Let’s say you’re a car designer and you’re penning a new model from scratch, so you can put the switches and levers essentially anywhere you want. You’re probably going to place them with established conventions in mind, perhaps ergonomic data, certainly some sort of common sense, right? You’d think.
So why do some manufacturers choose the most absurd locations for controls?
There are plenty of examples out there. Here are just a few instances of some really idiotic control placements:
Saab 9-3: Rear seat heater switch in the front of the car
No, I am not gonna mention the ignition key, which is not as bad a placement as you might think. It’s the fact that the rear seat heat button is impossible to access from the back. And most people didn’t know it had rear seat heaters. I owned one of these, and if you had an infantile mentality and wanted to mess with rear-seat passengers, you would not be the first.
Alfa 75 Milano: Power window switches on the ceiling (front only)
Well, the front power window switches are up there. Not only is the position odd, but the buttons are both unlabeled and do an odd left/right press to make the windows go up and down.
The rear window switches are located on the panel behind the lid on the center console where both front and rear occupants have to contort to get to them. Rolling down all four windows requires some aerobic exercise. Of course, it’s an old Alfa so just be happy that they put the switches inside of the car; if you value ergonomics over a Busso V6 at full song this ain’t the car for you anyway.
Porsche 944/968: Odometer reset by pushing in an air vent
And no, it isn’t labeled at all.
Audi Coupe: Trunk only opens from inside the car
See the clean trunk lid? Yup, no key. And this was a decade or so before they got wireless key fob releases, so no dice if you’re trying to open it when you’re standing at the bumper, hands full of shit. Unsurprisingly, the Alfa Milanos (and a number of other cars) are the same way.
Sterling 825: Hood release in passenger’s side footwell
This is the Acura Legend that the Brits covered in their own body and interior (and electrics – ahhh!). Both the Honda and the Rover were home market RHD cars, and while the Japanese car chose to move the hood release to the driver’s side on US cars, the English manufacturer kept it right where it was in old Blighty – you can see it below the ill-fitting glove box. Bad choice, especially since in this British version you’ll be opening that hood way more than in the Legend. I will say that wood still looks pretty damn nice, though.
What cars have you owned where you wondered if, as Jeremy Clarkson once said about the Porsche 911, the designers of the interior stuffed all the switches up their nose, sat in the driver’s seat, and sneezed to place them? We want to know!
Someone mentioned the odd location of the unlabeled Miata fuel release already, but there’s also a button in the trunk of the NC that disables the trunk release button in the cab. It’s invisible unless you know it’s there, and occasionally, my cargo has hit it and disabled the release button.
It’s actually great that it’s there, so I can park with the top down and my trunk can’t be opened without the key, but it’s really one of those things that you have to know is there.
There’s 7 locks/keyholes on my NC Miata. 2 doors, trunk, ignition, glove box, back center console, and the passenger airbag shutoff.
Owning a NC it was an odd placement. S2000 had it beat I feel as it was a little unlabeled black button rubber button on the inside of the driver’s side door (only visible with the door open). Literally looks like one of those rubber grommets inserted to repair body work.
94 Deville. HVAC behind the column shifter. No logic behind it.
The most obviously strange control location is one that has been discussed before; the stalk-mounted horn on certain late 70s and early 80s Fords.
90’s Suzuki Sidekick and all its clones: Hood release inside the glovebox. Took me well over half an hour to find it the first time and the car came with no manual.
Makes it harder to steal the battery when soft top is off…provided you lock it.
Former ’89 kick owner.
Funny about the 9-3. On the 9-5 it was on the back of the center console, for rear seat passengers to use.
To lock the doors from inside of our Fiat 500, you push the door handle towards the door panel, rather than having a knob or button. And when you do, a little orange sticker appears on the handle from behind a plastic cover to indicate that the door is locked, even though an orange sticker usually indicates UNlocked.
The heated seat controls for fifth gen Maserati Quattroportes are apparently on the lower part of the seat, facing the dashboard, where you can’t see them. Makes me wonder how many Quattroporte owners did not know they had heated seats.
I’ve owned two cars that allowed you to roll down the windows with the key fob – a 1996 Nissan Maxima and a 2012 VW Jetta GLI – and neither provided any indication that such a trick was possible. You had to learn by accident, talking to someone who knew about it, or happened to come across info about it in the owner’s manual.
This also opens panoramic sunroof on MINI.
Accidently activated it once with key in my pocket, pouring down rain, two kids in car seats. We laugh about it now that they’re grown…
Nothing too weird but the NA Miata’s fuel door release is at the back of the center console along with a somewhat hidden backup release in the trunk.
Agreed. My Miata also has the window controls between the seats and not on the doors. throws me every time.
European cars will often have the window switches on the center console. Supposed to be a theft deterrent from those who can jimmy a bar in and push the switch to lower the window. My old BMWs had it set up that way.
How is the window lowering with a switch if the car is off?
The new US regulations introduced in 2004 mandated that the power window switches be placed on the door cards or armrests as to prevent the accidental actuation.
It’s still in the center console as of the NC at least.
The window and mirror controls on the current Bronco. I get why they couldn’t be on a door but they’re on a forward facing part of the center armrest and have to be operated blindly.
My Pontiac G8 GXP, all G8s actually, have the HVAC and radio power buttons on the side farther from the driver, since in Australia they would be closer to the driver, and they never changed it for the US market.
Also on the other half’s 99 Accord coupe, I find it odd that the sunroof switch is on the left side of the dash sort of adjacent to the door. I can’t recall any other non-roof mounted sunroof switch, but I’m sure there have to be others, it works in practice because it isn’t a far reach but still sort of weird.
I had an ’83 Jaguar XJ6; the sunroof switch was on the center console…so another example of non-roof mounted, but definitely more logical than adjacent to the door.
It was a Honda thing from the 80s-00s. It actually makes sense given the moonroof/sunroof was exclusive to EX/Si trims and developing another overhead control location vs just using the blank end panel. Wiring would run right past that corner up the A-pillar to the roof motor.
That is pretty logical actually, I own mostly GM cars, so I suppose I’m not extremely used to apparent logic being used in the development and design. Haha
One of the oddest Honda control placement has to be the 1st Gen CR-V with the driver’s side window controls basically in that same spot where the moonroof controls would’ve gone (moonroof wasn’t an option on that generation). The rest of the doors had it side mounted with the door handle. These had thin doors to maximize space so they didn’t have a substantial grab handle location they could put them on.
I owned a Saturn SW2 (brown with a manual – holy grail car) for many years and it had a similar problem to the Audi mentioned above – no exterior trunk release. Thankfully mine did have a fob, but what made it weirder is that:
That was honestly probably my biggest annoyance with that car!
My Mercedes W212 wagon has an interior switch to open the powered rear hatch. The switch is located more or less invisibly on the forward wall of the driver’s door pocket. Once you know it’s there, the location makes some sense since it’s easy to reach with your left hand while seated. If you don’t know it’s there, good luck finding it. If the door pocket is full of stuff, good luck using it.
The estate versions of Mercedes sedans start with S, not W; so it’s a S212.
BMW puts the rear trunk/hatch release in the same spot. It seems pretty obvious to me and since so many cars put it in the same spot, I don’t imagine many people won’t know where it is.
I recently owned an E61, and currently own a W212 E550 (same trunk release button location). I found the trunk release buttons in both to be intuitive and functional enough. I go through a lot of cars though, and my mind is quite plastic vis a vis control layout. I currently have German, Japanese, and American cars in the fleet.
I have a 1999 Saab 9-3 convertible with the trunk release there – and I regularly accidentally open the trunk with my knee!
My dad had a ’68 Caddy – trunk release button was in the glovebox.
Also Alfa Spiders have the no-key trunk – you have to pull a lever behind the driver seat. Then when the lever breaks, you have to pull on the cable with pliers.
Ask me how I know.
The trunk release in the glove box is usually so you can lock the glove box and then use a valet key that would not let the valet get access to the locked glovebox or trunk.
also, if it’s a convertible it lets you leave the top down and lock the glove box while keeping the trunk secure form anyone messing with your car.
Yep. That’s the way my Fox Mustang convertible was.
This isn’t so much my current SUV’s in the personal stable but many. Our ‘22 & ‘24 Outlanders have the parking brake button on the center console like many many many newer vehicles have placed it. Well, guess what happens when your children find out about what that button does? I have been scared shitless when my seven-year old went to check out what the “P” in a circle does… yikes!
You must have a very long seven year old to be able to reach that while buckled in the back seat.
Yes, she is known as Stretch!
The weirdest one I’ve encountered isn’t too bad, but the Volt having the fuel door release on the driver side door panel. I rented a 1st-gen on Turo a few years ago, and the first time I pulled into a gas station, I couldn’t find the button anywhere. It took me a couple minutes before I finally found it.
I was driving my brother’s 2nd-gen Volt last weekend and noticed it’s still on the door panel, but I could easily see it from the driver seat. I think it helps that they made it blue, instead of black like the old one.
The w126 Mercedes has a similar feature to the Sterling.
Mercedes’ home market is LHD, the driver arm rest is attached to the driver’s seat.
In RHD markets, it’s still attached to the left seat, even though the driver is now on the right. This creates all sorts of ergonomic challenges based on seat position, or that the release button to lower it is in an awkward position that faces you.
Funny to think that a car that costed $80,000 in 1980s money wasn’t willing to design a seat for RHD. I’m just glad my domestic market is LHD as well, just as Ze Fatherland intended.
Blazer EV has the hazard light button next to the dome lights and the OnStar button. Who made that decision?
The C4 Corvette has the hatch release button in 2 place, a big yellow button in the center console storage and a switch on the end of the driver’s door. Both a are pretty odd. The drivers door switch is actually pretty convenient. Unfortunately the one in my car stopped worked.
Old Volvo Amazon switch for high beam light. If you know, it is a perfect placement, if you don’t know, you will never find it. It is a floor-mounted foot operated button next to the clutch pedal. You could keep both your hands on the wheel while steering through the nights in Scandinavia.
Just like the old days. Floor mounted bright switches were super convenient, bring them back to all cars.
The issue was the high failure rate. We still use em in buses cause it’s safer to keep hands on the wheel, but we replace them a LOT. Thankfully they’re cheap and quick to replace.
Standard placement on all the 60s cars I ever drove. They were indeed super convenient.
This was common on most cars until sometime in the 60s. Transit buses also mount the turn signals on the floor along with the hi beams, in a little triangle arrangement you can rest your left foot in
My 78 Cordoba had this and a second button next to it that changed the radio stations. It was connected to motor that manually moved the radio dial. I loved it. There was something viscerally satisfying about being able to stomp an annoying song or commercial.
I’ve not encountered a foot actuated radio control button! That sounds awesome!
For me it’s a whole dashboard. I’m talking about Mario Bellinis brilliant “cheese cake” dashboard to find in, what else, the Lancia Beta Trevi. The details are amazing. May favourite detail is the parking disc as part of the sun visor.
UK spec RHD BMW E30 3-series has the bonnet/hood release on the passenger side of the car. And the brake booster too, operated by a linkage running across the car, which isn’t so much an ergonomic issue as it is a surprising bodge.
Nissan 350Z has the ESP off button on the underside of the dash where only your kneecap can see it. It’s right next to the identically shaped switch that washes your headlights. Those are functions which you don’t mix up.
S13 Nissan 200SX in RHD had the rear fog light switch at knee level on the RHS of the dash. So every other drive you had your fog lights on.
2CV interior fan speed controller is the gas pedal. It uses the fan bolted on the front of the crank to gently waft air/exhaust fumes ineffectively at the bottom of the screen, but only just before you change up to the next gear. To demist the screen quickly you need to be doing 70MPH in 4th gear.
2006 Lotus Europa door locks. To lock the doors you can use the key in the door, or push the pin down on the top of the door, both of which disable the door locks in entirely separate ways that you can’t undo with the other control. Or you can use the unlabelled rocker switch on the front edge of the gear shift turret that can only be seen from your feet, which I guess is why it’s unlabelled.
My Renault Avantime puts the only power button for the stereo on a remote control which lives in a glove compartment.
The rotary shifter on the console in recent Explorers. It’s 1) the wrong interface (rotary) 2) in the wrong place (you could put it in the dash on closer to the steering wheel and gain a spot to put a phone holder, cup holder, baby changing table, between the front seats.)
The Citroën CX radio placement vertically between the front seats: Impossible to operate and dirt fell down the casette hatch
Not so much a control as a missing one but I spent 10 minutes once trying to find the controls to adjust the wing mirrors in a 2017 Chevy Colorado at work. This is a truck that has a ton of nice convenience features like auto an up/down driver windows, auto down on the other 3 windows, auto headlights, a decent sized touch screen with CarPlay, etc. But no power mirrors. You just have to push them around by hand.
The 996/986 heated seat controls are on a trim plate underneath the radio/HVAC controls (depending on equipment level) where you have to lean forward and reach behind the shifter to push them. They always put them there even though the controls surrounding the HVAC (for the door locks and rear wiper and etc) used the same switches, fell easier to hand and always had at least two switch blanks because I’ve never seen a 996/986 that was so well equipped it filled more than 4 of the 6 switch positions; to say nothing of the two switch blanks that were also positioned on the center console behind the ashtray that I’ve *never* seen a car where Porsche actually put switches there.
When I repainted my center console I replaced that trim plate with the one that Porsche sold for stripper cars that had no switch holes on it, then moved the heated seat controls to the center console behind the ashtray.
I will be forever mystified by fully-optioned cars that still have switch blanks. Just why?!!?
Sometimes it’s a market thing, where overseas had options for stuff we don’t get here, or different powertrains.
My 911 was by no means loaded, granted, but I can’t think of a combination that would allow you to make it so you used every switch spot that Porsche helpfully provided. My car had a rear wiper, rear defroster and central locking on 3 of the 6 button spaces surrounding the HVAC. I then added a button to control the spoiler like the 996 Turbo had so I could drive around with it raised like a doofus. If I had a C4S or Turbo S I suppose it could have filled those last two spots with the PASM switch and the active exhaust switch if so equipped.
But that still leaves, with the heated seat controls in front of the shifter, the two dummy switches on the center console. And it’s not like it’s for overly complicated cars like the 996 Targa because that had it’s own trim panel in front of the shifter that had four buttons crammed on it (the heated seat controls and the controls for the roof) with the two behind the ash tray still filled with blanks).
Also, the blanks can house switches for any aftermarket accessories. My Toyota Fortuner has a pair of driving lights, and I fixed the toggle in a blank.
I was going to exclude trucks or SUVs that intentionally leave blanks for fitting aftermarket accessories, but I didn’t want my comment to be that long, lol. But there’s no excuse for this on a Lexus ES or whatever.
True that. Also, I wouldn’t dare fiddle with any electronic add-ons given today’s cars.