This just in from the "why did they do that?" department.
Our Silverado has a stack of four buttons to the left of the instrument panel. It looks like this:
You wouldn't even notice it unless you wanted to do something simple like reset the trip odometer, which we do every time we fuel one of our long-term vehicles. This simple little task is becoming more and more complicated on modern vehicles. Remember the good old days when there was a button right on the odometer? Not any more. Nope. Now, on most vehicles, resetting the trip meter means finding the right button and then scrolling through a menu before you can reset. It's a small nuisance, but a nuisance nonetheless.
The Silverado's owners' manual tells me these buttons (from top to bottom) are for trip/fuel, vehicle information, customization and set/reset functions. Here's a little tweak that would make figuring out what they mean as easy as it should be. Instead of the universal icons which seem to mean nothing in any language re-lable them as follows (from top to bottom): Trip, info, customize and reset. Is this stuff really that hard?
Senior Road Test Editor Josh Jacquot @ 3,465 miles
tsgeisel says:
04:28 PM, 12/18/06
I work in the computer industry and am used to cryptic iconography, but whoever designed these needs to be taken out and beaten with a design book.
Actually, they're not all that bad *once you know what they are*, but until then, they're not even pretty pictures.
thebigal says:
04:57 PM, 12/18/06
I would hate to be nit-picky and I'll play devil's advocate slightly here. If I were a Silverado owner, I would think that you would learn what these buttons were for and you wouldn't have to think about them once learned (think I-dirve for a sec - which aslo has to be learned). So I don't think it is really a design flaw. But I do see the point. You should be able to get into any vehicle and find the simple things. A button next to the odometer to reset miles, a knob to change radio stations. A dial to change climate temperature and fan speed, buttons for the window on the doors, etc....
It seems that each vehicle is now coming equipped with it's own language of how to do things and that "language" must be learned before the car can be driven -- granted as an owner that language will certainly be learned, but it shouldn't have to be....
I find it amazing that the simplest cars to operate are your bargain basement compacts.... Everything is like it should be. But when you step up in price and size, everything becomes complicated. I'll bet that if you were to get a W/T trim SIlverado you would find a button next to the odometer fo reset miles.
ahightower says:
07:47 PM, 12/18/06
There is so much more to reset these days than just the trip odometer. There's Trip A, Trip B, average fuel economy, gallons used, etc.
jerrywimer says:
07:37 AM, 12/19/06
ahightower gets the prize- it's because there are SO many things to reset. Which trip odometer do you want to reset? Now that I've made the obvious comment, GM had it figured out okay on my 04 Silverado. It had the DIC buttons on the steering wheel rather than lined up all pretty on the dash like that, but they were labeled pretty much the same. So I had an advantage when I bought the Avalanche in that I started out with a clue what each did (some minor differences in what's available behind each menu exist though). But the real trick was that the Silverado LS / Z-71 w/DIC (the DIC was optional in 04) *also* had the little stick coming through the IC odometer area. BOTH the DIC trip button and the stick on the IC could be used to access the odometer / trip odos and reset the two trip odos. Hitting the stick cycled through on those three, while using the steering wheel button went further, displaying other things such as the engine hours and average speed. To reset from the DIC buttons you then pressed (and sometimes held for a few seconds) the checkmark button after using the road button (trip) to get the thing you wanted to reset on the display. To reset from the little stick in the IC you pressed the stick button repeatedly until the trip odo you wanted to reset was visible, then pressed and held it until it cleared. It's probably something GM should bring back for all those new to GM products and those who simply like things done the "standard" way.
mrjones944 says:
10:35 AM, 12/19/06
I have to agree with the general audience here that the pictures on buttons routine is annoying to me. The C5 Corvette had words and the C6 went to pictures...maybe so they dont have to repeat in three other languages in small fine print?
desmolicious says:
03:24 PM, 12/19/06
Yesss! Divert attention from BMW i-drive/windshield wiper bashing to Chevy dash buttons!
jhinsc says:
04:42 AM, 12/23/06
I agree with everyone who said the buttons are not user friendly. We bought an 07 Avalanche a couple of weeks ago, and everytime I look at them buttons, I'm trying to figure out what the silly little "pictures" are supposed to mean. Their too small to try and figure out and I don't have time to stare at them and wonder. The don't correlate.
jerseypr5 says:
07:31 PM, 01/ 1/07
I will have to agree with thebigal. This is the same thing that everbody does not like about the BMW iDrive system. I have a simmiler complaint about the push button start in BMW, as you still need to put the (key) fob into a slot in the dash. To me, this defeats the purpose. I just wish designers would stop trying to fix things that are not broken.