Engineering annoyances.

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: halik
Voting machines

As someone with a CS degree, I'm astounded no one can make those things work right.

So design something better. Really.

Make it open-source, too, while you're at it.

And have thousands of American citizens use it.

Remember, you have to make something that the public can use. Factor in the fact that half(ish) our population has mental issues, and good luck.

People don't have problems using ATMs, do they? It's basically the same functionality

Not poor people. And those are the ones with the problems...

JUST KIDDING.

 

[eplebnista]

I have a strong dislike for the automatic door locking feature if the speedometer goes above 10 mph on the dodge minivan I have. I also like the old round twist top bottles that french's mustard used to have because the newer bottles have a tendency to drown the food in mustard when squeezed. The sony dvd player I have can play mp3's but cannot shuffle them(although it can shuffle scenes of a dvd movie-I don't see the point of that feature either).

 

[Squisher]

Toyota puts the cruise control on a stalk mounted to the steering wheel.

That means the control is never in the same place. You're not going in a straight line and you want to turn the cruise off without actually touching brakes, you need to hunt around to find the cruise paddle.

Doing this is fine with redundant controls like for the radio, but not for the only way to do something.

 

[Throckmorton]

How about Windows.. You enter a wifi password twice. Why do you have to confirm a password you're entering to access something??

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

And have thousands of American citizens use it.

Remember, you have to make something that the public can use. Factor in the fact that half(ish) our population has mental issues, and good luck.

That's sexist.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
Here's the best one I know of: The '08-'09 BMW M3 has a 4.0L V8 that's truly amazing, but one fault that's glaring is that it doesn't have an oil dipstick. It relies on an electronic sensor to determine engine oil level. Not sure WTF they were thinking when they designed that...

I'd rather have an electronic sensor. 99% of the time I can't get a dipstick reading on my XJ. The whole stick just gets coated with oil

 

[Throckmorton]

Oh yeah, I hate those bottles of salad dressing, barbecue sauce, etc, that have a wide opening instead of a small nozzle. You can't control how much comes out. You just shake and hope determinism blesses you with the appropriate amount of condiment.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Nissan Intelligent Key (from Wired)

The issue with the Intelligent Key is that it ignores the many key fobs before it that used recessed keys for one very specific reason... it helps keep you from hitting the buttons when you don't want to! I've unintentionally set off the panic alarm on my 2007 Altima so many times and sometimes at late hours that I'm pretty fucking tired of it. The problem isn't me hitting my pocket where the key is or anything silly like that, it's simply that the buttons are flesh with the fob and actually bevel out. What happens to me, is my keys come around and lay on top of the fob. When the key is then pushed at all, it will push the button in. The panic alarm is the top button, so therefore that's where the keys will lie and that gets pushed in.

But in searching for that image above, I found an eBay auction that's selling "jackets" for the intelligent key (kind of like the thing for the Wiimote). I might have to buy one.

I just had an 07 altima rented for about 3 weeks. Did not have this problem at all.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: slpaulson

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: halik
Voting machines

As someone with a CS degree, I'm astounded no one can make those things work right.

So design something better. Really.

Make it open-source, too, while you're at it.

And have thousands of American citizens use it.

Remember, you have to make something that the public can use. Factor in the fact that half(ish) our population has mental issues, and good luck.

People don't have problems using ATMs, do they? It's basically the same functionality

I bet a lot of old people would have problems with ATMs.

Personally, I think voting machines should be kept simple. I think they should just stick to paper and scanners. Anything controlled by a computer will have vulnerabilities and crashes.

A lot of people have trouble with ATM's. It doesn't take 5 minutes to make a withdrawl when I do it but it seems like everyone that I get behind takes that long.

 

[supastar1568]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
On some recent BMWs (not sure what model) there's no oil dipstick.
To check oil levels you take the car to a dealer so they can drain and measure it. :roll:

I bet it's the '08-'09 BMW M3 with the truly amazing 4.0L V8.

With its truly amazing torque....




C63 AMG all the way....

in a straight line of course

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: halik
People don't have problems using ATMs, do they? It's basically the same functionality

Ironically, Diebold is the major manufacturer in the US of both electronic voting machines and ATMs.

The really major issues with their voting machines are generally:

1. Their touchscreens have sensitivity and/or calibration issues.

2. They fail to tally votes correctly.

I am much more concerned about (2) than I am about any user-interface issues.

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: tk149
My Cingular 8125 PDA/phone.

Touchscreen - good.
Miniscule virtual keypad for dialing - bad. The keypad uses about one-third of the available touchscreen space. Each key is half the size of a chicklet. Some tiny asian dude or gremlin designed the software for this thing.

Plus a mobile phone should NEVER show a frickin' hourglass.

I NEVER used defualt OS, I had a hacked one, much bigger numbers more responsive..ect my 8125 long gone

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Having a kid, I grin at half the things I buy him. I expect them to break within a week because they are made in China.

 

[Black88GTA]

First thing that comes to mind is the "cupholders" on my '94 BMW 840. It's a minor gripe since I wouldn't use them much anyways, but I felt it deserved a mention here. So many things wrong, I don't know where to start.

First, they are built in to the back of the glove box lid. In order to use them, you have to have the glove box open. So, of course the crap in the glove box goes everywhere if you attempt to use the cupholders and drive at the same time. But you don't - because there's no way the driver can drive and reach them without causing an accident, unless you have freakishly long arms. And even if you did have a passenger available to transfer the drinks back and forth, they'd end up holding them anyway since the drink will go everywhere as soon as you hit a bump. The lid doesn't have any kind of detent system to keep it in place, so it bounces everywhere if you attempt to drive with it open.

Assuming you found ways around all of this, you're still out of luck if you're drinking from anything other than a very narrow glass or a standard size drink can, because that's all that fits in them anyway.

The shittiness of the cupholders surprised me, because everything else on this car seems pretty thoughtfully designed.

I felt that mere words could not fully describe the idiocy, so I took pics.

Closed glove box lid
The "cupholders" unfolded
Folded up

*NOTE: Interior not 100% complete in pics, I'm doing work on the car ATM.
*EDIT: fixed links (stupid HTTPS)

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Those cup holders are only small by American standards. They look pretty big to me.

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Those cup holders are only small by American standards. They look pretty big to me.

I assure you, they're not They won't even hold a small (by US standards) fast food drink cup - the taper of the cup is such that the bottom of the cup doesn't reach the bottom of the holder.

 

[Kirby]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: Kadarin
Here's the best one I know of: The '08-'09 BMW M3 has a 4.0L V8 that's truly amazing, but one fault that's glaring is that it doesn't have an oil dipstick. It relies on an electronic sensor to determine engine oil level. Not sure WTF they were thinking when they designed that...

I'd rather have an electronic sensor. 99% of the time I can't get a dipstick reading on my XJ. The whole stick just gets coated with oil

All you have to do is wipe it off, push it back in, then pull it out and read it.

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Those cup holders are only small by American standards. They look pretty big to me.

I assure you, they're not They won't even hold a small (by US standards) fast food drink cup - the taper of the cup is such that the bottom of the cup doesn't reach the bottom of the holder.

Those cupholders were never meant to be used while driving. They're put there in case your picnic gets rained on and you have to move it into the car.

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: Savij

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Those cup holders are only small by American standards. They look pretty big to me.

I assure you, they're not They won't even hold a small (by US standards) fast food drink cup - the taper of the cup is such that the bottom of the cup doesn't reach the bottom of the holder.

Those cupholders were never meant to be used while driving. They're put there in case your picnic gets rained on and you have to move it into the car.

I figured as much...but it seems retarded to me to put cupholders in the car that can't be used while driving. I would think this would just encourage people to try it.

 

[Triumph]

My engineering annoyance is people who complain about engineering annoyances, who have never actually engineered or designed anything. You can have it fast, cheap, or good, pick any 2 of the 3.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Triumph
My engineering annoyance is people who complain about engineering annoyances, who have never actually engineered or designed anything. You can have it fast, cheap, or good, pick any 2 of the 3.

pffff, that's like saying non-musicians shouldn't complain about bad music. So arrogant.

Personally I find feedback from non-technical users extremely useful when designing and building software.

 

[Ksyder]

Digital cameras that have no battery meter present until they are just about dead is one off the top of my head.

Also, IDE hard drives that have a label but no jumper diagram on them

 

[Lounatik]

I have a shitty LG flip phone from Sprint and I would like to meet the person who designed it and basically kill his whole family. The fucktards put the mic right in between the 6 and the 9, so if you are holding the phone like any normal human does, the mic is resting flush against your cheek.Even when it is in your left hand the mic still rests against your face, due to how the phone is designed . I have to basically hold the phone in front of me to talk because every single person I talk to cannot hear me. " You sound so muffled!" That's about all I get from anyone. For the love of Christ, why would you not put the mic below the zero? What the hell were they thinking?

I cannot use a bluetooth most of the time because I drive a big truck that is pretty noisy.

Peace

Lounatik

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I will start (because I started the thread!):

1) 2000 Maxima: the air vents are aimed with circular dials. For some reason, these dials can move the vent over its entire range with a fraction of an inch movement. This makes precision aiming of the vent extremely difficult. Especially as the dials have become stickier with age it's a real chore to aim the vents.

2) EPIC: The Verizon enV phone, to unlock the phone, requires only a single or double press of the massive, elevated button on the front of the phone. Therefore, to have it in your pocket you can expect very regular unlocking and calling of whomever the heck happens to get called. Worst is that the recent iteration of this phone, which came out quite recently, still has not solved this terrible problem.

the new enV isnt nearly as bad, mine never randomally calls anyone

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: BlackTigers
Isn't there a Chrysler, a recent one, that requires the removal of the tire, or a bumper for removal of the battery?

Yeah, that's bad.

whoa really? thats insane.

Yeah, I'm almost positive it was the Sebrings. You needed to remove the tire to get access through the wheel well.

I don't know about the Sebrings, but I know for a fact that is the case with the Intrepids. I had one, although I had the car for 5 years and never had to replace the battery.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

My phone has the following buttons on the outside:
3 to control music
2 to control volume
1 to take pictures/video
1 for the speaker phone function

I cannot lock the buttons to not do anything in my pocket, and guess which one doesn't work with the phone closed? That's right. The speakerphone. The ONE button that I do want to work closed doesn't work.