Tag Archive for 'Automotive'

Automatic car window controls

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on August 13, 2008
in Bad design and Good design
. 0 Comments

Electric car windows have become the norm these days; and one feature on them is “Auto”, where you can open or close a window all the way with only a momentary push on the actuator button. A useful feature, too.

What I find strange is the stinginess with which this feature is applied. In most cars, you only get it on the driver’s window, sometimes only for opening it. My Mazda 3 is of the rare few that have two-way (open and close) Auto on the driver’s switches for all 4 windows. Why is this useful? because it allows you to close all windows when you leave the car with two 2-finger clicks!

Speaking of which, we could use a “close all windows” button - a very useful function that I have yet to see on any car (I did see cars where the windows close automatically when you lock the car, but that can be a safety issue, I suppose).

A brush with Ford’s Human Machine Interface (HMI)

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on July 30, 2008
in Bad design
. 2 Comments

We rented a Ford Galaxy minivan for a day. Nice car, if you need the space. And such sophisticated controls… way too sophisticated for its own good, or for its users’, if you ask me.

Ford is very proud of its latest Human Machine Interface:

Human Machine Interface (HMI) -An upgraded instrument cluster plus a new steering wheel including toggle switches … take vehicle ergonomics to a new level. …
HMI is standard on all Ford S-MAX and Galaxy models. It is simple and intuitive to operate. It follows strict, straightforward and logical rules and combines critical areas of ergonomic development to optimize the interaction of the driver with the comfort and entertainment systems. …
The system enables a controlled dialogue between the driver and various support systems - radio, navigation system, Adaptive Cruise Control, and mobile phone.

Ford Galaxy minivan

So, my experience as a new user (remember, “intuitive” means a new user can figure it out without recourse to a manual): I wanted to zero the trip kilometer counter readout. After looking in vain for the standard push-rod near the odometer, I tried the 5-button toggle pad on the steering wheel hub, which turned out to control a multi-level menu system that eventually - after drilling maybe 3 levels down - let me clear the readout (not before forcing me through an ‘are you sure?’ confirmation). Pushing a standard button while driving is one thing; operating a complex multi-step interface, one which is different from car to car, is as silly as it is unsafe. I haven’t located the cruise control submenu, but the standard buttons on the wheel would certainly have been faster to use…

I suspect I may have figured it out wrong, and maybe there is a faster way to achieve this result via a different sub-menu. But then, I’m an experienced technologist; if I couldn’t do better at first try, your average driver would likely have done worse.

Another case in point: in this car, if you switch on the turn signal and change your mind, clicking the lever back to the center position will leave the signal on for 2-3 extra cycles. Not sure whether this is due to some ill-conceived “strict, straightforward and logical rule” the Ford designers applied, or whether the car’s computer is so busy doing other feats (polling the trip counter reset action?…) to respond faster. Either way, we were better off when the lever simply actuated a switch that directly controlled the blinking lamp.

Take note, Ford: you make excellent cars - please keep them simple to use!

Photo source: Wikimedia commons

Communicative alarms

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on July 28, 2008
in Improvement
. 0 Comments

I already shared my animosity towards car alarms. Since these are not going away anytime soon, the question becomes, how can we improve them to reduce the pain they cause the general populace? Same thing for house burglar alarms, that have the tendency to trigger - rigthly or wrongly - when the owner is on vacation in Hawaii…

The key problem is that when one of these monstrosities starts wailing, there is no one to call. Some house alarms have a sign indicating a security company that is in charge; in these cases you can try their number. But a sensible general solution would be to require all alarms to bear a “here’s what you can do to get me to shut up” indication. A name and cellular number of the owner would be a good starting point; a second, backup contact number would be useful as well. This is a matter for legislators; serious fines on owners of alarms failing to share this information would be useful. Until then, people can do it on a volunteer basis…

Car parts designed to smash up, take II

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on July 9, 2008
in Bad design
. 0 Comments

We saw how Our car had a turn indicator lamp in the side trim, where it was vulnerable to damage. Even more interesting is the turn signal on some newer cars, which is put on the most smash-worthy part of any automobile: the side rear view mirror. And not at the base of the mirror like in this red Citroen C4; but at its outer edge, as in this blue Mercedes!

They used to speak of “Planned obsolescence”; looks like today’s automakers are unwilling to wait for their parts to wear out, so now they’re actively soliciting breakage by design…

Side mirrors with turn signals

Intelligent freeway signage

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on July 7, 2008
in Good design and Odds and Ends
. 0 Comments

In recent years the freeway system in Israel is applying some pretty good leading edge technology (including truly transparent wireless toll collection that is still missing in many countries I visit).

One interesting system can be seen in the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv. This road has electronic signs that give precise real time information of the driving conditions ahead, including which lanes are jammed and how fast the traffic moves (when it does). Perhaps most impressive are the signs that give a taste of the despair lying ahead, as in “Traffic jammed through La Guardia exit”… not that there’s much you can do about it, admittedly, but at least you know!…

Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv

Photo: Wikimedia commons.

Of course, behind this capability lies a network of sensors and cameras, and an expert system that integrates them and recommends to the human operator at the road’s control center what messages to send to the signs (I thought the system was entirely automatic, but actually it does give a human final override). The information on the signs and the video from the cameras are also accessible on the Internet: the traffic flow conditions are updated every few minutes, and you can click the camera icons to see the real time video stream - and mouse over the “i” icons to see what text appears on each sign.

Mazda 3 evolution, take 1: Sometimes they listen!

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on June 20, 2008
in Bad design, Good design and Improvement
. 2 Comments

Recently I replaced my old Mazda 3 with the new model. The two are practically identical - why mess with a good thing? it’s a fine car! - but there are some minor differences, and I’ll be blogging them now and then… they afford us a peek into the design team’s thinking processes.

Here is the trunk door on the previous model. The problem is, it is not spring loaded; to open it you had to press the lock button and then claw it open by trying to pry up the bottom edge, which is a tight fit to the bumper below it (on most cars the door at least has some depression, perhaps for the license plate, where you can grasp it; this door is smooth and lacks any such grab point).

Old Mazda 3 trunk door

Quite annoying, and a lovely bit of poor usability. In fact, I saw one of these cars on the road whose enterprising owner had screwed a handle - from a kitchen drawer, by the looks of it - onto this door!

So here is the same door on the new model. Same door - one key difference: now there is a depression in the bumper to allow you to grasp the door.

New Mazda 3 trunk door

People must have been complaining - and the design team at Mazda had been listening. Better late than never!

Mini, Maxi, Silly

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on June 18, 2008
in Bad design
. 0 Comments

As a conscientious techie I do what many car owners don’t: I chCoolant reservoireck the oil and other fluids in our cars once a month, rain or shine. But our latest car, the 2007 Renault Clio, seems determined to foil this good intention.

It used to be simple: A fluid would either have a straight dipstick with marks for Max and Min, or a clear reservoir with lines marking these two limit levels. The new Clio, however, abuses these age old concepts.

Renault Clio 2007 Engine compartmentRenault Clio 2007 Brake fluid reservoir

Like most modern cars its engine compartment is as densely packed with systems as an animal’s belly is with entrails; and the clear reservoirs for coolant and brake fluid are so positioned that there is no way on earth you can see all the level lines without either a dentist’s mirror or X-Ray vision. You can see the Maxi lines, but the Minis are hopelessly hidden (see photos).

As Obelix would’ve said: Ils sont fous, ces ingenieurs!

Renault Clio 2007 coolant reservoir

Divide and Conquer!

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on May 28, 2008
in Good design
. 2 Comments

We like our cars to have large glove compartments, but when we cram stuff into them we can’t seem to find anything (a problem especially while driving). I recently drove a Chevrolet Optra, and it had an obvious solution: a divider, to split the compartment in two, like this:

Divided Glove Compartment in Chevrolet Optra

But even nicer, the divider was removable, allowing you to recover the full width at will. Of course, drawers in office furniture have been doing this sort of thing for ages, and I’ve retrofitted homemade dividers to drawers in our home many times - it extends the usefulness of storage space significantly. However, this is the first time I see it in a car. Nice touch!

Glove compartment in Chevrolet Optra, sans divider

Car parts designed to smash up!

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on April 30, 2008
in Bad design
. 2 Comments

Last year we traded in our old Clio, and got the latest model. Nice car, as before, and it looks like the design engineers at Renault have been busy thinking of ways to improve it. Like the side molding on the doors: the new car has a turn indicator lamp right inside it!

Renault Clio

Now, though they’re often touted as “decorative trim”, these moldings have a practical function: they are essentially protective bumpers that absorb the usual nicks and scratches that the side of a car suffers all too often. To put a fragile light fixture in one, where it is guaranteed to break at the first scrape with a tree or a passing car, makes about as much sense as sticking your head out the open car window on the freeway. Of course, once it gets smashed, you can sell the customer a replacement part…

Renault Clio side trim before and after damage

So there, it happened to us! The Clio got hit lightly by another car, and behold… the turn light was shattered, the rest of the molding was fine, and the authorized garage insisted they can only replace both as one piece - not just the lamp, but the entire strip, made more expensive because it contains a lamp. One look at the photo can convince you that the two are actually separate pieces - note the different color of the plastic.

But hey, business is business!

Smart parking lot design

Published
by
Nathan Zeldes
on April 23, 2008
in Good design and Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

Parking lots try to cram as many cars in as they can (the ones that charge you to park do, anyway) and so it often happens that you exit the car only to find you’ve overstepped the white line. If you’re conscientious like me, you get back in, restart the motor and wiggle the car the few inches required to fit in your own space. The problem is that you can’t really see the lines in the last stages of the parking maneuver…

Parking lot spaces

So I was in Tel Aviv the other day and saw a simple fix to this problem. Look in the photo: they extended the white line up onto the wall! That way you can see the boundaries in front of you (or back, through the mirror) as you move in.

Handicapped parking spacesWhile they were at it, they also did the handicapped spaces - now no one can say (honestly or not) that they didn’t notice the faded symbol on the pavement; if you park in one of these spaces, it stares you right in the face.

Good thinking!