Automatic locking doors.

I still have not got around to disabling them yet and I hate having vehicles that lock the doors whenever they are moving or after so many seconds after you get in. Then having to always manually unlock them every time you need to open a door while in gear. (common situation in life where passengers are getting in and out a lot.)

Emission systems.

I don't remove them right away but they do have a short life on every vehicle I own. Usually they make about 3 months to a year before they get gutted, bypassed, overridden, or disabled in one way or another.

Seatbelt indicators or sensors.

I am a seatbelt wearer by nature but I hate having blinking lights and dingers going off every time I get in a vehicle and move it for any reason. I dont need to have a seatbelt on to drive around the yard while doing work. They get disabled at some point in time usually but not always.

I had one of those gas pedals in my 440 magnum 70 plymouth GTX... loved it.

The other day my son asked: "Dad, who told you how to drive, before you met Mum?".

... so which one of them is the worst accessory?

Worst accessory ever installed in a car is an idiot behind the wheel...

+1

This may date me, but my father owned a Hudson Hornet that had a small fan on the rear window deck. This fan had flexible rubber blades that, when a finger was inserted, would emit a sound similar to a small outboard motor or flatulence. He rewired this fan so that it could only be controlled from the dash, thus depriving us Kids of a source of amusement.

The other accessory (same car) was a small rubber-covered button on the starter relay that allowed actuation of the starter motor. I discovered this button while watching my father change a fan belt. His reaction time was an amazing thing to witness!

Way back when I was a kid, I bought a car another kid had already "personalized". He had put air shocks on the back of it and actually had the back of the car jacked up enough to put rear tires on the back that stuck out beyond the fenders. The car handled poorly all the time but was flat dangerous to drive in the rain. The now extremely un-compliant rear suspension skidded over bumps but this was nothing compared to how bad the big tires hydroplaned.

Since I was a new driver, I did not know how badly this had affected the handling. I left it like this until the tires were destroyed from rubbing the fenders. My older brother suggested to return the car to the right stance and tires. After doing this I could not believe how well the car handled.

The rear view mirror on the back side of the driver's sun visor. It's the most dangerous part ever put on a vehicle. I see women every day on my commute back and forth to work who are using them to put on makeup - ON THE INTERSTATE!! I haven't removed mine, but I don't use it for putting on makeup either.

I worked for a company that used VW buses for service vehicles. The vent knob was rubber with a plastic disc insert to make it more stable. Well one day my partner and (or) I took the insert out and lost it. We replaced it with a quarter,a perfect fit. It stayed there for years.

This was in the early 1980's.

A few years ago I went to a flea market and saw a very familiar looking VW bus. I asked the owner if there was a quarter stuck in the knob. She was amazed that I knew about it. The bus had seen 3 other owners since I left the company and none had removed the quarter. And yes It is still there today and that old boxer engine (that we ran on no oil for a month and couldn't kill) is still going strong at well over 300k miles.

Not so smart,

Speaking of VW's, my friend owned an old beetle (1949 or 50) with a windshield washer system that used air pressure from the spare tire. The reservoir mounted in the spare tire with buckled straps.

One day we were out in the middle of nowhere when the engine stalled. I found the problem to be a blocked fuel line. My friend looked at me like I had lost it when I unbuckled the washer tank, emptied the fluid, siphoned gas into it and strapped the tank to a ski rack he had on the back.

I connected the hose directly to the carburetor and we made it home. you could even see how much gas you had because the tank was translucent and right in sight outside the rear window.

Pretty quick thinking. Neat idea,a breakaway spare gas tank.

I hate those automatic seatbelts; you know....the ones that slide on a track over the driver's door. I think it was Nissan who had them.

My pickup reminded me of another one today. That dam interlock that requires you to step on the brake before you can shift out of park.

I am putting that on my things to disconnect if I ever get into the dash for some other reason again. I forgot to disable it the last time I was into the dash when I did the wiring for the propane conversion system.