Dumb Design

JTP

JTP

New Member
My friend Matt is not only an archaeologist, race car driver and mechanic, he also studied product design in college. He pointed out something to me today that I did not know. A lot of new cars on the road are made so the headlights just stay on all the time when the engine's running. For safety's sake, right? Problem is, people will be driving along at dusk and when it gets dark, they forget to pull out the actual switch. They assume that because the headlights are on, they've got taillights too- not the case. So they're driving along after dark with headlights but no taillights. They get a ticket for unsafe operation or worse, cause an accident. Now what knucklehead, silly SOB designed that, and how did it make it all the way into production without somebody going, "Hey- that's a dumb idea, let's make the taillights come on automatically, too." ??? Duuuuuh- huh?
 
In Canada we have DRL(daytime running lights),sounds like what your describing.They are quite a bit dimmer than actually having the lights "on" so you'd be hardpressed not to notice ,also the dash lights aren't activated ,so they should clue in when they can't see the speedo.A lot of new cars have auto headlights ,so that when i gets dark enough the all the necessary lights come on.
 
Don't all VOLVOs have those as standard?

on gloomy days VOLVO drivers always get flashed for "leaving their lights on" when they can't turn em off!!!!!
 
Those are probably HIDs (high intensity discharge) ,a lot more "intense" so other drivers notice them more.
 
A.B.Normal said:
Those are probably HIDs (high intensity discharge) ,a lot more "intense" so other drivers notice them more.
Click to expand...

Gawd those things are blinding! Talk about overkill! Another of my pet peeves. And why can't you get a new car with manual crank-down windows anymore? And those dinging bells that go off when you open the door... anybody got some cheese to go with my whine?
:cuss:
 
JTP said:
Gawd those things are blinding! Talk about overkill! Another of my pet peeves. And why can't you get a new car with manual crank-down windows anymore? And those dinging bells that go off when you open the door... anybody got some cheese to go with my whine?
:cuss:
Click to expand...

The dingy bells do my napper in too...

YEAH! I'm leaving already!!!!!! Its 4am and now the whole street know's I'm vacating my fella's ve-hicle!!!!!!!
*passes the cheese...
 
JTP said:
Gawd those things are blinding! Talk about overkill! Another of my pet peeves. And why can't you get a new car with manual crank-down windows anymore? And those dinging bells that go off when you open the door... anybody got some cheese to go with my whine?
:cuss:
Click to expand...

I never understood the power window thing either until my current vehicle.Its great to be able to drop the passenger window to increase air flow ,without messing my hair.Manual windows are available with base models and once you've turned the key/lights off ,there is no longer a dingy bell when you open the door (at least on my car).
 
A.B.Normal said:
I never understood the power window thing either until my current vehicle.Its great to be able to drop the passenger window to increase air flow ,without messing my hair.Manual windows are available with base models and once you've turned the key/lights off ,there is no longer a dingy bell when you open the door (at least on my car).
Click to expand...

Well, they're supposed to, but listen- things don't always work as designed. I left Georgia to go to a dig in Delaware. Near the South Carolina border, the door bell started dinging, for no apparent reason. Stopped and made sure both doors were well shut, still- ding ding DING DING DING FREAKIN DING all the way to Delaware. I put in the Motorhead tape and turned it up to 11, still couldn't drown it out. Pulled over and tried to find the device, but couldn't. Only way to make it stop was kill the engine. Took it to a mechanic in Delaware, he finally disconnected it, but it was on the same circuit as my interior dome light, which doesn't work to this day. I just keep a flashlight under the seat- anything's better than that gawdawful dinging!:grumpy:
 
It always bothered me too. None of the cars I've owned had headlights that couldn't be turned off... I imagine that if they did, I'd go in and rewire them not to, because it bothers me.

It's easy enough to just turn on the lights once it gets dark... so many cars now even have the 'auto' lights with a sensor that turns them on when it gets dark out.
 
Mine's a 2002 Chevy Malibu with auto headlights. The headlights are always on (I had to check and make sure of that because one of the highways near here is a daylight headlight area) but when it gets dark enough, it automatically turns on the headlights. My only choices are on, parking lamps, and auto... no off setting.

As for the beeper... a lot of cars these days run the warning beeper though the stereo, which might explain why you can't drown it out even with Motorhead cranked up really loud. When I replaced the stereo, I had to buy a little unit that hooks into the new stereo to replace the warning beeper and also returns an "OK" code to the engine computer. That beeper goes off for key left in the ignition, low fuel, and probably a few other things.
 
I should also mention that cars these days seem to have the worst quality taillight bulbs imaginable. I don't know how many cars I've seen that are not more than a year or two old with a taillight already out. It's totally possible that the person driving the car your friend described had turned on the headlights and had headlights and dash lights but both taillights were burned out.
 
Inkara1 said:
I should also mention that cars these days seem to have the worst quality taillight bulbs imaginable. I don't know how many cars I've seen that are not more than a year or two old with a taillight already out. It's totally possible that the person driving the car your friend described had turned on the headlights and had headlights and dash lights but both taillights were burned out.
Click to expand...


The thing with the taillights burning out,they cause the blinker to flash really quickly if ones burned out.Nice feature if you ask me ,because how many of us ever check them.
 
You're right about taillight bulb quality.
I think Matt was referring to his Dad's pickup, but also all new cars in general. Mine's a wee little Mazda pickup I bought new in '95. Great little engine- good mileage for its age- and very dependable. Just a few electrical problems like that doorbell and the wipers that just start wiping all of a sudden, out of the blue. Lots of shorts in the wiring. Sometimes the radio works, sometimes not. Too much sake on the assembly line.
Oh, wait- the engine was made in Japan, the rest made by Ford here in USA. DUUUH-huh!
 
OTC- Off my own topic, this isn't about dumb design. In Columbus, Georgia there's some kind of homeowner's association telling people they can't dry their clothes on a line, even in their backyard. UUuuuhh, telling people what they can and can't do (within the law and reason) on their own property? Does this strike anyone as sort of...un-American?
If anybody tried that up here where I live, we'd laugh 'em out of the county.
 
I can't have a clothes line here....and my maters are technically contraband but we hide them well enough.

My ex's car has that damn door open dinging noise stuck on all the time. I can always tell when he's calling from the car. It's really freaking annoying, I have no idea how he stands it.
 
I'm amazed that so few cars have gone to LED tail lights. A LED version of the standard 1156 bulb is literally like five bucks, and will never burn out. Only problem is that you need to use electronic flashers instead of thermal flashers, but they aren't that expensive.
(Thermal flashers are the ones most cars have, the ones that make an audible clicking noise, where they work based on the heat of a resistor, and if the bulb isn't drawing enough current (it's either a low current LED bulb or a burnt out incandescent bulb) it flashes really quickly)

I kinda want to replace my incandescents with LEDs, but then I face the reality which is that my car is old, has 140,000 miles, and has several things wrong with it, so LEDs are not a priority.
 
And yea, I don't like the idea of a stupid Homeowner's Association telling me what I can or can't do on property that I own. My great-great-great-great grandfather didn't fight the Redcoats so that some punk ass committee can tell me what to do on my land.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top