Thanks for spending the time to explain the features and why they are in place. Many of them should be optional because some drivers do not depend on them to drive safely. For example, blue tooth. Since I don't use a phone while I am driving, blue tooth is not useful to me. I am happy that I could disengage the DRL even though this feature is a default option, and the backup camera is never really used while I look around to back up. In fact it distort my process of backing up. Save driving depends on your constant attention. Now in regards to obstacles behind you, including dogs and small children. I ask, how did you avoid them before backup cameras? I hope it wasn't by luck. I hope you had the sense of knowing what is behind you before backing up. Even if you are using a camera, if you are inattentive, you will run over the obstacles. Some feature helps and others don't. Unfortunately, some people think that if I don't use the backup camera, I am not driving safely. That is one illogical opinion coming from one who uses his cell phone and texting while driving. BTW, did you explain to your customer how to disable the DRL, or the start/stop engine feature at a red signal? As a BMW driver you know that default feature, at least in the newer BMWs. That feature was not to help you reduce gas consumption (increase engine and starter wear) but to increase EPA economy certification.

 

duplication

 

duplication

 

I have the fit ex, and I love the back-up camera. The back-up camera does have dynamic grids, they move when you turn the wheel. Also as 3 diff viewing modes, normal, wide angle, and also has one that shows straight down at the bumper so you can see how close you are if you need it. Which is really handy when parallel parking so you can get very close to the car behind you if you need to. the back-up camera makes it so much easier to parallel park.

Another thing i like it for, is when you are in a parking spot, and 2 bigger vehicles are on either side, and when you need to back out you can't see if anyone is coming either way. The wide angle mode is use lets you see that there isnt anyone coming, but once i am out far enough I still look out either window just in case.

Another camera I love is the lane-watch camera.

 

the back-up camera was designed to aid you. Not to replace looking around when you back up, it even says on the screen to be aware of your surroundings. I use my back-up camera all the time, but i also look around to. The camera just shows you a big blind spot that you can't see when you look around.

 

Good Morning Wasserball,
Yes, I understand that each car buyer have different preference on features and options that they want. Unfortunately, standard features and optional features on a car were decided by what the majority of the buyer in that segment, and you can't go against the market.
Majority of buyer now, especially the younger generation who is more tech savvy and more adaptable to new technology demand features like back up camera to be standard.
Another thing is, some of the features / options is a must because they are needed to run other features, just for example with Infiniti in order to have factory integrated rear entertainment system in an Infiniti QX60, you need to have the optional premium sound system with more speaker that is needed for the surround system (and the DSP) to operate and also the DVD mechanism on the dashboard head unit, so you can't just order the factory integrated a rear entertainment system on it's own without DVD mechanism on the dashboard or without the premium sound system.
Remember, our car is built on a mass assembly system, so some of the option were forced to be there because it was installed as a complete module/assy.

Regarding your question about how you avoid dog and rear children before back up camera even exist/available,
well, if you have a family with a dog or children, but you don't have a back up camera,
you might have to do this:
before you backing up, you would either have to:
a. get out of your car to make sure they are not behind,
b. understand the area where your dog or your kids usually came outside when they hear your car coming home and you would look back from further away from that area, so you have to back up from much further away and other manual way to do it.
There is always a way around technology or driver's aid if you don't have it. But it require more effort.
Back up camera for the majority of people do help them.
Let me point out other feature such as power steering. A car without power steering will have a better, pure road feel without any DISTORTION on the road feel and you can always drive a small Honda Fit without power steering, it's not as heavy as a truck, but why people prefer power steering, because it's help.

Your complain about rear view camera distort your process of backing up is simply because you are one of the customer who don't really like to adapt/learn to new features or new technology.
I came to this conclusion because you also don't like bluetooth function.
I understand that you don't want to use the phone while you drive, but there will be cases when due to some emergency, you will still use your phone while you drive, for example if somehow your family member is injured, and they try to reach you when you are driving for a few hours to out of state, if you don't answer your phone, then by the time you came to a stop, it might be too late. that is just extreme example.
Other buyer might depend on constantly on the phone due to their job as salesman, or some younger buyer puts all their music in their phone and they need bluetooth to stream their music.
in my case, my car don't have navigation so I use bluetooth feature to both play music, handsfree for phone call, and also stream Google map navigation (the audio turn by turn instruction) through my audio system.
In this current market, a car without bluetooth as standard equipment will have a tougher time to sell, so the market demands it, and yes, not every customer (I know really well as ex car salesman) can be 100% happy with the options and features, but you just have to follow the market unless of course, you are buying a custom super expensive car that you can custom anyway you want it, like for example a Rolls Royce.
I am sure you can ask Rolls Royce to take out the rear view camera or bluetooh because they are not build on an assembly line and they are not build to satisfy the market but to satisfy the very individual buyer, but then again the cost to have that level of customization would be much higher.

In summary,
all this technology and options that is now available were there because majority of the people who is willing to learn and adapt and are open to technology advancement to help their life, finding this technology make their life easier and safer, provided they want to learn and adapt to properly use it. But if some customer really insist on doing it the old way,
I would of course try to find a way to turn the feature off, or if it can't be turn off, I would just told them to ignore it.
in your case, I can only advise you to just ignore the back up camera by not looking at them at all and just back up the way you had been doing for decades. By doing this, I had done my job to explain how the features work and at the same time make my customer happy.

just one last thing,
regarding DRL, at least on an Infiniti and in California market, every customer that I met actually demand a DRL. some of older Infiniti model that do not have DRL were actually looks as inferior to my competitor.
They complain to me, why this model don't have DRL.
And a DRL on newer generation cars usually use LED lighting, and this LED lighting do not take much energy, last a very long time (could last even longer than the average time owner own the car), and are separate from the main headlight so it won't affect the headlight bulb.
I don't explain how to deactivate the DRL because I have never found any single customer who want their DRL on an Infiniti to be turn off, but if there is one, I will try my best to find a way to do it so my customer can be happy.
but Infiniti customer is a higher end customer who is usually more sophisticated than lower end car buyer so maybe that is why nobody ever ask me to turn off DRL.
The one thing every customer of mine demand is to teach them to pair their phone by bluetooth, in fact pairing phone is the only mandatory things that my dealer really strict that each salesman had to do for customer, so when I hear that you also don't like bluetooth, I can understand that you are the type of customer who prefer doing everything the old way and you don't like to learn or adapt with new technology, which is fine, every person is different, but of course as you know, we can't make every single customer 100% happy so we can only do our best as dictate by the market.
Regarding the start stop function on a BMW, your claim that it only to satisfy EPA rating sounds like the "conspiracy theory" kind of thing.
When you have higher EPA MPG rating, that also mean you consume less gas per any given miles and it mean you are more energy efficient.
That is just math and number. It's just logic, when you sit idling at a red light for a minute or two, and your engine run... it need gasoline for the engine to run, right? if you turn off your engine, than no gasoline consume, right? that it is saving your money.
Will it give more wear and tear to the engine? No, because wear and tear do happened with cold start up where the engine oil were still down on the pan and have not distributed to all the upper parts, but after you run the car for the first few minutes, the oil will still stuck to those part, so when the engine start again after the start stop function on the red light,
it will not cause any wear and tear, in fact it save a minute or 2 minute of your engine life and it will add up more and more after few years.
The starter would have more wear and tear, this I agree, but the overall cost saving that you gain from the fuel saving and engine life saving with those start stop function will more than offset the cost of your starter motor.
I do understand that some people are just impatient to wait for the motor to turn on after stop, or simply annoyed by the turn on turn off cycle of their car, and for this customer I would find a way to convince them how beneficial this feature is, but if I still find resistance, then I would guide them on how to turn this feature off.
Again, car manufacturer will always try to find a way to get the car better with new technology because otherwise they would not be able to compete with competitor with what the market want,
but as a car salesman, I would always try my best to accommodate what my customer want, even when I personally (and quietly) disagree.

So, in the end, as a fellow member, I can only advise you to be more acceptable and adaptable to new technology but I think it would be better if I treat you like my other customer and just trying to understand your preference because I have a feeling that no matter how hard I try to help you see the advantage of all the technology above, you will still stick to what you use to been doing all this decade (and so far work for you).

I would not try to post a response regarding this matter again to you,
because I don't want to annoy you and just want you to be a happy Fit GK user and happy member of fitfreak

 

Wow, I don't know that Fit GK have such advance and adjustable view modes features on the back up camera. Infiniti don't have adjustable view modes... at least not the last time I worked there last year...
technology had gone higher and more affordable each year.

 

The rear view camera does come with that warning text to check your surroundings. Moving out of tight spots, and allowing you to see at a 90 degree angle for cars around the corner of my building: man oh man! it's like having eyes at the back of my head. No more gambling it when backing out of my garage around the edge of my appt building.

 

Good move. My 2009 Fit is now showing a hazing spot right above the bulb. If I had known the DRL would do this, I would have pulled the fuse when I bought the car new. The car is in a covered garage when parked.

 

Today was Honda day at my house. Me and the wife spent most of our day cleaning and accessorizing our cars, She mainly washed and vacuumed hers I fixed hole in her tire (2014 Black Accord). My Fit still rocking the dealerships detail wash from new. But I took spare out checked pressure, was 50psi so I added the 10 it needed. Put my token Stormtrooper license plate on the front, seat covers, floor mats, and pulled the DRL fuse. Also put 40psi in tires. Beautiful day to spend with our Hondas.

 

Hey fellas, new to the fit forums. Just purchased my fit few weeks ago, I notice a lack of build threads for new fits which bums me out. I have owned an s2000 for the last 5 years and I might fart around with some different stuff and make a build thread eventually.

Any builds you guys know of that inspire what your doing with your own fit?

 

I hit 47 mpg today with the econ mode off.

 

Yes, the Fit is capable of getting over 50 mpg. I reset the mpg reading and cruised at 60 mph, and the reset reading showed over 50 mpg.

My new opinion about the backup camera. Yes, I do glance at it to see if there are anything behind me. I do not use it to judge the distance of an object behind me as the wide angle of view gives me a headache if I tried.

 

I have played the Jack Reacher backup while looking at the camera... not wise not so easy. I also have backed up to another vehicle very slowly until I was satisfied with being pretty close. When I got out and went and looked, I was WAYYYYY closer than the camera led me to believe. Like half an inch! So no I do as you do, just lets me know to get out and move something.

 

Exactly. I placed a stool about 30" behind the bumper, and the stool showed up at the dashed line in the rear camera guidelines. If you try to use the guidelines to judge distance, the object will look way further than it really is, and you may not have enough time to stop the car before hitting it.

 

The other really handy thing I use it for is in a parking space when no other cars are around (which is where I try to park), I pull a little far into the spot, then use the camera to line up while backing up until one side of the dashed line touches the mutual line on the ground.... Perfect every time. I think that dashed line is approx 14 to 18 inches off (ground level of course)

 

correction on my post. The distance was about 30". Your way is a good way of judging relative distance. The whole idea is to overcome what your brain incorrectly perceives by measuring the actual distance of the dashed line to your rear bumper.

 

The dashed line is to leave enough distance to an object so you can open the hatch completely.

 

Thank you, yet another thing I just learned.

 

Not a rigorous measurement, but the dash line is 30" and the first solid line is 90" from the rear bumper. Those gridlines are a lot closer than you think.