Top 10 Auto Interior Annoyances
That's right, today we split hairs, obsess over the little stuff and worry about tempests in teapots. While we admit to all that, we must point out that collectively, we drive a lot of cars. And since most of our time is spent sitting in the driver's seat, certain things tend to annoy us more than others. After endless online bitchfests, our list of gripes and grievances reached critical mass and we finally decided to distill into a top-ten list of interior annoyances.
A word about the order of the list. Unlike, say, David Letterman and his ur-list that builds and builds with the jokes getting crueler and funnier as you climb, this particular list is in no particular order. Truth be told told, not everyone on staff agrees with every item on the list. In fact – and believe it or not – we had a pretty heated exchange over a couple of them. Which just goes to show how important car interiors can be. And now, on to the list!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
RamblinReck89 12:04PM (8/06/2009)
Why does it say "coming soon" when I click the link?
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Quantumphysics 5:58PM (8/06/2009)
YES THERE IS A REASON CARS HAVE "auto down" but not "auto up" windows.
Its the same reason cars changed to pull switches for windows... its because people are stupid and let their kids play in cars and occassionaly one of the morons steps on or leans on the window switch which causes it to rise up and choke the sht out of them.
If window switches had auto-up, it would make choking yourself out like David Carradine 10 times easier cause then, you'd only have to accidentaly hit the switch once.
BTW - these kids deserve Darwin Awards.
RamblinReck89 7:05PM (8/06/2009)
What that has to do with my comment, I'll never know. But I'll address it anyways. It can't be that hard to put a pressure switch or something on the window so that if a idiot's head/arm/leg/torso/phallus gets caught in it, it goes down.
evilspoons 9:43PM (8/06/2009)
Quantumphysics is right.
Cars with auto-up need to have motors that can sense when they are over-torquing and consequenty STOP the window before it cuts your arm or head off. My Volvo S60 has auto-up front windows and an auto-close sunroof, but they stop if ANYTHING touches them while they're going up/closed.
Because it's a Volvo, the rear windows DO NOT auto-close, because even the sensitivity of the fronts is not enough to prevent squashing a small child's fingers.
daleam 9:35PM (8/09/2009)
"Quantumphysics - YES THERE IS A REASON CARS HAVE "auto down" but not "auto up" windows."
You beat me to it. I mean, who writes this crap?!
"RamblinReck89 - It can't be that hard to put a pressure switch or something on the window so that if a idiot's head/arm/leg/torso/phallus gets caught in it, it goes down."
Perhaps. But it can be quite hard to get such equipment to pass federal regulations which require that such devices be certified and guaranteed to work.
Mike7 12:06PM (8/06/2009)
"Top 10 Auto Interior Annoyances"
"Click Here to Begin"
*Clicks*
"Coming soon."
Annoying!
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Damon Lavrinc 12:08PM (8/06/2009)
Sorry guys, had a URL issue. It should be fixed.
zamafir 12:19PM (8/06/2009)
LMAO @ Audi A4/A5/S5.
Sure, having to dig through the best solution on the market to do something can be a bit cumbersome. Last I checked, though, you won't have to spend some time doing so to get the best performance out of your Audi, as you need to with say the M5, et-al.
I guess I'm one of the few who doesn't mind an extra step for radio, et-al, but for some crazy reason, does mind several when it comes to powertrain and suspension.
So why the blind eye to iDrive?
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Thomas 1:52PM (8/06/2009)
"But those of us in the motoring press get about seven days with a vehicle"
Sorry. You get no sympathy from me. I drive one car, and I know what side it's on. It's been there for the last 9 years. Spend the extra fraction of a second it takes to look at the car for the door on the way in. Problem solved.
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waiownsyou 12:12PM (8/06/2009)
I fully agree with the cupholders. I drive a BMW E39 5-series and those cupholders want to make me jump off a tall building!
They don't hold anything wider than a can of soda.
If anything is as big as a "medium" drink from a fast food chain-- it'll be tilted because of the radio controls and won't stand up.
Turning above 15 mph will cause the drink to spill. No exceptions.
It's made of cheap plastic and super easy to break.
The plastic "modular" cupholders cost more than $50 to replace at the dealer (part only). I'm pretty sure it's cheaper to hire a day laborer from The Hope Depot to hold my cup for a year.
They can make an excellent car but apparently, Germans don't ever have drinks in their cars.
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waiownsyou 12:15PM (8/06/2009)
Oh, and I also hate the "feature" in which the windows/moonroof are lowered by the key remote/fob but cannot be raised back up without turning on the car.
Greg 1:17PM (8/06/2009)
Those bad boys also have a 100% failure rate!
Jared 1:28PM (8/07/2009)
You want to see horrible cupholders? Look at pre-1999 3rd generation 4Runners. The cupholders slide out of the dash near the radio and are just 2 skinny loops to sorta hold the bottom of the cup. Too bad whenever you take a turn and the body roll of a 10 year old SUV sets in, the drink tips either into yours or your passanger's lap from a nice little height (so it pops open) or it falls onto your shifter/stuff you have near your shifter. And don't put cold drinks in them either, b/c the condensation it will collect from sitting infront of the vents will make it drip all over your aftermarket radio. Sucks.
Venom 12:12PM (8/06/2009)
This has got to be one of the best posts ever.
I agree 100% with everything said.
I swear the car company execs don't drive their own cars or ask anyone else for their opinion.
I have owned a multitude of cars in my lifetime from many different car companies and never has any of them sent a survey or had a dealer ask me what I like or dislike and I am sure no one else on here has either.
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waiownsyou 12:16PM (8/06/2009)
lol it replied to the wrong person. Gotta love the comment system.
Richard 12:34PM (8/06/2009)
That actually makes sense as a safety feature - lowering the windows without being able to see the car is pretty much guaranteed safe. Raising them when you can't see if there's anything in the way, not so much.
sk 12:44PM (8/06/2009)
ryan, that's why there is a little sensor that take car of that.
Judy Zik 3:15PM (8/06/2009)
The Windows thing is one of those car Nannies. Same reason why we all have to have those push down pull up switches now. A few kids managed to get strangled when left in cars unattended. Looks like everyone will soon have sensors on the windows to eliminate the problem.
What is missing from this list is buttons that are two low or especially too small for their placement on the dash. If you put a button down low you better make it big so I can find it quickly. Another is indicator lights on buttons that wash out in the sun so you can't tell if the A/C or whatever is on. Or buttons with not backlight at night. I am also not a fan of obscure symbols. I shouldn't be scratching my head wonder what that button does.
My next cardinal sin for automakers would be cupholders, parking brakes, arm rests or consoles that intrude on your personal space when driving. The driver should be able to sit comfortably but also access all the controls (including the handbrake) without having to move anything out of the way.
On the cupholders side another favourite is the ones where once you put a drink in them you can't access the radio or climate controls or end up doing so by accident just grabbing your cup.
Turning signal stalks that are too short for people with small hands to reach while still holding the wheel. On the same topic cruise control stalks that are too close or too similar to the turning signal stalk.
My topic pet peeve about car interiors right now is visability. With all the monster head rests and tiny windows you are lucky if you can see out to park.
joborras 12:12PM (8/06/2009)
Re: that fuel door dilemma. Even without the arrow, it is almost a universal convention that the drawing/icon of the fuel PUMP will tell you what side of the car the cap is on.
Look at that Mini again - see how that pump is drawn such that the nozzle is on your right? When you look at the pumps, pull up to the one that looks like that - I don't know for sure, but I would bet dollars to donuts that the Mini's fuel door is on the left (US driver's) side.
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joborras 12:17PM (8/06/2009)
Just checked - the Mini's fuel door does seem to be on the left side.
I have owned over 30 cars and worked on many, many more ... the pump icon has always been 100% dead-on.