# Stupidest product design you’ve experienced **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621 "2023-03-25T02:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 67
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1321 "2024-07-17T20:52:59Z")
Well, we just bought a new refrigerator. This one replaces an old one that came with the poky house. It’s a really nice fridge, but the control panel must have been designed by a Douglas Adams fan: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/3CKE3CC.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/3CKE3CC) Note the invisible black-on-dark grey buttons? The LED is above the “water” selection. Truly idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1322 "2024-07-17T22:24:42Z")
Does it dispense a substance that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea? Anyway. I’ve got two. (1) (I’ve complained about this before) websites where OBVIOUSLY the first thing you want to do when you get there is start typing something in the search bar. And yet, your cursor doesn’t land there, and you have to click into the search bar before you type. Wikipedia, I’m looking at you. (2) I can’t be the only person who owns a car whose trunk lid drips gallons of water directly into the trunk every time you open it, if it’s wet out. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1323 "2024-07-17T22:40:11Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > 1. I can’t be the only person who owns a car whose trunk lid drips gallons of water directly into the trunk every time you open it, if it’s wet out The last time I saw a car that did that it was the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1324 "2024-07-17T22:51:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The last time I saw a car that did that it was the 1970s. … and that was an old 1960ies car… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1325 "2024-07-17T22:55:46Z")
I agree; the cars seem to be designed so that the water dripping off the trunk lid lands outside the trunk, in the channel leading outside the car. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1326 "2024-07-17T23:05:58Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Note the invisible black-on-dark grey buttons? No, actually, I don’t. Not even when I zoomed in on the picture. > [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > (2) I can’t be the only person who owns a car whose trunk lid drips gallons of water directly into the trunk every time you open it, if it’s wet out. Is it a Ford Focus? My mom has one, and IIRC, that’s one of the many, many issues she’s had with that car. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1327 "2024-07-17T23:19:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, actually, I don’t. Not even when I zoomed in on the picture. Imagine what it’s like at night. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/UiswX1n.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/UiswX1n) I can just barely make out “cube” and “crush” on my monitor. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1328 "2024-07-17T23:38:56Z")
My TV remote has two modes, Bluetooth and Infrared. You’d think infrared would be the default because it’s the simplest and also means you never have to pair but nope, default is Bluetooth. So if you take the batteries out to change or you accidentally press the wrong button it will immediately go to Bluetooth mode and automatically be unresponsive and then you have to either figure out the button combo to switch back to infrared or go up to your actual HDTV and use the physical buttons on the unit to manually pair it. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1329 "2024-07-18T00:47:10Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Note the invisible black-on-dark grey buttons? The LED is above the “water” selection. > Truly idiotic. Our induction cooktop is like that. It came with 3 color options. Black, steel-on-black, and “steel” (which I think was just a deep gray). I was talked into going for the black, as it was the cheapest. BAD idea. We HAVE to turn on the vent fan’s lights to see the controls. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1330 "2024-07-18T02:22:33Z")
An Impala. The trunk lid itself seems to hold a lot more rainwater than it should, before you lift it and it all has to go somewhere. The surface of the lid is almost a concavity. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1331 "2024-07-18T11:56:45Z")
Either stupid, or I’m looking at a section of Chesterton’s fence and don’t understand yet: New RV has a remote for actuating slides, awning, and outdoor lights. All these buttons have a counterpart inside on a control panel. The slides and awning controls are essentially an “OR” with their inside counterparts. Pushing either will cause the action to happen. The lights are “AND” for some reason. For them to illuminate, both the inside switch and the remote control switch must be set to “On”. Either order is OK, but it’s almost like they were designed by someone who’d just completed their freshman boolean logic course and got carried away. Maybe they were told to make sure they could be turned Off by either control? A: inside switch B: remote control switch !: “NOT” ||: “OR” &&: “AND” Boss: “Make sure they can turn them off with either switch.” Designer (thinking): “OK, then it would be something like !A || !B, right? In class we learned that’s the same as !(A && B). So that’s how it should work (A && B) should equal ON”. I spent hours disassembling control and access panels, and tracing wiring around to try to figure why no power was applied at the physical switch. Only to find out (via forums) that this design is on all models of this brand. No one knows why. I can easily rewire it so only the physical switch on the wall works as expected. But I’m waiting a few months to see if I discover some reason for this. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1332 "2024-07-18T12:13:46Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > Another piece of user interface idiocy: I was a member of a gym and often made use of the heart rate monitoring functionality of the treadmills. I have an interestingly anomalous heart rate (not a reason for concern, according to the cardiologists that I consulted) that is low at rest (~ 50/min) and quickly goes high even for a level of exercise that I can sustain for long (I once ran a half marathon with heart rates 150-195). > > So the treadmill’s heart rate montor sometimes freaked out with the text HIGH HEART RATE looping over the display. _That message displaced the display of the heart rate,_ so I could not know how high that was. That’s better luck than what I usually get on those machines. No matter how or where I grip those infernal handles, I can never get an accurate consistent heart rate reading. Half the time I get no output at all. My Fitbit watch isn’t much better-I’ll have just done a very intense interval, can feel my carotids pulsing like mad, but the HR display will insist on something like “115”, no matter whether I lay the watch sensor on the inside or the outside of my wrist. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1333 "2024-07-18T16:41:04Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Which wouldn’t be half as annoying if there were some way to prevent that accidental call from showing up on the recipient’s phone. Hmmm… maybe I should delete old numbers from my phone. Don’t _think_ I have any old girlfriends’ numbers in there… ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1334 "2024-07-18T16:59:16Z")
How did you not notice that before you bought it? (Not trying to be snarky, just genuinely curious.) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1335 "2024-07-18T17:09:08Z")
No, we ordered it online, without seeing it in person. Not many appliance shopping opportunities up here. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1336 "2024-07-20T12:26:41Z")
I stopped using Fitbit as exercise trackers because they would show my heart rate going down when I did intervals. The last day I used it, it was off by almost 100bpm. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1337 "2024-07-20T13:30:11Z")
Yeah, I just do a quick and dirty 6 second manual read on my carotids now. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1338 "2024-08-14T15:06:39Z")
OK, here’s a recent one: I have a ‘22 Bronco, with the 12” LCD screen. One of the features of the package I have is the speed-limit reading camera. Whenever it sees a speed limit sign, it posts that speed on the small LCD in the cluster, where the digital speedo is displayed. I recently had my windshield replaced (these trucks are rock magnets), and then drove up to Durango. I noticed that the speed limit was no longer displayed. I contacted Safelite, and complained that the guy had messed up the camera calibration. They said they would fix it. But, the next day, it was working again. Then it stopped working. Then it started working. I eventually figured out that, when I had a destination programmed into the Apple Maps app (displayed on the big screen), the speed limit display moved to that screen. With no destination (just the map, with my position), the speed limit moved back to the speedometer screen. I swear it didn’t do that originally, and some firmware upgrade must have changed that behavior. What a dumb UI change. I can see having the speed limit displayed on the map, but there is no reason why it can’t stay on the speedo LCD. Who thought this was a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1339 "2024-08-14T15:18:08Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I can see having the speed limit displayed on the map, but there is no reason why it can’t stay on the speedo LCD. When the speed limit display moves to the map, what appears in the now-empty spot near the speedo display? I don’t have your car, but my car does have some notion of “These 4 items are interest to the driver in this order of priority, but there’s only space to display one of them. If the driver moves a high priority item to a different display, instead of showing duplicative info, display the next lower priority item here instead.” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1340 "2024-08-14T15:21:51Z")
Why, _nothing_ is displayed there! Just a blank space (no border or anything). ETA: there’s a ton of unused screen real estate on the speedo LCD. I could design a better UI in my sleep. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=66) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=68)