Car Features No One Talks About.

"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo) 02/08/2020 at 19:43 • Filed to: None

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Today I was thinking about something I learned when I was a car salesmen, a Chrysler feature that not many people know about. This is the car I learned about them in, a 2013.5 Chrysler 200 S Carhartt Edition. It was actually a nice car. I showed it to a customer who wanted a Charger but couldn’t afford it. The Pentastar made it scoot, and with TCS off I did a decent little burnout. sadly no one ever bought it, and was taken as a service loaner, and still is 7 nearly years later. IIRC it was “sold” to the dealership to meet Chrysler sales quotas. Gotta get those kickbacks.

Anyway the feature I wanted to talk about was the radio controls that Chrysler uses. They are on the back of the steering wheel. Super simple. One side is for volume, the other is for slip track, or shuffle through radio pre-sets.

Here’s a video of how they work.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:06

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For a while I wanted to integrate the buttons into my autostick since the autostick is just a simple 12v switch that signals one way or the other. (they currently dont work after getting an aftermarket stereo. So it would just be a matter of finding which ones are leading to the switches and splice them into where the autostick is spliced in. 

fintail > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:19

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I remember the first time I rented a 300, I about lost it as I thought it simply lacked the feature (it was a basic Hertz special).  Thankfully I figured it out.

412GTI > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:20

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Arguably one of my favorite features I remember when first starting to drive (my family had lots of Chryslers ). I know GM started copying it with the last generation of trucks/suvs, not that’s a bad thing. 

Aremmes > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:27

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Mom’s ‘05 Liberty has blanks where those buttons would go. You’d have thought that Chrysler would’ve equipped the Renegade trim level with them, but nope!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:33

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Chrysler’s been using them for at least two decades. My 2000 Grand Cherokee has them, and they were present on both a Dart and a Challenger I've rented.

Kiltedpadre > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:37

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Carhartt Chrysler 200?  I’m intrigued; especially if it was available with a carhartt brown interior. It wouldn’t be enough for me to actually buy a 200, but I’d find it an interesting cross promotion.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Kiltedpadre 02/08/2020 at 20:45

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Sadly the seats were leather. But they featured Carhartts trademarked triple stitching Carhartt C logos on the headrests. The idea was they were both Detroit based companies so that’s why  they teamed up.

facw > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:47

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Neat, didn’t know about those.

Mine are just on the face of the wheel (both volume and prev/next on the right, with cruise control on the left):

Kiltedpadre > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 20:52

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That’s a bit disappointing. I wish they were at least upgraded cloth seats. I would think carhartt would be a better tie in with Ram or possibly Dodge as opposed to Chrysler anyway.

I bet a truck with seats made from the water repellent carhartt material would actually sell pretty well. It’d be nice after a day on the boat for sure.

Future Heap Owner > facw 02/08/2020 at 21:10

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It’s fun for me to see which parts of this are exactly the same as my car and which are different.

DipodomysDeserti > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 21:25

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That’s one of the few things that Chrysler has gotten right. Had them on my Abarth and assumed they were a FIAT invention. Then I bought my Daimler era Jeep and realized they were a Chrysler thing.

Also, who the hell thought is was a good idea to make a Carhartt edition 200? Maybe they’ll come out with a Dickies Pacifica.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 21:59

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Our 2008 Sienna has volume buttons on the steering wheel, but on the front. Is there any advantage to placing them on the back of the wheel?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Kiltedpadre 02/08/2020 at 22:15

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I had the same thought. A Carhartt Ram with their jacket material on the seats would make a ton so sense.

This was during the “Imported from Detroit” campaign from Chrysler. They even had a ad featuring Eminem be they were so desperate to convince people that’s Chrysler wasn’t an Italian company. 

Kiltedpadre > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 22:26

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I’d say they should’ve done a Little Caesar’s edition Dodge Journey with a pizza warmer in the cargo area, but maybe a pizza tie-in isn’t the best way to prove you aren’t Italian.

Future next gen S2000 owner > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 22:53

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That’s definitely a Chrysler party trick. I believe the older Jeep Grand Cherokee had them, IIRC. It's been a few years but I can't remember a brand outside of the Chrysler umbrella that had it.

not for canada - australian in disguise > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/08/2020 at 23:37

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I’ve always been a fan of the coin holders that Chrysler put in a lot of their cars, or at least used to. Mostly useless where I live, as the nearest toll road is in Ontario, but I’m sure it’s much more handy somewhere like the Northeast USA where toll roads seem like they’re more common than regular roads.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > not for canada - australian in disguise 02/09/2020 at 00:04

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I liked those too but t here aren’t too many spots left in the US anymore   where having change in your car is that helpful. Most of the old exact change toll machines have disappeared in favor of RFID passes (like EZPass), license plate readers (toll roads in TX do this then mail you a bill each month for all your reads) and good old fashioned full service with a human taking your ticket and bill and handing back change. Even coin operated street parking meters are going away.   More and more cities are moving to kiosks that just take cards and print a receipt that you put on your dash.  I’ve heard some places are even moving to apps for payment and the enforcement officers just walk around with a smartphone that taking pictures of the plates and printing tickets for the ones that haven’t paid with the app.  About the only thing that I carry coins for anymore is the lockers at the ski lodge.

Jason Spears > Kiltedpadre 02/09/2020 at 13:44

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Car and Driver’s article says

A Carhartt-selected water-resistant black fabric featuring gray signature Carhartt triple stitching covers the seats

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15371799/2013-5-chrysler-200-s-special-edition-getting-dressed-for-work-2013-new-york-auto-show/

Jason Spears > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/09/2020 at 13:47

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In related news, this week I found out the heated steering wheel switch on the 911 GTS is in a silly place. This is from the Panamera manual, but same placement.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Jason Spears 02/09/2020 at 15:23

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That’s weird. Better than on the side of the seat tho.