On my new car I have a keyless entry similar to this one. It's actually kind of ingenious, to have the keyless entry on the key itself instead of on a key fob.
The biggest problem I have with it is that I tend to accidentally press the buttons when I'm just holding the key (or trying to start the car). My suggestion to improve it is to put the buttons on the side of the key, leaving the driver to grip the key in a "normal" way without having to worry if he/she just unlocked all their car doors. The key is big enough that you could fit buttons on the side of the key and I think it would be slightly more intuitive that the current user interface.
Hey. It's just an idea.
5 comments:
You would have thought they would have thought of that problem. Another problem with keys like that is that they are expensive to replace.
I don't like the idea of push button starters either. You have to put a key in and then push a button.
Another feature I hate is when a car starts moving and all of the doors lock. Then you have to un-lock them.
Those keys are super expensive to replace - something along $200 expensive. That's a lot for a car key.
I think the push button starter is pretty lazy and stupid. Although if you have one of those RFID chip "keys" that you keep in your pocket and when the chip is in proximity of your car the doors automatically unlock, you turn the ignition without having to put a key in, etc - that's a pretty cool feature.
The automatic door locking is a safety feature (so kids don't jump out of a moving vehicle), although you should be able to disable it if you don't want it.
I've never even liked power windows. It's just one more system that can fail. The only window of a car I've had that failed was a power window and it was expensive to get repaired. Are we so lazy that we can't roll up a window?
All of these things add cost to the car and can fail.
It really bothers me to have power everthing on a truck. I hate power windows on a truck. You were talking about a stick shift. I like having an automatic transmission in a truck because it makes it easier to lauch a boat on a boat ramp. But other than that I like manual everything on a truck.
I think the power windows that will roll all the way down if you hold the button for three seconds is kind of a neat feature.
My old jeep had power windows in it, and the switch panel on the driver's side wasn't making good contact so the windows would work sporadically, although I gave up on rolling the driver's side window down because sometimes they wouldn't roll back up!
I would think that those systems are more reliable these days then they were in the 80's or 90's.
You remind me of my dad when you talk about electrical systems failures on cars. I guess I'm kind of biased the other way because I studied electronics in college (the emphasis option that I took was in control systems, which included electronics classes and microprocessor classes) - I know, or at least have some working theory, on how those systems are supposed to work.
I don't remember ever seeing a mechanical window fail. I've seen many electric windows fail.
I don't think the technology in power windows has changed too much over time and if anything they might be getting worse. You still have a cheap little motor and a switch that will fail at some point. The control pannels we make have such switches and they all have a known life expectancy.
I worked on the heater control pannel for a jeep cherokee once. Very cheap little switches behind those buttons.
But I guess we aren't expected to keep the car for that long anyway. So when the power window goes out, or the heater control, it's time to get a new car.
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