Thursday, January 17, 2013

Not helpful.

So like, if you saw the thing below light up on your dash what would you think it is?

Here's a closer look. I know, right?
Although the claw thing is
sound, if not pertinent advice.

If you said 'got me, what the shit is that?' You would be correct. If you said that's a tire pressure light, screw you. How was I supposed to know that? This shouldn't be a Rorschach test. To me, it looks like an exclamation point boiling in a cauldron which I'd interpret as: Excitement is brewing! Where do they get tire pressure? In fact, I'd argue that that symbol is open to all kinds of interpretation. It could be Caution: Beware of robot claws. Or Caution: Don't sit on the five-peg Lego. I call bullshit on this. The whole point of dashboard indicators is to communicate information. If I have to consult the internet (or god forbid, the manual) every time something lights up, the excitement cauldron isn't doing its job. Well, unless I need to know that the soup's on.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable here (although I am). For all I know this light could have meant: Alert! Explosion immanent! Evacuate vehicle! 
"If only he'd taken the time to familiarize himself with
the various warnings and dash board indicators..."
-Hindsight McToldyaso,
Volunteer Firefighter
"Woe betide those who do not firmly
screw on the gas cap after fueling."
You know what would have made more sense? A picture of a tire that's flat on the bottom or a picture of a tire gauge or I don't know, how about a little sign that says 'tire pressure.' Hey, while we're at it, what exactly about the tire pressure is this light trying to say? Does it want me to check the tire pressure? Is the tire pressure too low? Too high? Are my tires about to pop? I don't know. And which tire? I have four. Why do I have to sit there interpreting GM's crazy space language while my tires slowly deflate?

I'll admit it, this is mostly about me trying to deflect the blame for my irresponsible car ownership. After all, I should probably read the owner's manual and you know, get the oil changed sometimes but you have to admit, whoever came up with the dashboard indicators could have been a bit more direct.


1 comment:

  1. Only after I read "tire pressure light" did I see it. I think it would actually be more clear if it didn't have the "!" in there. The rest kind of looks like a deflated tire (albeit a very stylized, cartoony one). I don't think you're wrong to call this light out as BS.

    Though you really should get an oil change about every 5k miles. If the oil light comes on, it's already too late.

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