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The classic design text 'The Design Of Everyday Things' praises the design of cars, and rightly so IMO. e.g. doorhandles are all intuitive and obvious how they

The classic design text 'The Design Of Everyday Things' praises the design of cars, and rightly so IMO. e.g. doorhandles are all intuitive and obvious how they are to be used, the knobs and controls are functional and well-shaped, etc. Cars are getting worse as more things transition to touchscreens. As a driver, groping at a flat, featureless touchscreen to select something is far more difficult than trying to press a button.

ptaipale 10y ago
And when driving, they are downright dangerous. Many are tempted to say "then don't operate the touchscreen when driving". But if e.g. air conditioning is controlled via touchscreen, you have little choice in case the windscreen becomes fogged while in traffic.
- izacus 10y ago
  Yp, some cars like Mazdas actually disable touchscreen when the car is moving. Of course they still have good tactile buttons to control HVAC.
  - ptaipale 10y ago
    Indeed. Does Tesla actually do that control via touchscreen? I haven't driven one; I once got one for a taxi but didn't take note.
    - mikeash 10y ago
      Temperature can be controlled using steering wheel controls. You do need to use the touchscreen to activate the defroster, though. I don't personally find it to be a problem, as the controls are right at the bottom (removing a dimension) and I never used the defroster often enough in other cars to be able to activate it without looking either.
      - tropo 10y ago
        That is just plain dangerous. There have been times that I needed the defroster, couldn't safely stop, and had to keep looking out of my rapidly-fogging window. This probably doesn't happen where Tesla's engineering is located. The typical conditions are probably 100% humidity, then suddenly getting cold rain on the windshield.
        ptaipale 10y ago
        Indeed. For driving safety, defroster control is more important than temperature control for cabin.
  - Arizhel 10y ago
    That touchscreen disabling is annoying. But luckily, it's pretty easy to hack into the system and disable it, so you can use the touchscreen any time. Much of the time, though, the "commander" knob works well for controlling the system while driving. But once in a while, there's stuff that's just too annoying to do that way, like when trying to select an artist out of your large music library on the USB drive. If there's 100+ artists, and you're trying to pick one that doesn't start with 'A', it's much faster to use the touchscreen to select the first letter on the right side alphabet bar, then select the artist from there. Also, entering in addresses on the nav system is impossible without using the touchscreen (you can only select favorites with the commander knob). So if you want to set an address while you're driving, you can't, without doing my hack above. Of course, it's probably not a good idea for you to enter an address or GPS coordinates while you're driving, but there's a second seat in the front row, next to you, which may have something called a "passenger" sitting in it, who can also easily reach the touchscreen. Preventing them from using the touchscreen when they're not even driving, and forcing the driver to find a place to pull over, is just asinine. The Mazda3's HVAC system doesn't just have "good tactile buttons", it's entirely separate from the infotainment system. On the cheaper models, it's all mechanical, and on the more expensive models it's automatic, but either way it has no connection to the infotainment at all, it's all knobs and buttons just like it should be.
Already__Taken 10y ago
You should check out a mini door handle. Weird choice.
avian 10y ago
> doorhandles are all intuitive Doors maybe, but I often hear "how do you open the trunk?" Some only open from the cabin, some have an obvious knob outside, some have a concealed knob below the registration plate, sometimes you press the company logo...
- technofiend 10y ago
  Particularly now that backup cameras are mandatory, I often find myself pressing one thinking it's the hatchback release. Hopefully they designed for that.
  - brokenmachine 10y ago
    Are backup cameras really mandatory, or do you just mean nobody sells a car without one nowadays?
    - technofiend 10y ago
      They aren't mandatory yet but I see them regularly on rental cars now, so much so I thought they were mandatory until I found a citation for you. Citation: http://www.autotrader.com/car-news/new-backup-camera-rule-cameras-will-be-mandatory-by-2018-223739 http://www.autotrader.com/car-news/new-backup-camera-rule-ca...
wccrawford 10y ago
The door handles on the rear doors of my Chevy Sonic are mostly hidden. I have to show people where they are. They usually conclude that there is no handle before I get around to telling them where they are. That said, I love the way they look, so I'm not complaining. I don't usually have passengers anyhow.

ptaipale 10y ago

And when driving, they are downright dangerous. Many are tempted to say "then don't operate the touchscreen when driving". But if e.g. air conditioning is controlled via touchscreen, you have little choice in case the windscreen becomes fogged while in traffic.

izacus 10y ago
Yp, some cars like Mazdas actually disable touchscreen when the car is moving. Of course they still have good tactile buttons to control HVAC.
- ptaipale 10y ago
  Indeed. Does Tesla actually do that control via touchscreen? I haven't driven one; I once got one for a taxi but didn't take note.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    Temperature can be controlled using steering wheel controls. You do need to use the touchscreen to activate the defroster, though. I don't personally find it to be a problem, as the controls are right at the bottom (removing a dimension) and I never used the defroster often enough in other cars to be able to activate it without looking either.
    - tropo 10y ago
      That is just plain dangerous. There have been times that I needed the defroster, couldn't safely stop, and had to keep looking out of my rapidly-fogging window. This probably doesn't happen where Tesla's engineering is located. The typical conditions are probably 100% humidity, then suddenly getting cold rain on the windshield.
      - ptaipale 10y ago
        Indeed. For driving safety, defroster control is more important than temperature control for cabin.
- Arizhel 10y ago
  That touchscreen disabling is annoying. But luckily, it's pretty easy to hack into the system and disable it, so you can use the touchscreen any time. Much of the time, though, the "commander" knob works well for controlling the system while driving. But once in a while, there's stuff that's just too annoying to do that way, like when trying to select an artist out of your large music library on the USB drive. If there's 100+ artists, and you're trying to pick one that doesn't start with 'A', it's much faster to use the touchscreen to select the first letter on the right side alphabet bar, then select the artist from there. Also, entering in addresses on the nav system is impossible without using the touchscreen (you can only select favorites with the commander knob). So if you want to set an address while you're driving, you can't, without doing my hack above. Of course, it's probably not a good idea for you to enter an address or GPS coordinates while you're driving, but there's a second seat in the front row, next to you, which may have something called a "passenger" sitting in it, who can also easily reach the touchscreen. Preventing them from using the touchscreen when they're not even driving, and forcing the driver to find a place to pull over, is just asinine. The Mazda3's HVAC system doesn't just have "good tactile buttons", it's entirely separate from the infotainment system. On the cheaper models, it's all mechanical, and on the more expensive models it's automatic, but either way it has no connection to the infotainment at all, it's all knobs and buttons just like it should be.

Already__Taken 10y ago

You should check out a mini door handle. Weird choice.

avian 10y ago

> doorhandles are all intuitive Doors maybe, but I often hear "how do you open the trunk?" Some only open from the cabin, some have an obvious knob outside, some have a concealed knob below the registration plate, sometimes you press the company logo...

technofiend 10y ago
Particularly now that backup cameras are mandatory, I often find myself pressing one thinking it's the hatchback release. Hopefully they designed for that.
- brokenmachine 10y ago
  Are backup cameras really mandatory, or do you just mean nobody sells a car without one nowadays?
  - technofiend 10y ago
    They aren't mandatory yet but I see them regularly on rental cars now, so much so I thought they were mandatory until I found a citation for you. Citation: http://www.autotrader.com/car-news/new-backup-camera-rule-cameras-will-be-mandatory-by-2018-223739 http://www.autotrader.com/car-news/new-backup-camera-rule-ca...

wccrawford 10y ago

The door handles on the rear doors of my Chevy Sonic are mostly hidden. I have to show people where they are. They usually conclude that there is no handle before I get around to telling them where they are. That said, I love the way they look, so I'm not complaining. I don't usually have passengers anyhow.