Voice activated controls

Back in the Good Old Days the Crown had three radio controls. On was located, obviously, on the radio.

The other was located on the floor under the driver's left foot, where the dimmer would be on an American car.

But the best one (or worst, depending on where you sat in the car) was in the middle of the back of the front seat. It wasn't visible, but you could find it handily.

What it did was, when pressed, would cause a motor to move the tuner all the way to one end of the dial, and then it would go back in the opposite direction. Talk about Radio Wars.

The one I saw was on a '73.

I wish Fords would spend time making decent cars rather than useless gimmicks to sell rubbish ones.

That reminds me of a golf trip I took with a couple of buddies in a Ford Explorer a few years ago. On the way back I drove, another guy was the passenger and the owner of the Ford sat in the back. My co-pilot started playing with the radio, looking for a radio station to listen to. Everytime he settled on one and sat back, the radio would change stations. He kept fixing it over and over, each time muttering more obcenities at the radio for not staying put. Finally we heard the guy in the back giggling as he was messing with the remote control while the front passenger was beginning to pound the dashboard. I laughed so hard that I nearly lost control and had to pull over. The look on my co-pilot's face was priceless!

Oops..

I see that a voice-actuated DVD navigation system is already available as an option on US models of the Toyota Avalon XLS.

Anyone had experience of using this gizmo?

David

Jeremy Clarkson made a big thing about how all the voice operated toys on his Merc SL55 were useless. My boss has just bought a used S500. It has voice toys. He hasn't found out how to reprogram/train it yet. He asks for a CD, it starts the Aircon (in winter). He asks for a radio station, it tries to iron his trousers (just kidding). I don't think it understands his very soft and very normal standard english accent.