<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 6:10 PM, Dotan Cohen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dotancohen@gmail.com">dotancohen@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
</div>Sure, here's my list from my Ford. It's a Focus, though, not a Fiesta:<br>
<br>
• Front seats recline with dial: cannot be moved quickly.<br>
• Cannot lock doors from inside when leaving car. When trying to<br>
manually lock with the driver's door open, the doors automatically<br>
unlock. Apparently this is a case of Microsoft-type engineering: the<br>
car assumes that the user is an idiot and prone to locking his keys in<br>
the car. Thus, the car can only be locked with the key, from outside.<br>
Forget the fact that there are many valid reasons for locking the<br>
doors with the driver's door still open. I often have many packages to<br>
carry, so it's easiest for me to lock the doors, grab the packages,<br>
and then shut the door with my foot. Not with the Ford Focus. With the<br>
Ford Focus, one can never carry two armloads of packages away from the<br>
car. One must always leave a hand free to lock the doors.<br>
• When the passenger||driver puts the passenger window down, and the<br>
driver||passenger pushes the button after him, the window stops going<br>
down.<br>
• The radio's volume knob is so shallow and slippery that it is<br>
impossible to operate. Also, pressing CD || Radio does not turn the<br>
radio on. This is in contrast to the UI of the air conditioning unit,<br>
in which any button will start it. Even "off".<br>
• The trunk is so small that the baby stroller would not fit until I<br>
ripped the plastic moulding off. The light is tucked away in the far<br>
right corner, and does not illuminate the middle of the trunk even<br>
when the trunk is empty.<br>
• No map lights in the back! No lights at all in the back!<br>
• The gas gauge was strategically placed behind the steering wheel.<br>
There is no compromise between comfortable seating position and a<br>
visible gas gauge. Same for the temp gauge, the tach between 3000 and<br>
5000 RPM, and the speedometer between 90 and 150 KPH.<br>
• The trunk must be slammed down to close. Even then, it often seems<br>
closed when it is not.<br>
• The trunk release is electric only. No manual override. How are you<br>
going to open that when the battery dies? I hope that you don't keep<br>
your jumper cables in the trunk...<br>
• Huge glove compartment. Too bad it's one dimensional. It seems<br>
deeper than my arm is long, yet so narrow that one's fist barely gets<br>
in. Yes, I'm exaggerating here, but the glove compartment really seems<br>
to have been designed by some burrowing creature. To make matters<br>
worse, it seems to go in the up direction, so every time it is opened<br>
the contents spill out onto the passenger's feet.<br>
• The stiff plastic lanyard on the filler cap is too short. The cap<br>
must be twisted _just_right_ so that the cap hangs on the loop and<br>
does not drip gas on the paint. That's difficult for those of us with<br>
manual disabilities.<br>
• The fuel filler door cannot be opened when the doors are locked, nor<br>
can it be closed when the doors are locked! This means that one must<br>
refuel with the doors unlocked, which is a potential security hazard.<br>
• Need the key to open the engine lid. That makes a lot of problems:<br>
1) One cannot open the lid with the engine running without a spare<br>
key. 2) One cannot open the lid with one hand. One hand must be<br>
twisting the key while the other hand lifts.<br>
• Washer fluid: The washer fluid reservoir was probably the most<br>
over-engineered component in any Ford vehicle. It sits inside the<br>
passenger side fender, completely hidden from view. This presents<br>
several challenges to those tasked with maintaining the vehicle. For<br>
one, there is no way to determine how much fluid is inside the<br>
reservoir. Secondly, in order to replenish the supply, fluid is poured<br>
down a pipe with such a sharp bend, so close to the mouth, that all<br>
fluid poured in immediately splashes out. Liquid must be poured in at<br>
about the rate one would fill an ice cube tray. Without knowing if it<br>
will be 100 ml, a full liter, or maybe five. As the liquid splashes in<br>
all directions at the (unexpected) moment that the reservoir is full,<br>
either panther-like reflexes are required, or an apron.<br>
• The vehicle is very, very loud. I know that this is not a luxury<br>
car, and I know that instead of a timing belt it has a durable timing<br>
chain, however the vehicle is unacceptable noisy. At highway speeds,<br>
the passengers must scream at each other to be heard. At rest and<br>
idle, the exhaust is so loud that it too disturbs conversation near<br>
the trunk.<br>
• The turn signals have a feature where a light tap on the stalk sets<br>
the signal to flash three times. There is no option to disable this<br>
feature, and no way to stop the blinking once it starts. At 100 KPH<br>
(60 MPH) those three flashes mean that I'm signalling for about 15<br>
car-lengths of distance. That means that one must often signal left<br>
when one intends to travel right, and vice-versa.<br>
• The power window switch has two operational positions: a light tap<br>
for manually guiding the window up or down, and a hard tap for full<br>
close or open. Well, that is an idealization. In reality, there is so<br>
little difference between the pressures needed that manual guidance is<br>
impossible. The driver must take his eyes off the road to stop the<br>
full close / open procedure should he desire an intermediate position.<br>
• The air conditioning vents are shaped like whistle. Guess what sound<br>
they make.<br>
• The CD play has no anti skip, in fact, it skips constantly.<br>
• The rear view mirror is placed too low: it obscures when making<br>
right turns on accents and descents. I live on a mountain. Everything<br>
is an accent or a decent.<br>
<div class="im"><br><br></div></blockquote><div> </div></div>Dude, that's [sadly?[ one of the most hilarious texts I've read in my life! :)<br><br>God is in the small details...<br><br>If you wrote this - You rock! :)<br clear="all">
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