat position (her face wasn't pressed up to the glass. So why is it that Vauxhall design an Astra that can be driven by unfeasibly-shaped humans?

 

[securespark]

It's because the guy that drives them round the factory site is 2ft 22" tall....with a 21" inside leg.

 

[ohmygodwhathaveyoudone]

in the wifes s-type jag when you take the key out of the ignition the steering wheel moves upwards and the seat moves back at the same time to make it easier to get out,only problem is when someone is sat in the seat behind they get squished as theres not alot of room anyway in the back for an adult.

 

[kendor]

Talking of not touching things whilst driving, a workmate had a Cortina ghia some time back and whilst driving along a quiet country lane he decided to change the cassette tape and reached for the glove compartment only to remember he'd locked it, so he thought to himself i'll quickly take the key out the ignition and coast while opening the glovebox, on approaching a bend he steered into it and there was a click,he then realised he'd forgotten about the steering lock!! panic set in and he struggled to get the key back into the ignition and only just managed to brake in time before ending up in a ditch.
In his own words he was a very silly boy.

 

[pipme]

in the wifes s-type jag when you take the key out of the ignition the steering wheel moves upwards and the seat moves back at the same time to make it easier to get out,only problem is when someone is sat in the seat behind they get squished as theres not alot of room anyway in the back for an adult.

Hence a length of 4x2, two fox wedges and a lump hammer being rear passengers' safety kit.

BTW .. OMYG... You are all well petrolheaded then ?

 

[ohmygodwhathaveyoudone]

pipme .not really a petrol head,just wait for massive depreciation then get a bargain.buy at 3yrs old sell at 5 yrs old.but only if the service history is spot on.btw.had a saab loan car the other day a 95 tid with 120 bhp and auto wtf was listed @ 17k for a12mth old car.my 6 yr old called it the slug,had to agree with him though,rattle rattle rattle have heard massey fergusons that were kinder on the ears.