The Dumb Design of Modern Cars
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Thanks to Quinn Duffy, Luke Farnon, Dale Harrow and Frank Stephenson for your valuable insights!
Check this out: Carlton Reid, “Rejoice! Carmakers Are Bringing Back Physical Buttons,” in Wired, May 5, 2025. https://www.wired.com/story/why-car-brands-are-finally-switching-back-to-buttons/
Modern cars are getting smarter – and somehow dumber. They are packed with features that make driving worse and sometimes downright dangerous.
Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12ZB2mUWSBHT-R1OdoMFmAMHyPcqDtzeMgrjJxds2CWk/edit?usp=sharing
Music list:
Epidemic Sound:
Dylan Sitts – Daytona Dystopia
Mike Franklyn – When Pigs Fly
Awlee – And Behold
Janset – Drip (Instrumental Version)
Bonkers Beat Club – Crunched
Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen – Tracker
Lennon Hutton – Red Alert
Lennon Hutton – The Slasher
Hampus Naeselius – Metal under Tension
Hysics – Suicidal Drivestyle
Lennon Hutton – Neon Noir
Jharee – Dark Skies
Artlist:
Aviad Zinemanas – Warp
Rex Banner – Human – Instrumental version
2050 – Disco
Danny Shields – Smoke & Sizzle
Anthony Vega – Hilarious One
Anthony Lazaro – Boom – Instrumental version
Jimit – Pelicans – Slowed and Reverbed
Will Van De Crommert – City Hustle
TenGrams – VCO Mistery
Jameson Nathan Jones – One
Ian Post – New World
Out of Flux – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Audiio:
Atlas-Reach – Forgotten-Tales March-of-the-Undead Instrumental
BradHill – ShortCinematicSongs Aftermath Inst
Lens Distortions:
Taskforce
With Open Eyes
Chromatic by Tom Fox:
Going West
That Does It
1812 Overture (by Tchaikosvky) by Tchaikovsky
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Armchair documentaries, almost weekly
@danieltanner518
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
and yet people buy them, and get car loans, which is really dumb
@Dumbeltication
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
And it's all those silly killer suvs that are bought by all idiots in Europe.
@unknownuser2480
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
This video summarized every frustration I’ve had while working valet. Don’t even get me started on the push to start key fobs people constantly walk away with. I get it’s convenient but it sucks when you have to track someone down to get their keys after they forgot to give them to you cause their car was already running while it was in their pocket
@Zombie-gd6fw
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
"No one thought electric car was possible". Bruh, first cars were electric.
Also, the best auto gearbox (in terms of design) I ever used was in Alpine 110GT, hands down.
@sjmcn500
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Lack of common sense in functional design combined with the outright arrogance of the tesla advocates and their self congratulatory "better design" rhetoric are why I won't buy or even drive one. I live in Canada and vehicle icing is guaranteed in winter and everyone I know who owns or has owned a Tesla has been locked out of their Tesla at one point due to vehicle icing specifically relating to the flush door handles.
@DeadAndAliveCat
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Let me guess, Von der Leyen paid you good money as usual to scare people out of getting cars?
@sydboy10
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Thats why I drive an old 4runner 😎👌🏼
@chelseacolt4160
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I think it’s interesting that Toyota was not mentioned at all….. good job Toyota. My rav4 is the best!
@kilda_the_flo0f
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
reject modernity return to the 1960s simplesness of actuall analog butons and switches and actuall physical feedback
@Crazyfootballguy
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Engineers don't live in a common sense world. Their mantra is "how can we make this more complicated"
@samancor3271
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Basic message of the video. Just don’t buy new cars
@pakderws6485
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
You brilliantly plugged Brilliant there!
@yaB0i_Hawkx
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
My design professor always said about interface design, that here, creativity and sticking out from your competition, is actually the worst way to go about it for consumers.
If you want to change an existing user interface design, you better give an solution that's so much more better and convenient than the previous one. Otherwise, you'd actively design against your consumers.
Basically it's just the saying "Don't fix what isn't broken".
@TheNotorious6
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
This is why I refuse to own any new car. I'll stick with my easy to use 2003 Lexus RX300
@samancor3271
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
If you can’t back up with your mirrors you don’t deserve a licence.
@romulanwang
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
active touch panels while in motion are downright dangerous, as they need you to look at the display while driving. It is illegal to look at a phone while driving, it should equally illegal to interact with a touch sacreen while driving.
@seana806
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Sometimes, I think we would be all better off if automotive design stopped at 1966.
@Jkilla331
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
A mix of touchscreen and physical buttons is the best thing
@Long-legged
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Need physical switch for headlights on all cars. Need to be able to turn off headlights….
Its the biggest fail on my 2007 Vibe
@Blueinfinity7
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
So many of these features have come from legacy car manufacturers trying to be more "futuristic" or "clever" than Tesla.
@ceering99
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I DESPISE touch screens in cars
@AmiralPatate
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
It should be reminded cars are two-ton weapons. It will kill when used improperly. It should be criminal to hide essential safety features like headlight controls on a touch screen, with billion euro fines and recalls.
@フェルヴメリ
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
@HyundaiMotorGroup You should better learn from this. Don't rely too much on New AI tech.. I still prefer the CLASSIC-MANUAL CONTROLS THAN THESE Stupid AI Assisted stupidity kind of tech. ✌🏽
@Abottle-of-water
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Why can't i do 2x speed?
@Coconut-f6m
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Imo, the philosophy of modern cars can be sumed up into a term I call "Artificial future"
Artifical future is a term I just made up, where a company or person attempts to change a perfectly fine system into something that looks flashier, unique, and advanced rather then something helps make things easier and more accesible that can improve safety.
Many manufacturers attempt to reinvent the wheel and make perfectly working features into "Flashy" and "Futuristic" styled tools. Want to change into reverse? Using a stick shift is so in the past, now we use this shiny orb to "Make connections" with the vehicle itself. Want to open your glove box? We don't use handles, what are we in the 80's? Now we use touch screens to open them.
Are they impractical in practice? Yes, in fact they cause more problems and effect drivers safety with how much attention they need to be used, but on paper it looks inticing to investors, it looks futuristic. To them, it makes them think their in the future, instead of using a shift stick we use a ball, instead of opening our house door we can use a magnet glove to turn the handle. These changes are not needed, but their different, and that makes the product more enticing for investors to put down money.
So to sum it up, many companies follow a philosophy to change car features into something that appears to be flashy and unique to advertise to investors that their car is "From the future" to them, which hides how in practice these changes are unneaded, impractical, and sometimes unsafe.
@OutsideGamerGirl
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
7:09 That is the stupidest thing I have heard this far with vehicle technology.
@Maksenix
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
you gaining emotional connection when you have as much controll over a car as you can handle. manual gearbox no automatic parking or some stuff like that not electrical steering etc.
@CuriousMouseExploration
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
NOTHING that has to do with driving should be on screen. It should have its own independent nob or switch near the steering wheel so that you can find it quickly without taking your eyes off the road too long to find and deal with it. Muscle memory takes over after you're used to driving any particular vehicle and most of us can do practically everything to do with driving blindly. The ironic thing is that we made it illegal to touch our cell phones while driving but it's legal to have to find important driving implementations on a screen you touch attached to your dash board. How did that become legal? Fortunately, the car we just purchased last year still has the driving implements including the AC/heater with traditional nobs and switches that we can use without scrolling through a menu – except for the radio which is fine because you don't need one to drive.
@tiavor
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
11:50 how ironic that Mozilla's s TOS also allows them to sell your data.
@bluegg996
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
You're not getting at the real point, at least for me. Driving was fun, entertaining, nowadays people (not new gen, people in general), just want to get from point A to point B as safely, and cheaply as possible. Cars don't have character anymore because people don't want to drive anymore. And that is why, as you said with extreme precision, they are turning into phones, this is and always has been the objective of tesla for example, to make an arcade room with wheels so you can have fun while your carriage takes you from point A to B
@driverslqqk7940
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
The main problem is the consumer who keeps buying this crap don't buy these vehicles resort to older vehicles that are easier to work on have less complicated Engine Systems when their money dries up their cars will change until then they're going to shove this s*** down our throat plain and simple it's illegal to talk on a cell phone but you can fiddle around on a big touch screen tell me what's more safe makes no sense at all screw the auto makers
@Enfligd
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I’ll just stick to my truck with a steering column shifter 👍
@bonytologna
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Car makers are making this dumb stuff to stand out from the rest of the cars that all look EXACTLY the same anymore. I saw a Maserati on the road the other day and thought it was a Hyundai before I saw the logo. Want to really stand out? make a car that's not a stupid crossover SUV. Give us back hot hatches, sporty sedans, station wagons, and other car formats that have been eaten alive by the crossover movement. That's how to really stand out.
@ageless-existence
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I’m currently looking for a new vehicle and it is non-negotiable that I don’t want a touch screen, which means I’m looking for something around a 2013 in most cases. Ridiculous. Bring back physical controls!
@jasontroy3911
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I agree with everything in this video….new car design is idiotic.
@felipefernandes9053
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
70s: Almost all brands sold conventional cars and Citroën was an vanguard brand.
Today: Citroën has conventional cars and each others brands has its own system for operating things.
@WalterHildahl
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
In my old cars I could automatically find the knob or lever. Touch screens are just death devices.
@ThreadBomb
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
People are going to embrace self-driving cars so fast, just to escape this BS.
@SzymonBarry63
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I hate new cars. I will never give away my 2001 nissan micra k11. If i do however, ill buy an even older car. The electric windows on most cars are already too much for me.
@Yuri_Zinovev
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Who would knew that was awefull, stupid idea.
@jonathanwambeck7800
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I quit being a mechaic for new car dealerships because of the way new cars are built. Iv never owned a car newer then 2010. The last 15years of cars are garbage designed for the bin
@jonathanwambeck7800
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Over complicated garbage. First design point is how long before it's scrap metal and it's as short as possible.
@ghostey_boy
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Imagine being a teenager trying to learn how to drive with a normal gear shift and a godamn crystal ball at home
@MJ-oh5ux
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Voice command seems highly underutilized. Being able to just say "Tesla turn auto high beam mode off" should be easy enough to do and make it all hands free.
@LittlestofBiscuits
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
6:52 Ah yes, let me ponder my orb before I back out of the parking lot. 😅
@Carole-j3t
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I started driving a manual shift in my early 30's in the '90s (having driven automatic before since 1988.). I absolutely LOVED the stick shift. I felt emotionally connected to the performance of my toyota camaro in part for the real physical mechanical wordless imageless info available to me with my hand on shift rod. So the cristal orb is no solution to no problem.
This information about how at hand and readable implements of system control is well studied and understood. I think car manufacturers had lost the plot.
@toshibami
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Videos like this make me almost worship my old car. Made in 1998, designed in 1994. No touch screens, no cameras, no assists. Only me in control. Driving my car is joy to me, I always have fun.
The 2020 one we have, different story. Its not that bad, you just dont feel as a driver anymore.
@derrickwith2rs
November 11, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I knew there was a reason that I was poor, I own 4 vehicles that are at least 20 years old
Comments are closed.