Awkward design details on production cars
Discussion
We recently got a Velar as a "sensible" car, and absolutely love it, however one really awkard/annoying detail is this ledge, on both the headlights and taillights (this picture was the best I could find of it)
It doesn't irk me in terms of looks, but it's so annoying when you've washed it and are trying to dry the car, typically you either forget to wedge a cloth under there, or you do, and then 5 mins later it's full of water droplets again which then drop onto the paint after you've gone in
It doesn't irk me in terms of looks, but it's so annoying when you've washed it and are trying to dry the car, typically you either forget to wedge a cloth under there, or you do, and then 5 mins later it's full of water droplets again which then drop onto the paint after you've gone in
Vauxhall vivaro, Citroen relay etc
Lots of things are controlled though the screen like start stop, which is fine, but then directly underneath you have all these blank switches, what are they for? Most likely a button for all these features!
This is a top of the range one so nothing missing!
Just looks stupid why not just not put the blanks there
Cars where the brake lights or indicators are for some reason made really hard to see.
Car makers designing and incorporating numerous safety features but at a design stage make these important items difficult to see?! I just don’t understand how they get signed off.
One example being the discovery 5. Big light clusters and just a small ‘dot’ on each side as a brake light?
It’s nearly as bad as bell ends who tint their rear lights making signals very faint and hard to see.
Car makers designing and incorporating numerous safety features but at a design stage make these important items difficult to see?! I just don’t understand how they get signed off.
One example being the discovery 5. Big light clusters and just a small ‘dot’ on each side as a brake light?
It’s nearly as bad as bell ends who tint their rear lights making signals very faint and hard to see.
Ah, ok, so those awkward lights are because they are trying to have a super wide boot aperture. Lights need to be visible when the tailgate is open. Same reason the Mini Clubman (afaik) has those brake lights in the bumper instead of in the visually-correct place, on the boot doors...
LM240 said:
Cars where the brake lights or indicators are for some reason made really hard to see.
Car makers designing and incorporating numerous safety features but at a design stage make these important items difficult to see?! I just don’t understand how they get signed off.
One example being the discovery 5. Big light clusters and just a small ‘dot’ on each side as a brake light?
It’s nearly as bad as bell ends who tint their rear lights making signals very faint and hard to see.
That is most certainly not the most awkward design feature in the rear end view of a Disco 5!Car makers designing and incorporating numerous safety features but at a design stage make these important items difficult to see?! I just don’t understand how they get signed off.
One example being the discovery 5. Big light clusters and just a small ‘dot’ on each side as a brake light?
It’s nearly as bad as bell ends who tint their rear lights making signals very faint and hard to see.
wst said:
Ah, ok, so those awkward lights are because they are trying to have a super wide boot aperture. Lights need to be visible when the tailgate is open. Same reason the Mini Clubman (afaik) has those brake lights in the bumper instead of in the visually-correct place, on the boot doors...
That's tail lights, not brake lights. You tend not to be on the brakes with the tailgate open. 
carl_w said:
wst said:
Ah, ok, so those awkward lights are because they are trying to have a super wide boot aperture. Lights need to be visible when the tailgate is open. Same reason the Mini Clubman (afaik) has those brake lights in the bumper instead of in the visually-correct place, on the boot doors...
That's tail lights, not brake lights. You tend not to be on the brakes with the tailgate open. 
Ford Ecosport. Specifically, the absolutely s
te job they've done of what is often a nice aesthetic, the two tone colour scheme. As per Sonic Shadow MR2 or Mk1 TT sport and umpteen others.
All in Blue? Fine.
Blue and Black?
Infuriating! What a hash job. Specifically, this bit:
It's not like they are incapable of doing a paint mask/join over a panel as that's what they've done at the C pillar and it looks fine. This 'treatment' at the A pillar/Bonnet join is bloody awful and it grinds my gears every single time I see one.
te job they've done of what is often a nice aesthetic, the two tone colour scheme. As per Sonic Shadow MR2 or Mk1 TT sport and umpteen others.All in Blue? Fine.
Blue and Black?
Infuriating! What a hash job. Specifically, this bit:
It's not like they are incapable of doing a paint mask/join over a panel as that's what they've done at the C pillar and it looks fine. This 'treatment' at the A pillar/Bonnet join is bloody awful and it grinds my gears every single time I see one.
colin79666 said:
Always annoyed me that the rear light sections don't line up on the MK8 Fiesta. Every single one on the road has this issue so it was just a messed up tailgate on my particular example.
Add to that the most annoying thing manufacturers do, mixing LED and halogen bulbs! Why! It looks awful! carl_w said:
wst said:
Ah, ok, so those awkward lights are because they are trying to have a super wide boot aperture. Lights need to be visible when the tailgate is open. Same reason the Mini Clubman (afaik) has those brake lights in the bumper instead of in the visually-correct place, on the boot doors...
That's tail lights, not brake lights. You tend not to be on the brakes with the tailgate open. The other surprising one but I can’t remember the model was on a Volvo. Huge area of rear ‘lights’ but tiny area used for the indicators. For a big safety brand, an easy win would be making your intentions whether stopping or turning a lot clearer to avoid accidents in the first place.
It just puzzles me why something so important and simple to provide isn’t identified or negatively impacted on by design.
Nickbrapp said:
The missing buttons may be for features in the passenger version. The handbook will probably show whats missing.From a cost point of view, rather than filling them with multiple 1 wide blanks you would need to design, test, manufacture a 3 wide blank (no options), 2 wide blank (if you have 1 option fitted) as well as the 1 wide blank.
colin79666 said:
Always annoyed me that the rear light sections don't line up on the MK8 Fiesta. Every single one on the road has this issue so it was just a messed up tailgate on my particular example.
Yes that sort of design is the sort of thing you should only do if you have the manufacturing prowess not to have it end up like that, otherwise all it does is draw attention to your lack of manufacturing prowess 
stickleback123 said:
colin79666 said:
Always annoyed me that the rear light sections don't line up on the MK8 Fiesta. Every single one on the road has this issue so it was just a messed up tailgate on my particular example.
Yes that sort of design is the sort of thing you should only do if you have the manufacturing prowess not to have it end up like that, otherwise all it does is draw attention to your lack of manufacturing prowess You can see it even on the promo pictures of the newly revealed ST!
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