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
mid-90’s Pontiac Grand Am’s had the trunk release inside the glove box for some strange reason.
This was really common on American cars for a long time. I think the reason was that the glovebox could be locked, so it added one more layer of security for the trunk (back in the days when seatbacks in sedans didn’t fold down and you could get into the trunk anyway).
My ’68 Coupe deVille had the trunk release button in the glove box. The best part was that it was vacuum-operated. Press the button and hear a “shhhhh… pop” right before the trunk popped open.
I want to say this was common/traditional placement for domestic vehicles, but not sure if older Ford/Chrysler models had it so much, while it was pervasive at GM. Guessing the thinking is it was a “security” measure – the trunk release isn’t visible if someone breaks into the car, and/or the glove box could be locked, so they couldn’t access the release.
You started to see cars like the original Taurus and Saturn S-Series have the release on the floor by the driver’s door sill, more in keeping with some imports.
Yellow button on the upper left hand corner of the glove box in a 1977 Olds Vista Cruiser. You used it to “Deflunk the trunk” (the proper term for opening it with the button. That allowed you access to the “Back-b-back.”
My 2005 Holden Commodore had this function! It was stupid! There was also no button on the boot lid either, so it was key fob button or glovebox. The ’02 Mondeo I had before it felt far more modern comparably.
My 2002 Mustang has it too. Along with a pull-out headlight switch. And a chassis from 1978. 🙂
The Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz, as well as my 2001 Ford Mustangs all had the trunk release in the glovebox. The glovebox could be locked to prevent the trunk from being opened by the switch.
Well either way I got to show my college roommate that his car actually does have a trunk release 3-4 years after he bought the car when the glove box latch spontaneously failed, and also confirmed that the button / lever works when braking at highway speeds. ????
This isn’t the most frustrating thing ever, but a series of small annoyances in my wife’s Chevy Sonic.
The horn cannot be honked by pressing the edge of the giant airbag cover. You must remove a hand from the wheel and press the center. There is no button there, and no indication that you must hit the center of the airbag cover. I rarely use the horn, but in every other airbag-era car that I’ve driven I can just hit the edge of the cover with my thumb.
The cruise control buttons on the steering wheel are maddening. Both the “cancel” button and the “on/off” button are hinged. You cannot press the center of the button. You must press the top or bottom of the button … and I can never remember which, because the two buttons are hinged in opposite directions. You must press the top of one button and the bottom of the other button.
The cupholders are in the dumbest spot possible. In order to retrieve a drink while driving, I need to reach behind my right shoulder and down to the back part of the center console. That’s not that bad, it’s just a little awkward. But putting the drink back sucks. It is completely outside of my peripheral vision and in an awkward spot where I have to feel around for the cupholder.
Turning the radio on or off requires firmly pressing and holding a particular spot on the center dash. It’s not a button. It’s a small recess under the touchscreen.
If this car actually worked for more than a few weeks in between its endless supply of new and innovative ways to lose coolant and overheat, I’d probably just get used to it and gain some muscle memory. Overall, however … how can an ENTIRE CAR be so … slightly and aggravatingly bad? Everything still mostly works, at least some of the time, so we don’t want to replace it, but everything works badly or in a frustrating and annoying manner.
This is minor compared to some of the other comments on here but the HVAC controls on a 1997 Ford ranger are confusing to me. Rather than be able to turn the fan off with the fan knob you have to use the HVAC direction knob to turn the fan off all together. it’s small but it’s an odd thing. In addition, the same truck has three different 12 V accessory sockets. One on the bottom where the cigarette lighter would be. One to the left of the radio. One above the radio. The bottom one is powered at all times. The other two I have yet to figure out how to get them power. They are not on the same circuit as the cigarette lighter outlet.
Are you the first owner of that Ranger? My family had a ’99 Econoline passenger van when I was growing up, so it’s not apples-to-apples but I’d be really surprised if a Ranger came from the factory with three 12v sockets.
I had a ’97 conversion Econoline for a while. It had two 12v sockets on the dash (one with the cigarette lighter; I think both were factory as they were), but also two at the interior-facing bottom side of the passenger seat. It worked really well because the two on the dash were always on, but the other two were only on with the engine. So you could charge a phone with the van off but not drain the battery with a laptop or something.
Literally every single Ford pickup from the eighties through the mid aughts had those exact controls, and I’m not a super duper fan of them either.
The current Acura touchpad is just awful.
I believe it was my dad’s 1982 Mercury Country Squire Wagon that had a horn which was activated by pressing the end of the turn signal stalk instead of pushing the center of the steering wheel. This was 1982!!! No airbags needing to be avoided in the wheel! Why FoMoCo?!?!? And in 1982, the turn signal stalk wasn’t one of these modern chunky 1″ diameter jobs. Oh no, it was maybe a 3/8″ diameter tip that you had to press. Has to be one of the dumbest controls put into production.
Funny enough, that’s super common in agriculture. No idea why.
My mini is the same way. I love it, tbh.
It was how Ford set up the horn on many of their European models, and I’m pretty sure was the same switch brought over to US shores. They probably thought they were consolidating parts supplies/suppliers, and since European cars were making big advances into the US market, why not do like the Europeans, right? …Nope, didn’t work out.
I can’t believe I forgot about that one – I had an ’81 Cougar years ago with that horn placement. Occasionally I would somehow manage to accidently bump it with my knee. It was one of the truly dumbest placements of any user-feature I’ve ever seen in a car. Not a surprise it came from the same company that tried putting push-button transmission gear selectors where the horn would normally go (Edsel).
A lot of euro cars were like that before airbags became standard equipment.
Power window switches behind the door handle on a Nissan Rogue I rented once.
Putting the radio sideways and in the center between the seats. Hello Citroen.
That would be my 1969 Ranger which had the hazard switch in the glove box for some reason.
My mother’s ’66 Cyclone GT had the same setup. You had to flip a switch in the glovebox and activate the turn signal for hazards. If you forgot to switch it off the hazards came on with the turn signals. She forgot to switch it off. A police officer was unamused. “Ma’am, why are you turning on your four way flashers for every turn?”
I’ve got a 2016 Mazda that has an infotainment controller that I guess is pretty similar to the BMW i-Drive, but it doesn’t really bother me. Most of the visual interface operates in one dimension, so for day-to-day use, it’s mostly rotate/press.
The thing on the car that does bug me is the wiper stalk. The car has auto-sensing wipers, which is one of the stalk positions, between “off” and “slow”. If you want to manually force a wiper cycle (I think they call that “mist”), you need to switch it out of “automatic” to “off”, and then push it up momentarily. On my previous car, you pulled forward on the stalk for the “mist” operation, and I still haven’t gotten used to the change.
Among the cars I’ve owned, the most frustrating control has been the one for resetting the trip meter in my former MGB. It’s a knob at the end of a short cable that descends from the speedometer housing, which means it’s hidden within the underside of the dash. To use it, one must reach upwards into the dash alongside the steering column, feel around for the knob recessed among the wiring and the poorly-finished edges of the surrounding metal, then twist it while watching the numbers on the trip meter rotate back to zero. This photo, taken facing upwards within the footwell, shows its location:
https://www.mgexp.com/phile/1/107662/DSC05755.JPG
Well, I guess my trip meter and my odometer would both keep racking up the miles.
I was so pleased that it still worked that I couldn’t help but use it.
The satellite radio interface in the wife’s ’17 Acura RDX.
Want to hit presets? No problem!
Want to randomly tune to a station? Be prepared to take your eyes off the road for an extended period because there’s no tuning knob!
Not sure if that’s standard or the way she has it set, but randomly tuning or trying to find a specific station means you first have to touch screen button over to the particular genre, then push a touch screen button as you search within that genre. I mean, trying to find a game while on a road trip is great, because if you don’t know what channel it’s on, you can pass miles and miles trying to find it and before you know it, you’re home! I never did find the game, but the search killed a good 30 minutes of a road trip…
On my ’87 Nova I had to sledgehammer punch the side of the center stack to get the tape deck to switch sides. It was kinda a “Fonzie” move, but still…
The infotainment in my mom’s 2020 Tucson. People who praise it baffle me because trying to either pair a phone or switch the pairing because it pairs to my mom’s phone (or tries to) when she is in the house automatically takes far too long.
My 2016 Mazda 3? A minute, tops.
My dad’s 2014 Silverado? Similarly simple.
The Tucson? Easy if it is paired to something since you can access from the main menu. If not, the bluetooth option on the menu is weirdly greyed out and you have to dig in the settings or somewhere to find it. Just utterly awful.
The rotary knob for the transmission next to the volume control in the Pacifica PHEV we own. At first we just keep putting the car in parking while we wanted to put the radio down while driving. The car recognize the mistake and shift automatically back to Drive but with annoying messages and noises. Yes I know I made a mistake thank you. Now I stick to the steering wheel buttons only
I own a Voyager and I feel ya on that one. I haven’t actually made the mistake of trying to shift, but i have grabbed the wrong knob a few times.
The weirdest thing is hopping back into a car with a normal shifter and grabbing for a knob that isn’t there…
Hello. Anything with a touch screen only. I can deal with knows, buttons and rotary things all day. I don’t have to look at them to know what I am doing.
The left volume knob on the original Blaupunkt AM/FM player in my ’76 BMW sometimes falls off. But you can tune it by turning the shaft until you find the knob in the floor.
Classic Porsche 911 HVAC Controls.
I need to state I have owned my 77 911S for over a decade, and I still have no idea how to use them so I rarely interact with them.
First, you need to understand that the HVAC controls are not just on the dash.
On the console near the shifter, are two knobs; one controls the air conditioning, and the other controls the fan system for JUST the air conditioning.
In between the seats, either with a large plastic knob, or two plastic red levers, this controls the flow of heat.
The dash is where it all completely comes together, and by comes together makes zero sense. There are 3 sliders, the top one controls the amount of fresh air, and the fan for… just the fresh air. The middle and lower sliders, like I said, I have no idea what they are supposed to do. I actually just googled it to explain how stupid it is, but it makes so little sense I can’t even describe their operation. Maybe it controls heat? maybe it controls where the air goes? It’s insane. Please see the following images for further context:
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads25/18hkd0mb2kdlajpg1476696127.jpg
https://www.pcarmarket.com/static/media/uploads/galleries/photos/uploads/galleries/control-panel/.thumbnails/IMG_0652.jpg/IMG_0652-tiny-2048×0-0.5×0.jpg
4th gen Honda Accord Cupholders.
The slide out in a thin drawer beneath the radio. Anything OTHER than a 12oz beer/soda can is too big. If you put anything else in it, including every fast food/gas cup known to man, they are larger in diameter up top, which bumps the radio presets, and spills condensation/drips of soda from the straw lid interface directly into the radio, causing the radio to intially just have sticky, chunky buttons, but ultimately will destroy your radio.
Pontiac G6 door handles (interior)
The door pull is located on the outer edge of the door. If you are in the driver’s seat, and the door is fully extended, you cannot reach the door pull. It is too far away. Instead, you must shut the door by grabbing the map pocket edge. Every time.
I have a 1998 911 in the family, and sad to say, the HVAC controls are basically the same and accordingly, terrible. The sliders are still there and make no sense to me. And there’s no intuitive marking to explain what they might do.
So far we’re at 2 for 2 aircooled 911 owners not knowing how the hell to use their HVAC. Amazing.
I don’t have the owners manual handy, but the Bentley sitting in front of me says they’re air distribution sliders. Distribution from and to where? It’s a tiny car with a fake back seat in which nobody sits.
I’ve played with them and I can’t tell if anything is happening. So I kinda leave ’em in the middle as I figure that way, they’re at least not doing the extreme version of whatever it is they do.
In my grandpa’s ’05 SSR [ yes, he had one ], the center console controls were laied out to where you either had to throw your neck down and find the button you’re looking for or have the muscle memory of a genius to pick it. Here’s an example:
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/AREEDK/2006-chevrolet-ssr-in-black-gear-shiftercenter-console-AREEDK.jpg
Citroen radio positioning on CXs (and others)…
More personally. The buttons for the heated steering wheel and steering assist on late 2nd Gen Nissan Rogues is very much an afterthought and so incredibly stupid to access while trying to drive.
This is general, but all of the “novel” electronic shifters put in automatic transmission cars nowadays. Stick with a lever with the regular gear pattern, or go with a simple knob out of the way, again with the regular pattern. Period. I rented a newer Accord a few weeks ago, and the shifter is terrible – a series of buttons at different angles taking up a bunch of space on the console.
The shifter in the Bolt is very aggravating – do engage drive you have to pull up on the “D” switch.
No biggie.
However, a very similarly shaped button for the parking break is located almost directly next to it, that also has the same pull-up motion required.
https://www.chevybolt.org/attachments/2022-chevrolet-boltev-017-zoombottom-jpg.33453/
So yeah, engaging the parking break when you’re trying to hit drive (after backing out), annoying!
Brake.
Break is what happens to your headlights when you don’t use the brake.
Hands-down, bar-none: the rotary gear selector knob in the Ford Escape that I rented a couple months ago. Do you have any idea how fruatrating it is to make a 3-point turn with that lump of horseshit? Especially when you only had to 3-point it because the turning radius sucks so badly that you couldn’t pull off the U-turn, amd now your ass is hanging out in oncoming traffic while you turn the damn dial one click too far and put the fucking thing in Park rather than Reverse.
How much of a delay is there when you shift? That drives me nuts!
Not much of a delay that I recall, but the knob was too easy to turn, so it was easy to overshoot what you wanted. I did it half a dozen times in 2 days. And I couldn’t think of a good reason for it to be a knob rather than a lever, and the whole experience just made me angry.
The choice of knob, in Ford’s case, at least, was claimed to be so that it will automatically enter park when you turn it off and/or open the door. It also blocks a little less space.
Of course, there are good and bad ways to do most things, and Ford prefers the cheapest way.
That makes some sense to me. That’s one of the things I like with my Prius’s electronic shifter, once I’m in position I can just push the power button and it puts me in park automatically.
My dad test drove a Volvo 850 around 1993, and I tagged along as a car-obsessed teenager. This example had a sunroof, which the salesman had opened before we hopped in. We were allowed to take the car out for a spin without the salesman nagging us from the back seat, so we did. As we drove, the sky darkened and light rain started to fall. Naturally, my dad reached up to the headliner to look for a sunroof button. There wasn’t one there. Frantically, we start looking everywhere on the dash, until finally I spot it.
It was behind the steering wheel, next to the ignition. I was able to see it from the passenger’s seat, but my dad had to really crane his neck around the early brick-like airbag steering wheel. So unergonomic for a company focused on safety.
Honda did this too, up until the mid-2000s on some models. Honestly though, I thought it made a lot of sense ergonomically. It kept your hands close to the steering wheel, rather than reaching away from it up to the roof – and holding it there, before sunroofs were all one-touch.
Yep, early 1980s Preludes or 1999 civics… they put that button in the same place on the dash.
On my 13 GX460 the radio tuning/ forward back knob on the lower right is terrible, Every time I open the glove compartment the channel/track I’m listening too changes
https://cars.usnews.com/static/images/Auto/izmo/354104/2013_lexus_gx_460_dashboard.jpg
Also the 21 RDX has a giant dial that changes between the 3 driving modes exactly where the volume knob should be, and the volume knob is hidden almost behind the steering wheel
HA, that GX one is great!
That knob is my only complaint on the GX. I’ve thought about trying to shave it down, to make it more flush, but that doesn’t seem to be an easy option.
I always come back to my ’07 Pilot, which I dearly loved in almost every way. But the decision on cruise control…controls was baffling. Most of the buttons lived on the right spoke of the steering wheel as the universe intended. But the on/off button was on the far lower left of the dash, in the land of Lean Over and Take Your Eyes off the Road. And apparently this crossed models, as my brother-in-law’s CR-V had the same button placement. A head scratcher.
It’s definitely a steering yoke.
My fingers originally typed it as “steering joke” and I considered leaving the typo. Insane that Lexus and maybe others are copying this hare-brained idea.