find that engineer and shoot him

S

sweaty

Member
OK. So I have a 2013 Limited. Beautiful and I like it a lot. Except the center console. I would like to find the engineer who designed it and shoot him.

Look at the attached snapshot.
1. climate control: I counted 12 buttons and 2 knobs. Not including the display at the top. The buttons already have their functions marked. if you press it, the display will show exactly the same thing as the buttons. Redundant. with this many buttons, I have to contantly be looking for the right one to press. you have to press Off to actually stop the fan. if you keep lowering the fan speed, the speed decreases but will not stop. Now the two knobs. I never understand what AUTO does. And I think DUAL is just a lie: the driver is two inches from the passenger. There is no way that the passenger side can have a different temp from the driver side. unless you have a force field between them. As far as climae control in a car is concerned, I think there are three things: hot/cold, direction, and fan speed. That is three knobs or whatever other controls you want to use. My other car has exactly three knobs with big dials. Perfect design.

2. the head unit: this unit is just weird. It is a combination of hard buttons and touch screen. some functions are hard wired, some others are touch based, and the designer definitely didn't have a clue about which should be which. For example, it takes three moves to turn the screen off. otherwise, it'll just display its previous state. and since it is a touch screen, they don't seem to know what to do with all that screen real estate. When playing a CD or something, they just have big letters of title, trach number, etc,all over the screen, which used to be displayed quite nicely on a little stereo screen.
3. the stupid proximity key: the start engine button is a cycle. So when I have one of those driveway moments, when you are listening to someting while you pull up your driveway, you press the engine button to cut the engine, well, that turns off the radio as well. you have to press the button again to reload the system. with my old key, I can turn it back to shut the engine and keep the radio going without interruption. Very annoying.

I was working on the following
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/156694-2013-4runner-limited-add-output-audio-jack-2.html
when I thought I wanted to rant about this. feel free to lynch me, or join me.:ohwell:
 

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Meh, not a huge fan of the center stack but it isn't the most horrid thing. I find all the dual zone systems have limitations. However, rent some cheepo cars for a while and when you come back to the runner, you'll be so happy... For a while I guess. Head unit leaves much to be desired, but at least you can swap it out for something you like more if you want. On the stereo if you push the stop engine button before putting it in park, the stereo stays on but engine is off. At least you have one thing easily remedied from your rant! :playball:
 
#1 - We have no issue with the climate control and find them to be very intuitive.

#2 - Don't know as ours has the JBL Nav unit and again seems pretty intuitive.

#3 - As noted above there is a solution for this.

Didn't you take the vehicle for a test drive before purchasing as all of these rants could have been identified pretty quickly prior to purchase if they are such a big issue.
 
I have a 2013 LE and can understand a complaint to two but a few were user error in my case.

1. If you want to turn the fan off, why wouldn't you turn the system off. The system can't work without the fan anyway. The dual temp deal does work as I have left it on and I notice the temperature isn't as I like, generally with my right arm. True, the temps blend but it does help when a woman is in the passenger seat.

2. The center stereo unit is less than perfect. Once I got used to it it works fine, my biggest complaint is when using the backup camera phone calls will block the screen and radio station pop ups will cover the top part. Some of the other features you just have to work around and take a couple steps to get to. My other annoyance is having to grant permission for your car to use the internet every time you start it. (When iPhone plugged in) Other than that, it is fine. I haven't used a CD since iPhones, Satellite and Bluetooth so can't attest to that.

3. When you turn your car off and want the music to stay on, don't put it in park before you shut it off, off then park, the radio or phone or whatever will remain on.

Good luck
 
sweaty said:
OK. So I have a 2013 Limited. Beautiful and I like it a lot. Except the center console. I would like to find the engineer who designed it and shoot him.

Look at the attached snapshot.
1. climate control: I counted 12 buttons and 2 knobs. Not including the display at the top. The buttons already have their functions marked. if you press it, the display will show exactly the same thing as the buttons. Redundant. with this many buttons, I have to contantly be looking for the right one to press. you have to press Off to actually stop the fan. if you keep lowering the fan speed, the speed decreases but will not stop. Now the two knobs. I never understand what AUTO does. And I think DUAL is just a lie: the driver is two inches from the passenger. There is no way that the passenger side can have a different temp from the driver side. unless you have a force field between them. As far as climae control in a car is concerned, I think there are three things: hot/cold, direction, and fan speed. That is three knobs or whatever other controls you want to use. My other car has exactly three knobs with big dials. Perfect design.

2. the head unit: this unit is just weird. It is a combination of hard buttons and touch screen. some functions are hard wired, some others are touch based, and the designer definitely didn't have a clue about which should be which. For example, it takes three moves to turn the screen off. otherwise, it'll just display its previous state. and since it is a touch screen, they don't seem to know what to do with all that screen real estate. When playing a CD or something, they just have big letters of title, trach number, etc,all over the screen, which used to be displayed quite nicely on a little stereo screen.
3. the stupid proximity key: the start engine button is a cycle. So when I have one of those driveway moments, when you are listening to someting while you pull up your driveway, you press the engine button to cut the engine, well, that turns off the radio as well. you have to press the button again to reload the system. with my old key, I can turn it back to shut the engine and keep the radio going without interruption. Very annoying.
Click to expand...

You're right, dial = good.
You're wrong, dual temp = lie. It's actually a godsend! You must not ride with any people of opposite sex. Guys always want cooler and women want warmer.
 
sweaty said:
OK. So I have a 2013 Limited. Beautiful and I like it a lot. Except the center console. I would like to find the engineer who designed it and shoot him.

Look at the attached snapshot.
1. climate control: I counted 12 buttons and 2 knobs. Not including the display at the top. The buttons already have their functions marked. if you press it, the display will show exactly the same thing as the buttons. Redundant. with this many buttons, I have to contantly be looking for the right one to press. you have to press Off to actually stop the fan. if you keep lowering the fan speed, the speed decreases but will not stop. Now the two knobs. I never understand what AUTO does. And I think DUAL is just a lie: the driver is two inches from the passenger. There is no way that the passenger side can have a different temp from the driver side. unless you have a force field between them. As far as climae control in a car is concerned, I think there are three things: hot/cold, direction, and fan speed. That is three knobs or whatever other controls you want to use. My other car has exactly three knobs with big dials. Perfect design.

2. the head unit: this unit is just weird. It is a combination of hard buttons and touch screen. some functions are hard wired, some others are touch based, and the designer definitely didn't have a clue about which should be which. For example, it takes three moves to turn the screen off. otherwise, it'll just display its previous state. and since it is a touch screen, they don't seem to know what to do with all that screen real estate. When playing a CD or something, they just have big letters of title, trach number, etc,all over the screen, which used to be displayed quite nicely on a little stereo screen.
3. the stupid proximity key: the start engine button is a cycle. So when I have one of those driveway moments, when you are listening to someting while you pull up your driveway, you press the engine button to cut the engine, well, that turns off the radio as well. you have to press the button again to reload the system. with my old key, I can turn it back to shut the engine and keep the radio going without interruption. Very annoying.

I was working on the following
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/156694-2013-4runner-limited-add-output-audio-jack-2.html
when I thought I wanted to rant about this. feel free to lynch me, or join me.:ohwell:
Click to expand...

Put on my sunglasses and can still see everything. QYB.
 
Ford Mytouch system didn't work out too well for them so they came right back to the old style of knobs and buttons. I like my set up no issues
 
Ice caps melting and world population is growing out of control. Small issues compared to 4Runner controls and storage. Relax. Be Happy...
 
@OP. I'm a "less-is-best" sort. In my never ending quest for my next vehicle, you've helped me in the TE vs LE process.

As to "Dual Zones" -- I am vastly amused by this feature on all vehicles. It's value is in satisfying your estrogen-based lifeform's desire to be at her "own" temperature. At once useless and priceless.
 
philsey said:
As to "Dual Zones" -- I am vastly amused by this feature on all vehicles. It's value is in satisfying your estrogen-based lifeform's desire to be at her "own" temperature. At once useless and priceless.
Click to expand...

actually until i actually used it, i didnt care for it either. but the warden likes to roast at HI temp with the seat heater going also and i usually run around 72-74F during long drives.

makes a world of difference now on our 2hr trip to the capital once in a while.

i no longer roast or she no longer needs to bring a blanket to keep warm.
 
it is all good

well, it was all for fun. :wink2:

I chose this vehicle knowing what I am getting and I knew I would have to live with the imperfect design.

bad design is bad design. I like the car but I am not attached to it. I think I can still rant, can't I? :wink2:

I don't think it is champagne taste on beer budget: the 4Runner limited costs over $40,000, more than a lot of the fancy European cars. My other car costs $25,000 and it has the perfect climate control layout.

More about my other car's design: three big dials. One for direction. You turn it and it lights up where the fan is blowing, the window, the feet, whatever. Second one for speed. You turn it clockwise to increase fan speed and counter clockwise to decrease and the end of a counter clockwise turn will shut off the fan. a third dial is temperature. turn right for hot and left for cold. I think there is a button in the center of this dial to manually turn AC on and off. That is it. Beautiful design. Dial is always better than buttons because if you make a mistake, you don't need to move your hand. you just make another turn. With buttons, you make a mistake, you have to search and look for another button. with time, it gets easier but a good system will not need to "train" its users.

as to cutting the engine without cutting the stereo, I've always been doing this: firm brake/shift to Park/apply parking brake/cut engine/foot off brake. this is second nature to me now. I can give your tip a try but I might forget one of these steps and the car would be rolling down a hill :laugh:
 
more

more about design:
you ever seen those doors in some buildings, where the handle is exactly the same width and shape from both ends? You have no idea which end to push to open the door. Yep, that is when someone needs to find the engineer and have him shot. :laugh:
 
I don't know about the rest of you but habits are easy to break. Maybe not the smoking kind or coffee but when it comes to cars and technology, it's easy.

My 93s parking brake was a handle on the dash. Remember those? Pull and turn to disengage. My 99 had (my favorite) the old school lever in the console. Now my limited has the stupid American floor pedal. No matter what, I haven't tried to pull the handle on the dash on my limited.
[MENTION=102590]sweaty[/MENTION]
Do you miss having to put a key in the door to get in? How about that annoying push start? I'm sure your still trying to put a key in the dash to start, right?
 
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