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Bob Macrae · Oct 3rd, 2018, 19:21

I have to vent my anger I'm afraid...

I have a new XC90 T8 and there are so many examples of poor software design in the XC90 I hardly know where to start. Such a shame that a good piece of motoring hardware, i.e. the car itself, is let down so badly by awful, inconvenient, inefficient and in some cases downright dangerous software design. I emphasise the word design - there are only a few examples of actual bugs in the car's code - it's what it has been programmed to do which is so awful. One or two examples (out of hundreds) I could give:

The person who designed the navigation system doesn't seemed to have worked out that almost half of the journeys made by the car will be to the same place - home! So you might expect that the nav system would have an easy way to say 'take me home'. But no. It takes 5 button presses to get the system to do it. This is despite the fact that there is plenty of screen space to put a 'take me home' button on there. I suspect that a 15-year old design technology student would have come up with a better solution. And I was in the US the other day driving a cheap South Korean car and I reached down to touch the nav screen and - amazing - it worked first time!!! I didn't have to adjust my finger pressure and roll it around on the screen to try to make it work.

There are countless such issues - like why does the charging lead lock on if you open the driver's door? If the car is on charge, and you get in, only to realise that the cable is still plugged in - you have to get out, lock it and then unlock it to be able to pull the charge cable out. The cable gets locked in at the point where someone opens a door. Why?????????????????? It's very inconvenient if other passengers have already got it.

Why does the car's system take so long to start? As soon as it senses the key is nearby it could at least get ready to start. But no. You get in (typically in a hurry), turn the start knob, and then you have time to read a short novel while the system gets ready to be able to let you engage a gear.

And how do you know when the car is switched off? You turn the start knob and all the displays stay on. Why?????????????????? If I turn the car off I want the car to switch off - is that so surprising?

If you engage Park, sometimes on a slight incline, the handbrake will come on as well, even though you have not set it to automatic handbrake mode. BUT, when you then press on the accelerator to go, the handbrake doesn't come off automatically - and it can even drag the back wheels along the ground if you're not careful - or at least that's what it sounds like. Why oh why does it do something automatically when you have disengaged automatic? And if it's going to ignore your wishes in one instance, why doesn't it ignore them in the other?

Why doesn't the Bluetooth connect to a phone if it's not already switched on when you first turn on the car? If someone with a phone that is already paired to the system wants to play a track, you have to stop the car, switch it off and back on again in order to make the connection!

I am only just scratching the surface here - I could go on and on - there are loads of instances like this. Why did I spend all that money on this car???

Oct 3rd, 2018, 19:21	#1
Bob Macrae New Member Last Online: Oct 4th, 2018 08:40 Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: London	XC90 software design I have to vent my anger I'm afraid... I have a new XC90 T8 and there are so many examples of poor software design in the XC90 I hardly know where to start. Such a shame that a good piece of motoring hardware, i.e. the car itself, is let down so badly by awful, inconvenient, inefficient and in some cases downright dangerous software design. I emphasise the word design - there are only a few examples of actual bugs in the car's code - it's what it has been programmed to do which is so awful. One or two examples (out of hundreds) I could give: The person who designed the navigation system doesn't seemed to have worked out that almost half of the journeys made by the car will be to the same place - home! So you might expect that the nav system would have an easy way to say 'take me home'. But no. It takes 5 button presses to get the system to do it. This is despite the fact that there is plenty of screen space to put a 'take me home' button on there. I suspect that a 15-year old design technology student would have come up with a better solution. And I was in the US the other day driving a cheap South Korean car and I reached down to touch the nav screen and - amazing - it worked first time!!! I didn't have to adjust my finger pressure and roll it around on the screen to try to make it work. There are countless such issues - like why does the charging lead lock on if you open the driver's door? If the car is on charge, and you get in, only to realise that the cable is still plugged in - you have to get out, lock it and then unlock it to be able to pull the charge cable out. The cable gets locked in at the point where someone opens a door. Why?????????????????? It's very inconvenient if other passengers have already got it. Why does the car's system take so long to start? As soon as it senses the key is nearby it could at least get ready to start. But no. You get in (typically in a hurry), turn the start knob, and then you have time to read a short novel while the system gets ready to be able to let you engage a gear. And how do you know when the car is switched off? You turn the start knob and all the displays stay on. Why?????????????????? If I turn the car off I want the car to switch off - is that so surprising? If you engage Park, sometimes on a slight incline, the handbrake will come on as well, even though you have not set it to automatic handbrake mode. BUT, when you then press on the accelerator to go, the handbrake doesn't come off automatically - and it can even drag the back wheels along the ground if you're not careful - or at least that's what it sounds like. Why oh why does it do something automatically when you have disengaged automatic? And if it's going to ignore your wishes in one instance, why doesn't it ignore them in the other? Why doesn't the Bluetooth connect to a phone if it's not already switched on when you first turn on the car? If someone with a phone that is already paired to the system wants to play a track, you have to stop the car, switch it off and back on again in order to make the connection! I am only just scratching the surface here - I could go on and on - there are loads of instances like this. Why did I spend all that money on this car???