Worst Buttons Of All Time.

the wiper on the Porsche reminded me of the wipers on my fiat 124. The stalk had three positions. off, on, and intermittent. If you wanted high, you had a rotary dial on the dash to go from regular to fast.. which also increased the speed of the intermittent as it used a bimetal relay to deactivate the wipers for the relay feature.

Car also had two dimmers. One for the dash and one for the centre console

Whenever one of these threads comes up, I always wish I could find the illustration, from National Lampoon in the 70's, I think, of all the buttons on a Becker radio.

After driving a big Chevy Express Van this weekend for the Keys 100 Ultramarathon. I have to say the GM turn signal stalk. I hate that they put so much on one device. It brought back memories of all my Firebirds. It made me appreciate my Honduh's and Subaru's.

ThunderCougarFalconGoat wrote: In reply to Lancer007: The only window activation device in the entire car should be the manual crank.

FTFY.

As often as they fail, I hate power windows.

DirtyBird222 wrote: After driving a big Chevy Express Van this weekend for the Keys 100 Ultramarathon. I have to say the GM turn signal stalk. I hate that they put so much on one device. It brought back memories of all my Firebirds. It made me appreciate my Honduh's and Subaru's.

I always loved having everything on one stalk like that. My Honda and E36 have far too many levers coming out of the wheel. I liked being able to control everything, including some radio function, with one hand. I seem to be in the minority though.

N Sperlo wrote: I think start buttons are pretty stupid when turning keys worked so well for so long.

keep in mind that start buttons were in use long before key start was around … so we're sorta going "old school" with the modern start buttons

Say what you will, I want one of these.

edit: stupid work computer..... "Go Baby Go button from Gone in 60 seconds."

DirtyBird222 wrote: I have to say the GM turn signal stalk. I hate that they put so much on one device.

GM are the absolute royalty of reinventing solutions to ergonomic problems no one had in the first place, or that were already effectively solved 40 years ago.

Mid 2000's MB SL roof switch, its that berkeleying silver thing that looks like an ashtray behind the shifter(and buttons surrounding it) It is usually unmarked, and the actual cover is the switch. The buttons under the cover are for the retractable roll hoop.

The ECT button in my Avalon. We call it the etcetera button. No, it's not electronic traction control.

It seems to hold gears longer, delays upshifts, and keeps from shifting gears in the middle of the corners.

I always thought these were a bit much.... from an early 1990's Pontiac Bonneville:

When you go to honk at the jerk that cut you off on the highway, you better look down at that wheel and select the correct button for it, otherwise you will show your anger by fast forwarding that Jesus Jones cassette you were listening to.

SilverFleet wrote: I always thought these were a bit much.... from an early 1990's Pontiac Bonneville: When you go to honk at the jerk that cut you off on the highway, you better look down at that wheel and select the correct button for it, otherwise you will show your anger by fast forwarding that Jesus Jones cassette you were listening to.

You beat me to it. That was my nomination for: best......steering.....wheel.....ever

Gasoline wrote:

Want. O/D Off thing looks Ford-ish, but what car is this one?

Also, it's pretty well known now, but the first auto tape deck I saw that replaced the eject button with simultaneous mashing of FF and Rew took me a while to figure out.

In reply to Will:

zombie light switch

Trans_Maro wrote: Best buttons of all time:

2nd and 3rd place at best. These are #1 in my book:

(Oh man, can I still remember them all? The center one was for the remote-controlled robot bird. One was for the saw blades. One for the underwater canopy. One for the periscope. One for the traction things on the wheels. One for the super-bright yellow lights. One for the hydraulic jacks. I did it! And once he added pop-out wings, but I forget how he activated those.)

For me, the worst button was a cryptic button on the rear of the driver's door jamb on my 2000 A6. It was to deactivate the motion sensor alarm within the car! So if you locked the doors with the windows cracked open, the window blowing into the car would set off the alarm. My button was broken. And who puts a stupid button down there. It took a long time to figure out what the button was after I discovered it. Another thing, why do used car lots throw out the owner's manuals and floor mats?

SilverFleet wrote: I always thought these were a bit much.... from an early 1990's Pontiac Bonneville: When you go to honk at the jerk that cut you off on the highway, you better look down at that wheel and select the correct button for it, otherwise you will show your anger by fast forwarding that Jesus Jones cassette you were listening to.

Don't be hating on Jesus Jones!! I played the E36 M3 out of my Jesus Jones cassette in 1992 or so. Yeah I was lame. Okay maybe I still am lame.

Off topic: Tony, I saw you this AM at the intersection where DQ is in Middleboro. I was in my Verizon van on your 5 o'clock. I was hoping to get your attention, but I didn't get the chance.

RossD wrote: Another thing, why do used car lots throw out the owner's manuals and floor mats?

Because it's easier than cleaning the mats.

DaveEstey wrote: The ECT button in my Avalon. We call it the etcetera button. No, it's not electronic traction control. It seems to hold gears longer, delays upshifts, and keeps from shifting gears in the middle of the corners.

It's Electronically Controlled Transmission. It's a switchable shift map system. It has two modes, normal and power. Pressing it in engages power mode as you discovered.

Worst buttons ever? You guys aren't even close,

Hands down winner is the 42!?!? Eraser sized buttons down the back of my wife's wedding dress. I promise you as a 21 year old desperate to get to the promised land for he first time, the 10 minutes it took me to carefully undo all 42 caused more frustration than all the buttons listed so far combined.

Oh man I wouldn't have admitted to that if I were you...

bigev007 wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: After driving a big Chevy Express Van this weekend for the Keys 100 Ultramarathon. I have to say the GM turn signal stalk. I hate that they put so much on one device. It brought back memories of all my Firebirds. It made me appreciate my Honduh's and Subaru's.

I always loved having everything on one stalk like that. My Honda and E36 have far too many levers coming out of the wheel. I liked being able to control everything, including some radio function, with one hand. I seem to be in the minority though.

I'll second the love for the GM turn signal stalk. It has everything you need at your fingertips; no fumbling around with both hands, starting at your steering wheel at 75+ on the freeway. If you're driving an automatic, you only need your left hand and one foot to drive cross country.

Mazdax605 wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: I always thought these were a bit much.... from an early 1990's Pontiac Bonneville: When you go to honk at the jerk that cut you off on the highway, you better look down at that wheel and select the correct button for it, otherwise you will show your anger by fast forwarding that Jesus Jones cassette you were listening to.

Don't be hating on Jesus Jones!! I played the E36 M3 out of my Jesus Jones cassette in 1992 or so. Yeah I was lame. Okay maybe I still am lame. Off topic: Tony, I saw you this AM at the intersection where DQ is in Middleboro. I was in my Verizon van on your 5 o'clock. I was hoping to get your attention, but I didn't get the chance.

You can keep your Jesus Jones.

And I will keep an eye out for you from now on! I am usually in full shiny happy person mode on my morning commute, so I will try to be nice.