A simple New Year resolution for the auto industry in 2025
New Year Resolution
What we do here at DashboardSymbols.com is attempt to help the average driver understand what is happening to his or her vehicle at the first sign of trouble. So as we approach the first day of 2025, here’s a New Year resolution we would to see adopted by the industry.
Simplify your cars.
Everything we do circles the very fact that today’s automobiles and light trucks are simply overstuffed with gadgets and systems that, while often aimed at making a vehicle safer, instead add baffling complexity often out of reach of the average driver.
And before deciding that this is an issue only with higher-end automobiles, remember that we recently nearly doubled the number of symbols and indicators populating the Ford dashboard symbols page with the addition of 75 new images. Not Lincoln, not Mercedes.Ford!
Tech is King
Don’t get us wrong — we love the new technology and, at first blush, so do the majority of drivers. But in actual practice, frustration is the end result. Ay idea what the symbols to the right mean?? Every one of them is related to some system in some vehicle. Evidently we are inching closer to rocket science…
Curiously, a peak at J.D Power and Consumer Reports could, in fact, be all that a manufacturer would need to know what direction to head, what systems need improving. Their own customer complaints likely run parallel to what those industry watchdogs are reporting.
Its easy enough to say: make things simpler, more intuitive, less cumbersome, etc. And not to engineers or designers or “enthusiasts”. But to average, everyday drivers.
But it is clearly difficult to put into practice. The same complaints have echoed for two decades.
In August of 2022, six leading organizations that are committed to consumer safety and education — AAA, Consumer Reports, J.D. Power, National Safety Council, PAVE, and SAE — came together to develop the standardized naming conventions for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technologies.
Nothing much has come from this, and all that effort was aimed only at simplifying names, not the systems and cars themselves.
In the interim, we’ll continue our mission to help.
——————————————————————-
Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.
These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.
Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing could be more true.
The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph’s College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
A simple New Year resolution for the auto industry in 2025
What we do here at DashboardSymbols.com is attempt to help the average driver understand what is happening to his or her vehicle at the first sign of trouble. So as we approach the first day of 2025, here’s a New Year resolution we would to see adopted by the industry.
Simplify your cars.
Everything we do circles the very fact that today’s automobiles and light trucks are simply overstuffed with gadgets and systems that, while often aimed at making a vehicle safer, instead add baffling complexity often out of reach of the average driver.
And before deciding that this is an issue only with higher-end automobiles, remember that we recently nearly doubled the number of symbols and indicators populating the Ford dashboard symbols page with the addition of 75 new images. Not Lincoln, not Mercedes. Ford!
Don’t get us wrong — we love the new technology and, at first blush, so do the majority of drivers. But in actual practice, frustration is the end result. Ay idea what the symbols to the right mean?? Every one of them is related to some system in some vehicle. Evidently we are inching closer to rocket science…
Curiously, a peak at J.D Power and Consumer Reports could, in fact, be all that a manufacturer would need to know what direction to head, what systems need improving. Their own customer complaints likely run parallel to what those industry watchdogs are reporting.
Its easy enough to say: make things simpler, more intuitive, less cumbersome, etc. And not to engineers or designers or “enthusiasts”. But to average, everyday drivers.
But it is clearly difficult to put into practice. The same complaints have echoed for two decades.
In August of 2022, six leading organizations that are committed to consumer safety and education — AAA, Consumer Reports, J.D. Power, National Safety Council, PAVE, and SAE — came together to develop the standardized naming conventions for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technologies.
Nothing much has come from this, and all that effort was aimed only at simplifying names, not the systems and cars themselves.
In the interim, we’ll continue our mission to help.
——————————————————————-
Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.
These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.
Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing could be more true.
The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph’s College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY