Dozen reasons to send car designers back to school
Bill Howard reviews a new vehicle each week for the website, TechnoRide. While most people envy this aspect of his job, he points out that driving so many vehicles exposes him to flaws and foibles that generate responses ranging from "Huh?" to "What were they thinking?" to "Stop the car, I want to get out." Here are the twelve designs elements that particularly peeved Howard...
- Space-wasting ashtrays
- Mechanical transmissions
- No digital owners' manuals
- Bad PDF manuals
- No PDF hot links
- Dumb button placement
- Overly reflective wooden consoles
- Nag screens
- Where's the Map button
- No LCD screen controls
- Unintelligent night settings
- Dumb speaker systems
Related: Technology Overload
[Source: TechnoRide]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Sam 10:31AM (7/17/2006)
Nothing like driving a good manual transmission and using both arms and legs in the process. Pity that this joy of driving has eluded Mr. Howard.
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Dr. Woo 10:36AM (7/17/2006)
2. Mechanical transmissions?
Somebody smack this guy. Really. A miniscule minority of vehicles for sale today are available strictly with a standard gearbox.
And if you want one of those with an auto, then you aren't a car guy.
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hj 10:48AM (7/17/2006)
LCD screen controls!? I can't stand these. The last thing I need is to be distracted by navigating a touch screen while I'm driving. This is one of the things I can't stand about the Prius. The HVAC controls are in the touch-screen LCD display. In order to adjust your climate settings you need to navingate this annoying touch-screen computer. It's one of those scienrios where technology does not equal practicality and is just an unnessecary annoyance.
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Robin 10:52AM (7/17/2006)
The biggest design pet peeve I have is the location of the spedometer in relation to the steering wheel on 99% of cars. I have a Scion xa and I've driven a Mini with the center spedometer... but I can never see 40 through 80 on regualr spedometers without moving my head or slouching . Drives me nuts.
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Dave 10:58AM (7/17/2006)
I agree with hj on the worthlessness of touch screen controls. They may be nice for functions that you should use while parked (ie. entering a GPS destination), but are completely useless for common functions like HVAC and audio. They completely lack any tactile feedback, requiring the driver to focus on some stupid LCD screen (that might be washed out in sunlight) instead of using muscle memory to flip a simple switch.
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DumbGuy 11:03AM (7/17/2006)
Anyone have an example of "dumb speaker systems"?
Does a smart speaker system exist? If so, how intelligent is it?
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APK 11:08AM (7/17/2006)
I think when he says mechanical transmission, he means when an automatic still has the shifter. I think he reasons that if you are removing the need to use the shifter, other than when you start and end you journey, then they should move it, as it gets in the way.
I agree. He has written some stuff talking about good manuals so I think we are miss-understanding his point.
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DustinTarditi 11:09AM (7/17/2006)
Manuals have nothing to do with the design of the car... nag screens are dictated by lawyers in suits, not engineers. Basically, 1/2 of his major peeeves had nothing to do with the designers themselves - sounds like Howard should go back to journalism school and leave the "driving archaic cars with MANUAL transmissions" for us knuckle-dragging commonfolk.
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jordan 11:11AM (7/17/2006)
i agree with hj and robin. first, i hate having to use a touchscreen to adjust climate controls...i'd much rather be able to grab a knob and twist it, as i can do that without even looking if i've driven the car enough
and i run into a similar issue with the speedometer. i can't see 50-70 on mine, i just have to guess a relative position around 60 since 60 is at about 12 o'clock
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JZeke 11:16AM (7/17/2006)
Car designers, an interesting bunch...
While designers should theoretically be in charge of the whole aesthetic experience of a car -- the way you interact, feel and use the thing -- most are stylists, and paid to stay that way.
You ask a designer today to work these things out, and usually the hubris of being the "looks" guy means you'll get attitude. Hell i do it all the time, I hate dealing with some of these little issues. You have to fight marketing, and sales and the old guys who run the place on everything. It gets tiring.
I admit ive let buttons go out in funny places, trim to be a bit too shiny etc, just to get something out the door. All you want to do is hand off the concept to some savvy engineers to work out those details, but honestly, they usually dont care about those things either.
Heres the thing, most design schools dont TEACH this stuff, I learned it all on the job. I guess thats why im in product development in charge of refinement...
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G. Snyder 11:21AM (7/17/2006)
Who reads manuals? Retard.
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Robert Brodrecht 11:24AM (7/17/2006)
Ash Tray = Change Holder. 'Nuff said.
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epilonious 11:26AM (7/17/2006)
hj: "This is one of the things I can't stand about the Prius. The HVAC controls are in the touch-screen LCD display. In order to adjust your climate settings you need to navingate this annoying touch-screen computer. It's one of those scienrios where technology does not equal practicality and is just an unnessecary annoyance."
Last time I checked... the prius has both temp and fan-speed buttons on the steering wheel... and an automatic climate control system... so you should be able to say "I want the car at 72" and move on with life and driving.
Howsabout reading the manual to figure out the ways you can control the car without using the touch screen before you complain about the LCD being the only control option
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Robert Aitchison 11:27AM (7/17/2006)
APK I though that at first as well though I read TFA and he even mentioned "paddle shifters behind the steering wheel for those who feel the need to shift for themselves"
I left the following comment:
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While a significant appeal of a manual transmission is the ability to control the behavior of the car (actually drive it) and that control is available with shiftable automatics (though some systems provide more control than others) it's not the only reason.
For me, the #1 reason I'd never consider a car with an automatic transmission, manually shiftable or not, is the power, responsiveness & efficiency (economy) robbing torque converter that automatics are saddled with that has earned them the not-so-affectionate term "slushbox" among many driving enthusiasts.
Now a sequential manual gear box, even one with an "automatic" mode, I'd be all over that.
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Dicky 11:31AM (7/17/2006)
Here's a few I'd like to add to the list:
- Power running boards
- Power third row seats
- Power rear lift gates
Do designers really think most consumers are that lazy, or are their designs so bad that they'll incorporate any gimic to try to differentiate themselves?
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John B 11:34AM (7/17/2006)
#7 APK:
Here is what Howard wrote: "2. Mechanical transmissions. Transmissions with mechanical linkages could be replaced by shift-by-wire transmission selectors on the dash, plus paddle shifters behind the steering wheel for those who feel the need to shift for themselves."
Not much ambiguity here. He's a girly man though.
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epp_b 11:38AM (7/17/2006)
No mechanical transmissions? So, what, are there new engines in the pipeline that can rev to 200,000 RPM? Fascinating!
Assuming he meant "manual" transmissions (because transmissions are obviously mechnical, no matter how you control them)...learn how to drive or go around reviewing flowers or something. You don't belong at a car review site. No one who prefers an automatic transmission is a car person, and paddle shifters are for posers. Period.
As for LCD touch screens, I'm not so much against them as I am against the generally poor design of their software and menu navigation. Really, they need only a few main buttons on one main menu:
- Stereo (self-explanitory)
- Ventilation (A/C, Fan & Heat)
- Settings (basic things like screen sensitivity, etc.)
And that really need be it - there are no sub menus, it just displays the controls for the selected option. Honestly, no one cares to set the timeout for the interior lights after you shut off the car.
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hj 11:38AM (7/17/2006)
Another complaint I have is the gigantic tach on the honda civic. Who needs a huge tach taking up 90% of the guage cluster space when they're driving an automatic!? And digital gauges!? eughkkk If I wanted digital gauges I'd get a Camaro Berlinetta!
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mutant 12:14PM (7/17/2006)
what a complete idiot. why would autoblog give him a post?
can someone give an example of a transmission that is NOT mechanical? No, I didn't think so.
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Ronin317 12:21PM (7/17/2006)
The article and list are poorly thought out and lame. There was something similar on www.thetruthaboutcars.com late last week about what features are "oversold and useless" that was much better...
I just wanted to chime in on the auto-tranny bashing. Get over it. Most people can't drive the car to being with, giving them a manual would kill them and whoever they hit. But that's not the only reason for an auto...
To say that people who drive autos are not 'car people' is ridiculous. It's a choice...and while I'd love to be driving a manual, I don't see that as being a big deal in a luxo sedan. If I was going for a pure sports car, then give me nothing but. And a paddle shifted DSG is the god of transmissions...sticks and clutches will be dead in short order in the wake of VW's DSG...
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