I Can’t Believe My Car Radio Makes Me Press And Hold The Power Button While Driving

by Paul Sherman on December 10, 2007 · 8 comments

in Everything Else

I’ve been meaning to blog this for months. Finally remembered.

My aftermarket car radio has a major, dangerous design flaw: the Power/Source button – yes, it functions as both an on/off and an input source switch – must be PRESSED and HELD for approximately THREE SECONDS in order to turn the unit on or off. (If you press without holding, it switches between radio, CD, and auxiliary input.)

Think about that for a second. A device that is DESIGNED to be used while the user is driving a vehicle requires a THREE SECOND PRESS AND HOLD. In other words, the designers thought that is was perfectly reasonable to have the driver remove their hand from the steering wheel for a three-count. And I should add that there’s no tactile feedback; you must observe the unit’s panel to ensure that the unit has powered on or off.

That is poor-bordering-on-negligent design. Scratch that. It *is* negligent design. Who thought that this was an OK design decision?

I’ll go out to the car over lunch and get the manufacturer and model number, so I can name names.

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Tagged as: Mobile

  • Dave

    Excellent point — you could have an entire category of products like these that give the feeling that they were designed by people who never have to use them.

  • koz

    In defense of this design:

    This button also powers off the radio. It’s designed so you don’t accidently power off the stereo if you hit the button.

    When do you power off your radio while driving? If you want to shut the thing up hit the mute button – it doesn’t require holding down for 3 seconds. If you want to power off, pull over and take your time. While you’re at it, you can use your cell phone.

  • Paul Sherman

    @koz, yeah, but…that’s my whole point: why did the designers combine the power and mode button? It’s not a good idea. If they had separated them, they wouldn’t have had to make the power button a 3-second press and hold, and therefore wouldn’t have caused a safety issue.

    As for the mute button…point taken. But it’s not really findable by touch. So it’s not salient.

    And I don’t agree about pulling over to power off. I think that’s an apologist position; a car radio should be designed to be powered off while driving. Make a phone call is a different matter. That should be done while stationary.

  • Nikhil

    Paul,

    I’ve used a similar system which needed me to hold it down for 3 seconds. I think you’ve got a great point there, its not only inconvenient, but dangerous to an extent.

    As a user of such a radio, and being a usability enthusiast, I didnot actually go ahead and find the mute button. Why? because the same button that shuts it off, had the volume control for me to turn down to zero. My point being, users are not involved in figuring out their car radio, god knows they’ve got enough appliances to get ‘used to’. Make it as simple as possible, while trying to balance out aesthetics.

  • http://www.noroadzone.com noroadzone

    I had a similar case like yours in m car radio and since i was sooo pissed off i just replaced it with my ipod and bought an adapter so that i could use it in my car as a replacement to my radio.

  • http://www.autopartsdeal.com/volvo/wheels.html Wheels for Volvo

    Maybe that's dangerous and not convenient though, users love the simplicity and the easy way to operate things, I think they need to redesign this one. The concept is good but the usage is not.

  • johan305

    Used BMW BMW is an independent German company and manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. BMW is the parent company of the MINI and the Rolls-Royce car brands. The company was formed in 1913.

  • johan305

    Used BMW BMW is an independent German company and manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. BMW is the parent company of the MINI and the Rolls-Royce car brands. The company was formed in 1913.

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