Safety “feature” on my new Scion XD
My car looks like a cylon
One of the ways I celebrated my brief unemployed stint was to buy a new car. Probably not the wisest choice while unemployed, I realize, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. And it has turned out to be a great move, I love my car. It’s a Scion XD, and I tricked it out with all the accessories that I wanted: navigation system + premium audio system, under-dash and cupholder lights, LED taillights, in-door-jamb lights, two-tone leather interior, sport pedals… I had fun. But, of course, one of the things that most excited me was finally having a dedicated iPod connection.
The Scion system’s integration with the iPod is impressive. The entire touch screen of the navigation system transforms into a powerful iPod interface. You can access and peruse artists, albums, genres, playlists – fully navigate the music on the iPod.
And then you start to move. And this ability goes away.
Well, sort of. The window to all of the info is the “Music Menu” button at the top of the virtual scroll wheel. Get the car moving and it gets disabled. For weeks I thought that this was a bug, that somehow the stupid stereo was “dropping” the connection to the iPod. No such luck, it’s intentional. Sure, I can still view the track list of the album or playlist that I’d selected before I started moving, but I can’t pull up the lists to switch artists, albums, or playlists.
I get why they’d do this, but I must admit it’s a pain in the ass. I guess I’m going to start creating “drive-time” playlists that I really like and just hitting “go” before I leave my driveway. If anyone knows how to disable this safe and oh-so-annoying feature, let me know.
Aside from that, I love, love, love the car. And my new job. And living in the city with Jenni and Dani. Life’s pretty good, actually.
