Category: Articles & Commentaries

Discussions on topics of interest to drivers concerning things they may not understand about their vehicles as well as articles on the future of the auto industry.

Tesla Model S Incident Shines a Laser on a Broader Problem

Tesla Model S Incident

We watched with a good deal of fascination the running battle between New York Times reporter John Broder and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. Broder took to the interstate system in the northeast to test the Tesla Model S and the company’s charging stations. The resulting debacle has Tesla reeling, and while we hope and believe the end result will be a positive for the company and the buying public, we see a different problem and one that is faced daily by all car manufacturers, not just Tesla.

The reality is that new technology in nearly all new cars has drivers calling roadside assistance and service departments at alarming and increasing rates. Most drivers are more like Broder – average Joes rather than car jocks. What happened to Broder and Tesla is frankly not a new phenomenon. But because it is Tesla, the issue he faced received a great deal of attention and presents an opportunity to focus on a growing knowledge gap.

Case in point: shortly after the East Coast debacle, autoblog.com posted a video of Kelly Blue Book’s Micah Muzio – for the record, a car jock – attempting a trip from LA to Las Vegas in a Model S. On the way, he and his cameraman pulled into the Tesla Design Center to get a rundown on the car. And there we are, one minute and six seconds into the 14 minute video, and the screen shows in big bold letters “Warning! Information Overload!”

Overload Indeed

This is what an entire industry runs headlong into every day, and manages to miss! A driver getting too much information to process and remember. And in this case, the managing editor for a top automotive website!

Seriously, what chance does everyone else have???

It really is time to pause and think about this.

In the back and forth that erupted on Twitter, Rebecca Greenfield of the Atlantic Wire posted “If a New York Times reporter, with an entire squadron of Tesla employees at his disposal, can’t use a Model S electric car properly, as Tesla founder and C.E.O. Elon Musk strongly asserted in a tweet this afternoon, it doesn’t say much about the usability of Tesla’s cars for regular people.”

And while she is right, our assessments from the trenches suggest that new car dealer service departments handle nearly 30 million calls a year related to electronics issues in gas and hybrid powered vehicles (17,000 new car dealers in the U.S. and Canada averaging a half dozen calls per day). And a whole lot of those drivers are also in vehicles that won’t move, or that they are afraid to move.

These are not electric cars, but they offer a good deal of new technology unfamiliar to the driving public. Drivers need and want a car they can get into, start and drive. They have full lives and more than enough to deal with without their car companies expecting them to learn every detail about their rides.

This is not just about usability. It is also about how a vehicle communicates its status and needs to its driver. Lights, chimes, buzzers and text have been rendered useless.

The laser focus placed on the Tesla Motors incident is an opportunity to shine a light on and re-think this entire process and come up with something as new as the electric car itself. We firmly believe that Tesla will make the improvements needed in its cars. We hope that the same will be true of its car-to-driver interface, and that of every other manufacturer.

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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 is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2013/02/tesla-motors-incident-shines-a-laser-on-a-broader-problem/

The Company’s Problem or the Customer’s Problem?

Who’s Problem is It?

Company’s Problem or the Customer’s Problem. A recent headache we had with an online service prompts this post. Nearly every time an attempt is made to use the company’s service, a glitch arises. When the company is contacted, we are walked through the process of clearing the cache and closing and re-opening the browser as a “solution” to the problem. In each case, a full computer restart is actually necessary before the “solution” is effective and a common browser add-on must be turned off.

Note that we do not always contact them as we am quite familiar with the problem, and the fix. We just keep hoping beyond hope that they will have a software solution – this time.

Does this relate to the automotive business? It does indeed, as will become clear.

We use lots of software, web-based and otherwise, and they all have their quirks. None, however, require a system restart on every other use.

Your Product, My Time

The point is that it is truly maddening to have their help desk instruct me on what is needed to do to make their product work. What should be a 15 minute process is then 30 minutes or more, and they are not paying for the time. If it were not for the difficulties involved in making a change, they would have lost a customer. They have already lost any recommendations we might make.

As we went through this the last time, we realized that car customers face this exact problem. They call service departments every day with a growing list of glitches associated with advanced systems. They are then instructed on what they must do to make the company’s product work as needed – or get an appointment for service.

This message is thus for any company with a product and a customer for that product. Something is askew if you are making your problems your customers’ problems. Do you find yourself using the term “user issues”? Do you think your customer is the problem??

Look for new solutions or you will surely lose those customers. Some things can and should be fixed. Some, quite simply, may need a new and radical approach.

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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 is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2013/01/the-company%e2%80%99s-problem-or-the-customers%e2%80%99-problem/

Least Distracting Typefaces – Is This the Plan?

Least Distracting Typefaces

In late September, 2012, an item reported by Automotive News stated that a group at MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) was doing a study on typefaces that would mitigate driver distraction. That is, typefaces that would be the least distracting.

Sure enough, a bit of additional exploration turned up work at the MIT Age Lab conducted along with the New England University Transportation Center and Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. The exploratory study wanted to see if “certain type styles can reduce glance time — the time away from watching the road when driving while interacting with in-vehicle displays.” (see the press release here)

So, in a period of time when State legislatures are banning text messaging using cell phones because of the dangers, private companies – with a clear vested interest – and universities are studying how to reduce the time it takes to read text produced by in-car displays!

Is this really the best we can come up with? Has common sense left the building permanently alongside Elvis?

The press release linked above actually cites National Highway Transportation Safety Administration statistics stating that 26,000 crashes reported to police in 2010 “involved adjusting a device/control integral to the vehicle” and that “glances longer than two seconds are correlated with an increased crash/near-crash risk.”

Is There a Better Way?

While the intent of the research is laudable, wouldn’t it make more sense to remove text altogether? If a GPS system can give audible turn by turn directions, can’t text be shifted to spoken word? Glance time would drop to zero and maybe 26,000 crashes would be eliminated, not simply reduced.

Seriously, lets teach cars how to talk about itself, not just where the nearest pizza shop is.

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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 is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2012/11/least-distracting-typefaces-is-this-the-plan/

New Car Problem? Your Dealer Wants the Call, No Matter Whose Frustration

A New Car Problem

It is an odd conundrum. Car dealers desperately wish that all drivers understood everything about their cars. And yet, given the alternative, the same dealers wants drivers to call them for answers whenever questions come up.

Any call is an opportunity to sell service, even warranty service, and the associated relationship and even dependency this builds between driver and dealer. However, there is an unrecognized danger here that has been experienced in the industry before. Customer fatigue.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Toyota correctly read into the frustrations of high-line automobile customers, principally those of Mercedes and BMW. Their vehicles, test beds for the latest and greatest features, tended to spend an inordinate amount in service bays. The end result was an entirely new line of vehicles that snared a lion’s share of the luxury car market by naming reliability, and thus customer convenience, as its mantra.

Unfortunately, that line, Lexus, while having raised service standards, now subscribes to those old mantras.

What is developing today, while different in scope, draws a close parallel to the events that resulted in the creation of the Lexus brand, not to mention Infiniti and Acura. The latest advanced features, while generally quite reliable, are not immune to requiring service. And many of these feature require a new level of driver participation. Navigation systems and Bluetooth connection requirements for example.

The problems experienced by drivers with the MyFord Touch system, while extreme, will hopefully serve to open some eyes in the industry. Turning the car into a rolling computer requires a level of knowledge that many, if not most, drivers do not have the time or patience to attain, and that may be simply out of reach for some.

So manufacturers struggle with wanting their customers dependent upon them, and simultaneously with educating those same drivers on the latest features. All too many drivers are frustrated, angry and at times even afraid of their vehicles. The landscape is ripe for a manufacturer who can find a new path to building cars that manage to include the latest and greatest while making their drivers a seamlessly connected part of the system.

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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 is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2012/09/new-car-problem-your-dealer-wants-the-call-no-matter-whose-frustration/

Dazed and Confused: Automakers’ Education Dilemma

Automakers’ Education Dilemma

Drivers and automotive service personnel are often very different animals. But they share one trait. New technologies have them all dazed and confused: drivers trying to understand those technologies and service personnel saddled with trying to explain them, and getting those explanations to stick.

Despite years of failure, car companies continue to believe that education is the way to go. Over the last 12 months, Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, and Lexus have all set or reset education initiatives. Just like those that have come and gone, these new initiatives will likely fail, leaving all involved still dazed and confused.

The question must finally be asked. What do car companies know about education? Given the continued difficulties they face when introducing new features to consumers, the answer would have to be very, very little. The reality is they know nothing about education, just as educators know nothing of building cars!

Please do not misunderstand. We will not advocate for the improvement of consumer education. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then the automobile industry is already suffering from a collective insanity.

So why does education fail? We can think of two major failings. First, we have seen salesmen and service personnel alike make the same fundamental mistake and whether or not you have recently purchased a new car, you have likely experienced it too. It’s the ‘watch this’ problem. All of us have had someone sit down at a computer to ‘show us’ how to do something. We watch the results on the screen while someone else’s fingers manipulate the keyboard and mouse. In the end, we are left with absolutely no idea what was done to get to the result.

Still, that’s not the real reason education doesn’t work. The question is, how do any of us actually learn? Think of what you remember from school. Any school. Not easy is it?

So, the second reason is that in fact, we learn by doing. And repeating. Over and over. So, a driver will learn how to connect a new cell phone to his infotainment system by connecting at least three of them. Hopefully in rapid succession. A driver will finally understand what to do when the tire pressure warning light comes on the fourth time she has to deal with it.

Unfortunately, all that information can and will be lost with the passage of time. And time will pass between the sightings of a trouble light or the need to connect a new phone.

So, what is a car company to do? How about an infotainment system that does a show and tell on connecting a new phone. The instructions are out there and accessible to a connected infotainment system. And yes, we said ‘tell’: verbal instructions as well as on-screen visuals. How about connecting that voice to the instrument panel to that same infotainment system and having it give at least a rudimentary explanation for that warning light that just came on? Either could easily include an option to call the nearest dealer or roadside assistance for help.

Now those would be steps in the right direction, unless the car companies are not actually tired of frustrated drivers and service personnel.

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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 is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2012/08/dazed-and-confused-automakers-education-dilemma/

Automotive Warning Lights: Scrap the Useless System

Is There Any Value in Current Dashboard Symbols?

Recent discussions in the automotive press (since deleted) have railed on the uselessness of the check engine light or called for an outright ban of the light and other automotive warning lights.

And they’re on to something. Lets face it. Scrap the useless system. The current and growing crop of automotive warning lights, including the check engine light, without the associated fault code or codes says nothing, to the driver in particular. However, in point of fact, the entire warning and indicator light system suffers from the very same problem:

  • What is an oil light without an oil gauge?
  • What is a charging system light without a volt or amp meter?
  • What is an ABS light without a fault code?
  • What are any of the hundreds of other lights without more information?

What Should We Do Instead?

Of course, fault codes, gauges and meters are only of use to those with the ability to interpret them, which is the source of the ‘idiot light’ system in the first place. But the plain fact is that today’s vehicles have the capability to display not only an indicator light and fault code, but also an explanation of what is actually wrong in plain language AND what needs to be done at that moment:

  • Can the car be driven under the condition?
  • Does the car need to be towed?
  • Is there a REAL danger of loss of control?
  • Etc., etc., etc.

Unfortunately, it is not likely that any manufacturer will step up and risk giving more detailed information to lay people out of liability fears. But the system as it exists now runs the real risk of needlessly frightening drivers with the circus of indicator and warning lights that can pop up at the drop of a gas cap. And sometimes two and three lights at a time.

Further, with 20, 30 and even more indicators on instrument panels today, is there not a risk of saturation? The 2017 Audi Q7 has over 100 lights or combinations of lights that may be shown!

When is enough enough? Every new system added to a vehicle is met with a new indicator and or acronym that, despite the best industry efforts, remain a mystery to the average driver. Seriously, most drivers need to get the kids to school and get themselves to their jobs. They are not car people and simply have too much on their plate as it is.

Even experienced service personnel have to search their memory banks to correctly identify the meaning of some of the more obscure acronyms (AFS does NOT start with ‘Automatic’… ). Should the industry expect more from drivers?

Seriously, before someone freaks out behind the wheel let’s stop throwing new lights at every new vehicle add-on and consider some alternatives. At the very least, new and existing lights should be accompanied by real and useful information.

And since drivers should NOT be reading while driving, how about having the vehicle talk to the driver by voice? With all the discussion surrounding driver distraction and the integration of Siri and other voice command systems into infotainment systems, we are not so far from this ‘Eyes Free’ solution. It’s just a little to the left, in the instrument panel…

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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 is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2012/07/automotive-warning-lights-scrap-a-useless-system/

All Too Common Keyless Ignition Headaches

Keyless Ignition Headaches

The development of hybrid vehicles all but required a change in the way a car is started. A hybrid deems itself “Ready” (or not) with the ignition on, and the gasoline engine is started with a press of the gas pedal. Thus were born keyless ignition, or push button start, systems. Well what are perceived as the coolest gadgets ultimately will always find their way into everything eventually, and these systems are no exception. But what looks and feels cool comes at a price.

Which is a dead key fob, or remote control, battery. Most of us have used keyless entry for years, unlocking our cars with the touch of a button. But in order to start the vehicle without a key, the remote control must send out and/or receive a radio signal continuously, or nearly so. As a result, the life expectancy of the battery in the key fob can be as little as 12 months. Thousands upon thousands of drivers are caught unprepared by this in their busy, busy lives every year.

The industry sees this as little more than a trifle, despite the number of calls that come in to service departments and roadside assistance centers every day. They wash their hands of the problem noting that the vehicle does, in fact, notify drivers when the key fob battery is weakening, and that there is a back up plan for getting in and getting moving even when the fob battery has died.

Why It’s Still a Problem

However:
– The back-up instructions are treated as an afterthought in owner’s manuals, buried inside what are today 500+ page tomes.
– And the manual is necessary because, there are no standard means for starting the vehicle when this happens. Not between manufacturers and sometimes not within product lines!
– There is also no standard means for retrieving a hard key to get into the vehicle from manufacturer to manufacturer.
– And for five vehicle manufacturers, there is no visible keyhole in the driver’s door for that hard key!

The disrespect for drivers is appalling. You can well bet that the designers of those hidden keyholes have NEVER talked a panicked driver through the process of prying off a piece of a $50,000 vehicle in order to find key cylinder on a cold winter night in a dark parking lot. A very, very vulnerable position that you do not want to be in, or have a loved one in. And this so that a single square inch of the vehicle can be more attractive!

And once inside, two manufacturers have six different methods for starting the vehicle, and another has four. Most have at least two starting methods. A driver will be lucky indeed to get someone on the phone at a dealership – assuming they are open – who knows how to start a particular model.

There are many good reasons for keyless start systems: theft deterrence, convenience, even pain relief for some. But let’s standardize the back-up plans and give drivers a break! Yes, satellite services can open and start a car – if the service is available and paid for. It is no excuse for the schizophrenic approach now employed by the industry.

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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 is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2012/06/the-trouble-with-trifles-keyless-ignition-headaches/