3 ms·

My nomination for the Real World Interface Hall Of Shame - 2002 Toyota Camry factory stereo system volume control. First, though, let me ask a question. When o

My nomination for the Real World Interface Hall Of Shame - 2002 Toyota Camry factory stereo system volume control. First, though, let me ask a question. When one turns the volume control down on a stereo, what are you communicating to the system? I think a reasonable answer is "I want things to be quieter." But according to Toyota engineering, that's a wrong answer. You see, some genius over at Toyota reasoned, when the operator turns the volume control progressively lower, to the point one can just barely hear the music (whisper level), the stereo should make a loud beep through the speakers to indicate that the system is quiet. I must repeat that. The stereo beeps loudly to indicate you have reached minimum volume. Why? <sarcasm> Obviously because because you might not otherwise realize that the music is very quiet by simply not hearing any music while rotating the volume control. And it's well known that the universal sign for "I'm quiet" is a loud beep, like shouting "I AM VERY QUIET NOW!!" which is what everyone does, right? This is especially desirable when you have a sleeping baby in the car. Because sleeping babies love loud beeps.</sarcasm> The beep could not be disabled. I still cannot fathom what they were thinking.

mirkules 8y ago
This does not surprise me. I once worked for a automotive vendor. “We” were designing a website which had a user registration portion (I put “we” in quotes because as I later discovered, all my work I’ve done up to that point was treated as a set of suggestions rather than engineering solutions by our HQ in Japan). Anyway, we discovered that pushing the back button in the browser completely messes up the form, to which there are well-documented and easy fixes. A few weeks later, the HQ says they solved the issue, and I watched their presentation in horror as they explained how the only good solution was to disable the back button on the entire site. So, to answer your question “what were they thinking?”: Obviously, if you need to turn down the volume in the car past the minimum level, you should turn off the stereo instead.
- jackhack 8y ago
  wow. And as a result the kludges just keep piling up, one on another. >>Obviously, if you need to turn down the volume in the car past the minimum level, you should turn off the stereo instead. Yep, you guessed it -- that's exactly what happened. I'd just switch it off entirely. I didn't realize until the next car that I had developed an aversion to using a stereo at all as a result of this experience. It was a few years before I learned not to flinch when turning down the radio. Sure, in the larger scale of things, it was only a minor irritation, but once it gets under your skin it's impossible to ignore. I think the fact that I'm still thinking about it more than 15 years later, is testimony.
  - mirkules 8y ago
    Sometimes there may not be huge glaring problems, but rather so many little ones that it makes using the product insufferable. Death by a thousand cuts.

mirkules 8y ago

This does not surprise me. I once worked for a automotive vendor. “We” were designing a website which had a user registration portion (I put “we” in quotes because as I later discovered, all my work I’ve done up to that point was treated as a set of suggestions rather than engineering solutions by our HQ in Japan). Anyway, we discovered that pushing the back button in the browser completely messes up the form, to which there are well-documented and easy fixes. A few weeks later, the HQ says they solved the issue, and I watched their presentation in horror as they explained how the only good solution was to disable the back button on the entire site. So, to answer your question “what were they thinking?”: Obviously, if you need to turn down the volume in the car past the minimum level, you should turn off the stereo instead.

jackhack 8y ago
wow. And as a result the kludges just keep piling up, one on another. >>Obviously, if you need to turn down the volume in the car past the minimum level, you should turn off the stereo instead. Yep, you guessed it -- that's exactly what happened. I'd just switch it off entirely. I didn't realize until the next car that I had developed an aversion to using a stereo at all as a result of this experience. It was a few years before I learned not to flinch when turning down the radio. Sure, in the larger scale of things, it was only a minor irritation, but once it gets under your skin it's impossible to ignore. I think the fact that I'm still thinking about it more than 15 years later, is testimony.
- mirkules 8y ago
  Sometimes there may not be huge glaring problems, but rather so many little ones that it makes using the product insufferable. Death by a thousand cuts.