If you go by the news coming out of CES and the Detroit auto show, the future of driving is luminescent. Cars are getting safer, swankier, smarter. But between showcase and wide, open road, there's a transaction process stubbornly rooted in the 20th century: actually selling these things at the car dealership.
That's a problem, and not just because nobody enjoys haggling with the sales folks. By virtue of their entrenched position between automaker and consumer, dealers aren't just responsible for selling new cars to people. They're the ones who have to explain those cars, and how to use their myriad, confusing, wonderful new features. And, to the surprise of nobody who's spent time in a dealership lately, they're sometimes lousy teachers.
Last spring, undercover researchers from MIT's Agelab interviewed salespeople at 18 Boston-area dealerships. They were out to see how much these retailers knew about the increasingly common automated driver assistance programs they were selling, like crash avoidance, lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, and blind spot monitoring.
The results: Not nearly enough. Just six of the 17 salespeople gave “thorough” explanations of the technologies in the vehicles they were selling; four gave “poor” ones. According to the researchers, at least two provided almost dangerously incorrect info. One explained Ford’s pedestrian detection technology is active at all speeds---even though it doesn't turn on until you're going at least 30 mph. (Ford did not respond to a request for a comment, but a company corporate trainer told the MIT team it only trains retailers who do a high volume of business with the automaker.) Another said drivers did not have to brake while using Chevrolet's parking assist tech. They do. (Chevrolet did not respond to a request for a comment.)
The researchers were surprised at the disparity between those who got it right and those who flunked. "It was just really, really shocking and sort of confusing to walk in and have someone do such a phenomenal job of explaining safety technologies in a very understandable way, and then turn around and have someone else at a different [car] brand say, 'I don’t know where to begin,'" says lead author Hillary Abraham.
This is a small study, hardly proof the country's 16,700 car dealerships need schooling. But it's a reminder that as technology hurtles forward, the dealers, automakers, and buyers have to keep up. "One of the myths about automation is that as the level of automation increases, less human expertise is needed," says Bryan Reimer, who worked on the study. In fact, as cars pick up more---but not all---of the work, drivers need more and better information about what's going on, and what their role is. Dealers play a crucial role in delivering that.
This isn’t just a problem for cars with semi-autonomous features. Electric cars also force dealers to figure out charging systems and newfangled mechanics---or not. A Sierra Club report published last year, also based on mystery shopper reports, uncovered a host of retailer snafus, from "there were no charged EVs available to test drive," to, "the dealer didn't know about federal and state rebates."
This kind of retailer confusion over safety technology and equipment, the MIT researchers write, might convince a driver they don't need to shell out the extra money for optional features at all. And as the shift toward cars that drive themselves accelerates, the problem's only set to grow.
One likely outcome is that drivers will just turn off systems they don’t understand, sacrificing potentially life-saving tech, says Ian Reagan, a researcher at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In a study published last year, he and a colleague found that of 265 Hondas brought in for servicing at dealerships in and around Washington, DC, less than a third still had their lane departure warnings turned on. All but one had their more intuitive forward collision systems up and running. If people don’t like the systems---if they don’t know why their car is making that gotdang dinging noise---they won’t use 'em.
While working on an upcoming study, Reagan ran into the same problems as the MIT scientists. “[Retailers] would mis-explain, wouldn’t know what I was looking for, wouldn’t know how to navigate the driver through the menus to see what the settings were,” he says.
This isn't easy for anybody. The automakers don’t employ the people selling their vehicles; some don’t even employ the people who train their dealers. The salespeople are sometimes working off of subpar manufacturer-provided training materials.
Some of the blame falls on the automakers. If your new feature requires specialized training to operate, it's too complicated. "At some point, hopefully in the near future, automated driver assistance systems will become as intuitive as steering or using a turn signal,” says Jared Allen, who directs media relations at the National Automobile Dealers Association. “But we aren’t there yet. And until we are, we all have more work to do.”
Not to say it can't be done. The MIT researchers found Subaru does a great job teaching fancy car-seekers about the capabilities of its EyeSight technology, pairing well-informed spiels with brochures and in-dealership tech displays.
And dealers aren't giving up. Last year, NADA got together with the National Safety Council and the University of Iowa to push MyCarDoesWhat.org. The site clearly explains all the swanky technologies you can find in today's cars: what they do, what they don't do, how they work, and more. It even has a a mobile game that teaches players about the "latest in car safety technology."
The excellent news for new car buyers is that confusing safety features are worth taking the time to figure out: They work. “These systems are really promising,” says Reagan, the IIHS researcher---nearly all of his organization’s top safety vehicle picks for 2017 come with optional automated driver assistance features. Until automakers and dealerships get their explanatory acts together, it's time to study up.
