# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/121 "2023-03-27T19:42:10Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > (Minor related point - the slot to attach to a keychain is part of the removable ‘key’ in the fob. That means when I go running, I can’t just take the little light-weight key easily. My BMW was the opposite, which made mode sense to me. I suppose there are use cases where you want the fob part to be easily separable, but they aren’t part of my routine. I should see if there’s a different case that has a keyring attachment point on the other side) I have a car old enough to have an actual slot in the door handle you can put a key in to unlock it. I went to a _real_ hardware store (not an orange or blue big box) & got a $5 key made; no electronics so it won’t start the car but it will un/lock the doors (& work the accessory switch in the ignition so I can raise/lower the windows) but it’s lightweight, doesn’t have any electronics (so it can get wet/muddy) & I can tie it into the shoelaces on my running shoe while I lock the key/fob into the car, hidden away out of sight. > [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > My old BMW had an obstacle detection system that had a major design flaw. It didn’t care which direction the car was going. I parked it in my garage. When I’d leave, even though the car would be in reverse, it would detect the wall in front of me and start beeping. I’d never know (from the detection system) if there was something behind me, because it was already active. I don’t know about the newer ones but a friend had an older Ford Explorer, & a bike on a hitch mount. If he had the bike mounted & put it into reverse, “EEEEEEEEE” as it thought you were imminently about to hit something. How about disable the alarm if the hitch is in use? > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > No, the fact that _once_ a car alarm went off because of an actual car thief does not excuse or justify the _thousand_ other times a car alarm went off for no good reason. In fact, there’s no reason car alarms can’t be redesigned to annoy or notify the car owner and _only_ the car owner, perhaps via a dedicated smartphone app or just an SMS message. Everyone else should hear nothing but silence. That would only work if you’re awake, near your phone (I don’t carry it in my house), somewhere you can take action to your car if it is a real incident, & somewhere where you’re car can ping you (won’t work in an underground parking garage) > [@Monty](#): > > Has anyone mentioned those clamshell packaging knives which are sold encased in, you guessed it, clamshell packaging? You know how knives come with a little safety protector so you don’t accidentally cut yourself taking it out of the packaging? I bought a machete, it had one of those too. Scroll over the picture in this random seller’s [ebay listing](https://www.ebay.com/itm/266098561054?hash=item3df4b5d01e:g:0NgAAOSwnd9iYWMS) to enlarge it & see how little of the blade that safety tip covers > [@LSLGuy](#): > > If you live in the part of the country where self-serve is illegal, you don’t have a reason to complain about gas pumps but you do have a reason to complain about paying $0.50/gal extra to pay somebody else to complain about gas pumps. NJ has mandatory full-serve & is cheaper than PA or NY due to lower state taxes ---
**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:** [March 27, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/122 "2023-03-27T19:47:20Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > No, the fact that _once_ a car alarm went off because of an actual car thief does not excuse or justify the _thousand_ other times a car alarm went off for no good reason. In fact, there’s no reason car alarms can’t be redesigned to annoy or notify the car owner and _only_ the car owner, perhaps via a dedicated smartphone app or just an SMS message. Everyone else should hear nothing but silence. > > That would only work if you’re awake, near your phone (I don’t carry it in my house), somewhere you can take action to your car if it is a real incident, & somewhere where you’re car can ping you (won’t work in an underground parking garage) I’ll grant you that the question of transmission from underground parking garage location is a difficult issue but your other objections are the problem of the car owner. Really, the _vast_ majority of the times that car alarms are triggered is just creating noise pollution. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/123 "2023-03-27T20:14:20Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > My old BMW had an obstacle detection system that had a major design flaw. It didn’t care which direction the car was going. I parked it in my garage. When I’d leave, even though the car would be in reverse, it would detect the wall in front of me and start beeping. I’d never know (from the detection system) if there was something behind me, because it was already active. For at least some older BMW models / years, the sound came out of the speakers at whichever corner(s) were at risk. So although the tones were the same in all 4 corners, you could tell where the danger was. I’m embarrassed at how long it took me to figure that feature out. Before that I was fuming just as you were. “Why are they so stupid as to be warning me about the wall in front of me while I’m in reverse. Damned overcautious Germans! Mutter, bitch, moan, etc.” Of course they picked a staccato beep that was very difficult for humans to direction-find. A continuous tone works much better for that. So I guess muttering and moaning were still at least a little bit appropriate. 🙂 Also, when backing out of a space in a parking lot, there are three risks: cars passing behind you, and you turning prematurely while in reverse and whacking your front fender on the adjacent garage roof support post or adjacent car. The worse your neighbors parked the bigger that last risk. So monitoring the front of the car while in reverse is not totally valueless. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/124 "2023-03-27T20:15:53Z")
My refrigerator doesn’t have touch controls. But the cool setting is still electronic. And it does not retain its setting. What makes this bad is that it defaults to the least cold option! So, every time the power goes out, I have to remember to reset it back so the food stays properly cold. The weird thing is, the freezer has a mechanical dial, so it works just fine. It’s just the fridge. And that seems particularly odd since, as I understand it, the temperature adjustment for the fridge is entirely mechanical in operation–it just partially opens or closes a vent from the freezer. So it’s actually having to physically move something to go back the the lowest setting. But, even if they had to reset it, surely people would rather their food get too cold than too hot. Plus having the cold air come in faster after a power outage would make sense. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/125 "2023-03-27T20:30:52Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > No, the fact that _once_ a car alarm went off because of an actual car thief does not excuse or justify the _thousand_ other times a car alarm went off for no good reason. In fact, that number of false alarms creates a sort of Boy Who Cried Wolf effect, where whenever I hear a car alarm I just assume it’s a false alarm. Years ago I was riding my bike home from work, and I passed a parked car with the alarm going off and a guy messing with the wiring under the dash. My first thought wasn’t “That guy’s trying to steal that car”, it was “That guy’s probably doing some DIY repair on his car, and he accidentally set off the alarm in the process.” ---
**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:** [March 27, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/126 "2023-03-27T20:32:35Z")
I’m still annoyed by my refrigerator, where the temperature setting is a dial with numbers from 1 to 9. Which end is which? It’s helpfully labeled “9 = max”, but that still doesn’t answer the question. Does that mean that 9 is the highest temperature, or the greatest amount of cooling? Don’t tell me which end of the scale is “max”; tell me which end is cold! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/127 "2023-03-27T20:37:08Z")
Oh heck, even if i think someone is stealing a car, i can’t be arsed to do anything to help the antisocial bastard who left his alarm armed so it keeps me and all my neighbors awake at night. I don’t hate them so much now that I’ve moved out of NYC. But you know, your car actually ISN’T worth more than 1000 of your neighbors getting some sleep. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/128 "2023-03-27T20:42:45Z")
Their SmartPrint, or whatever the crap is called, is what caused our company to stop buy HP. If I remember correctly, you can print a few “courtesy” pages before the HP account requirement pops up. Fuck off! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/129 "2023-03-27T20:43:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m still annoyed by my refrigerator, where the temperature setting is a dial with numbers from 1 to 9. Which end is which? It’s helpfully labeled “9 = max”, but that still doesn’t answer the question. Does that mean that 9 is the highest temperature, or the greatest amount of cooling? We finally got a couple of cheap refrigerator temperature gauges ( red zones for danger!) since we started having more power outages. And that’s about all I care about. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2023, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/130 "2023-03-27T20:44:18Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > No, the fact that _once_ a car alarm went off because of an actual car thief does not excuse or justify the _thousand_ other times a car alarm went off for no good reason. > > In fact, that number of false alarms creates a sort of Boy Who Cried Wolf effect, where whenever I hear a car alarm I just assume it’s a false alarm. On the other hand, when I hear a car alarm going off, I hope it really is a car thief because at least they’ll remove the car from the neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/131 "2023-03-27T21:49:05Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Oh heck, even if i think someone is stealing a car, i can’t be arsed to do anything to help the antisocial bastard who left his alarm armed so it keeps me and all my neighbors awake at night. I had no idea you can turn the damn things off! – so I just went out to my car and RTFM. Sure enough: alarm disabling instructions. Thanks! ---
**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:** [March 27, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/132 "2023-03-27T21:57:09Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > We finally got a couple of cheap refrigerator temperature gauges ( red zones for danger!) since we started having more power outages. And that’s about all I care about. OK, so your fridge is running a little warmer than you’d like, clearly you need to adjust the dial. Which way? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/133 "2023-03-27T21:59:00Z")
On ours, the higher number is colder. I’d have to look to see why I know that. I’m sure I didn’t look it up in the manual. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/134 "2023-03-27T22:10:48Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > so I just went out to my car and RTFM. Sure enough: alarm disabling instructions. Thanks! I disabled the “no seatbelt chime” as well as lock and unlock honk/chirps. And no, I’m not undoing the seatbelt chime because I routinely drive without a seatbelt on public streets. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/135 "2023-03-27T22:13:10Z")
I always buckle my seatbelt, but my car complains about my unbuckled “passenger” whenever I have groceries or my laundry bag or whatever on the passenger seat. I’ve circumvented it by just always keeping that seat belt buckled. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/136 "2023-03-27T22:23:47Z")
I was just going to post the same thing. Whenever I put a heavy backpack, or groceries, or whatever on the passenger seat, my car incessantly tries to warn me about the unbuckled “passenger’s” seat belt. I need to figure out how to disable that. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/137 "2023-03-27T23:36:42Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I disabled the “no seatbelt chime” as well Good grief. I thought that was a) illegal and b) therefore made next to impossible to do. If there are instructions about that in the manual, too, I’ll be very happy. I always wear my seatbelt – when I’m actually out on the road. I feel so weird without one in a moving car by now that there’s no way I’m going to forget it. But I live on a dead-end road, and sometimes want to move the car around in the driveway. And even when I’m headed out, I dislike being yelled at if I want to start the car first and put my belt on second. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/138 "2023-03-27T23:56:35Z")
Apple iPhone. In particular, attempting to access voicemail. I have a work iPhone 13. I _only_ use it to make/receive phone calls and the very rare text message. I use no other apps. Never. Ever. (I moved from telework to remote work so the phone is only used the same way as a landline phone, with the addition of text messages.) It’s a pain in the ass attempting to access voicemail without accidentally dialing the number. Since the bulk of my voicemail is SPAM messages, all too often I end up dialing a spam number and must immediately disconnect. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/139 "2023-03-28T00:47:50Z")
Really? I’ve never, ever had that happen to me. How are you managing to do this? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/140 "2023-03-28T01:19:05Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@wguy123](#): > > > > I disabled the “no seatbelt chime” as well > > Good grief. I thought that was a) illegal and b) therefore made next to impossible to do. If there are instructions about that in the manual, too, I’ll be very happy. > > I always wear my seatbelt – when I’m actually out on the road. I feel so weird without one in a moving car by now that there’s no way I’m going to forget it. But I live on a dead-end road, and sometimes want to move the car around in the driveway. And even when I’m headed out, I dislike being yelled at if I want to start the car first and put my belt on second I’ve got my car rigged to display the seat belt warning on the display but make no noises. It’s not like I’d ever forget the belt, but like you I often put it on after starting, backing out of the space, and beginning to pull forward. I can move about to see behind me much better _before_ my ass is cemented to the seat pan. Further, I absolutely refuse to be harassed by a machine. They work for me on my schedule, not vice versa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=8)