To date the only device that has not fully disappointed my techie hopes and dreams is my car. We have the 2014 Subaru Outback with the Technology Package.

Why splurge when the original plan was to JUST get the gadgeted-out 2013 Nissan Altima? One word: Eyesight.

Mine is pretty darn close to 20/20 but my car’s Eyesight is even better.  As close as you can come to an self-driving for under 40k.

Adaptive cruise control enabled by the Subaru Eyesight system lets me pay dangerously less attention to the road. I would argue, though, that with so many distractions on the road and in the car having a spare pair of robot eyes keeping you from rear-ending that suddenly slow moving Prius is a great thing.

Two lasers mounted to the top of my front windshield track the cars in front and let me know about impending collision or when the adaptive cruise control is active, brake to a full stop as necessary.

Usually though the distance-keeping capability with the car in front is enough to never have to do emergency brake procedures. Although if I had too, I read in the manual that the car starts to pre-brake to make the braking easier.

Probably what keeps this technology out of the dog-house is:
1. Car manufacturers do A LOT more testing than consumer electronics manufacturers.
2. Since most of the features are emergency safety features, we have been lucky enough to not need them. There has been one emergency braking incident and it was because of a mean looking (low hanging) shrubbery while parking.

Thank you Subaru, for possibly single handedly keeping my love of gadgetry still burning.

Next time: “Connect all the Bluetooths – aka When Headsets take it in Every Hole”.