So I bought a new car. Its a 2016 Mercedes (C450 for the interested). Drives like a charm. The in car tech, however, how can you fuck up all the little things so badly?
Disclaimer: I bought the car in December, waited a bit to see if I get used to the quirks. I did not. (I hope that their driving assistants are better. So far, I have not yet had issues with them.)
I'll start with something simple. The voice on the satnav is on by default. And I don't mean on the first time you use it, there is an obvious way to switch it off, and it stays off. No, it is on again EVERY FUCKING TIME you use it, unlike any other satnav or navigation app i've ever used (you can quiet it by pressing the mute button on the steering wheel while the satnav voice is talking. If you press mute when the voice is quiet, the music is switched off). Unbelievable design choice.
Voice commands: the car has voice commands. Unfortunately, the only commands that are available are for the stuff currently on the main display. So if you are on the radio screen, there is no way to switch to phone, satnav or car settings. WHY? You need to press a button on the main console (thus diverting attention from the road). At least a menu-up command would make sense. Or access to all the main screens via voice commands.
Buttons on the steering wheel: there is "pick up the phone button" . Which does - wait for it - NOTHING, unless you are on the phone screen on the main display. Really useful. If you are called, at least that button works.
There are no fixed buttons for next track / next station. you have to navigate by main display (or secondary display). If you are on the music screen on secondary display, to switch to the next track, you have to press next (on the left of the steering wheel) twice: Once to display the list of tracks, once to fast forward to the next track. unless you recently did so, in which one click is enough. Or if there was a speed limit change, which gets displayed on the HUD and in secondary screen. In which case, the next button does: Nothing. Click ok first (to acknowlege), then twice on next.
All this leads to far more distraction from the road then necessary.
PS: another anti-pattern for me in cars are touchscreens. if you need to look where to click, you have you eyes off the road.
PPS: First world problems, I know.
PPPS: most of the WTF's are.