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Windshield wiper controls
By "Frustrated with Ford," Springfield, MO
I own a Ford Ranger and a Ford Taurus.
I typically drive the Ranger but
recently drove cross-country in the Taurus.
During the cross-country trip, I got caught
in a thunderstorm.
I reached for the wiper control and turned it
forward one notch. The
wipers came on but only cycled once.
By the time I got the wipers
working continuously, I couldn't see out of
the windshield and nearly
drove off the road!
The problem is that the wiper controls on the Ranger and the Taurus do not operate in the same way. Turning the Taurus wiper control forward changes the wipers from OFF - to INTERMITTENT - to LOW - to HIGH. (See top photo.)
In contrast, turning the Ranger wiper
control forward changes the wipers from
OFF - to LOW - to HIGH. But
the Ranger wiper control must be turned backward
to change to the
INTERMITTENT mode. (See lower photo.)
Since I usually drive the Ranger, I operated the
Taurus's wiper control
like I would the Ranger 's. This caused me to
turn the Taurus's wipers
to the INTERMITTENT mode rather than LOW.
Design Suggestion
Controls that perform the same function should operate in the same way. In human factors, this is known as the principle of consistency. Consistency is particularly important when the controls are similar and a person may have to use them in a stressful situation.
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Copyright © Michael J. Darnell 1996-2010. All rights reserved.
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