Psychology and the Instrument Panel (1953) | Hacker News Reader

Psychology and the Instrument Panel (1953)

web.archive.org

20 pointsbookofjoe7 comments

Having worked on aircraft systems, I get annoyed by the idiocy in some car instruments and controls.

Telsa is the most annoying, trying to eliminate buttons and switches when they really should be adding them for critical functions in fixed locations.

Touchscreen to use defrost (or other climate controls?) overloading the gearshift control on some models? and don't even get me started on the square steering wheel with touch controls for horn/horn/wipers/turn signals.

just look at the steering yoke info ~pp 46:

https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/models/en_us/Owners_Manua...

stalks may not be perfect, but at least they stay in the same place and are tactile.

Fascinating article. When I taught my 16-year-old to drive recently (in the US), it became quickly apparent which auto controls are intuitive, and which are arbitrary and require memorization and habit. For ex:

- Turning the steering wheel clockwise to go right, counterclockwise to go left: He got this immediately.

- Flicking the turn lever up to indicate a right turn, down to indicate a left turn: This confused him and he got it wrong for days.

- Pushing the turn lever forward to turn on the high beams, pulling for low beams: Also made no sense to him, and took days to get correct.

Very interesting! I thought the indicator stalk would be very intuitive because it’s just the same as the steering movement: imitating a right turn with your pinky sticking out initiates a right indication.

The light controls still confuse me and I’ve been driving for 10+ years now. It is also slightly different in different cats too! Sometimes you pull hard, sometimes you push, and I guess sometimes you twist.

And if that's not crazy enough, sometimes you stomp.

I would be confused as well, since every car I've driven that has manual controls for these have been the opposite: push for low beam, pull for high beam: stalk goes down for right turn, up for left turn, steering wheel...

...

oh wait. You are trying to trick me, aren't you!

Regarding the turn signals - do you use a right-hand-drive car? Is the turn signal stalk on the right side? OP's description is consistent with my left-hand-drive experience, with the stalk on the left.

It is on at least one Japanese car. It was a JDM model that had been imported to Turks and Caicos. A Suzuki, IIRC. The Volvo I rented in the UK had the stalk on the left.

But in either case, if you just imagine which way you would flick the stalk if you extended your fingers while making a turn, you'll flick it the correct way.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com