Bad Design in Everyday Things

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Actually for $30 worth of parts you can convert your GM truck to have both sets of headlights on and the fogs...people on the S-10 forum do it all the time and the only time I've heard of a problem is when some idiot thought those cheap Japanese blue bulbs would be fine to run. He put high beam bulbs in to the low beams as well as the high beams which was 200W in each headlight...it fried the wiring pretty good.
 
My Sol turns off the low-beams when I switch on the high-beams. They're both within the same bulb, so if both were on the car would probably go up in flames or something crazy.
 
Keef, what posessed you to get a del-sol? just wondering. and to keep people from saying im spamming, i hate wet vacs like the spotbot that doesn't dry stuff after it cleans.
 
Aftermarket (ie Replacement) headlight sockets. You know, the plug that goes into the bulb.
The makers of these tend to use really crappy plastic - This combined with the extra heat from my PIAA bulbs fused the headlight socket to the bulb, and I had to replace both. I went to the (great) trouble of finding a socket at a junkyard (ended up shipping one over from the mainland), to ensure it wouldn't happen again.

Poorly designed in both materials, and the configuration - It's not quite the same as the original.
 
A normal CD case, drop it once by accident and the little tabs holding the top to the bottom break, that's why I like the "Jewel Case Box" (Like what Paul McCartney's new CD (Memory almost full) came in, stronger tabs.

From,
Chris.
 
AHA!! I know the one that's been bugging me in the back of my head since this thread was started, toilet paper that you have to shred 3 rows worth just to get the damn thing started properly, all because someone got a little happy with the glue during production.
 
Toilet paper rolls that don't fit in the standard holder. It's nice that you can get 3000 sheets on one roll, but that 12-inch diameter is a bit unwieldy.
 
Alfaholic
Also those blowers that turn on when you put your hands under them. For some reason they have trouble seeing me, so they keep blowing for half a second then switching off. My hands would dry faster if I left them in the sun! Maybe I'm an alien...
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Those blowers are a hoax I tell you! Do you know how long it takes for your hands to actually dry under those?!

Nowadays I can get seriously pissed off if a restroom doesn't accomodate me with towels to dry off my hands, yet makes me look like an ass trying to operate this idiot-machine that doesn't work.

Yet I keep doing it. Why? I don't know. I do know that after a minute with the hoax blower I end up going "AAHH **** IT!" and wiping my hands dry with my clothing.

Every. Single. Time.
 
Those blowers take exactly 30 seconds to dry your hands completely. I quite like them.
 
land sea air
I think this might have something to do with stock headlights not always being able to handle the heat generated by both filaments being used at the same time on some cars. My car does this and I know it is because plastic headlight components will melt if there is too much heat. However this begs the question of WHY WOULD YOU NOT USE THE SAME ALL GLASS HEADLIGHT UNITS THAT ARE USED IN EUROPE AND PROVIDE BETTER LIGHT!!!
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Because the big three are epic fail at carmaking, which brings me to my design rant.


This goes out to just about every Caddy made since 1997. WHY MUST YOU HIDE THE ENGINE?! How the hell are we susposed to take care of this thing if you hide it under 300 pounds of plastic!?

Why do car companies flaunt initial quality?! Of course teh damn thing's gonna work right off the lot. Even Fords run like new when they're new! How about the quality when it's got 250K on the clock? How about the quality after it turns 22? If I'm gonna pay between 20 and 30 large for your product, atleast make it so the damn thing doesn't fall apart 300 miles after the warranty expires! That's what I love about my old truck, 200K on the clock and she still lights off every time.

And I second the brights. The brights on my 1985 F150, they light up a good 300 yard ahead of me. The dims reach out maybe 100 feet. My mom's '03 Ranger's brights and dims only light up about the same amount. They should just rename it the asshole setting and leave it at that. Either that or put some damn glass bulbs in the front, in glass housings. My truck uses a headlight that has bulb and housing preassembled as a glass bulb that is slipped into the front. Simple and effective!


And I swear every single OBD-II vehicle ever made had someone that has never seen under the hood of a car decide where to put the important maintenance items. It's like you can change a piston in 10 minutes, but getting to the back two spark plugs requires PARTIALLY REMOVING THE ENGINE to complete. What happened to monstrously vacant engine bays with room for hands to reach stuff therein? FWD domestics are the worst about this one.

What is it with these rectangular microwaves?! You can't fit a damn thing into half of them. Yes, they have 1 cubic foot of space, but it's only 6 inches tall!


I'm a big guy. 6', 260LBs big. I get into my truck and I have all the room I want. The shift lever is long enough to comfortably reach my arm, yet short enough to not alternate between hitting the dash and seat between shifts. I get into a new car and my ass is being compressed to half it's normal size, my head's pushing the roof up and the steering wheel is embedded in my chest despite it being as close to the dash as possible and the seat being as far back as possible. What gives?


About those window cranks, Why are they always located where your knee is hitting them when you rest it on the door? WTF?!

The location of the clutch pedal and shifter in most modern manual cars. It's like they threw a dart in the back window and stuck the control where it hit, without a hint of thought as to how ergonomic that location may be. My mom's truck has my knee hitting the dash as I let the clutch out, and I can't do a smooth left turn without cancelling the blinker. Also, the pedals are too small, wet shoes slip off them so easy. The pedals in my truck are huge, about the size of the corresponding part of my foot, so my feet never slip off them. The parking brake in that truck, a pedal operated design, also has me signalling a right turn as I reach up to engage it.


Who has been designing the radios in these new cars, Stevie Wonder?! You can't really figure out what does what. There used to be these objects called knobs, there was one on the left that controlled station, one on the right that controlled volume and on/off. There was then six preset buttons and a few simple controls for removable media. This design worked, you would be able to sit down and work the radio within 5 minutes of first seeing it.


And finally, who is designing desks for high schoolers? They're perfectly sized...for 5th graders. Bigger asses just don't fit into them, and I can't sit in this hard granite chair, with my left ass cheek half-on half-off, for 90 minutes without getting fidgity.
 
Garnier_Fructis_Fortifying_Shampoo_for_Dry_Damaged_Hair-resized200.jpg

Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo


Problem: The opening is via a spherical lid (a ball, if you will), the problem is: it's next to impossible to flip it up with wet hands (which you WILL have if you are in the shower, no doubt).

I've had to resort to, each and every time now, opening it with my teeth. Which is a pity, as shampoo tastes bad.
 
GT Pro
Garnier_Fructis_Fortifying_Shampoo_for_Dry_Damaged_Hair-resized200.jpg

Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo


Problem: The opening is via a spherical lid (a ball, if you will), the problem is: it's next to impossible to flip it up with wet hands (which you WILL have if you are in the shower, no doubt).
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Well, you will use a woman's shampoo...
 
They've got a supersonic blower in the Glasgow IKEA. You put your hands uder it, and before you know it, they're on the floor, and you've head-butted the machine!
 
daan
They've got a supersonic blower in the Glasgow IKEA. You put your hands uder it, and before you know it, they're on the floor, and you've head-butted the machine!
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FACT: Hitler invented the blower.
 
GT Pro
Garnier_Fructis_Fortifying_Shampoo_for_Dry_Damaged_Hair-resized200.jpg

Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo


Problem: The opening is via a spherical lid (a ball, if you will), the problem is: it's next to impossible to flip it up with wet hands (which you WILL have if you are in the shower, no doubt).

I've had to resort to, each and every time now, opening it with my teeth. Which is a pity, as shampoo tastes bad.
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There is nothing wrong with the spherical lid. It is very easy to open it, even if you have your hands wet and full of soap.
 
The "Go" button on Internet Explorer and the Green Arrow to the right of the Address Bar on Firefox.

If I just typed something on the keyboard, why on earth would I take my hand off of it to move the mouse over to the button(s) and press down on the mouse button? The Enter button is already on the keyboard, and does the same thing, only quicker.

Pointless.
 
Pupik
The "Go" button on Internet Explorer and the Green Arrow to the right of the Address Bar.

If I just typed something on the keyboard, why on earth would I take my hand off of it to move the mouse over to the button(s) and press down on the mouse button? The Enter button is already on the keyboard, and does the same thing, only quicker.

Pointless.
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Go button is there for you to click like a madman when IE decides to start ignoring the enter key.


Why is Steam designed so ****ty? It randomly breaks and the games on it randomly break with each update. WHHHYYYY?!
 
GT Pro
Garnier_Fructis_Fortifying_Shampoo_for_Dry_Damaged_Hair-resized200.jpg

Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo


Problem: The opening is via a spherical lid (a ball, if you will), the problem is: it's next to impossible to flip it up with wet hands (which you WILL have if you are in the shower, no doubt).

I've had to resort to, each and every time now, opening it with my teeth. Which is a pity, as shampoo tastes bad.
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I've used this shampoo before and don't remember having any trouble at all opening it.
 
One I've just remembered, WinRAR. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic program, but why oh why can't I extract a specific folder within the archive? It's a pain, especially when working with game files, to have to extract the entire archive and then go in and delete the unwanted folders. :indiff:

Also, Internet Exploder 7. It's like Microsoft deliberately placed the buttons as far away from each other as possible. Why can't they just put them all in the address toolbar, Firefox style?
 
I have a problem with keys, I have quite a few now and the weight in my pocket is really annoying me. I have to keep the keys on me where ever I go because I'm on call out for work.

Surely they could make the keys out of some lightweight material such as carbon fibre.

Not really bad a design, more of a dated design.
 
A major design flaw which you may see in plenty of places where ever you are would be incredibly steep stairs. Not only are they a hell of a lot harder to walk up or down than ordinary stairs, they're much easier to make mistakes on and when you do, you find yourself at the bottom and unconscious.

Eg. Image courtesy of a helpful Google search.
stairs.jpg
 
In America, Gas fillers on the Right side of the vehicle.
Especially, big unwieldy vehicles likely to be driven by short soccer moms.

If I can barely drive it, what makes the manufacturers think soccer mom, who parks in BFE at Wal-mart so she can get it back out of the space, can park it in the same zipcode as the gas pump, with the filler door on the opposite side of the vehicle?

Also, ALL cars need a dash indicator to show which side the filler door is on, so that if someone borrows your car they can add gas. Though it is amusing to watch people park, jump out and look, cuss then drive to a pump on the other side.

Also, who is the ass hat that thought it would be a great idea to combine the filler door lever, and the trunk release on the same pivot point?
You can admit it, you know you've opened the trunk almost every time you've tried to open the filler door.
And why is the trunk release the prominent lever? I open my gas filler door way more often than I open my trunk.
 
Most cars I have ever driven have the filler cap on the passenger side so I'm used to it, I agree however about having some sort of indication of which side the filler is on, my low fuel light points to the passenger side when it lights up.
 
Gil
Also, who is the ass hat that thought it would be a great idea to combine the filler door lever, and the trunk release on the same pivot point?
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Someone at Honda, I think. It's the only example I've seen, but it was likely in the interests of saving money, since ergonomic interior design goes out the window once you're reaching below your seat.
 
Why are bathroom countertops always like 3 feet tall? It's easier to step up on something than to bend over.
 
Gil
In America, Gas fillers on the Right side of the vehicle.
Especially, big unwieldy vehicles likely to be driven by short soccer moms.

If I can barely drive it, what makes the manufacturers think soccer mom, who parks in BFE at Wal-mart so she can get it back out of the space, can park it in the same zipcode as the gas pump, with the filler door on the opposite side of the vehicle?

Also, ALL cars need a dash indicator to show which side the filler door is on, so that if someone borrows your car they can add gas. Though it is amusing to watch people park, jump out and look, cuss then drive to a pump on the other side.

Also, who is the ass hat that thought it would be a great idea to combine the filler door lever, and the trunk release on the same pivot point?
You can admit it, you know you've opened the trunk almost every time you've tried to open the filler door.
And why is the trunk release the prominent lever? I open my gas filler door way more often than I open my trunk.
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The filler is on the right in both of our cars. Gil, I just love the naivety in your assertion that car-borrowers would fill the car up if only they could find where to put the juice!

Why do people queue for ages to get a pump that's on the right side, or drag the hose all the way over the paintwork? Why not just reverse up to the pump?

Oh, and Mark T you should be able to buy aluminium keys from most places. They're more expensive, but if you've that many, there's a useful weight saving.
 
Dude, carbon fiber keys would be awesome. Is CF recyclable, though? You can always melt down metal keys, but what about CF?
 

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