Remember when most cars worked pretty much the same, control-wise? Through the 70s, 80s, and 90s, you could plop yourself into virtually anything with four wheels (“normal” cars, at least) and instantly figure it out. If it was an automatic, the PRNDL selector was loud and proud on the center console or a sturdy steel arm reaching out from the steering column. Headlights, climate controls, radio tuning and volume … basically all the same. American car, maybe you pull a knob for the headlights. And the high beam switch might be on the floor (I’m a fan of that one, actually). But once you know, you know, and it’s not hard. Nor something you forget. Or have trouble instructing someone else how to do.
Today’s cars, not so much. Most recently, I was confounded by, of all things, a 2014 Honda Accord. Connecting my phone via Bluetooth was a three-step, two-screen process. WHY. But still, not too bad. Not remotely as bad as, say, the original BMW iDrive.
BMW presented fourth-gen 7-series drivers with a big ol’ knob, so obviously the idea was to turn it. But wait! You could also slide it side to side and fore-aft, like a very short joystick. And push it down, as a button. Slide through selections, click to choose a menu, rotate to choose within the menu–or was it rotate, then slide? Good thing nothing was labeled. And the UI you were controlling with the thing was, ehhh, not great. Even BMW owners with all the time in the world to get used to it (as opposed to finicky car journos) expressed continued frustration with the OG iDrive.
[Editor’s Note: This topic was brought about by the Jeep Wrangler YJ’s headlight switch placement. It is bad:
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-DT]
Every experienced Acura’s True Touchpad Interface (TTI)? It looks like a trackpad, but alas, it is not–not if you associate ‘trackpad’ with responsiveness to finger-swiping. TTI didn’t respond to swipes, no matter how much it seemed to invite you to drag your greasy french-fry grabbers across its matte-black surface. No, the TTI had to be precisely tapped. But there was still some swiping yet to be done! A narrow strip of pad next to the not-trackpad is where you could drag your finger–now trembling with rage, presumably–to scroll through whatever you selected with your extremely precise taps on the other pad-thing. Cool.
And if we roll the clock back to the 1960s and earlier, it was very common for cars to have knobs and buttons that weren’t labeled at all (like the DKW/Auto Union above), and gave no indication whatsoever via form or location as to what might happen when pushed, pulled, or twisted. Maybe you’ll activate the choke. Perhaps your passenger will be ejected through the roof. You don’t know. What are you going to do, read the manual? Admit defeat and put Dymo labels on there?
And so, The Autopian asks: What Is The Most Frustrating User-Interface Or Control Placement You’ve Seen In A Car?
Image credits, top shot: Hugo Venter/Wikimedia Commons; luismolinero/stock.adobe.com
Touchscreens, especially with no haptic feedback, are the worst interface in my opinion. I recently bought a Model 3 and while they do a better job than some with the layout, it takes too much focus away from driving.
However, as a counterpoint to the article, the iDrive control in my 2008 335i is actually a good interface with one important note: I replaced the original display with an aftermarket Carplay unit. Because everything on the screen can be scrolled to and selected with the iDrive knob, it is actually my preferred interface.
My MGB has a toggle switch under the dash that seems to have no effect on anything. As it is connected to some Lucas electronics, I am afraid to play with it or remove it as that may render the car inoperable.
Maybe it’s aftermarket. My 79 B doesn’t have anything like that, but my dad’s MGA has an unlabeled aftermarket toggle that was wired in to turn on and off the fuel pump. It’s sort of an antitheft device because you can only get about a 1/4 mile if you forget to turn it on.
The button to deactivate the Engine Stop/Start being on the wrong side of the gearstick on my Euro B8 Passat is annoying. Nearly everything else on it is okay though, aside from the touch screen interface, which is slow and temperamental.
A few:
1) Ford putting the horn button on the end of the fucking turn signal stalk on the 79 LTD. It’s been over 40 years, and it’s still stupid.
2) I had a Mazda CX3 as a courtesy car once. I never did figure out how to turn off the radio.
3) On the E90 3 series, the wiper stalk is just below and a little closer to the driver than the turn signal stalk. If your left hand is low on the wheel, and you want to signal a right turn, your windshield gets cleared. I know it is against the rules to use turn signals in a Bimmer, but I’m a rebel.
4) Unconventional shifter designs. It wasn’t broke, you didn’t need to fix it.
While I agree that shifter designs might be change for change’s sake, I do think it’s cool that many of them take up less space than older ones.
Sure, my old ’97 Econoline’s shifter was satisfying to use, it stuck out a lot, and if you figure it the entire portion of the dash behind its range of motion couldn’t be used for anything else….suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad.
But yeah, I wish everyone could settle on something like those Allison gear push-button selectors I’ve seen on buses. Simple, requires very deliberate motions to use…
Do column shifters usually stick out more or block more dash than a wiper stalk?
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/ford/econoline/2008/photos-interior/dashboard
Using the Econoline as an example–that shifter is in Park in that leading image, but in Drive or 2 or 1 it might be level with or slightly below that cigarette lighter to the right of it. You draw a triangle out of that space, yeah, I’m sure that’s missed opportunity for something, although of course this is a wide-ass van with more spartan dashboard requirements and features.
I don’t have personal experience with smaller cars’ column shifters except vague memories of a rental minivan my parents used once. It was definitely smaller than the van’s, but the angle I recall it sticking out at still meant it “took up space”, probably similar to a wiper stalk. I’m not sure.
I don’t mean to demonize any options here. My only point is that column shifters still take up some space.
350Z has two buttons near your right knee (on RHD versions at least) that you can’t see while driving. One washes the headlights (which at night actually gives you several seconds of not being able to see) and the other turns off the stability and traction control. Being inclined to do skids, and also not get arrested, I’d frequently be on a drive at night, reach down the enable skid mode, then go blind.
Also on that car: pulling the lights stalk to dip the headlights would often rotate the stalk and turn them off.
Great car to drive in daylight though.
Speaking of which: I had a Toyota curtesy car with auto-dipping headlights that wouldn’t allow me to use full beams on the unlit road I live on.
The GT86 has rotary knobs for fan speed and temperature, great for adjusting without looking, but air direction is controlled by pressing a button to scroll though a menu on a display at knee level.
Well, this is a) a European issue and b) not focused on any physical controller that takes care of multiple actions, but rather on THE most obnoxious UI ever put in a car.
Here I go: What Renault used to control their infotainment until very recently is the most insulting piece of programming I ever fretted about. It’s slow. It has a resistive screen surface (rather than capacitive) and here comes the part about the menus.
Want to change a radio station? Sure, but you gotta find the radio widget first, or go through a media overview.
Want to put in your nav destination? Sure, just go to the map and let’s see. Okay now I have to tap this teeny tiny compass icon. What do I want here? Let’s see… Points of interest? Change my home address? Oh, right, we wanted to go somewhere… silly! Let’s start by selecting the country first. I’m sure it’s better than starting with the address that is in the country you’re already in, because who knows, if I want to travel to Albania today and stroll through the Netherlands tomorrow – that’s what we do in Europe all the time anyway, right?
I want to switch to Spotify… okay, where’s Bluetooth? Ooops, it forgot the phone! No matter, let’s head to our radio presets. I mean, we’ve been to the frequency selector already. How hard can it be? Hm… Can’t find it. Let’s wait for some quieter bit of road to look again. Ooops! It went back to the home screen all by itself. What do we see here? Okay, the air quality inside the car is good! Nice to know…
The nav widget says we’re travelling on a road, from what I can see. Well, I guess that’s true. Better then driving on water or through somebody’s attic. Would it be nice if it’d zoom out a little when going a bit faster? Bah… humbug!
Perhaps we can control it more easily through the gauge cluster. Is there a button to change the information on the display?
Found it! It’s one single button! Let’s see. Oooh, now the tachometer is blue. Now it’s red! What else can we do? Aha! Kilometers since last refill. Neat! Kilometers to next service. Sweet! Some flower petals that don’t really seem to change as you’re driving along. “Cruise control disabled”… Sure it is, because I didn’t push that rocker switch between the seats. Am I slowly getting mad? Okay, let’s pull over and run in circles around the car from all this mental exhaustion. “Beep beep”, it goes and locks itself, right after you closed the driver’s door on the way to the trunk or passenger side.
This was the last noise it made, after you left it for some other poor soul to take. Keycard on the roof.
In Germany, we say:
“Gott schütze uns vor Sturm und Wind, und Autos die aus Frankreich sind.”
Roughly translated:
“God, save us from the wind and storm, and cars that have in France been born”
On the other hand, there is one kinda neat feature in Renaults until recently. They have this weird looking controller thingy behind the steering wheel, where your right hand can easily reach it. It’s really meant to be used blindly instead of having to look at it. It uses little rockers for the volume, a rotary thingy for station/track selection, and a couple of tactile buttons for other commands. This is good. But then again, they came up with it in the 1980’s and still use it today, because the frickin’ cruise control (that still has a “main switch” way down between the seats) takes up almost the entirety of the steering wheel controls.
Gosh, I really despise this!
We fart in the general direction at ALL FRENCH cars in my neck of the redneck USA.
And we taunt their owners until they leave…
Don’t even get me started on the frickin’ piece of shit screens on the dash. I could pull a better system out of my dog’s ass.
There couldn’t be wiser words.
Their radio always have a strange button layout. Used to have a Fluence, and why in hell the big knob in the middle of a radio would change volume? No it jumped to the next saved station. The volume was the smaller knob tucked in a corner. That also serves to turn the thing on and off.
It really annoyed me until I got used to the “wheel” control. I think that is even better than having the controls in the wheel per se.
Also, whenever the phone connects to a call, there was a really loud crack.
Other experiences with other Renaults were similar. The loud crack is present even in newer cars, so they are probably using the same software somehow.
But the radio layout always pissed me off. Never saw anything so counter-intuitive until I got a BMW.
I currently drive a 2012 Mazda3 with Skyactive. They make you work for Bluetooth connectivity, at least the first time per device. You have to use the voice activation to go into Bluetooth pairing mode, and every time I have to do this I have to look it up on YouTube, because it’s not intuitive, and I don’t remember the commands. After that it’s a lot easier. If you weren’t the last person to use the car’s Bluetooth, just go into your device’s Bluetooth settings and press the Mazda to connect.
I’m coming to realize that 2012 Bluetooth must have sucked.
Tesla’s “shove everything on one screen” design still takes the cake for worst interface, hands down, not even a contest.
Lexus’ old oversensitive joystick thingy is still my least favorite of the others, tied with haptic-touch anything. I haven’t tried the new VW interiors yet and that’s probably for the best.
My car is designed to seat 4 people. Yet it has 7 friggin’ cup holders. 4 of them are at the bottom of the doors and are almost impossible to access safely while driving. This is bullshit, I would gladly trade a couple for a easy place to hide my stash.
When I was a kid my Mom had a 1960 VW Bug that had no friggin’ markings for any of the knobs on the dash. I think there were like 3 knobs total. And no gas gauge.
But the real thrill was filling the gas tank because you had to open the damn frunk to do it. And it would always slosh excess gas out and fill the cabin with fumes.
Was always a bit paranoid getting stoned in that thing but after a few tokes it went away. Sorry Mom.
Easy. Any recent Mercedes where they put the gear selector on what should be the wiper stalk.
Slight drizzle – WHEEEEEEEEE – “F&*K!”
The bare bones infotainment system in my older Acura is actually very good and intuitive, except when you want to add or remove a Bluetooth device or especially a phone. I’ve done it a bunch of times because I keep breaking phones and I still have to faff around for several minutes.
Looking at you early aught economy cars. It’s not the controls per se, but anything with the ejecting cassette style cup holders directly below the controls.
If I actually use the cup holder (I’m an American, I always have a beverage at hand) the radio, ash tray/spare change drawer and 12v power socket become unusable.
Inevitably, due to the need to fumble around them to push a button, said beverages spill onto said controls causing them to get wet, sticky and even less user friendly.
Seriously, who thought this design was just fine?
Cruising along listening to the radio, I’m suddenly in the mood for some ‘Soul Coughing’, pull a CD from the visor holder, weave longest pointy digit between beverage and stereo to poke at eject button, ‘Polyphia’ album pops out, hits top of beverage, I react spastically and accidentally spill the beverage on the CD and reinsert it. Now it’s all gummed up and stuck in the CD player and I’m stuck listening to ‘New Levels New Devils’ for months until I can finally find the time to pull out, take apart and clean the head unit.
Similar to the automotive troubles of a Tesla Stan pumping gas. But all for the want of a beverage and change of music.
(Could have been worse. At least the stuck CD was one worth listening to on repeat)
Hopefully it’s stuck on GOAT. That’s a catchy ass song.
My man!
‘Playing God’ is my new favorite though.
Here’s a weird one that you have to own two cars to discover. For a brief period of time I had a 2007 Mazda3 Grand Touring and a 2008 Mazda5 Grand Touring. If you’re not familiar, they’re the same platform. They both had automatic climate control. One had the fan controls on the left and the temperature setting on the right dial. The other was the opposite. I never got used to that.
My Subaru’s wipers are turned by pushing the stalk down, my Jeep is up. Or vice versa. I can’t remember and I always screw it up.
While endearing and maybe clever, SAAB ignition switches in the center console?
Eventually every SAAB can be started with a screwdriver.
My former Smart Roadster Coupe had the ignition down there, too. My dog turned it off while underway more than once.
Just a silly thing but the power windows on my Challenger are backwards. Express down only. Just a tap lowers the windows, all well and good. But I have to hold the switch to raise the windows all the way. If it’s one way or the other wouldn’t express up make more sense?
I’ve long thought the same about express functions – express open was common but express close less so. Chances are I need the express close in a hurry while I adjust focus back to driving – if rain is starting up or pulling away from a drive thru or something.
“ or something”
Like a big wasp hovering right outside the window at a stop light?
Manual crank windows are the best for all these hypothetical, something situations. At least on the drivers door.
Express up requires a sensor to stop the window in case something is in the way (finger, arm, dog, etc.). Express down doesn’t
“finger, arm, dog, etc.”
Or my head, as a child I had my head caught in the rolling up rear window of a Buick Roadmaster Wagon. My aunt was just casually flicking a switch on the way to a family reunion while I was being a kid in the jump seat.
I call her aunt (Nicky) Santoro to this day, because she basically put my head in a vice.
Express up is not a good idea.
Isn’t that to prevent accidents? Like your dog or child getting their neck stuck as the Australian guillotine unstoppably rises and extinguishes the light from their eyes?
My grandmother’s early-aughts Lexus (some mid-size SUV model) had the stupidest window switches ever. Express up and express down….only. You couldn’t put the windows at any middle height. They once tried to roll the windows partway down and shut the car off so it would stop, and it still made sure to roll it all the way down once it was off.
I’m going to make a blanket call out on ALL automatic shifters that spring back to a central position once you’ve selected the gear.
I think it is a terrible design decision to give absolutely no spacial feedback as to what gear you’re in.
I know a lot of people probably only shift from P to D and maybe a cheeky R before P again once in a trip depending on where they park, but as a mechanic, who’s used to shuffling cars around workshops and parking lots and driving them in “diagnostics conditions” I find it downright infuriating to use a wiggly little dongle that the only indicator for what gear I’ve selected is the light on it, or the dash somewhere, and not at all the physical position of the lever. The part that irks me on this as well is that there’s usually systems implemented in these shifters to prevent the wrong gear or park being selected by accident.
So instead of rowing through the PRNDL with confidence, now I’m entering the goddamn Konami code with a shifter just to get it into the gears I need to shuffle it around the yard and God FORBID I want to leave it in Neutral on the hoist.
You are so right. We had this on my wife’s Cadillac and never got used to it. A very clever writer once said, “It’s not a gearshift. It’s an uppy-downy-lefty-righty-pew-pew-joystick.”
Basically the Prius shifter.
Entirely the Prius shifter, I would’ve called them out directly if it weren’t for the much broader issue of manufacturers essentially reinventing the wheel with their quirky unique shifter set ups.
YES, THIS. Why is everyone messing with the shifter now? Even Porsche’s automatics are frustrating like this now and I feel like they should know better. Don’t get me started on the weird BMWs from a few years ago that have to be turned off with your foot off the pedal, either. “Why is this car not turning off?” is one of the most frustrating experiences.
These things were not broken! They were standardized over years of “hey, this makes logical sense and works.”
Maybe those self-centering shifters are for cars that also have flappy paddles? Only logical reason I can think of at least. Otherwise you’d run into the risk of having a lever that says “D” but the car is going backwards because you selected “R” with the flippity-flaps.
Idk, I avoid driving automatics if I can. And since I mostly drive my own car, I can avoid them very well.
You known what, I actually just disagree with the idea of using the flappy paddle to shift through to reverse as a whole. There’s definitely a logical argument against me, I won’t die on this hill, but the whole point of the paddle is for quick shift control. How quickly do you really need to be slamming into reverse? The paddles should cycle through your forward gears when you’re in D or S. That is all.
Usually the paddles don’t select reverse. That’s a separate button or lever position.
Yeah, trying to park a modern BMW or Mercedes in neutral for a 2 post hoist has taken years off my life due to stress, and just when you think you’ve got it all worked out, you hop out, shut the door and hear the electronic handbrake crank itself on, sending you back to square one.
I always get flashbacks to the recentering Jeep shifter that killed that actor from Star Trek. There’s no feel left to where the lever is, so you have to look over and check “am I in park or neutral?” That’s a step back in usability.
Not a mechanic so I can’t empathize here…and, in fact, I’m a Prius owner. I was definitely not used to the shifter at first (although I do love the Park button) but I’m pretty used to it now.
I feel like I don’t need spacial feedback for most gears? I just know the motion to each one. The only one I will completely agree with you with is Neutral, which, yeah, you only get the visually indication and you have to hold the shifter there for a second or two for it to actually switch to it.
But reverse makes my car beep repeatedly, and you know from where you’ve moved the knob while you’re moving it if you’ve gone into D, R, or B.
Not bad, per se, but more breaking with tradition.
My 23 Sierra has automatic high beams. The button to turn it on or off are at the end of the GM multiple function stalk.
That button has been to spray the windshield for ages on GM.
I had an ages old GM and the button on the end of the unistalk was to engage the cruise control. You had to twist it for the spray.
How many unistalks have there been?
Chrysler had a version too, but not sure Ford ever did more than the wipers on the turn signal stalk (well other than the horn as mentioned).
GM packed the most on their stalk and thus got the most flak, but Datsun/Nissan put cruise controls on the turn signal stalk in the ’80s too (along with headlight control, in Japanese fashion). Maybe more odd was Toyota and Mazda had cruise controls on the separate, right-hand wiper stalk prior to steering wheels and, don’t think that was a common one – usually a right stalk served for just wipers.
I’m probably in the minority here, but automatic shifters. For a control you typically need to touch all of 2-4 times per drive, and especially for autos that don’t have any “manual mode”, it takes up a LOT of space both in the prime real estate in the middle of the console and vertically that could be better used in other ways. For an egregious example, look at the unnecessary size of the CRZ’s PRND – not even an L! – shifter. I’d rather have more storage or cupholders.
I’m glad we’re finally moving to low profile ones like VW and Porsche and there have been some ugly first attempts by Acura and the Big 3 (Ford got *this* close with the folding F150 shifter) but I think one of the most elegant has to be the Ford Fusion/Lincoln MKZ around 2015 or so.
The solution is column shifters.
This, very much this. With paddles behind the steering wheel for those that wish to use them (as I do in my Cadenza).
I had a ’97 Econoline for a while, and in retrospect, while the column shifter was certainly satisfying to use, I feel like that also implicitly occupied a lot of dash space–there wasn’t (and couldn’t be) anything on the dash behind its entire range of motion. So while some shifter designs are bloated, I don’t think column shifters necessarily represent a singular solution.
There were a few fords in the late 70s/early 80s that in order to activate the horn, you had to push the turn signal stalk inwards towards the steering column.
Here is an image of a 1981 Ford Fairmont interior. You can just make out the Horn symbol on the end of the turn signal stalk.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thehulltruth.com-vbulletin/2000×922/f3_f94f7c57c8c66a95e68b838dc14c5ade3c433cfe.jpg
Please pleases stop putting HVAC controls on the touch screen! Or if you do, do it like Volvo(Polestar) does and ALWAYS have a shortcut button. I use car share cars a lot when I travel for work, the BYD Atto 3 has the worst UI for the HVAC touch screen controls, its 2-3 steps to turn on the seated heats, also Tesla, for crying out loud! Please don’t put mirror controls on the touch screen, especially buried in a sub menu. Its frustrating especially when you are in and out of different cars frequently.
Sorry if you have Bluetooth see a dentist and start brushing. At least in the 60 it didnt matter what most buttons/ dials did because they usually didnt work and most times only needed in the extreem.
Fun fact: Bluetooth is actually named after blue teeth, in a fashion. Harald Bluetooth was a Danish/Norwegian king who apparently enjoyed blueberries very much.
Since the system was invented by a Scandinavian company (Ericsson) they decided on Bluetooth as a codename for the project, although there is also the more prosaic explanation that “Bluetooth unites all the communication protocols of the time, like King Harald united the Danish tribes” which you may believe or not.
Also fun fact: the bluetooth logo is a merger of the runes for H and B as in, you guessed it, Harald Bluetooth’s initials.
Less of a control placement, but none of the overhead controls for the lighting in my Mk7.5 GTI are lighted. The buttons for the map lights, the room light – none, only a tiny status light for the Car-Net system (that you might risk bumping on accident then). So if it’s dark out, you just start pushing buttons and hope you don’t turn off the open-door interior lights or turn on the rear seat lighting.
However, for some reason there’s a light behind the front seat door pulls (not the release handles) that adds no value?
With a regular moonroof, you can usually leave it in a vent mode and close the shade over some to help let the hot air vent out when parked. Most pano roofs have power shades that don’t let you do this. I get that it doesn’t work for every design and risky for the flimsy fabric cover, but some kind of vent mode would be nice.
Isn’t it still the case where people say the GTI’s temp control or something aren’t illuminated? Apparently VWs are designed by people with excellent night visions.
Hmm, not sure I am familiar with that one at least in mine. I think all the typically used controls seem to be lit, it’s little conveniences that are spotty – for example the cubby below the HVAC controls has no light either.
My mother had trouble figuring out the controls of her Volvo S-60. I told her she needed to read the car manual. She said, “I can’t, my car’s an automatic.”
Upper center console window controls on the PT Cruiser was odd, but as a two time Ridgeline owner WTF is up with the Honda push button shifter?
The YJ’s headlight switch isn’t all that bad. I’m pretty sure it’s just a Delco parts-bin grab by AMC — I remember that switch and accompanying dash lights dial in various GM cars from the 80’s. It works pretty well; just jab the big button for lights, or find and jab the little textured one for markers/parking lights alone, jab the biggest part on the bottom to turn everything off. A little more sophisticated than the old-style pull knob. The problem with the Jeep is just that the placement sucks, and there aren’t a lot of alternative locations.
I will totally agree that virtually all of the new automatic transmission fiddly dials and button-encrusted joysticks are all terrible. A big main gear selector that does nothing but change gears or reverse/neutral/drive is easy and uncomplicated to operate, especially in a hurry. Add buttons or auxiliary modes elsewhere, but keep basic drive mode control big and simple.