What, no Bluetooth?

Jelster

Jelster

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Following on from @Ricardodaforce 's post regarding cruise control, I have to ask, in these modern vehicles, why do so many people not use bluetooth for their phones?. They probably don't use CC either....

When I bought my current car, during the handover the salesman asked me if I wanted him to set the bluetooth up for my phone - decent service and a damned good idea. I was capable of doing it myself, so did before I drove off, and that was 6 years ago....

I still see so many car & van drivers holding phones to their ears while driving, and it's £200 & 6 points if you're caught....
 
I had it set up in my 2011 Fiesta as well as other cars since, simple to do and so much safer.
 
I will set the phone to car Bluetooth when on longer journeys where I am more likely to need it.

It is for sure useful and when I was still working invaluable.

FWIW and though hopefully never needed is the function, if in a major impact collision, the car will phone 999
 
BT is allways switched on my phone now so as soon as i get in the car and pop it on my screen holder it connects to the car , i use google maps for all my navving though as well now adays , not sure about the van drivers thing i wonder if they have the works phone connected to the van and they are chatting to the wife on ther personal.
 
Amazes me too.
I have front and rear cameras on my bike, and I’m often filming with an Insta 360One X2.
Anyone I pass using their phone will have the video sent to the police.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
Amazes me too.
I have front and rear cameras on my bike, and I’m often filming with an Insta 360One X2.
Anyone I pass using their phone will have the video sent to the police.
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Quite often you know when they are on their phone (without seeing the phone) because of:

a) what's known as a Whatsapp gap
b) strange posture with left hand on wheel and right arm down by knee with them looking at something but not the road ahead....

But more than often you see the phones held like they are in The Apprentice (raises the hate level even more)...

Keep catching them Ricardo....

You won't catch me, I am short sighted so would need to take glasses off to read anything and I have BT enabled on both our cars.
 
I will admit it always puzzles me, particularly when its people in up market cars which will have it fitted as standard.
Perhaps they don't know how to turn BT on and link it to the car
 
troutfisher said:
I will admit it always puzzles me, particularly when its people in up market cars which will have it fitted as standard.
Perhaps they don't know how to turn BT on and link it to the car
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But it's not difficult is it. Somebody in their 70's perhaps, but young & middle aged people have had BT long enough to know what to do. I'm in my 60's and wouldn't be without it.
 
My phone is connected to the car by BT but I rarely answer it when driving. If it's important, the caller can leave a message and if I want to talk to them, I'll call back.
 
You still need to be in full control. My phone connects as soon as I get into the car. However, I still only answer if the traffic situation is appropriate. Other times I will stop at the next layby and call back using hands free but only if it is someone I need t speak to at that time.

Dave
 
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The power of co-incidence: for the first time in months, I thought I might get a call while in the car today.

Before setting off, I turned on the console and fished out my phone, only to see a console message telling me the phone was connected and the phone telling me the same. That is pretty "cool" in my opinion.
 
I use an earpiece rather than the car BT, mainly because I need my hands free to work as well as drive.
 
It's possibly THE most useful in-car gadget, and the sound quality in my car is excellent. I just don't see why some people don't use it.
And, as an unintended consequence, when I forgot to put my phone in my pocket one day the car reminded me, with the error message "Garry's phone not connected".
 
Garry Edwards said:
It's possibly THE most useful in-car gadget, and the sound quality in my car is excellent. I just don't see why some people don't use it.
And, as an unintended consequence, when I forgot to put my phone in my pocket one day the car reminded me, with the error message "Garry's phone not connected".
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I have to admit, it is a "set up and forget" system, and with my voice function in the car, I can push the speech button, say Call Sue", and it calls the Mrs. Likewise when somebody calls in, it puts the callers ID on the head up display, & I tap the phone button with my thumb. My hands never leave the steering wheel, it's just brilliant - just like I no longer want to drive a manual, if I want "fun" I stick the car in Sport, box to manual, and drive on the paddles. Again my hands never leave the wheel.
 
I have a friend that has had three new cars in the past ten years, each one with full Bluetooth hands-free operation, but until recently insisted on using his phone whilst driving despite my continual complaining. One day last month we were on the M5 heading south and his phone started to ring. I managed to grab it before he could and saw that it was his daughter calling so answered it for him. I told her he couldn't come to the phone as he was driving at 70 miles per hour on a busy motorway and I didn't want to die just because she needed to know what he was having for tea. She started to rant at me so I cut her off and told my mate if he didn't connect the phone to the car I would throw it out the window. He now uses the BT - result :)
 
My car’s built in Bluetooth module seems to have failed somehow and doesn’t connect to my phone, people seem surprised they cannot get hold of me immediately…..
 
Trouble with modern cars is stuff like CarPlay. How this sort of stuff is legal to use - at least I assume it is legal to use it - beggars belief. Okay I could take or make calls but rarely do and I find the whole unit distracting and tend not to turn it in at all.
 
I actually connected my amateur radio set to my car via BT today, with a "push to talk" (PTT) on the gear selector. Bloody brilliant! I could listen to a couple of mates chatting and joined in for the odd word here & there.

"Look Mum, no hands!".
 
Tulipone said:
Trouble with modern cars is stuff like CarPlay. How this sort of stuff is legal to use - at least I assume it is legal to use it - beggars belief. Okay I could take or make calls but rarely do and I find the whole unit distracting and tend not to turn it in at all.
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Really? Surely it’s no more distracting than using a car radio.
 
You have pretty much the same screen as an iPhone with access to music, podcasts, satnav, radio, messages etc. Okay a lot of it is voice controlled whilst moving but still more distracting than a car radio.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
Really? Surely it’s no more distracting than using a car radio.
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The radio tends to be set to one's favourite (or least unfavourite!) station and left there, perhaps getting swapped to #2 should Vine or Feltz make an appearance (only in Mrs Nod's cars - I have R6 Music!) but choosing individual tracks or albums/playlists takes more attention. Similarly with calls; a simple "I'm 10 minutes away, put the kettle on!" takes far less attention than "How can we improve sales figures in Northampton?" type conferences. And that's without the numpties who watch films on the centre console, make video calls etc....
 
Tulipone said:
You have pretty much the same screen as an iPhone with access to music, podcasts, satnav, radio, messages etc. Okay a lot of it is voice controlled whilst moving but still more distracting than a car radio.
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Surely, this is more about changed attitudes and perceptions than anything else? Just a few years ago it was perfectly OK to use a hand-held mobile whilst driving, and before that some cars were equipped with 2-way radios, which were both complicated to use and with poor audio quality.

Even today it's legal to use a 2-way, and the police can still use a mobile . . .

My point is that both our attitudes and the law have changed a lot. Personally, I answer mobile calls whilst driving but never make them, and I won't hold complicated discussions that can be distracting, but 20 years or so ago I thought that there was nothing wrong with punching numbers on a phone whilst driving, turning the radio off and closing windows and the sunroof so that I could hear better.

Today, technology mutes the radio, displays all the info on a big screen and the sound quality is excellent. All technology can be distracting and some people argue that changing radio stations by pressing a button on the steering wheel is wrong, but the first car radios involved twiddling a knob to change station every few miles, which was considered OK at that time. Some people feel that glancing at a 10" satnav screen is distracting, but in the past, a lot of drivers studied a map whilst driving.
 
I use BT in the car every time.

It has the added advantage that Maps will tell me where my car is parked. Sometimes very useful :D

Oh, and I try not to take or make calls. I think the science says that the distraction puts phone drivers in the same league as drink drivers for concentration etc.
 
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When I was working in the IT industry I would sometimes have to drive from London to Liverpool, and customers had my mobile number. Almost all would recognise that I was driving and ask either if I was OK to talk, or could I call them back later. In today's world, customers expect you to be available during the working day. Since I stopped full time work 5 years ago I've become less concerned about being "always available". However, a Bluetooth connection between your car and phone is now almost expected. I certainly wouldn't buy a car as a daily driver if it didn't have it.
 
Pound Coin said:
It has the added advantage that Maps will tell me where my car is parked. Sometimes very useful :D
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I have an Apple tag secreted in my car. It is brilliant when I park somewhere unusual and want to find the best route back. A bonus as I put it in there just in case some scroat decided they wanted my car more than they thought I did.
 
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