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Cars
Car designers cut down on information overload
By Jeffrey Krasner, Globe Staff | November 7, 2004
Do drivers really need to know the engine's oil pressure?
It's a question more carmakers are grappling with as they seek to keep instrumentation, audio systems, and navigation systems from overwhelming the driver -- and the dashboard -- with information.
And, increasingly, the answer is no.
Take the Audi A4, a compact, sporty German sedan. The previous model, produced from 1996 through 2001, included an oil temperature gauge and voltmeter, speedometer, tachometer, and fuel and coolant temperature instruments. Additional gauges included turbo boost and oil pressure. The newer makes do without all those dials, showing the driver only speed, engine revolutions, fuel level, and coolant temperature.
"The designers felt that less is more," said Norbert Seitner, product planning team leader for Audi of America. "Whereas in the '80s and '90s the trend was that showing more information would underline the sporty character of the cars, now the trend is to be more design-oriented and have a cleaner look."
When all those oily-bits instruments were eliminated, "nobody missed them," Seitner said.
The result is a sharp break from decades of sports-car tradition, especially. Previously, a car signaled its high-performance pretensions with rows of analog gauges not found in family sedans. For the drivers, all those dials and gauges were signals to other aficionados and passengers that they truly understood what went on under the hood.
The previous-generation Mercedes SL sports car represented the peak of the loaded instrument panel, with seven gauges in five dials, all in a single pod and underscored with a row of warning lights. You won't see that in any current model, said Stefan Sielaff, design director of the carmaker's Interior Competence Center.
"There is more information given to the driver today than in prior years, and conventional gauges and displays simply cannot provide all of this in a reasonable fashion," Sielaff said in an e-mail response to questions. But, drawing on experience in Formula One race cars, Mercedes uses displays in which information is presented only when it reaches a critical level. For instance, he said, if tire pressure falls below a preset level the multitasking display will highlight that one problem.
Cadillac, which has been reinventing itself with an emphasis on strongly styled, sporty cars, has taken a different approach in its new CTS-V sedan. The dash presents the driver with the traditional four analog gauges -- speedometer, tachometer, fuel, and coolant temperature gauges. But there's a window dubbed the Driver Information Center in which the driver can scroll through a menu of additional information.
"We talk to members at car clubs, and we learned that having all those dials tended to really clutter up the instrument cluster," said Karen Rafferty, marketing manager for Cadillac's sporty V-series cars and motor sports program. "They told us, 'I still need that information, but give it to me in a format so I can use it when I need it, and hide it away when I don't.' "
Nissan, in its reborn 350Z coupe, cleaves most closely to sports car orthodoxy. It presents the tachometer as the dominant instrument. Off toward the middle of the dash are three auxiliary gauges -- long a Z-car styling cue -- including the oft-dismissed voltmeter and oil pressure gauge. But there's also an element of innovation: The third gauge is a multifunction display that can show individual tire pressures.
Why the traditional presentation?
"You could make a strong argument that the driver doesn't need to know the oil pressure or volt reading," said Dean Case, a Nissan spokesman. "But then, why do you need a sports car? You don't."
Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com .
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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