We have an old Prius we rarely used that has needed a new battery for…I’m too embarrassed to say. It’s more of a project than it sounds like for several reasons.
First, without a working battery, the rear hatch does not open normally. The only way to open it is to crawl through the interior into the back, then find a small opening with a manual release, then figure out how to get it to actually release. And if you don’t apply upward force on the door while you do that, it will immediately latch itself closed again. Adding to the fun, the release is below the rear deck, so you have to lift it out of the way, when you would prefer to be sitting on it. It is awkward.
Second, getting to the battery requires you to remove a lot more than anyone would reasonably expect. To take out the small section of floor above it, you first half to remove the main floor and the storage tray underneath it. Then you finally have access to the battery. You have to unscrew the contacts and the bracket the holds it in place down inside a narrow well that’s just big enough or the battery. It does not easily fit ratchets or even screwdrivers at the angles where you need them. It is also awkward.
Third, it’s a simple thing, but lifting a car battery out of a narrow hole when you have nothing to hold onto is surprisingly difficult. The battery that was in there no longer had any kind of a lifting strap, so I had to lift it out by pressing my fingertips around the sides of it. It was awkward and also somewhat painful.
Fourth, lifting in the new battery was easy, but putting everything back together was every bit as much fun as it was t take it apart. See “Second” above.
It would have all been a lot easier if I weren’t 65 and seriously overweight. I’m still fairly strong, but I am not nearly as flexible as I used to be and I don’t fit into small spaces well.
I wasn’t at all sure the car would start, even with a new battery, but it did start right up. Now I just have to do some basic cleaning and I can take it to CarMax to see what they’ll give me for it.
I’m claiming victory, if only a small one.
My other car is a Subaru Outback. It is the car that was designed by engineers. And it is wonderful.
Every technical aspect has been thought through in every direction until it made the most sense. Everything from the functioning of the drivetrain through the style and positioning of the readouts provide a lot of useful information without being cluttered. The seats are comfortable and the control are egonomic. Things are easy to access, both inside and outside.
It handles like a much smaller car, but it’s wide enough to lean into corners without reducing traction on the inside tires. There is plenty of power and the symmetric all-wheel drive puts it wherever it needs to go. The active safety features provide useful guardrails and emergency backup to the driver, and they make long-distance driving easier and more comfortable. It even gets surprisingly good fuel efficiency.
Finally, I was once in a really bad accident with my previous Outback. A driver T-boned me, in the middle of a busy intersection, right on the passenger door, while doing around 50 mph. It rolled the car two full times, and it only stopped because it hit a van while vertical and bounced off the side.
The outside of the car was thoroughly destroyed.bbThe passenger compartment was untouched, except for all the windows breaking. The airbags kept everything firmly in place instead of flailing around. The curtain airbags, in particular, kept my head from bouncing off the pavement through the broken side window as it rolled.
When it finally stopped, my passenger and I were a little dizzy, but otherwise perfectly fine. Our most serious injury was an eighth inch cut on my hand from a piece of glass. We received immediate medical attention, but after thorough exams, they were surprised to admit that we were not injured. We walked away from it. Needless to say, I replaced that car with the exact same model.
Subaru has consistently added new technology as an option, then made it standard after it proved itself. That’s how they have acquired all-around disc brakes, symmetric all-wheel drive, anti-lock braking, “Eyesight” collision avoidance, and any number of other small, but useful features. While other car companies win awards for design, Subaru has won a lot of awards for their engines and drivetrains. Engineers.
If I were a billionaire I would gather engineers to construct a car. But I won’t call marketers or designers. Just engineers. Just “make a car that is nice to use and maintain”. I might become a trillionaire if I were a billionaire and made such a car.
I hear ya, but… I believe there are a lot of safety features in modern cars that aren’t really in the “nice to use and maintain” category. e.g. I think cars are built to “crumple” in a way that keeps the human alive.
Engineers know more about safety than designers. A lot more.
No doubt. I guess I’m just saying: add some safety criteria into the mix. Maybe as a subset of usability.
nice to use
I think safety is a part of “nice to use”. And I’m not a billionaire and not going to build a car factory. So this terminology dispute doesn’t make much sense anyway.
If you did this you’d become a millionaire not a trillionaire because nobody would ever buy a new one.
Gotta build some planned obsolescence in there if you want a trilly
I mean designers would also be important in that equation, the problem is just that design has been cannibalized by marketing and branding
But like, where an engineer solves physics problems (and software developers solve logic problems), designers solve human problems. So ergonomics, intuitive controls, a design that has useful features for basic tasks and makes sense for daily life, that communicates saftey information in an effective and clear way, and accessibility, are all things a designer would be more suited to than an engineer
Unfortunately companies are increasingly corrupting the role of designers from “being the advocate of the end user” to being another bs marketing person who does whatever will look shiny and sell more units, while ignoring stuff that actually matters.
But design is also deeply important to building a thing that is well considered and doesnt suck
doesnt suck
Engineers are excellent at this. And yes, modern designers are anti-customer. So the end-result ergonomic-wise would be better if done by engineer who by default pro-customer than if done by designer who might be better in theory but in practice just deliberately makes things worse.
I think that’s a pretty big assumption, I think if you asked most engineers what ux research says about most design patterns they wouldn’t know, and theyd have to go and research stuff most designers could tell you off the batt
The three mile island catastrophe was largely a UI design problem that happened because they failed to consider a human had to operate and respond to the problems presented by the control room’s interface. Engineers were involved in the project, I don’t believe designers were.
At the end of the day we both want the same thing. But I feel user hostile design patterns are as much implemented by engineers chasing costs as demanded by management as they are by designers making things shiner for marketing (like massive car touch screens, which are much cheaper to manufacture than proper physical controls, and literally any designer could tell you as soon as proposed that thats gonna kill people), and I guarantee you, both would jump at the chance to make something they think is actually just a good thing without someone over them ruining everything about it
No one goes to school excited to produce a return on investment to shareholders, be it engineering school or design school
Regardless, I hope you have a nice day :) hopefully we get our not-shitty car someday, and if not I’m just buying an old car
As a business analyst that worked between the engineers and the end customer, I can attest that in my situation, the engineers had zero idea what the customer wanted. In fact, when I presented the engineers with the customer’s requirements (no designer involved), they told me I was wrong, contacted the customer personally, and only then came back and said, “Ok, we’ll do it that way.”
Iam also a BA between engineers, leadership, ops, and client success. The engineers have zero clue why they’re even doing the things they are doing.
You’d end up with something like early VWs or military style Jeeps.
You know what, count me in.
It isn’t that easy - cars have a lot of compromises so often you can’t get what you want. Though the worst problems shouldn’s be.
I have a Chevrolet Volt, same EXACT situation.
Back hatch doesn’t unlock without power. So I got to contort my stupid ass over the back seats to get back there. Then you pull up the back bottom floor thingie, but god have mercy on your soul, it’s impossible to do because there’s no where else to put your body.
So yeah it was this whole Cirque Du Soleil act back there just to swap the battery.
Always found the idea of putting the car battery is in a place that needs 12V to reach to be just so confusing lmao. Good Job gettin’ it done
reminds me of this RichRebuilds video where he buys a Prius for $100 and tries to get it running
My partners Chrysler 200 needs a new battery too. It’s mounted near the wheel well and you have to remove the front driver side wheel to access it. It’s so impractical.
Wrong sub. This was not dull.
Oh, that’s the easy part, that must be the 12 volt cranking battery you replaced, not the running battery…
That is certainly true. It could always be worse. :-)
