Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was at a gas station at dusk - getting dark. A nice elderly lady in a brand new fancy expensive sedan rolls window down and asks me for help. She can't figure out how to turn on the headlights of this brand new car that her husband just bought for her.
That's nothing new. If people don't bother to learn a new car's basic controls before leaving the driveway who's fault is that? Not the designer's, not marketing. I recall sitting in my godmother's Toyota over 30 years ago watching and listening to her fumbling around unable to figure out how to turn on the headlights. We were on our way to their vacation home and happened to leave a restaurant after dark. It wasn't a brand new car but she habitually didn't drive at night and commented she wasn't sure she'd ever used them. The design had very little to do with it.
Last edited by Parnassia; 12-25-2020 at 10:05 AM..
That's nothing new. If people don't bother to learn a new car's basic controls before leaving the driveway who's fault is that? Not the designer's, not marketing. I recall sitting in my godmother's Toyota over 30 years ago watching and listening to her fumbling around unable to figure out how to turn on the headlights. We were on our way to their vacation home and happened to leave a restaurant after dark. It wasn't a brand new car but she habitually didn't drive at night and commented she wasn't sure she'd ever used them. The design had very little to do with it.
You bring up a good point. Instead of car controls being "somewhat universal", therefore making it easy for a person to be able to easily adapt to another car, it appears that the engineers/designers are going in the opposite direction. Each manufacturer feels that THEIR engineers know what's best for the general public, therefore they make their cars unique, thinking that there's only one driver for that car, who will eventually learn and adapt to that vehicle's nuances, no matter how quirky they may be.
Either party has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the other party was negligent. The mere fact that the manual said to always use the parking brake is irrelevant on its own. It's easier, I think, for the car owner to prove that the design of the shifter was garbage, and likely to lead to accidents, and that the parking brake warning wasn't prominent enough, and should have been permanently etched on the dash in 3 inch letters. It's also simple to demonstrate that only a very small percentage of drivers use the parking brake, and that the shifter should put the car in park without any real effort by the driver.
Thanks! I appreciate you answering my question. I see your point.
Location: Removing a snake out of the neighbor's washing machine
3,095 posts, read 2,044,053 times
Reputation: 2305
Quote:
Originally Posted by leadfoot4
You bring up a good point. Instead of car controls being "somewhat
universal", therefore making it easy for a person to be able to easily
adapt to another car, it appears that the engineers/designers are going
in the opposite direction. Each manufacturer feels that THEIR engineers
know what's best for the general public, therefore they make their cars
unique, thinking that there's only one driver for that car, who will
eventually learn and adapt to that vehicle's nuances, no matter how
quirky they may be.
Problem is, there's no money in universal/standardized interfaces any more.
We should be thankful that the controls for power windows in cars, and visual icons on dashboard controls and indicators are pretty much of the same form factor from one manufacturer to another.
And no, despite what others on here might say, there's no reason or expectation for someone to have to learn three steps to do something in a new car that took them only one or two steps to accomplish in an older model. Especially in cars which now have wider wheels and lower profile tires and EPS(electric steering) which require more attention from the driver and frequent correction than the steering in cars of twenty or more years ago.
My Jeep Renegade has a shifter on the floor, but the 4WD thing is a control located on the dash. Why not just put the shift lever on the steering column and increase the storage space on the console? Hardly any place to put your drink or ashtray where you can reach it without taking your eyes totally off the road.
The article you cited included that even if you were smart enough to navigate a Federations Starship, that you could still be killed by your Jeep Grand Cherokee. As a famous Chinese Engineer once noted, "Some Ting's Wong".
If people don't bother to learn a new car's basic controls before leaving the driveway who's fault is that?
For you youngsters here.
The light switch on a vehicle was a pull knob to the left of the steering wheel. Pull once for running lights. Pull twice for headlights. AND the switch was marked LIGHTS.
What is wrong with a column shift ? The column shift takes up less space then a floor shifter.
BRAGGING RIGHTS.
Do we need new obtuse designs - so that we can show our neighbors, our family, our co-workers - that we have something "cool" ???
Hogwash. Line up the designers, the market people, and the CEO's - and throw tomatoes at them.
Doesn't mean I have to buy one! Like I said, 2010 is my cutoff model year.
I look at driving as how much time can be spent looking out your windows, and as little time having to look inside the car to figure out how to do something that used to be second nature.
Sure dude, rail against progress, while you drive your hand crank starting manual advance, crash gearbox manual wipers and windowed, un-airconditioned 1920s machine. Which you do right?
What time is spent looking down? Turn on the lights, its on a stalk on the column, do gears? Its a one shot and paddles, and modes on the wheel, wipers the other side stalk to the lights. I have to dig for my filler cap release, but thats not an issue while moving, I don't open the filler cap while moving.
And looking out the window? I have a HUD, stops me needing to glance at the instrument cluster, which is far and away spending more time looking at where I'm going than standard instruments, which are just a backup.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
