This Web that we meet on every day, this world-wide one, it’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? You type some series of letters and numbers and slashes into your keyboard, that string of characters is translated into morse code, broadcast through a global network of radio beacons, one of which has the proper receiving encoding, establishing a connection to your terminal, which then receives a video signal showing an image of the large physical paste-up boards that compose every website you visit. At least that’s how I understand it.
Really, it’s amazing it works at all, when you think about it. And yet it does, day after day, people pulling printouts from loud, clattering line-printers, then pasting those pictures and text onto huge drywall panels, focusing cameras, sending those signals out across the globe. But sometimes things do go wrong.
And when they go wrong, the website you’re visiting has to let you know. One of the most notable failures is when you request a page that simply does not exist; when this happens a particular kind of error is recorded – a 404 error. As you can imagine, almost every website has a special page to show when a 404 error occurs, and that goes for carmaker websites, too.
Out of all of these 404 error pages that carmakers have, there is only one actually good one. Here it is:
It’s Peugeot’s. Peugeot has an unusual advantage when it comes to carmaker 404 pages, because they actually made a car called the Peugeot 404. So, naturally, that’s what they use on their 404 page, and it’s fantastic. It’s obvious, simple, clever, and unquestionably the right choice.
Other carmakers, sadly, don’t have such an ideal built-in 404 advantage. So what do they do instead? Let’s take a little journey through a variety of carmaker 404 pages and see! Keep in mind, this will be thrilling, so you may want to lay down a dropcloth.
I just picked some major automakers pretty much at random, so don’t go looking for a pattern here, because there isn’t one. Not one I’m aware of, at least. Here’s Chevrolet’s 404 page, which, I have to say, isn’t bad. The winding road, disappearing off into that dense forest, does suggest being lost, which is pretty much what “not found” is. It’s evocative. Not bad, Chevy.
You know, if they didn’t use this, they could use a picture of Smoky Yunick’s cleverly cheaty 404 cubic inch Chevy NASCAR engine.
What about Ford? I’d say Ford really phoned in this one, but I’m not even sure they did that much. It just defaults to an empty “disclosures” page? Come on, Ford. Do something.
Nissan takes the apology route, using typography that weirdly feels like it’s from a fast food chain. It’s nice of Nissan not to put the blame on me, but I don’t think a 404 error necessarily demands any apologies. Shit happens, sometimes.
If we go sort of Nissan-adjacent, we have Renault, which goes with a moody-arty photo of the badge. This approach seems to be a bit of a trend, with at least one other major automaker taking the same tactic:
Yep, Mercedes-Benz also goes for the moody badge photo. I think Mercedes-Benz is especially proud of their illuminated badges and they really wanted to show these off, perhaps to act as a sort of guiding light for those web browsers who have lost their way and ended up in 404itude.
Here’s another sort of trend, as shown by Volkswagen: the person. Yes, the page doesn’t exist, but that person seems undeterred, scrolling on their phone that’s resting on the roof of their car. Sure, you can’t find the page you wanted, but look at her! She’s perfectly happy. Perhaps you can be, too.
Citroën is doing something similar. You can’t find your page, but there’s a very calm woman you can see there, unbothered by your predicament. If she can be so calm at a time like this, perhaps there’s hope for you as well. Look at the resting woman; emulate her.
Over at Kia, it’s all business. In fact, Kia is the only one to give you a command to solve this issue: Contact system administration. Really, Kia? I’m not gonna do that. You can’t find my page and now I have to figure out who the hell to call in Kia’s IT department? Screw that. I’m not your beta tester.
Hyundai has a similar straightforward page, but with a little whimsy, referring to the end of a “journey” and having little line drawings of warning signs and traffic cones. It feels municipal.
Cadillac has some nice typography and a sort of explanation. They can’t seem to find what you’re looking for. It happens! But, they give you some links they think may be helpful, a way to get to the home page, or buy a car.
Honda, though, is different. They also have a little explanatory text that they couldn’t find your page, but it’s superimposed over the Earth itself, suggesting that they combed the entire freaking globe looking for your page before giving up. This is a powerful 404 page, suggesting Honda’s global strength. Also, they ask if you were trying to go somewhere else. I’m not sure if they really care, but it’s nice they asked.
This one is from BMW. They really phoned it in. Thanks for putting in the effort, fellas.
Porsche’s is pretty simple, but I kind of like it. They made the 404 itself the design element of the whole page, letting it fade out into nothingness, perhaps as a way of signaling that they understand the ephemeral nature of, well, everything.
What about some niche manufacturers, like Morgan? They have fairly minimal text, just a big 404 and a reminder that the page is not found, but at least it’s superimposed over a nice moody silhouette image of a Morgan, headlights blazing.
Not niche enough? Fine. Here’s what Madagascar’s only carmaker, Karenjy, shows you when it can’t find your page:
Hey, that’s pretty good. Not exactly car-related, but an interesting image that’s unique to this particular company. I hope BMW sees this and feels embarassed.
UPDATE: We got a comment from an Autopian named Tekamul that notes Rivian’s 404 page, and they’re right, it is pretty good:
The 0 in 404 being formed by the extended-circle (it’s not really an oval) driving light, the reminder being lost can be an adventure (though not now), it all suggests that someone actually gave a damn. So good work there, Rivian.
This BMW one is the worst. Default sans serif black typeface on white. No explanation, to let you know that it is a 404 – page not found rather than their site being down, or something else. No helpful links, not even a single one, to get you out of this pit. And an invitation to repeat your vexation until the heat death of the universe.
This is the useless CHECK ENGINE light of web pages.
Scout Motors’ is also decent in the same sensibility as Rivian’s.
Now if they put a 403 on permission errors I’d really be impressed.
I write APIs sometimes and you have to return an HTTP code, usually it’s 200 if everything went well and 500 if they didn’t or 401 if they’re not authenticated but sometimes you need something a little more specific and I can’t remember all of the codes so I’m thankful that there’s a website out there with a very easy to remember address to look these up.
https://http.cat/
Nissan… using typography that weirdly feels like it’s from a fast food chain.
Totally on brand with that hamburger logo of theirs.
The Peugeot pun is pretty great, but if Arrow’d Guy isn’t involved, getting 404’d is just not the same.
Props to Peugeot! It’s not often that a pun works across language barriers.
I know the woman in the Citroen page is supposed to be relaxing on some sort of textured duvet, but the pattern makes it look like she’s a very tiny woman relaxing on a leather-textured vinyl dashboard. Which actually seems pretty on-brand for Citroen, somehow.
We’re not going to talk about how said duvet appears to be suspended from the ceiling, and she in turn is suspended under it?
Surely she should be relaxing on a hammock seat taken out of a 2CV?
Not that I’ve ever owned one, but now, thanks to reading this article, I have to drop Volkswagen down towards the bottom of my list.
Since I do not own a mobile phone, any commercial I see on the TV or random ad that gets by AdBlock and pops up on my computer that shows a person interacting with a smart-phone automatically gets dropped into the ‘don’t-buy-from-them-because-they-have-dumb-ads’ category for me.
Oh, well, the only Volkswagen I would have considered would have been a Karmann-Ghia and I wouldn’t have been buying one of those directly from Volkswagen anyway. 🙂
For the brand that had the audacity to subscription-model basic vehicle functions like heated seats, and styling that really doesn’t care what you thing: BMW just doesn’t feel embarrassment
Rivian’s is cute. They use their iconic headlight ring as the ‘0’.
https://images.ctfassets.net/2md5qhoeajym/64fV9OQvMJKrw4KkM45HEH/f50a8756e3150f221e72bc2691a16c24/404_hero_desktop.jpg
yes, that one is good!
Seems like a lot of manufacturers will be able to put an image of a shift pattern on a gear shift knob on their 404 pages very soon, if not already.
The Japanese websites apologizing is very on point.
Well, I’d rather have a 404 than a 187. There’s a lot of things I’d like to 86 also. But not 7 of 9.
BMW should have an image of a turn signal stalk on their 404 page.
COTD