Weblog Bas – Rest, dear manufacturers, rest!

The recipe is simple. You must be able to open and close doors and flaps without straining your arm. Vital functions must be accessible at the touch of a button. The symbols on the stems of the steering column must remain visible. A wireless charging platform should be easy to grab in hidden storage compartments without any difficult digging.

It is crucial that everything is where you expect, because proven formulas work well for a reason. So that the rear window heating has not suddenly moved to a cluster to the left of the steering wheel between the light functions, or that your volume control has changed into an unlit bar under a screen – I will not mention any names. Don’t try to reinvent a wheel that is already running fine.

You’d be surprised how many manufacturers ignore that basic rule. Where’s that damn start button? Where is the automatic transmission, and why does it suddenly have to have separate buttons for P, N, R and D in one place – do you hear me, Jeep? – where you never expected them? Where the hell is that rubber tailgate release button? Why do I have to set mirrors and steering wheel in interaction between screen and hopelessly cumbersome controllers on the steering wheel, where this used to be much easier and faster? Speaking of simple; closing the door from the inside in the new Peugeot E-3008 is a task. The hole you end up clinging to is too small, and it’s too crooked for you to find anything to hold on to. I cannot lean on the armrest. The door panel is beautiful, but design trumps function on all fronts.

Everything is in order in the updated Porsche Taycan, except the wireless phone charger. It could no longer be accessed on the dashboard, where the touchscreens took precedence. It’s under the center armrest, where you have to squeeze your phone into a clamp against the left side wall of the driver’s side. The support is also the lid for a storage compartment. This does not open bilaterally lengthwise to the left and right, but as one whole to the rear. Once opened it gets in the way dramatically. Just come over there with your right arm from your low sports seat. And once your iPhone is in place, you can’t get to it. For safety reasons this may not be an unwise strategy for a car with a short-lived peak power of 952 hp, but it is useful. I remember similar problems with phone chargers from BMWs and Mercedes. In any case, the designers wipe the floor with any form of sobriety. In the new 7-series, which I am in love with despite much, opening the door electrically from the inside is a torment; where is that button? Just do an old-fashioned latch, guys, much more natural. With the i4, accessibility is also a problem on the outside because the recessed door handle slopes upwards on the inside, causing your fingers to slip. Look, the new Mini Countryman has the same problem. Same grip, that’s why. In the E-3008, the phone charging tray is hidden in a narrow cavern between the bottom of the dashboard and the mountainous center tunnel, as if it has become the object of a battle between engineers and designers. And in the Allure version of that car, try closing the non-electrically lockable tailgate, which is unwieldy due to its weight and shape. I just managed it, an old lady wouldn’t have been able to do it. So take the most expensive version of that car, the GT. At least there the lid can be opened hands-free.

Source of irritation: Glove compartments. The doors are all too big and hang too low, so regardless of your sitting position, they always hit your knees or prick your shins. You have to get them open first. In the i7 this is done with an incomprehensible touch button on the dashboard, you are looking for trouble. With Tesla you should always be suspicious of such jokes. All those little annoyances are especially annoying because they didn’t have to be there. Why can’t I reach the electronic parking brake in the Mercedes EQE? Why do Citroën, and now also Skoda, hide the stem for the cruise control invisibly behind the steering wheel? On the handlebars guys, on the handlebars. But logic is out of fashion.

Every manufacturer should set up a Common Sense Command, a crisis team that will deal with design humbug and stupid arbitrariness in a timely manner during the development phase of each new model. Because we can all want to be the most beautiful and innovative, convenience serves people more than ever now that touchscreens are already driving them crazy. Rest, dear manufacturers, rest!