# 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:** 79
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1561 "2025-01-13T21:36:59Z")
I use a guitar tuning app called GuitarTuna. It works well - you strum a string and it lets you know whether it is in tune, or how much you need to tune up or down. The stupid aspect is that when it’s in tune, the app plays a chime, and then immediately responds to its own sound by saying “Tune Down -22”. It’s more amusing than troublesome though. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1562 "2025-01-14T01:16:18Z")
bow can they NOT catch that? ---
**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:** [January 14, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1563 "2025-01-14T01:27:42Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Oddly, my new Toyota states to only turn the gas cap _ONE_ click. It feels wrong after 15 years of turning my Subaru 3 clicks. I too had been told “3 clicks”. Our newish (2020) CRV doesn’t even HAVE a gas cap. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1564 "2025-01-14T08:24:08Z")
Modern HDTVs basically having no buttons on the TVs itself. I’ve lost my remote and literally I’m incapable of turning my HDTV off, I have to let it “No signal detected” for 10 straight minutes because it auto-offs. I can turn it on using my phone to cast something to it but somehow the software doesn’t let me turn it off nor does it have any physical buttons I can find to turn it off, and this isn’t the first HDTV that didn’t have accessible buttons I’ve owned. There may be a button way in the back behind the HDMI plug-ins to turn it on/off since I believe that’s how I turned it on the first time before inserting the batteries into the remote, but they literally should be easily accessible on either the top or sides of the TV within easy viewing distance. I know my last TV with buttons had them on the side but recessed so you needed a flashlight to actually see what did what. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2025, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1565 "2025-01-14T13:07:01Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Oddly, my new Toyota states to only turn the gas cap _ONE_ click. It feels wrong after 15 years of turning my Subaru 3 clicks. I put gas into my wife’s car y’day, and surely enough on the inside of the little door is a sticker saying “twist cap closed to ONE click” … (2022 MG-SUV) ---
**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:** [January 14, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1566 "2025-01-14T13:11:01Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Modern HDTVs basically having no buttons on the TVs itself. > > I’ve lost my remote and literally I’m incapable of turning my HDTV off, I have to let it “No signal detected” for 10 straight minutes because it auto-offs. I can turn it on using my phone to cast something to it but somehow the software doesn’t let me turn it off nor does it have any physical buttons I can find to turn it off, and this isn’t the first HDTV that didn’t have accessible buttons I’ve owned. There may be a button way in the back behind the HDMI plug-ins to turn it on/off since I believe that’s how I turned it on the first time before inserting the batteries into the remote, but they literally should be easily accessible on either the top or sides of the TV within easy viewing distance. I know my last TV with buttons had them on the side but recessed so you needed a flashlight to actually see what did what. the one’s that have buttons, have literally black print on black background in 6 pt font labels above them … I kid you not … I had to put a piece of ugly gaffer tape for “Ch+ … Ch-” and “Vol+ … Vol-” on ours to label the 4 buttons ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1567 "2025-02-22T14:04:23Z")
Oh yeah, can’t stand “remote or nothing” in every incarnation thereof. And don’t get me started on “minimalist” remotes that don’t tell you what their own buttons mean. On a smaller scale: lamps that _don’t_ label somewhere visibly and clearly _what Ogdam’d TYPE OF BULB goes in_ . No, telling me it’s 75w 125V **does not help,** there’s like 40 different ways they make those, **which one is the one that fits your lamp??** So you end up putting up pictures of the socket to reddit or wherever and of course everyone is “could be E11, or E12, or E14” and “you need to measure”. Come on, it should say it in big friendly letters on the inside or under the bottom of the fixture. Mom picks up a nice little desk lamp because she likes it, but she’s 80, why should she look inside to check if she sees screw threads, to her a bulb is a bulb is a bulb and it always screws in, only difference is if it’s large or small and she’s got both of those in the house. Gets home and it’s like, whaaa…? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1568 "2025-02-24T18:24:04Z")
Our Toshiba copier at work. The other day it locked up with the control screen being unresponsive to any input. Like any other bit of computer equipment, I decided the best fix would be to turn it off and back on again. But there was no main power switch to be found. So I looked in the user manual for a manual power switch, and apparently there is none. Upon doing a search in the manual for “power switch,” it did not-so-helpfully admonish the user to _ **not** _ unplug it to reset the device. So now what? I ended up calling our internal IT support. The guy showed up, tried fruitlessly to use the control screen, looked for a power switch, failed to find it, and then unplugged it and plugged it back in. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1569 "2025-02-24T19:00:40Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Upon doing a search in the manual for “power switch,” it did not-so-helpfully admonish the user to _ **not** _ unplug it to reset the device. So now what? So the manual says unplugging it is bad? Good thing power failures are thing of the past, never to be seen again. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1570 "2025-02-24T21:34:34Z")
Undoubtedly that section of the manual is an attempt to sell more [Toshiba uninterruptible power supplies](https://www.toshiba.com/tic/power-electronics/uninterruptible-power-systems). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1571 "2025-02-27T00:08:47Z")
**MrsFtG** ordered a bottle of lotion. The upper part was firmly sealed by _thick_ shrink wrap plastic. Amazingly tough stuff. I started with some sharp scissors, which eventually managed to puncture the plastic under the spout. But that didn’t go anywhere. The plastic is so tough is could only tear tiny bits off. The rest of the plastic was immune to the scissors since it most lay flat against the bottle/cap. I got a razor blade. A sharp razor blade. It too some effort to finally get the wrap around the top of the bottle/screw on cap off. Then I worked on the spout stem. More time passed. I finally got that off and now I was left with the piece stuck to the top of the spout. Due to the shrink wrap technique, it was firmly attached. I had to repeatedly attack it with the blade before it finally came off. I may have spent a half hour on this. The plastic used was the stiffest “film” I’ve ever come across for such a product. Why? In particular, do you really want you customers to cut themselves just to take off some plastic? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1572 "2025-02-27T16:18:16Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > In Japan they drive on the left, so filler is on the driver’s side. Don’t bother to change for outside Japan I suppose. No. My Toyota’s filler is on the passenger’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1573 "2025-02-27T16:20:30Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > > [@GaryM](#): > > > > In Japan they drive on the left, so filler is on the driver’s side. Don’t bother to change for outside Japan I suppose. > > No. My Toyota’s filler is on the passenger’s side.   For clarity, do you mean the right or left side of the 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:** [February 27, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1574 "2025-02-27T16:25:12Z")
On my Honda, the filler is on the left side of the car, as is the steering wheel. Presumably the Japanese version of the car would have the steering wheel on the right but I don’t think they relocate the gas filler or gas tank. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1575 "2025-02-27T16:32:24Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > For clarity, do you mean the right or left side of the car? I’m in Japan, so the passenger side is on the left. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1576 "2025-02-27T16:50:37Z")
I’m in the USA. My Ford van has the filler on the left; my Subaru car has it on the right. Both cars, of course, have the driver’s side on the left. There are enough vehicles built each way for the USA market that for some years now they’ve put a little arrow next to the gas gauge to tell the driver which side to fill the gas tank from. I don’t know what decision process goes into placement of the filler cap, but I don’t think it has much to do with which side the driver sits on. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1577 "2025-02-27T22:05:06Z")
Setting up a new PC. This is something that IMO is needlessly complex for basic domestic use of a computer with internet access. My wife and I both bought laptops a few months ago and I set mine up a day or so after purchase while my wife sat on it for a while, for various reasons. She’s now trying to set hers up now, and the various requirements for passwords, use of email addresses and other stuff to join the “family” thing has actually bogged us down to the extent that we will be calling in a domestic IT person (because I forgot what I did at the time). In retrospect, I should have set both laptops up at the same time but, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. At any rate, to set up an account for a box that allows a person to surf the net and read and send emails should not be this f’ing complicated, time consuming, and difficult. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1578 "2025-02-28T04:56:59Z")
I hear you about the shrink wrap. Same experience here, opening a bottle of salad dressing, sealed as if it was made of gold. Yesterday was the first time in years that I’ve stabbed myself trying to get to my food. At least this one didn’t have a second pry-off flat sealer to conquer as well. I usually need to get a pliers to get those off. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1579 "2025-02-28T07:45:47Z")
I have an Igloo 40 can cooler I would take the beach, that if you actually put 40 cans with ice into it and pull it using the plastic handle, the weight of the drinks would quickly cause the handle to develop cracks and break off. So now I have a cooler with no handles I have to push everywhere with a metal dolly because the handle didn’t last a week of use. The cooler works great but why would they think a skinny plastic handle would work with a full cooler of ice? ---
**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 1, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1580 "2025-03-01T02:19:56Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > At least this one didn’t have a second pry-off flat sealer to conquer as well. I usually need to get a pliers to get those off. I stab those with a paring knife then twist. Leaves a nice finger-sized hole and an upturned edge you can readily grab 'tween thumb & forefinger. A pulling twisting action & the seal separates neatly from the container mouth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=78) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=80)