Thought of the Day 02.01.10

Leaving my car this morning, I discovered that I can’t use the fob to lock the doors until after they’re all closed. There are several ways I could have reacted to this minor annoyance.

Reaction 1: Why don’t people design things better? I guess this is about the best you can expect from a world engineered by nincompoops who don’t even bother using their own products.

Reaction 2: Yes, this is annoying. However, it’s a really great car otherwise, and if this is the biggest inconvenience in my life, I should be tremendously grateful to have it so good.

Reaction 3: Perhaps there’s a very good reason why it’s made it this way. Every design feature solves some problem at the cost of not solving or creating others. Since engineers usually are perfectionists, it must be very frustrating for them to have to make those choices, especially knowing judgmental pinheads like me are going to anonymously despise them for it later. If I were one of them, I suppose it would be nice if people offered me a little more grace.

I’ll go ahead and spare myself the embarrassment of telling you which reaction I actually had.

Follow-up: A listener emailed me the following explanation. "As per the locking mechanism on you key fob - it's a security device and the locks don't engage if a door is left open - this prevents you from unknowingly walking away from your car thinking it is locked and secure."--John

Someone else pointed out that this also makes it impossible to lock your fob in the car. Just more evidence that what frustrates you (or me) probably has some sort of explanation.

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