I can't handle it! - A Rant

[GRiLLA]

If you're not one who changes your car every time they bring out a label for the switches (the 2020s version of "when the ashtrays are full"?) the irritation is still there. Daily..

Buy some stickers then if it's irritating you daily. I got some before my car was delivered in 2019, but have never felt the need to fit them.

 

[TestPilot]

Buy some stickers then if it's irritating you daily. I got some before my car was delivered in 2019, but have never felt the need to fit them.

They don't help if your passengers have poor eyesight sadly. And you still have to learn the elbow shove button push combo (with the back doors in particular) even if you get the right button.

 

[GRiLLA]

There are some very annoying Tesla fanatics that come out with the "The doors are fine, your friends are stupid." statement.
The reality is, I have the stupid little "Door open" stickers on the buttons, I've explained how to get out of the car countless times, but every single time I take my in-laws anywhere they can't get out.
Getting out of the back of the car in particular is a UX failure, the doors are more "Sticky" and pressing the button without shoving with your elbow just winds the window down and up again, and it bugs the hell out of me that people blindly defend such a poor design just because most of the rest of the car is good. You really got me started with this one!!!!

My mother in law has replaced her mobile 5 times because the keep breaking, of course they all work perfectly she just forgets how to turn them on. We even bought special 'oldies' phones to help her, she just can't handle anything invented after the 1980s. DVD menu's defeated her, she sticks to VHS but more recently it also 'broke' as she forgot how to press the button on the tv to view it.
I didn't want my car to be designed specifically around her abilities, maybe it will last longer.

 

[Js1977]

There are some very annoying Tesla fanatics that come out with the "The doors are fine, your friends are stupid." statement.
The reality is, I have the stupid little "Door open" stickers on the buttons, I've explained how to get out of the car countless times, but every single time I take my in-laws anywhere they can't get out.
Getting out of the back of the car in particular is a UX failure, the doors are more "Sticky" and pressing the button without shoving with your elbow just winds the window down and up again, and it bugs the hell out of me that people blindly defend such a poor design just because most of the rest of the car is good. You really got me started with this one!!!!

The doors are fine and your friends are not stupid, just uneducated. We all learn something new every day right? No different to the way you learn to talk, read and write, learn a new language, learn how to drive, operate a windows computer and then maybe transition to another OS and have to re-learn etc.

 

[Irata]

Ah so the doors are not deadlocked then, if the mechanical pull works when locked.

 

[Js1977]

They don't help if your passengers have poor eyesight sadly. And you still have to learn the elbow shove button push combo (with the back doors in particular) even if you get the right button.

Look. Not really wanting to come across as im keeping on to you but if your passengers have some sort of impairment maybe you ought to do the honourable thing and open the door for them or at least give them some sort of guidance/assistance.

 

[TestPilot]

You lot can say what you want, I have fully able bodied friends that have struggled with them too. I do UX design for a living, if literally everyone needs it explaining to them then it's bad UX.
But keep on it if you like, but I will absolutely not be changing my mind after over 2 years of failed practical usability testing of this BS door design.

 

[Irata]

The Ionic 5 has similar exterior door handles.

If this trend continues, it'll become the norm and then it won't need explaining so much.

Be interesting to see if this does indeed become the new norm.

 

[TestPilot]

The external handles you can figure out by playing, they’re not too bad. The internal rear door exit mechanism is boggling for people, because even if you get the right button it just winds the window down a bit, so then they think they hit the wrong button and try the other button, which also just winds the window down a bit, so what I end up with is a trapped passenger and a fully open rear window before they get it. Every time. Without fail.

 

[GRiLLA]

The external handles you can figure out by playing, they’re not too bad. The internal rear door exit mechanism is boggling for people, because even if you get the right button it just winds the window down a bit.

They should pop open a bit too, enough that you can push them from there. People have had Tesla adjust them if they aren't popping.

 

[TestPilot]

They should pop open a bit too, enough that you can push them from there. People have had Tesla adjust them if they aren't popping.

That would help, but I have had them adjust them and they still stay closed

The real question is “What is the problem with a regular handle (even if it’s a “soft” handle) that is solved with a button?”
I can’t find a reason to make it different.

 

[GRiLLA]

That would help, but I have had them adjust them and they still stay closed

The real question is “What is the problem with a regular handle (even if it’s a “soft” handle) that is solved with a button?”
I can’t find a reason to make it different.

Cost, buttons are cheap.

I'm pretty sure Tesla's idea about locks is different to most, a locked door is just one that doesn't respond to a button press rather than a mechanical lock. Whick also saves cost.

Model 3 was designed to be the low cost, easy to build car in the range.

 

[pgkevet]

You have to think about Elon’s bottom line - the chap has to make a few pennies where he can. Half a steering wheel, no radar, no gear switch lever, no rain sensor, no rear wiper, no spare wheel and I'm waiting for suggestions that phantom braking is due to conflicts with the ultrasonics - after all humans don't use ultrasound

 

[TestPilot]

Cost, buttons are cheap.

I'm pretty sure Tesla's idea about locks is different to most, a locked door is just one that doesn't respond to a button press rather than a mechanical lock. Whick also saves cost.

Model 3 was designed to be the low cost, easy to build car in the range.

By “soft” handle I mean a button that looks like a handle, just like the exterior ones. People are looking for a mechanical handle (like how they go for the emergency release in the front unless you tell them not to), they don’t give a damn if it actually is mechanical. A button that looks like a handle doesn’t cost more.

Anyway, I’m not going to keep arguing with you, I have to keep stopping myself doing this, it’s bad for my mental health.

 

[Js1977]

You have to think about Elon’s bottom line - the chap has to make a few pennies where he can. Half a steering wheel, no radar, no gear switch lever, no rain sensor, no rear wiper, no spare wheel and I'm waiting for suggestions that phantom braking is due to conflicts with the ultrasonics - after all humans don't use ultrasound

Aye. Half steering wheel would be reserved for a black one and I would name it K.I.T.T. ... Spare wheels (strangely and wrongly) seem so yesterday across the board and ill go with the flow on the rest. That said, circa 20 years ago, I remember that I was into my scoobys it had to be JDM import because it had a few things as standard such as climate control, better power (hardware) and rear wipers! unlike the UK versions.

 

[GRiLLA]

By “soft” handle I mean a button that looks like a handle, just like the exterior ones. People are looking for a mechanical handle (like how they go for the emergency release in the front unless you tell them not to), they don’t give a damn if it actually is mechanical. A button that looks like a handle doesn’t cost more.

Anyway, I’m not going to keep arguing with you, I have to keep stopping myself doing this, it’s bad for my mental health.

If everything has to be a skeuomorph of how older people remember things, shouldn't the electric windows be operated by little handles you rotate.

Things progress, people learn new things, some people get left behind, that's always been the case. A simple button to open a door is a perfectly good UI, people know how buttons work, and are familiar with automotive pictograms defining the purpose.

It'll be a touchscreen at some point, with a slider for window height and a selection of different handle designs you can drag to open

 

[TestPilot]

If everything has to be a skeuomorph of how older people remember things, shouldn't the electric windows be operated by little handles you rotate.

Things progress, people learn new things, some people get left behind, that's always been the case. A simple button to open a door is a perfectly good UI, people know how buttons work, and are familiar with automotive pictograms defining the purpose.

It'll be a touchscreen at some point, with a slider for window height and a selection of different handle designs you can drag to open

Let’s agree to disagree.

 

[Js1977]

If everything has to be a skeuomorph of how older people remember things, shouldn't the electric windows be operated by little handles you rotate.

Things progress, people learn new things, some people get left behind, that's always been the case. A simple button to open a door is a perfectly good UI, people know how buttons work, and are familiar with automotive pictograms defining the purpose.

It'll be a touchscreen at some point, with a slider for window height and a selection of different handle designs you can drag to open

I would sum it up that in time, most if not all things become nostalgic to everyone and some people are more resistant to embrace new things than others. ... Just different mindsets I suppose.

 

[TestPilot]

I think we will never agree on it as fundamentally I don’t think it’s ok to have to explain how to get out (even as little as once per new passenger), you both think it is ok to have to explain it. We just have to accept that we are differing in this.

 

[CyberGus]