An Observation - push button start, dimmer switches on floor....

[76 Caddy]

When the "self starter" or electric starter came out on early automobiles it was a switch (button) on the floor.  Later on it was moved to the dash but still a push button with some automobiles requiring a key to turn the ignition on before pressing the button.  Then just a key was needed for starting but still in the dash.  Then it was moved to the steering column where it stayed for many, many years.  A few years back some automobiles moved the ignition switch back to the dash and NOW what do we have...push button stating (excuse me, "keyless start"), again.

If the automobile is coming full circle, I personally would like to see the dimmer switch put back on the floor and the wiper and light switch put back in the dash.  Just my 2 cents for the day.

 

Tim

[SC38dls]

Your 2 cents is priceless!

dave s 

[West Peterson]

... and the radio knobs returned to the way God intended them to be.

[Buick35]

When they first moved the dimmer switch to the steering collom women were getting their leg caught in the steering wheel.Or so I heard.

Edited April 15, 2022 by Buick35
Spelling (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

I had someone ask me what the button on the floor was?

[SC38dls]

5 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

I had someone ask me what the button on the floor was?

Had to be a young one!  
dave s 

[Roscoe]

I have a 1946 Chevrolet Pickup that is decidedly not Restorer friendly- It's a street rod. A looks somewhat stock rod, but a street rod none the less, placed on an S10 frame and running gear by the previous owner. I drive it everywhere- it is my "daily driver" when I'm not in my work car. Recently the dimmer switch went out. Having used the S10 column, this mean a bit of time taking stuff apart, breaking clips, and generally turning a ten minute job into a 3 day job. So, a bit of sleuthing and I found  a mid 80s Chevy truck switch plugs up- and it's a floor mount. Ten minutes later the dimmer switch is where God intended, in the floor of the '46. When the ignition switch died- yeah, I can tear apart the column- no, no, no. Wired a old fashioned metal start button in the dash. Now you gotta turn the key on and press the button. I call it my anti-theft device. I started to mount the push button in the floor but didn't feel like running a mile of wire. 

Slowly returning my street rod to its old truck character. LOL

[60FlatTop]

I still have a heck of a time getting my foot up on the column mounted dimmer switch. But it keeps me limber as I age.

 

Just thinking. I could jumper out the neutral start switch on my '60 Electra and I would would have to do is steer.

[Bloo]

European and Japanese cars had the dimmer on the column for decades. We were the odd ones in the USA with that floor button.

[28 Chrysler]

Chrysler cars had the dimmer (or dipper) on the column back in the 1920s.

[1937hd45]

The floor mounted dimmer switch is the normal place for it, ON and OFF are also normal settings, why did things change to POWER?

That is a 2020 Dodge Durango dash, drove the car last Monday, no idea what the symbols are for. If I owned it, it would be covered in black duct tape, very annoying and a distraction while driving. 

Edited April 15, 2022 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[TerryB]

Your photo is all cell phone interface information and since you don’t have a cell phone…..

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, 1937hd45 said:

The floor mounted dimmer switch is the normal place for it, ON and OFF are also normal settings, why did things change to POWER?

That is a 2020 Dodge Durango dash, drove the car last Monday, no idea what the symbols are for. If I owned it, it would be covered in black duct tape, very annoying and a distraction while driving. 

Yeah, this is another of my human factors peeves. This is even worse than GM's rows of identical little buttons in the 1980s.

 

I drive a lot of rental cars. I frequently have to get into cars I've never driven before in the dark after a long and tiring flight and drive in an unfamiliar location. Gawd. Today's controls are non-intuitive icons that you can't even see without reading glasses. And who decides what functions require accessing the touch screen? I had a Charger recently in San Diego (unfortunately a V6). Changing the ventilation system controls required going several menus down on the touch screen. What happened to a couple of sliders or knobs? Just because you CAN perform a function with software doesn't make it a smart idea.

[Brass is Best]

When starting a 1912 Cadillac (The First Self Starting Automobile) that is in original form. You press a button which activates and electromagnetic switch. This switch locks a mechanical linkage to the clutch pedal. When you depress the clutch pedal the starter is engaged. 

[rocketraider]

8 minutes ago, joe_padavano said:

... Changing the ventilation system controls required going several menus down on the touch screen. What happened to a couple of sliders or knobs? Just because you CAN perform a function with software doesn't make it a smart idea.

When the powerplant changed over from miniature analog controls (bad enough in their own right) to touch screens, "events" went into the stratosphere. The people designing the controls (who had no powerplant operations experience) did not understand that critical controls needed to be accessible without scrolling thru half a dozen screens in four different directions.

 

Add in twenty Operators had twenty different screen layout preferences and it's a wonder anyone was able to keep the things running and producing electricity.

 

I've often thought automotive touch screens are hazardous.

 

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" ought to be beat into every software and controls engineer's noggin from day one.

[1937hd45]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Is there a cut off year, or better stated "Year This Crap Started" to appear on vehicles? I'll like to know what the newest used car is WITHOUT IT. Don't own or know how to use a cellphone either. 

Edited April 15, 2022 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[edinmass]

 

Hell I just want them to start putting cut outs back in at the factory.......

[West Peterson]

23 minutes ago, edinmass said:

 

Hell I just want them to start putting cut outs back in at the factory.......

 Dump pipes!!!

[Guest]

I find changing the radio station  in my wife's newer Cadillac to be a "pull to the side of the road" event.  I'm no Ludite, but it is almost deliberately confusing.  A combination of scrolling through screens and pressing dash mounted buttons designed for a finger the size of a 4 year olds.  Surely impossible to do without taking your eyes from the road for an extended period and downright dangerous to attempt at freeway speeds.

Please tell me what was wrong with this design?

One could turn it on or off, up and down and locate a station without even looking at it.

 

 

[Str8-8-Dave]

Ford had another pedal on the floor for the windshield washers and washer fluid was in a bag hanging on the fender apron under the hood.  Some hot rodders used this setup with a little clever re-routing of hoses to pump funny things into the intake manifold...

[JFranklin]

1 hour ago, GregLaR said:

I find changing the radio station  in my wife's newer Cadillac to be a "pull to the side of the road" event.  I'm no Ludite, but it is almost deliberately confusing.  A combination of scrolling through screens and pressing dash mounted buttons designed for a finger the size of a 4 year olds.  Surely impossible to do without taking your eyes from the road for an extended period and downright dangerous to attempt at freeway speeds.

Please tell me what was wrong with this design?

One could turn it on or off, up and down and locate a station without even looking at it.

 

 

I agree with you. My old Chevrolet had a wonder bar radio and it was easier yet!

[wayne sheldon]

The model T Ford, as well as many other common cars of the 1920s, had the light switch with "bright" and "dim" positions mounted on the dash!

Just pointing out that the "dimmer" wasn't always on the floor, they actually started out on the dashboard! Even the 1915 Studebaker I used to have had the "bright" and "dim" on the dashboard.

A lot of better cars of the 1920s had the light switch handle in the center of the steering wheel! The 1929 Reo and 1925 Studebaker were both that way.

Frankly, I too prefer the dimmer switch on the floor. It was such an easy action to switch from bright to dim and back again for oncoming traffic. 

 

Same camp with the radios. Nothing better than a good old fashion knobs and tuner that can do all necessary entertainment tasks in a couple seconds done with one hand and no eyes off the road.

[Marty Roth]

Dad's 1950 Nash may have had the starter button on the floor under the clutch pedal - as a safety measure against starting in gear?

My memory may be fuzzy-

 

My Cadillac has the Wonder-Bar radio station "Seek" control on both the radio and the floor

 

My old Rambler had a floor pedal for the windshield washer,

but the Model-T had a hand operated accelerator, and operators later learned about a "Foot-Feed"

[dictator27]

I owned a car 55 years ago that had the dimmer switch on the steering column.  My modern tin is the same.  Best place to put it, IMHO.

I also owned a car with a very poorly placed floor mounted button which was not easy to find when needed.

 

 

 

[1937hd45]

[60FlatTop]

6 hours ago, Bloo said:

European and Japanese cars had the dimmer on the column for decades.

The British began calling it a dip switch at the end of the Victorian period. And I think Henry Higgins was emphatic about the enunciation.

[dictator27]

16 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

Years ago I saw a car with a left foot gas pedal.  I can' t remember why, but owner couldn't use his right foot.

[John_S_in_Penna]

9 hours ago, TAKerry said:

I had someone ask me what the button on the floor was?

9 hours ago, SC38dls said:

Had to be a young one!  

Maybe not young!  Haven't the dimmer switches been

on some steering columns since the 1980's--40 years ago?

[SC38dls]

To a 75 year old with my body 50 is young! 
dave s 

[Bleach]

9 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

Maybe not young!  Haven't the dimmer switches been

on some steering columns since the 1980's--40 years ago?

I had a '72 Ford Courier and '74 Mazda RX4 and both had column mounted dimmer switches.

[Bleach]

4 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

My Cadillac has the Wonder-Bar radio station "Seek" control on both the radio and the floor

My '51 Cadillac had that feature.

[Jim Bollman]

We better hope the methods of starting our car doesn't continue, we will be using a crank next.

 

Our new Nissan actually has a real volume control and the buttons for presets are a touch screen but you set them by pressing and holding the virtual button for a few seconds and it sets to the station you have playing.

[Marty Roth]

6 hours ago, dictator27 said:

Years ago I saw a car with a left foot gas pedal.  I can' t remember why, but owner couldn't use his right foot.

We used a "Left Foot Gas Pedal Extension" for several years for my Dad's car. Dad, a Fire Captain, shattered his right leg in the line of duty.

He continued using the extension until his physical therapy enabled him to regain the use of his right leg.

The device was designed to easily slide to the left and lie flat on the toeboard when not in use so a conventional driver need not have it in the way.

[hook]

15 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

The model T Ford, as well as many other common cars of the 1920s, had the light switch with "bright" and "dim" positions mounted on the dash!

Just pointing out that the "dimmer" wasn't always on the floor, they actually started out on the dashboard! Even the 1915 Studebaker I used to have had the "bright" and "dim" on the dashboard.

A lot of better cars of the 1920s had the light switch handle in the center of the steering wheel! The 1929 Reo and 1925 Studebaker were both that way.

Frankly, I too prefer the dimmer switch on the floor. It was such an easy action to switch from bright to dim and back again for oncoming traffic. 

 

Same camp with the radios. Nothing better than a good old fashion knobs and tuner that can do all necessary entertainment tasks in a couple seconds done with one hand and no eyes off the road.

I don't know about your statement "A lot of better cars of the 1920's had the light switch handle in the center of the steering wheel". I assume you were meaning more expensive cars. Actually, many cars, including the Ford Model A's had the switch in the center of the wheel. Maybe we should go back to the beginning and just carry matches to light our headlights with, a crank to start it, sheet music to sing to, and blankets and rain gear for comfort.

[28 Chrysler]

19 hours ago, Str8-8-Dave said:

Ford had another pedal on the floor for the windshield washers and washer fluid was in a bag hanging on the fender apron under the hood.  Some hot rodders used this setup with a little clever re-routing of hoses to pump funny things into the intake manifold...

We piped a different liquid and the hose ended bottom center of the dash. Just one of the things kids did with big Chrysler wagons and little Rambler Americans.

[TAKerry]

15 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

Maybe not young!  Haven't the dimmer switches been

on some steering columns since the 1980's--40 years ago?

My 77 firebird has a foot switch, the 79 is column mounted. Not sure about 78

[kbeach]

In 1960 I purchased a 1957 Oldsmobile Supper 88 two door hardtop that has three buttons on the floor. The first time driving it at night, with an oncoming car, I realized that the hight beam headlights were on. With my left foot dancing over the three buttons trying franticly to dim the lights, the windshield was washed at least twice, the radio station changed mulitiple times but was not able to dim the headlights before the oncoming car had passed. All to the amusement of my passengers.

[Str8-8-Dave]

42 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

Maybe not young!  Haven't the dimmer switches been

on some steering columns since the 1980's--40 years ago?

Hell- they're on my 31 Buick steering wheel, bottom lever is light switch, straight down for off, one click to right- parking lamps, one click to left from straight down, low beam headlamps and running lights, 2 clicks left- high beams... 

[charlespetty]

Besides the dimmer switch on the floor my 1947 Lincoln Continental has an almost identical floor switch for the foot operated Rotamatic radio station selector.  

[rocketraider]

Those WonderBar floor switches were fun. Tap it and watch it go, scaring passengers who were by then convinced the car was possessed.

 

An early GM Tilt-Telescopic wheel was great fun too. Unscrew the lock ring and start pulling the wheel toward you like taking it off. Someone was bound to start screaming!

 

First column mount dimmer switches for GM were the 1973 A-Special cars- Olds Cutlass Salon, Pontiac GrandAM, and I believe Buick Century Luxus and Chevelle Laguna S3 had them. They may have been available on GP and Monte Carlo, can't remember. Those switches were basically a floor-type rotary switch adapted to steering post mounting. No flash-to-pass feature as the European and Japanese cars had.