I’m driving a rental car this week because someone rear ended my vehicle at an intersection. It’s a Pontiac Grand Prix. I’ve decided that GM is the Microsoft of car manufacturing, in the sense that their cars includes tons of “ease of use” features that I can’t imagine anyone understands or wants. I’m certain they did some research that told them designing cars the way they do makes life easier for their customers, but the resulting design is just a total mess. This morning I discovered that when you turn off the car, the radio doesn’t turn off. I moved the key to the off position and the radio was still on. So I moved the key from position to position, and the radio still stayed on. I took the key out, and the radio stayed on. I then assumed the car was broken. When I opened the door, the radio turned off. Whatever. I had a similar experience trying to lock all of the doors when I got out. The turn signal stalk includes the controls for the cruise control and the windshield wipers, so it’s a monstrosity with two or three knobs on it. It amazes me that GM sells millions of cars a year, and yet they can’t hire any designers that understand what simple elegance is. Just like Microsoft.
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