Buttons You Never Push?
 

Every car has it; that one feature that you never use. That one button that goes un-pushed from every day forth after you try it when you get the car just to see what it does. I'm not talking about buttons that deactivate stability control and the like but a button that activates a feature for which the intended audience will forever remain a mystery.

On my 2012 Elantra, it's the Active Eco button. Long story short, Active Eco adjusts the throttle mapping and shift points to (allegedly) improve the car's efficiency in town. I used this feature maybe twice when the car was new and hated how it made the car drive. Combine that with no appreciable mileage gains, it has gone untouched ever since. I frequently forget that it's there and the only reason I thought about it recently was because I bumped it trying to adjust the dash illumination.

I can't be bothered to go take a picture of my actual button so here's a stock photo.

Attachment 91714

I never push the main cruise button on my car, it stays on all the time. If I want to cancel I just hit the brakes or push cancel. This way when I want it again all I have to do is push set.

I guess we can also throw in the traction control and tape buttons too, as I never push those either.

S4:

Rear fog light button
ECON mode for AC
ESP (Queue Saintor joke)
Tape Eject

S2000:

Cruise Control (0 torque)

Imaginary reps for this one.

This piece of shit right here. It's located in a recessed pocket on the left side of the trunk. I never press it intentionally. But when driving spiritedly, large objects in the trunk tumble about, inadvertently toggling it. Never fails to prevent me from opening the trunk.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...13bdeb96fe.jpg

There's a thanks button for that. NO need for Imaginary reps :tongue:

When I first met my wife, she had a Volvo S80 (due to this car, I assumed she was married with a million kids but that's a different story) and I found a button she had never noticed, a button on the dash to flip down the rear headrests. In theory, I guess it could be helpful when backing up but the headrests didn't obstruct the view so I never saw the point in it and it was never pushed by her. That being said, I quickly realized the headrests flipped down really quickly and with a bit of force so anytime she was in the back, I would whack her in the head with them :D

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...91ad9dcc7d.jpg

The downhill assist button on my previous sorento. Tried it once and never ever tried it again. Conversely I don't think I ever used the low range in my previous touareg or diff locks.

Dat dere's the party button, son. Great fer when ya go muddin'

I hated this piece of shit button.

Ugh.

To elaborate, when that button is pressed, there is no way to open the trunk. IIRC, I don't think even using the key works? Don't remember.

I never used the Cruise Reset button. If I cancelled it for whatever reason I'd manually get to a comfortable cruising speed and hit Set.

Window Lock. Pressed it on purpose maybe once, ever.

For every one of the vehicles that has it:
TCS button (always left active)
Power window lock button
Passenger airbag button (always active)
Cigarette lighter (usually use the socket for a power cord for the GPS or phone charger)

On rentals:
Rear headrest flip down (on an S80, as 1stGenCL mentioned)
Econ mode always off (engine Start/Stop mode is always annoying)
Power window lock and TCS buttons
Valet lock switches
Sirius-XM radio (no subscription) and Pandora

Off the top of my head it would have to be cruise control.... We turned in my wife's Lexus several months ago after almost three years and I never used cruise control once, as a matter of fact I couldn't even tell you if it worked..:dunno:

The button for the factory navigation. Thing is junk.

Accord:

The volume knob on the radio, I just use the steering wheels buttons.

ECO mode

Cruise control reset

Fog light switch, since they're integrated with the headlight switch

Explorer:

Any of the 4wd options.

Onstar. Does anyone still use that besides :rona:?

The one that sets my GF off on a tangent!

Believe it or not, the SPORT button in the M3. Just changes throttle sensitivity to over sensitive and farks up my shifting.

Any car - Auto climate control. I prefer to do it myself.

TL - XM button. No XM radio :shrug:

Honda Pilot - AWD button. It kicks in automatically if needed.

That's what I had to do everytime too. They didn't think through on the location of that button at all. haha

What car is this button in?

Sadly we really don't have any local mudding places, closest ones are like 2-3 hours away and I'm paranoid I'd break something and getting my car back home will not be fun (or cheap). The other thing is while the Touareg was extremely offroad capable, it was just too damn expensive if I broke anything offroading.

We had this huge new residential area being built and it used to be an abandoned army base so it was full of mud and hills and all that fun stuff. One winter I took my touareg and had to traverse a good 5 foot deep ditch at an angle. That time there was deep deep snow too, I remember shitting my pants but that thing just clawed it's way outta that hole. But I also swore off my impromptu offroading trips (at least in a more legal area maybe).

Good point in the Auto button for climate control, I have never ever used it on any of my cars (and they have all had it too) and I'm wondering if maybe I'm missing out here.

On any vehicle that does not have fulltime AWD I ALWAYS press the AWD LOCK button every single time I get in the car in the winter. It really does make a huge difference to me IMHO. Our Santa Fe's and my previous Sorento had the lock button. In the Santa Fe's I had to press it every time I turned the car off but thankfully the Sorento stayed on all the time even after turning the car off. We just got a Veracruz and it too has the Lock Button, I wonder if this one stays on all the time or not.

I never change the AC from Sync to anything else, I never change the drive selection to anything but Auto, I don't turn off auto start-stop.

The button belongs to the FRS/BRZ.

Heh my comment was tongue in cheek. Never seen a Touareg go off-roading before. It's good that you have those features. Gotta know when to use them though, and how, just in case.

Wow do we think alike.

Most of these sound like standard equipment. How about features/options people pay extra for thinking that they cannot live without and then they never really use them?

Sunroof, anyone? Most of the time it is not opened plus the interior slider-shade is always closed to block solar heat gains and glare....
Most cars have sunroofs standard, but my wife and I faced this when buying the Tiguan. She almost turned down an otherwise great vehicle simply because it was "missing" a sunroof. I had to convince her we didn't really need one, and we never looked back (or should I say up).

<br />Yeah, a lot of the TLX people insist on "dynamic" driving, but generally reviewers prefer a more tame driving mode.

That's kind of an easy one. I basically don't change the sunroof ever. I never use the buttons on my key fob. I don't typically use the cruise.

On my wife's CR-V, I'm the only one who uses lane keeping assist and adaptive cruise control. But that car has the dual screen crap, so I literally don't do anything with it.

Sounds like you have a heavy right foot...

As you all may know, the current gen Infiniti Q cars have two touch screens. Too many options to do almost anything, and some options that I'll never use. With that being said, I don't know which buttons I'll never press off hand, but there are plenty "buttons" hiding in those two displays.

I open the sunroof to clean the dirt from the sunroof opening. :shrug:

Something I never use is manual shift paddles.

Something I paid extra for on a lark and turns out I use almost daily is automatic cruise control/traffic jam assist.

:blink:
I use the sunroofs more than I use windows-- just right for ventilation in the early mornings and the evenings without the climate control, and good when it's less than 80*F and the sun isn't directly overhead. Then again, I'm in Los Angeles-- I drive my son's convertible with the top down much more than with the top up. :biggrin:

For climate control, I generally use the "Auto" buttons and adjust the temp accordingly. :ponder: This means the fan speed buttons are rarely used.

Exactly what button I was thinking of thoiboi!

I thought I needed a sunroof in the Accord and was going to step up to EX-L just to get it. Glad I didn't.

The Explorer is usually always tilted up, sometimes, I will slide it back. It has a Panoramic sunroof, which we would always leave the interior slider-shade open so the kids could look out while in the back, but now for the past couple of months, it's been closed.

Why the indifference towards sunroofs? One thing I missed a lot, was not an option on my car, understandably.

Then again I drive with the windows down whenever I can. I don't really care about saving gas, I just like having a nice breeze.

Might sound silly but I used drive my Camaro in winter with the t-tops off, heater blasting.

Not a button, but I've yet to have reason to use the rear locking diff (knob) on my F150.
I added hill descent control, because I got it for free, but can't imagine when I'd use it.
Eventually I'll add auto climate control & it'll live on Auto.

I like the view and ambiance, but at my age :rona: I hate wind noise and want to hear my music without further abuse of my hearing. Windows and sunroof remain closed.

Hmm, I do have noticeable tinnitus and it sucks. I wear earplugs at concerts but windows down driving probably didn't help. I roll them up at highway speeds though.

^ My rear windows stay locked, because kids. Downside to that in the H/A products is that it also locks the front passenger window.

This is a interesting thread and topic in that I find everyone is different.
Case in point, climate control.
I use "AUTO" and the defrost modes but rarely use the fan speed, "REC" (recirculate) or mode switches (airflow control).
My wife uses fan speed all the time, my brother never uses AUTO in his 996.
I use the sunroof all the time in all of our cars with it. My wife never uses it.
The window lock is another one, when I was growing up my dad bought a used Old 98 which was the first car we had as kids with power windows. My mom would lower the windows then turn off the other switches.