Driving the Merc along the M4 this week in drizzle, I turned the wipers on. Except it wasnt the wipers but the right hand stalk that put the car into neutral in the middle land. Whats more the gearbox wouldnt re engage at motorway speed so it was lucky that there was a gap in the inside lane that I could take to get to the edge. It was also lucky that there was an edge since this was smart motorway with no hard shoulder.

OK it was my error putting it into neutral but a completely understandable one since both our other cars have wipers on the RHS stalk.

Now that we all are prosperous enough to have several cars, it is time that there was a standard for such controls.

That makes a lot of sense and wouldn’t add too much to manufacturing costs.
Bob.

And this is why I'm very glad my Dad took the decision to give up driving a few years ago..

TBH I'm surprised that the transmission controls are on the steering column at all, it's not like one needs to use them so badly whilst actually driving that it needs to be usable without taking a hand off the wheel.

What's wrong with a conventional centre-mounted drive selector? The Mini has an additional button on the side that you must press whilst selecting the gear to prevent accidental selection.

Deary me Howard, that was a bit daft!
In all the years I’ve been driving, I still need to check where the fuel flap is, I never learn.

Look at the fuel gauge , the little arrow shows which side the filler cap is on. I always wondered what that triangle was for.

I can't stand the gearboxes that have reverse next to first. It requires only the slightest downward pressure and a hurried attempt to select first gear and you put the car in reverse. A quick lift of the clutch will then put you rear end into the car behind you.
A glance at the gear lever when getting in after someone else has left the car parked in reverse gear has the potential to give you a nasty surprise too. I always leave a car (or bike) parked in first gear.
I dislike this in my wife's VW Polo and it has annoyed me greatly but I found it terrible in the sloppy gearbox of SIL's Mini Countryman which, incidentally, must be one of the worst modern cars that I have driven.
Given that manual gearboxes are rapidly disappearing, hybrids and electrics don't have stick shift and many ICE now come only in auto, I suppose my lament is a bit pointless.

Remember picking up a big 4x4 rental in the US .... they don't do a walk-round over there so I blithely sped away .... all good til I dived into an unexpected (narrow and totally unlit) rock tunnel in the Moab NP .... only to realise I had no idea where the light switch was ... certainly focussed the mind!! .... in the second I had before disaster I just pulled the headlight flasher ... which timed out every ten seconds and had to be relit ... tunnel seemed to go on forever with me progressing like a travelling disco flashing away .... stopped in first layby in daylight and went through every switch on the dash! .... won't do that again 🙂

So, yes, I agree certain key controls should be standardised.

K

It is nothing new the early Rolls and Bentley’s and Jaguars along with many others had a stalk for selecting gears !

Many of the features in modern cars are strange. I could have said unnecessary, market driven, just because we can and you myst have this feature, but limited it to strange.
From limited experience of EV driving this seems even more prevalent. Tesla with controls on a central touchscreen instead of buttons/stalks. That seems to fit in with a futuristic vision for Tesla and Musk’s ideology.
However, they mean having to think a bit differently to a basic ICE car. Some features are handy. My car has an auto windscreen wiper system that detects rain. It also has various other settings and controls on a single stalk plus rear wiper controls. Remembering what is available is on a learning curve! Add in the myriad of convenience options adds to the complexity that you need to work with whilst navigating a big lump in traffic. Hands free mobile system? Why? Yet another distraction while actually driving.
Cruise control is handy and I use it on SOME journeys. I still need to think about altering it as traffic conditions change so forward vision to spot potential speed changes etc. More sophisticated cars have auto intervention that kicks in such as auto braking based on too near to vehicles in front. You have to be aware when the car is reacting in this way or you can be confused and make wrong decisions.
Far from being driver aids these systems can cause drivers to switch off by assuming the car is in control.
If you want that high a level of switching off hire a chauffeur.