Is Technology Ruining New Cars? Why Drivers Are Switching Off Safety Features

Is Technology Ruining New Cars? Why Drivers Are Switching Off Safety Features

New research from Which? reveals a surprising trend: more than half of drivers are turning off safety tech in their cars. Many find these features annoying, distracting, or even, ironically, dangerous. What’s going on, and how can you navigate this evolving landscape?

Like airbags and crumple zones, various car safety technologies are now mandatory on new cars. While airbags are considered ‘passive’ safety tech, activating only during a crash, Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) are ‘active,’ aiming to prevent accidents in the first place. With driver error a significant factor in UK road accidents, the potential benefits of ADAS are undeniable.

These systems include features designed to prevent drivers from unintentionally leaving their lane, speeding, or failing to spot obstacles. However, Which? has discovered that these features are often deactivated by drivers.

This widespread deactivation highlights a significant area for improvement in how these systems are implemented and explained.

The Safety Features Drivers Are Turning Off

The features that drivers are most frequently turning off, according to our survey of UK car owners in January 2025, are:

1. Speed assist: Turned off by 46% of drivers

   This system uses cameras, road-map data, or a combination of both to inform the driver of the speed limit. However, it’s frequently tripped up by road signs for parallel roads, unofficial signs, digital signage, and out-of-date map data.

2. Lane-keep assist: Turned off by 42% of drivers

   Using cameras and sensors, this system helps drivers stay in their lane. It’s typically deactivated when indicators are used. Lane-keep assist often struggles on narrow roads and may not always recognize cyclists or parked cars. Emergency lane keeping is mandated and should only activate when a car is about to cross a solid white line.

3. Automatic emergency braking: Turned off by 34% of drivers

   Radar and lidar systems detect pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles to prevent collisions. The latest legislation also includes rear cross-traffic braking. Further pedestrian and cyclist-detection scenarios are planned.

4. Attention/drowsiness monitoring: Turned off by 32% of drivers

   This system uses cockpit cameras to monitor a driver’s eyes and facial features, issuing warnings if their attention strays or if signs of drowsiness are detected.

5. Blind-spot monitoring: Turned off by 30% of drivers

   Sensors alert the driver to objects in their blind spot, usually another vehicle. The system provides a visual or audible warning if a driver indicates to move into the object’s lane.

*Percentage of drivers who turned the system off at least some of the time, based on our representative survey of 1,584 UK car owners in January 2025.

Safety Tech Challenges

When properly implemented, safety systems have the potential to dramatically reduce avoidable accidents. However, it can sometimes take only one frustrating incident for a driver to lose faith in their car’s safety features. And when that faith is lost, the systems get switched off.

We spoke to Eileen, from Greater Manchester, who once viewed her car as a lifeline. Now, she describes it as a ‘nightmare.’ Having experienced a brain haemorrhage in 2009, the 75-year-old leases her cars through the Motability scheme. She took delivery of a Hyundai i20 hatchback at the end of 2023 and has experienced constant issues.

Eileen has found the car frequently misreading speed limits and unnecessarily correcting her steering, particularly when navigating parked cars. “To feel the steering wheel suddenly spin and the car begin to swerve was terrifying,” she recalls.

Eileen is seriously considering finding an older car without this technology. Hyundai states that it regularly conducts real-world testing and introduces software updates to address such customer concerns.

Eileen’s experience is far from unique. Following a call-out for experiences with the MG4’s lane-keep assist in summer 2024, Which? received hundreds of complaints, not just from MG4 owners. MG has since released a software update, but the problem extends beyond a single car model.

EU Regulations and UK Adoption

Four key ADAS systems are legally mandated on new cars in the EU as part of the General Safety Regulations (GSR and GSR II). Whilst the UK isn’t part of the EU, the rules apply to Northern Ireland, and will soon be adopted in Great Britain. Most UK cars already use software designed to work in both regions.

GSR and GSR II require intelligent speed assist, driver drowsiness and attention warning, autonomous emergency braking, and emergency lane-keep assist. The latter two are designed to only activate in critical situations. All four must be active by default, meaning they turn on each time the car starts.

Euro NCAP specifications, which are not legally required, go further. The more features a manufacturer includes, the more points a car gains. Lane-keep assist is not mandatory, but a car will lose points for not including it or for not activating it by default. So it’s very common to find lane-keep assist and speed assist on new cars in the UK.

What’s Gone Wrong?

Legislation and Euro NCAP specifications permit manufacturers to interpret how to implement these systems, leading to differences between cars.

To create a system that works well, ADAS should collaborate with the driver and offer an easy way to override the system when it makes mistakes. Insurers often prioritize cars with ADAS that intervenes sooner, making them more insurable but also potentially more irritating to drive.

However, it’s possible to craft a system that satisfies both needs. High-end cars, such as top-spec versions of the BMW i5, use extensive sensors and training to interpret road conditions. Cheaper cars, or those from some newer brands, may struggle more due to a lack of local training and knowledge.

Other common issues include systems misinterpreting speed limits.

The Euro NCAP Issue

Euro NCAP is adding a significant real-world driving portion to its tests from January 2026. This will take driver-friendliness into account.

The car industry isn’t necessarily fully on board with ADAS technology. Renault sub-brand Dacia has been outspoken about Euro NCAP’s ADAS specifications, prioritizing features that customers want and are willing to pay for.

In response to our findings, Euro NCAP’s technical director Richard Schram stated the organization is ‘technology neutral.’ He also added that Euro NCAP doesn’t mandate speed assist’s incessant beeping – blame the European Commission for that one. He hopes the unacceptable audible warnings will be overturned.

A Brighter Future?

Thatcham’s Al-Ani finds the future promising but acknowledges that this offers little consolation to drivers struggling with current technology. ‘Lane-keep systems are massively improved,’ he explains. ‘We’ve even seen new market entrants doing very well with collaborative, very gentle and not overly intrusive lane-keep assistance.’

Learning to live with car tech

Michael Passingham, Which? senior researcher

In the three months before this article was published, I drove 11 different cars. I can see why so many people reach for the ‘off’ button at least some of the time on all these tools

It doesn’t take me long to get used to their foibles and understand where I need to pay extra attention.

If ADAS is turned off, it isn’t protecting anybody. And that’s bad for everybody.