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The 5 worst new-car features of 2013

Bengt Halvorson


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For better or worse, automakers and suppliers are getting inventive, pushing some innovative features into new vehicles. Some of them hit the mark, making our time in vehicles easier, safer, or more efficient, while other features leave us asking, “Seriously, why?”

Today, convenience items like air conditioning and power windows are almost a given in the market—even on the most inexpensive models. Even in the miserly 2014 Mirage DE, which costs $13,790, Mitsubishi plans to offer automatic climate control.

While singling out features as the 'worst' might be a semantic stretch, it serves to point out that not every feature is a positive, in our opinion. Some are frustrating, distracting, or redundant—and what we’ve done here is merely separate out five features that at least some of our editors think have missed the mark for usefulness.

We’ve tried to include a mix of general and specific features, and as you click through our list—or are out on a test drive—ask yourself this: If a feature feels more like a novelty, you have trouble understanding its net benefit, or it doesn’t necessarily make your driving experience simpler, easier, or better, why bother? [Hint: Yes, we have trouble saying that capacitive 'buttons' are any better than the real thing.]

These are just a few. And of course, let us know which new-car feature you’d rank at the bottom in your comments below.

Foot-operated tailgate releases. Fundamentally, the idea here is great: that you use one of your legs to activate the hatch while you teeter on the other leg. But the reality is that, while loaded up with groceries, you balance on one leg to activate it, then shuffle backward so that the hatch doesn’t hit you as it’s opening. Even after trying this feature in a number of new vehicles that have it, we don’t see it as fully fleshed out. We’d love to see it return, in a way that doesn’t make us feel like we’re courting disaster.