# Does anyone see cars' faces? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093 "2008-05-05T05:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/1 "2008-05-05T05:31:01Z")
If I squint, and force my imagination into overdrive, I can visualize faces on the fronts of cars. The headlights are the eyes, the grille is the mouth, etc. They generally look goofy, happy and smiling all the time. Unless I make a conscious decision to do so, though, I don’t see a face. Just a bumper, a grille, and headlights. However, a friend of mine recently commented that she sees all cars as having faces, all the time. I imagine this must be creepy as hell. Which category do you fall into? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/2 "2008-05-05T06:27:15Z")
Not every car has a face in my mind, but I also see them in the taillights of cars. A lot of them look angry. ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/3 "2008-05-05T07:01:01Z")
I’ve seen them that way since I was a kid. In fact, I really disliked some cars on the basis of their “faces” (so I’m shallow 😉 ). I kind of thought everyone saw them. Now what I _know_ is weird is that I have the same reaction to numbers (don’t like 5 or 8 based on their “personalities” but I like 4 and 6 a lot.) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/4 "2008-05-05T07:22:01Z")
I am registered with a Harvard study on prosopagnosia (face-blindness) and one of the questions in their questionnaire is “do you see faces in cars?” So, it is a sufficiently well-known phenomenon to be showing up in somebody’s neurological research. By the way, I see faces in cars. Even though I’m very poor at remembering human faces. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/5 "2008-05-05T07:24:44Z")
[QUOTE=jellyblue] I’ve seen them that way since I was a kid. In fact, I really disliked some cars on the basis of their “faces” (so I’m shallow 😉 ). I kind of thought everyone saw them. Now what I _know_ is weird is that I have the same reaction to numbers (don’t like 5 or 8 based on their “personalities” but I like 4 and 6 a lot.) [/QUOTE] With the numbers thing, sounds like synesthesia. In answer to the OP, I don’t see car’s faces when just generally looking at them, but I can mentally choose to see them. I don’t have to squint, I just sort of decide to look for the face aspect and then I’ll see it. This is pretty much all that occupies me during red lights. That and checking if there any indicator lights blinking in sync with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/6 "2008-05-05T07:35:57Z")
[QUOTE=CairoCarol] I am registered with a Harvard study on prosopagnosia (face-blindness) and one of the questions in their questionnaire is “do you see faces in cars?” So, it is a sufficiently well-known phenomenon to be showing up in somebody’s neurological research. By the way, I see faces in cars. Even though I’m very poor at remembering human faces. Go figure. [/QUOTE] Hey, me too–the face thing is very very bad for me on the first few days at a new job, particularly in offices where everybody dresses very similarly. (Those darned blue shirts and khaki pants!) I really loved my '57 Chevy because I thought she had a sweet face, and she was definitely a _she_. My '60 Corvair, however, looked like a mean bitch. Although in general Chevys tended to have nicer faces than, say, Fords. I actually don’t see this so much anymore. Every once in awhile, though, I see some car sneering. Those, I avoid. And the numbers thing, too. I had whole ages I didn’t even want to be because I didn’t like those numbers. Twelve, for instance–I didn’t even want to admit to that age because it was such an ugly number. Over that, at least. ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/7 "2008-05-05T07:39:06Z")
Hmmm, those Harvard types might be onto something because I’m terrible with faces too. Despite the fact that I draw them really well. That must be one hell of a factor analysis they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/8 "2008-05-05T11:03:47Z")
Absolutely, cars have faces. Eyes, mouths, usually teeth, and noses. The high end models have eyes that move too – around the curve of a road, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/9 "2008-05-05T12:17:05Z")
Then there’s the [Edsel.](http://www.davidrichert.com/50s%20Classic%20Camera/EDSEL.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/10 "2008-05-05T12:46:12Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Then there’s the [Edsel.](http://www.davidrichert.com/50s%20Classic%20Camera/EDSEL.jpg) [/QUOTE] Awww, he has cleft palate. [Larry The Cable Guy]Lord I apologize for that there joke[/Larry] I’ve always seen faces in cars. In fact a few years ago my family was up at someones lake house and my sister said “Look at that boat, it looks like…Grandpa” And everyone (everyone that could see it) compleatly agreed. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/11 "2008-05-05T12:50:15Z")
Sometimes. It’s mostly tail lights that I see as eyes. The fronts of cars are whizzing by way to fast for me to think on them. Commuting to and from work can get you stuck behind a vehicle which allows plenty of time to ruminate on its personality. Some cars are happy. Some are sad. Some are stoned. The one that always get’s me is the Impala. That’s the OH-MY-GOD car. When the driver bumps the break pedal, the Impala’s all “OH-MY-GOD I’m stopping!” or “OH-MY-GOD that car just pulled out in front of me!” or “OH-MY-GOD there’s a cat by the side of the road”----they’re way too exciteable. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/12 "2008-05-05T12:59:49Z")
I thought you were _supposed_ to see faces in car front ends, it being all part and parcel of the appeal and marketing. For example, the [Camaro](http://images.motortrend.com/features/auto_news/2007/112_news070104_01z+chevrolet_camaro_convertible_concept+left_front_view.jpg) face is aggressive, almost scowling, while the early [Dodge Neons](http://www.dragtimes.com/images/5578-1995-Dodge-Neon.jpg) were far more friendly looking, even to the point of having a wide-eyed smile. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/13 "2008-05-05T13:10:31Z")
[QUOTE=chaoticbear] Not every car has a face in my mind, but I also see them in the taillights of cars. A lot of them look angry. [/QUOTE] They do, don’t they? Kind of like how, at any moment, they might transform into a 50-ft tall Mecha-Godzilla and inexplicably trash Tokyo for no apparent reason. I can’t see faces in the front of cars for the most part, though. Glad I’m not only only one whose noticed the faces in tail-lights though; I was starting to think I was more than slightly mad there! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/14 "2008-05-05T13:14:44Z")
Some cars have faces, many do not. I can’t help but think the newer VW Passats and Jettas, with the chrome grille thingy are wearing bras, though. That makes me a little uncomfortable! [http://www.vwspeed.co.uk/volkswagen/images/catalog/category178.jpg](http://www.vwspeed.co.uk/volkswagen/images/catalog/category178.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/15 "2008-05-05T13:26:15Z")
I see cars’ faces, too. That’s one of the reasons I find the Aztek so incredibly ugly.[Aztek](http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/featuredvehicles/2002_pontiac_aztec_srv/photo_08.html) All BMWs have nostrils. I like the cars but I’m not so fond of the nostrilality. (I made that word up but I like it.) ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/16 "2008-05-05T13:53:40Z")
I think Disney and Pixar made a [movie](http://disney-clipart.com/Cars/pixar-cars.php) about this very phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/17 "2008-05-05T13:55:09Z")
I don’t see faces, but sometimes I watch them negotiate traffic and think of the cars themselves as being sentient and the ones really making all the decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/18 "2008-05-05T13:57:53Z")
I’ve always thought the [Austin-Healey Sprite](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Austin_Healey_Sprite_Mk_I_vr.jpg/800px-Austin_Healey_Sprite_Mk_I_vr.jpg) looked like a happy little car. ---
**Author:** ![Soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/19 "2008-05-05T15:54:36Z")
Everyone always said my Dodge Neon looked like it had Downs’ syndrome. That big, wide eyed, goofy semi-smile plastered across it’s bright yellow face made me want to pat it gently when I got out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/20 "2008-05-05T16:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy] I think Disney and Pixar made a [movie](http://disney-clipart.com/Cars/pixar-cars.php) about this very phenomenon. [/QUOTE] What they did was make an ass-ton of money. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093.md?page=2)