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Funny--But Not So Funny--What Was GM Thinking?

Personally I'm no fan of the overcomplexity of many cars nowadays, especially in cases where features override the operator's intentions.

In certain cases, I think the electromechanical door locks in higher end cars are used to eliminate external hardware for aesthetic reasons - essentially the logic behind "shaved door handles" beloved of customizers of vintage cars.
 
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I had to help a older woman last week in a parking lot. Her car wouldn't start and she thought the battery was dead (it was a new car). I walked over and was going to try to start it before getting out my cables. Before I got in the car I saw the shifter was in N. She jumped in and put it in P then pulled the key from the ignition and said, Oh so that's why I couldn't get the key out when I parked :dunno:
 
62caddy said:
Personally I'm no fan of the overcomplexity of many cars nowadays, especially in cases where features override the operator's intentions.
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Last year, there was a complaint filed by the National Car Wash Association with the automakers--yes, there is a trade association for car wash owners.

The complaint being that all of these electronic safety and security features were disabling vehicles in their facilities. The collision avoidance features were locking up the vehicles brakes as soon as a brush approached the front of the vehicle, and the keypad entry systems were disabling vehicles--if an incorrect code is entered multiple times--like by being hit by brushes during the wash, you have to get a dealer to unlock and start the vehicle. Vehicles literally had to be towed out of automated car washes.
 
gadget73 said:
For things other than doors, I'll agree. Doors should operate in an intuitive enough manner that anyone can use them at any time without having to research it.
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I have to agree. What if it was a child that got into the car to retrieve his homework or his baseball glove?

It is not like one of my former blonde girl friends that go locked in her convertible even though the top and windows were down. :eek::D




Okay no offense meant to any segment of the population.:D
 
You can blame owners for not reading the manuals or whatever, but when one person has died and another nearly died because it wasn’t obvious how to get out of the car, there is a problem.

What if it’s dark, battery dead, no lights, can’t read the manual, can’t see the release levers.

It’s simple, when you pull the handle the door should open.
 
Phosphorescent (glow in the dark) handles such as those used for inside-trunk releases might help the situation.

C6 Corvette manual door release shown here. Presumably the location is similar to that in the XLR. Unable to find an image of the latter.

corvettedoorlatch-34042.jpg



UPDATE: XLR emergency release below.

8889190d8e717b1064afa32e8182c7dd.png
 
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Both guys who got trapped were in their 70s, eyesight and mobility were probably working against them, yes they could have read the book but they probably never figured opening the door would require directions.

If I had a car like this I would keep a spring loaded punch in the glove box to break a window, even with the emergency releases.
 
My better half's son drives this piece of **** Pontiac where the roofline is so low that the power windows need to roll down an inch or so to clear the roof.

Now think of this. What happens if the battery dies? How are you supposed to even get into the car if the f***ing windows don't even roll down to allow the door to open?? Break the windows? Open the trunk and crawl through the seat opening (if that even exists)? Take a metal cutting blade to the roof and let yourself in? Rip the hood open with the jaws of life?? WTF?

I remember seeing, I think, the VW Beetle convertible needing to do this also. At least on that thing, you could cut through the convertible top with a utility knife.

Stupid. Utterly stupid.

Yeah, I admit I like some of the features of modern cars, but some of this stuff is so tied to a battery now that it makes you wonder why we didn't stick to mechanical things that just worked. Don't need touchscreen bullshit for HVAC--the knobs and levers worked just fine for decades. Don't need some stupid battery-operated magic key fob that could go dead, with no way to even get into and start your car with a pushbutton (dumbest idea ever); what was ever wrong with a key starter?? Nothing. It just worked...for decades. Mechanical gauges, mechanical door/trunk/hood latches, even a shift knob vs. buttons...they all worked fine.

I sometimes think these manufacturers do this to amuse themselves.

I rented a car last summer for a day. Very nice, but it's the first time I've ever had to sit in the running car for 5-10 minutes just to figure out how to drive it and operate the controls. Ridiculous. The manual in my '09 I think approaches 250 pages...maybe more. The manuals in our old mid 70s cars? What, a couple dozen pages? That should be a clue right there.
 
I just don't feel that having a separate emergency use only door handle makes any sense. In a panic, you don't think "ok, where is that other handle that I never use that I read about in the owners manual when I got the car 4 years ago". You want out and you're going to go for the method that you always go for.

As for that sliding lock in the 80s, thats also a bad idea if it requires manually unlocking it prior to using the door handle for exactly the same reason. A sensible latch mechanism will unlock itself when the interior door handle is pulled. Ford figured that out, surely someone at GM is smart enough to shape a lever so pulling on the interior door handle also unlocks it.

I'm not adverse to technology in a vehicle, but when the tech makes it less safe thats a failure. I do not drive a 1940s car, I have Lincolns with miles of electrical wire, digital stuff, 4 wheel air suspension, antilock brakes, etc. Basically if it existed in the 80s, I have it. It works too. All of it can fail, and my doors will still open and let me out.
 
On the other hand we can have a scenario in which someone's clothing gets caught in the door handle causing the door to open with the driver falling out when going around a sharp right turn. Now come the accusations of how negligent the automaker for designing a door latch that doesn't stay locked when locked.

No matter how well thought-out or foolproof something can be made, there will always be an individual or an unforeseeable chain of circumstances which can turn it into something with harmful or deadly consequences.
 
The Model T Ford was designed ca 110 years ago as a durable minimal parts count, simple, easy to maintain affordable standardized automobile with high utility value. It was produced for 19 years, arguably well past it's sell-by obsolescence time, but still an object lesson for effective design and efficient production.
Other cars were more costly and complex, but none affected the global industry as did this in it's day.
 
All this kind of crap makes me insane. As a friend of mine said a long time ago, the event of electronics addiction will lead to the death of millions some day. One nicely placed bomb will destroy the usability of all electronics for hundreds of miles, If dropped in a spot between Washington DC and New York City, it will bring the government, Wall Street, the power industry and a major portion of the travel industry to a dead stop. All this could be done without initially killing anyone. Tom Clancy has touched on this in some of his novels.

I have a 2003 Suburban. I will keep it for as long as I can and when it is dead, I will look for another used one. I don't want a car with an LCD screen in the middle of the dash. It is easy enough to get distracted while driving without having that sh*t. I guess I am just an old grump.
 
Wildcat said:
My better half's son drives this piece of **** Pontiac where the roofline is so low that the power windows need to roll down an inch or so to clear the roof.

Now think of this. What happens if the battery dies? How are you supposed to even get into the car if the f***ing windows don't even roll down to allow the door to open?? Break the windows? Open the trunk and crawl through the seat opening (if that even exists)? Take a metal cutting blade to the roof and let yourself in? Rip the hood open with the jaws of life?? WTF?

I remember seeing, I think, the VW Beetle convertible needing to do this also. At least on that thing, you could cut through the convertible top with a utility knife.

Stupid. Utterly stupid.

Yeah, I admit I like some of the features of modern cars, but some of this stuff is so tied to a battery now that it makes you wonder why we didn't stick to mechanical things that just worked. Don't need touchscreen bullshit for HVAC--the knobs and levers worked just fine for decades. Don't need some stupid battery-operated magic key fob that could go dead, with no way to even get into and start your car with a pushbutton (dumbest idea ever); what was ever wrong with a key starter?? Nothing. It just worked...for decades. Mechanical gauges, mechanical door/trunk/hood latches, even a shift knob vs. buttons...they all worked fine.

I sometimes think these manufacturers do this to amuse themselves.

I rented a car last summer for a day. Very nice, but it's the first time I've ever had to sit in the running car for 5-10 minutes just to figure out how to drive it and operate the controls. Ridiculous. The manual in my '09 I think approaches 250 pages...maybe more. The manuals in our old mid 70s cars? What, a couple dozen pages? That should be a clue right there.
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That is not why they roll down. It is there to enable pillarless windows that make a better seal when the door is shut.
 
Pio1980 said:
The Model T Ford was designed ca 110 years ago as a durable minimal parts count, simple, easy to maintain affordable standardized automobile with high utility value. It was produced for 19 years, arguably well past it's sell-by obsolescence time, but still an object lesson for effective design and efficient production.
Other cars were more costly and complex, but none affected the global industry as did this in it's day.
Click to expand...


I think Ford made the model T engine up to 1940 for industrial use .
 
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