As a safety precaution, the navigation system doesn’t allow one to enter a new destination while the car is moving (except to go “HOME”). However, I’m on the road quite frequently and often don’t get the address to where I’m going until after I’ve already hit the freeway. In order to enter the destination address, I would need to pull over, which is a big hassle. OK, it’s not a BIG hassle, but I’m pretty lazy. Is there a way to hack into the system to allow me to enter a destination regardless of whether the car is moving?

 

No, no and no. It is why it is because of lawsuits. You guys ever see those cases, named after the lady who spilled hot coffee on her lap and was awarded $4 million dollars....oh by the way she actually got about $400k and it went to her doctors and attorney. Not sexy to publicize the appeal as much....my point being they have these stupid lawsuits. The best one has to be some guy bought a winnebago, was driving down the highway and put the cruise control on, went and got a cup of coffee from the back. Suprisingly enough, the Winni drove off the highway and crashed, he ended up suing them for $250k or so and a new winnebago, claiming....this is the best part, it didnt tell him he wasnt supposed to do that in the owners book, I have yet to see the appeal of that case though.

Basically its CYA for Lexus....as Jim Carrey puts it in Dumb and Dumber....."Theres a lot of bad drivers out there" One suggestion was marking the address before you left and you can access those, but again you need to know where you are going.

 

In addition to entering "HOME" as a destination while driving, the system allows you to access page 1 (of 2) of the "recent destinations." This page contains the 5 most recent destinations for which you had the system compute a route.

Thus, if you have several stops to make, and don't want to enter them in as "way points," you can enter up to five new addresses before you depart, and then access them as desitnations as you drive at any speed. Be sure to allow the system to compute the route before you enter another.

If you are getting the street addresses from a car phone as you drive, maybe you have your hands full anyway.

 

Today's award of $28 BILLION(!!!) to a single smoker in CA shows how crazy these juries can get...

 

Yes, $28B is an absurd number. The jury might as well have awarded her a cajillion bajillion dollars. Was Dr. Evil on the jury?? The U.S. Supreme Court had suggested that a punitive award four times the compensatory damages is where the constitutional limits are, but this punitive award is 33,000 times greater. Meanwhile, it’s curious to know that Philip Morris has NEVER lost a case on appeal. This will be an interesting one to watch.

By the way, thanks for the tips about planning my trips better. But if somebody actually knows a way to hack the system (I promise not to sue for billions if I get hurt), then please share.

Also, I'm sure there's also no way around hitting "I Agree" to that disclaimer every time you start the car, right? I hate putting any more fingerprints onto the screen than absolutely necessary, and there's quite a collection of oil building up in that lower right hand corner.

 

Hate to say it, but I keep a small cotton rag under my seat, and after cleaning my Nav. screen with Stoner's glass cleaner, I use my rag under the finger to press said button.

As for the ridiculousness of the $28 billion Phillip Morris ruling, nobody serves to gain anything from that amount, not even the attorneys. I am no fan of smoking, but what ever happened to personal responsibility? To come out with a ludicrous sum like that is an insult to the system and a waste of time and money.

 

Two things....one its not so much to reward the plaintiff, its to harm the defendant. You cannot sue a company into bankrupt, im sure PM is worth much more than that though. Punitive damges follow you everywhere even after banruptcy. Again all these are reported before appeal, the actual cause cannot be, only errors and stuff like that. But judges can reduce or change the award, but i think it has to be left up to juries for some strange reason.

Second, about hacking it, its not you who sues for billions, its the attorney who afterwards says.....so it was that easy to hack huh? we may have something here....

 

Actually, the total worth of PM (including Nabisco and other non tobacco) is less than $80Billion. That should put the absurdity in better context...