I went through flight school in my mid-teens. The layout of aircraft controls are pretty tightly regulated per the FARs, things like the shape, texture and color of the throttle lever is set by federal law so that pilots don’t mistake it for another by look or feel. Because “I’m used to the throttle being black and the mixture being red, but in this plane…” is a terrible reason to slam into a neighborhood.
I do not think it’s morally right for the fail safe door latch to be different from the normally used door latch. If you are panicked because of an emergency or something, the way you’re used to opening the door should be the way the door opens. You should not have to think “The car is on fire! I gotta get out! And because this is a fancy car that thinks electronic mechanisms are luxurious, the normal door release is not functioning in the event of an electrical failure. Fortunately I remember where the emergency latch is and how to use it.”
I’ve spent a lot of my career amidst / adjacent to ergonomics experts and I have a feeling you’re 100% correct here. Industrial designers talk a lot about external and internal conventions and I’d wager this is one.
For the last couple decades car manufacturers have been doing everything they can get away with to remove standard typical controls from cars. Put everything in the touch screen. Stalkless column. Let’s win the award for least comprehensible gear shifter this year.
Like didn’t the guy who played Chekov in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek fanfic die under the wheels of his SUV because the gear shifter was confusing?
I went through flight school in my mid-teens. The layout of aircraft controls are pretty tightly regulated per the FARs, things like the shape, texture and color of the throttle lever is set by federal law so that pilots don’t mistake it for another by look or feel. Because “I’m used to the throttle being black and the mixture being red, but in this plane…” is a terrible reason to slam into a neighborhood.
I do not think it’s morally right for the fail safe door latch to be different from the normally used door latch. If you are panicked because of an emergency or something, the way you’re used to opening the door should be the way the door opens. You should not have to think “The car is on fire! I gotta get out! And because this is a fancy car that thinks electronic mechanisms are luxurious, the normal door release is not functioning in the event of an electrical failure. Fortunately I remember where the emergency latch is and how to use it.”
I’ve spent a lot of my career amidst / adjacent to ergonomics experts and I have a feeling you’re 100% correct here. Industrial designers talk a lot about external and internal conventions and I’d wager this is one.
For the last couple decades car manufacturers have been doing everything they can get away with to remove standard typical controls from cars. Put everything in the touch screen. Stalkless column. Let’s win the award for least comprehensible gear shifter this year.
Like didn’t the guy who played Chekov in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek fanfic die under the wheels of his SUV because the gear shifter was confusing?
We should be regulating this stuff more strictly.