Stupid car design ideas of our time

Lots of modern cars that have chrome bezels and clear lenses for all of the lights and therefore rely on a colored bulb. Turn signals and sometimes even brake lights are practically invisible if it is sunny or you are looking at the light from other than a precisely perfect angle. The older ones with red and amber lenses were much more easily seen! Style and fashion has to be getting people killed!

And some modern headlights (especially the ones with the little hemispherical clear lens) seem to be intentionally designed to cause glare for oncoming traffic!

Surely there are ways to measure and quantify this and design lights that work!

Sounds like nearly all of these are the result of people not reading be instructions, or being hamfisted morons.

I’ve driven loads of different cars and they all have their own character, none of them perfect, just different. The only one I drove which was a genuine problem was the Audi A3 where you had to open the armrest top to put the handbrake on. Stupid!

I always find the best thing to do is when you get a new car (or if you’re thinking of buying a new one) is sit and read the instruction manual for 30mins. There is often stuff in there which is a revelation, especially with new electronics in cars. I found that my Astra did indeed have variable intermittent wash wipe even though there was no obvious control for it, you just used the stalk in a different way.

Having to remove part of the bumper/plastic wheel arch trim to change a headlight bulb on the wifes Ford Ka. When you remove the trim it breaks the plastic buttons so unless you know about this and keep plenty spare you can’t fit the trim back.

Having the front indicators inboard of the headlights rendering them almost invisible when the lights are switched on

Having to remove part of the bumper/plastic wheel arch trim to change a headlight bulb on the wifes Ford Ka.

That’s nothing – the headlight bulb instructions for my car start with: “First remove the wheels…”

Luckily, on full lock with small hands it’s just about possible without doing that.

Aftermarket gear knobs. How is it possible to make something so simple so badly? Even supposedly decent brands.

robdob – Member

Sounds like nearly all of these are the result of people not reading be instructions, or being hamfisted morons.

😀

My brother had a Golf several years ago (probably about 10 years, actually!). It was a special edition ‘Match’ and I think the ‘special’ bits were alloys, a/c and metallic paint.

He’d had it about a year and was moaning that the screen took ages to demist. I told him to use the air-con as it would clear the screen quicker, to which he exclaimed that it didn’t have air-con.
After a couple of minutes of ‘yes it does, no it doesn’t’ we went out to the car and I asked him what the button on the heater controls with the A/C label did….he still wouldn’t believe it until we started the car up, pressed the button and waited for the cold air to start coming into the cabin….

Light design in general. Why are car makers even allowed to massively compromise safety, function and serviceability for style?

Estate cars with a boot lip just negate the whole point and stop you sitting in there sheltering from the rain for a post-ride coffee.

matt_outandabout – you win with that mini. Take your foot off the gas on a bend, and you’re in the nearest hedge. Terrifying things.

Heater controls in the Octy, on the other hand, are positively dangerous, stuck down below the radio, all the buttons are identical square ones, and impossible to tell apart without taking your eyes totally off the road to see what you’re doing.
Bloody stupid design.

Agreed. I believe it was standard across VAG cars (certainly my mk1 Octavia had it, and so did a mate’s older mk3 Golf VR6).

Old Saab 9-3 (99 vintage ish).
If you left the lights on (as I did at the airport once) and the battery is flat, you can’t open the doors, and therefore couldn’t open the bonnet to charge the battery. The key in the door lock operated a switch which operated a motor, which needed power.

I guess it’s hard to steal, but the AA were seriously thinking about getting some charge through the reverse switch on the gearbox. Eventually with his “collection of random bits of wire” he managed to hook onto the bonnet release cable.

My previous car (2007 Hyundai Santa Fe) had no RDS on the radio. FFS, my Cavalier in the early 90s had RDS….

Has anyone mentioned indicators on the inside of or within headlights? Stick them on the corners so we can see them! (Ah yes, just up there ^ – well it was worth repeating. Idiot designers).

Electric handbrakes. Gear knobs miles from steering wheel (have it coming out of the dash like on my early 2000s Civic). Touch screen anything instead of buttons that can be worked by feel without having to take your eyes off the road – how can this even be allowed?!!

Went to move a Toyota hire car that was blocking my car at work.

No key, just the electronic box thing you push in.

Would the car start, no. Tried everything.

Went back inside and reception said, maybe it’s this ‘key’ – they’d had 2 cars delivered.

Tried the new key and yes it worked. But only after I put one foot on the clutch, another on the brake and put the car in neutral…

Just got a 2005 Navara and checked some forums after buying it.
I was told “It’s a good one, the engine grenaded itself at 60,000 and was replaced by a later one which should be good for another 60,000 unless the engine number is above #### which luckily this one is!”

Apparently Nissan designed the engine so a rubber o-ring was the only thing stopping the oil pump pumping air instead of oil. As this perishes the wear on the bottom end massively increases.

To add to the fun they fitted under spec bolts to the conrods so the first sign of engine wear was these bolts snapping and the ‘rod being smashed through the engine block.

Normally happened between 60-80,000 miles but there are cases as low as 38,000 miles

Replace the conrod bolts and modify the sump oil feed and the engine is bomb proof apparently. I almost wish I had read before I bought rather than buying on a whim

Stupid Avensis fold-in wing mirrors, I’ve never had a car with motorised ones before, but now I have I like to use them when parking in busy areas, except that once you’ve turned the ignition off the button doesn’t work.

No matter how hard I try I can’t break the cycle and I *always* turn off, remove key, then try and fold the mirrors in, have another tiny hissy fit, put the key back in, turn the ignition on, press the button to fold them in, wait until they’ve folded in, then turn off and remove they key again.

WHY!?!! why can’t you just let them work without the ignition on then I could just poke the button as I’m getting out of the car.

Gunz – Member

Estate cars with a boot lip just negate the whole point and stop you sitting in there sheltering from the rain for a post-ride coffee.

I love the Skoda fix for the stupid boot lip- they make a box that you can put in the car that lifts the boot floor up to the same level. “Hi, sorry we made this car in a stupid way, but look, you can spend money for a stupid fix for our stupid mistake that makes your car even less good”

Not cars, but the original Suzuki SV650S, lovely little bike… Except, the oil pickup is too far forward in the sump. Apparently Suzuki hadn’t heard that sometimes with motorbikes, the front wheel goes up in the air and if you do that for any length of time it sucks air instead of oil and kills the big end. They’ve had a couple of different attempts at fixing it with baffles and case redesigns and whatnot but never really got it right. (also it’s a left/right split case with no removable sump so a total pain in the arse to get into, you have to dismantle the entire engine to access the sump and pickup)

Oh and the front mudguard doesn’t protect the front sparkplug from spray, and while it has a rubber seal it’s not airtight- they built it with drain holes and breathers to let water out, which lets water in better than they let it out because it hits the plug guard at 70mph. Good for manufacturers of mudguard extenders, sparkplugs and silicon grease, bad for everyone else.

Kawasaki 636 B1 IIRC- just an assembly thing. One of the shock bolts is fitted before the exhaust in the factory, and once the exhaust’s on it’s impossible to remove it. So that turns a 20 minute shock swap into a far bigger fairings off, exhaust off job (and since it’s kawasaki, all the bolts are crap so if you get the fairings off first time after a couple of years they crown you king of England). Or, you cut the bolt. But what makes it really annoying is that if the bolt was in the other way round, ie from the left not the right, it’d not be an issue at all! So much hassle because of a bit of design thoughtlessness.

My Wife’s old Pug 308 was like this. Fairly large, wide car with massive dashboard; open the glovebox and you could just about get some thin gloves in there and a CD case. No room for sunglasses or anything else.
What have they done with all that space!?

It’s something to do with when the French manufacturers convert cars from left hand drive to RHD they don’t bother to move the fuse box, hence this takes up most of the room in the glove box. See also bonnet release on the LHS.

I love the Skoda fix for the stupid boot lip- they make a box that you can put in the car that lifts the boot floor up to the same level.

Sounds fine to me. A boot without a lip is deeper, so you can fit tall stuff in without the box or fit the box if you want a flat load area.

That doesn’t really make any sense- not having the lip would give all teh “advantages” of the box and none of the disadvantages. Getting customers to pay for a bodge doesn’t seem fine to me (especially when they do it right on the bloomin A6)

Stupid Avensis fold-in wing mirrors, I’ve never had a car with motorised ones before, but now I have I like to use them when parking in busy areas, except that once you’ve turned the ignition off the button doesn’t work.

Strange that they dont fold in when you lock your car. My focus has them but folds in when I lock it.

To be fair my MK2 cmax was quite good in terms of ergonomics but those rear seats are the work of the devil. They are just bloody stupid. Yes you can just fold all three down to get one bike in but it sits at an angle and I didn’t like that for long journeys. If you fold the seats forward they are so bloody deep that the reduce the size of your boot so much you have to take both wheels off the bike. To get 2 or more bikes in the boot you have to take at least 2 of the seats out. And where do you put them then? I don’t have a garage so ended up having to leave them in the conservatory which is less than ideal when that’s where the kids toss are.

thats one of my major gripes about the C-Max too

although you dont have to remove the front wheels in order to replace the headlight bulbs, the instruction manual says that you have to remove the entire headlight unit but if you have small and flexible hands then you can swap the bulbs without removing the whole unit.
also why place the heated windscreen and rear screen switch in a location on the dashboard where they are obscured by the steering wheel?

That doesn’t really make any sense- not having the lip would give all teh “advantages” of the box and none of the disadvantages.

I suspect it would compromise the structural integrity of the back of the car if you just took the lip out.

This:

although you dont have to remove the front wheels in order to replace the headlight bulbs, the instruction manual says that you have to remove the entire headlight unit but if you have small and flexible hands then you can swap the bulbs without removing the whole unit.

I didn’t own mine for long enough to find that out, only 20 months or so. I had to get rid of it as it was turning every drive into a shouting match with the stupid engine. The headlights on my MK2 focus had to be removed to change the bulb but it was only one torx bolt and a couple of clips and took 1 minute to do. so much easier than groping around not being able to see what you were doing.

Strange that they dont fold in when you lock your car

indeed! wish they did…

Just got a 2005 Navara and checked some forums after buying it.

Must have been a hell of a whim!

Those lovely new Jeep Grand Cherokees. The battery in hidden under the passenger seat, and to get at it the (electrically operated) seat must be all the way forward and upright… See the problem?

Probably already been mentioned but after I got a puncture on the drive into work this morning can I say any car with the spare slung in a basket under the boot floor, french manufacturers mainly. Ended up covered in the accumulated muck and crap that coated the wheel and it’s a right pain in the arse getting the flat one back into the cradle which you need to do otherwise it rattles about.

Any car with crap, dim reversing lights. It’s one of the most awkward maneuvers you can do in a car and it would be nice to see where I’m bloody going!

This, our Audi A1 is pretty bad, and my Dad’s new Polo is the same.

I’ve taken to flicking the rear fog lights on – it is easier than trying to ride the footbrake.

Still pretty useless when the stupid bint pushing you backwards on a dark country lane never more than 6″ from your front bumper won’t switch down to her sidelights from her dip. Even the dip was blinding me, and I couldn’t pull forward to reorientate the vehicle, because she’d left me no room. No amount of gesticulation got the message across, and I did about half a mile with one arm over my face.

I gave up in the end. It then took 30 minutes to explain and re-explain the difference between sidelights, dip and main beam. She then nearly took the front end of my car off when I went to pull forwards into the passing place, because I didn’t want to reverse into a spot I can’t see. Ach.

I’m not allowed to put proper mudflaps or a Hella 3000 on the back, becuase I’m not allowed to turn it ‘into another damn rally car’.

Sounds fine to me. A boot without a lip is deeper, so you can fit tall stuff in without the box or fit the box if you want a flat load area.

Except the tall stuff won’t go in because of the lip when the box isn’t there.

I suspect it would compromise the structural integrity of the back of the car if you just took the lip out.

That’s why an estate car designed with a lip in the first place is a stupid design.

Must have been a hell of a whim!

I had just sold the ML and needed something to take the rubbish to the tip etc

You just sold the Mother in Law WCA? 😯

That’s why an estate car designed with a lip in the first place is a stupid design.

No, I mean if you took it out at design time – you’d have to add in a lot of extra material, expense and weight to compensate I reckon.

although you dont have to remove the front wheels in order to replace the headlight bulbs, the instruction manual says that you have to remove the entire headlight unit but if you have small and flexible hands then you can swap the bulbs without removing the whole unit.

Removing the headlight unit involves undoing two screws and pressing two clips in. Not a very big deal…

anotherdeadhero – Member

Any car with crap, dim reversing lights. It’s one of the most awkward maneuvers you can do in a car and it would be nice to see where I’m bloody going!

This, our Audi A1 is pretty bad, and my Dad’s new Polo is the same.

I’ve taken to flicking the rear fog lights on – it is easier than trying to ride the footbrake.

Tinted windows?
My wife was complaining that the reversing light in her new Ibiza was rubbish and really dim. I pointed out that it was probably the fairly heavy tint on her rear windows rather than a feeble reversing light.

Perhaps your A1 has the same problem?

Wasn’t there a French car that because it was poorly designed for RH drive meant you had to take the steering rack out to change one of the headlight bulbs (or is that the small hands/full steering lock thing mentioned already?)

Perhaps your A1 has the same problem?

Nope, clear glass. Just a weedy reverse light.

My Lancia has bronze tint, and darkly tinted mirrors (great if you live on the Amalfi coast, I guess?!) but then it also has a decent size reverse light in each lens with LED replacement bulbs. The Hella 3000 is just for showing off 😛

Any car you can’t fit a complete mtb (preferably fat) into is a crock of doggy do. 🙂

switchbacktrog – Member
With my Mazda 6, you get something like 30 seconds to close the windows after switching off.

And if you press & hold the lock button on the key fob all the windows close.
Pressing and holding the open button will also open all the windows, great on those blazing hot days to vent the heat.

Did that on my 2010 model……………but not the latest version 🙁 .

I have to work on cars, not just drive them.
If you think that designers cock up the interiors, you should try some basic mechanical work. So many cars require steering racks or subframes removing to change a clutch, and often just an extra half inch of clearance would mean this wasn’t needed…

My favorite though has to be the Porsche 911. The bonnet and boot catches are electronic.
The battery is under the bonnet. If the battery goes flat you can’t open the bonnet to charge it up.
Genius.
They give you a little charging point inside so you can charge the battery but fit it with a tiny thin wire so it takes about an hour to get enough charge in the battery to operate the catch.
There is an emergency release, but to get to it you have to remove the inner wheel arch lining. Which means you have to remove the wheel. And where is the locking wheel nut key kept? You guessed it – under the bonnet. They really didn’t think this through did they? So much for German engineering…