| Good design is invisible. It works beautifully, seamlessly, | | | | overhead, or inside the armrest bin. Call me dense, but I |
| does the job without a whimper. | | | | just couldn't find it.) |
| Bad design, on the other hand, is everywhere! It sticks | | | | You need to get down and insert your key into the |
| out like a pair of brown shoes under a black tux. It is | | | | trunk lock and open it manually every time you want to |
| in-your-face obvious. | | | | open your trunk. How's THAT for convenience? |
| The Chrysler PT Cruiser that I have rented for the | | | | And thirdly, watch out for the key itself because the |
| week made me realize once again how our daily lives | | | | PT designers placed the PANIC button right on the |
| get complicated for no other reason than bad design. | | | | key, exactly where you would be grabbing it to unlock |
| First, the window power buttons. Everyone who gets | | | | your doors and your trunk. |
| into a PT Cruiser for the first time searches for the | | | | The result? On various occasions throughout the day |
| window buttons in vain. Why? Because the designers | | | | you activate your car alarm without intending to. And if |
| of PT decided it would be a really "cute" idea to place | | | | that is happening inside the tight space of an |
| all four window controls in the center of the | | | | underground garage, the effect is all the more |
| dashboard! | | | | embarrassing and ear-splitting of course. |
| So when you approach a gate toll and you need to roll | | | | As American car manufacturers are wondering why |
| down your window in a hurry, don't panic. Just think | | | | Japanese and South Korean car makers are taking |
| about all the time and energy that went into an | | | | over the American market they should really pay |
| "innovation" that neither works nor is needed, and have | | | | attention to all these small things that either don't work |
| some compassion. | | | | or work with unpleasant results. |
| Second, if you need to pop open your trunk lid from | | | | It's time they realize that "cute" is not always "friendly." |
| inside for easy loading and unloading of your grocery | | | | Perhaps by taking such "design risks and challenges" |
| bags, forget about it. There is no pop-up button like you | | | | they are trying to take a road less traveled and |
| would have in 90% of all cars these days, that little and | | | | discover some new "aesthetic ground." |
| very useful button somewhere in the lower left side of | | | | Yet they should also remember what Jerry Seinfeld |
| the steering wheel. (I checked: it's not in the glove | | | | said about the matter: "Sometimes the road less |
| compartment or under the seat, or somewhere | | | | traveled is less traveled for a reason. |