bring back the foot switch!!

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
...
I should start a thread about outside door handles with a push button to open the car door. I have them on my current car. Recently, a friend of my son's was a bit flummoxed by them.


Our PT has those old style door handles. Had my hands full of grocery bags and couldn't get the door open with one finger.

Luckily the hatch opens with one finger.

 

[Rick in PA]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Our PT has those old style door handles. Had my hands full of grocery bags and couldn't get the door open with one finger.

Luckily the hatch opens with one finger.

That's the one (my current car), I really like those retro handles.

 

[rslifkin]

Rick, people get confused by the push buttons on my Jeep's door handles all the time. It's pretty funny when one of my friends can't figure out how to open the door, especially if they're one of those types who has well-off parents and thinks all cars are less than 3 years old.

 

[dnastrau]

Originally Posted By: cp3
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
My God. I guess I'm really getting old, it never even crossed my mind that there are drivers out there who have never even SEEN a dimmer switch.

WOW...me either!! Ya, this getting old thing really sucks, doesn't it!!
Originally Posted By: SLCraig

I will be 30 this May and until this very moment had never before heard of this foot switch in my life! heh.

Come on Craig, really? Never heard the joke about them bringing them back because too many Newfies were getting their feet tangled in the steering wheel?

Let's bring back:

Horn rings
Vent windows
Column-shifted manual transmissions
Push button automatics

Dash mounted ignition switches already made a partial comeback (and some like MB always had them) so I can't add that to the list.

 

[Kestas]

I never had problems with dimmer switches until they started putting them on the column. It's too much stuff to cram all the switches and functions in a single stalk (turn signal, high beam flashers, wiper, washer) without running into reliability problems.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
I never had problems with dimmer switches until they started putting them on the column. It's too much stuff to cram all the switches and functions in a single stalk (turn signal, high beam flashers, wiper, washer) without running into reliability problems.


Never had a stalk problem in three cars I've operated "far from new".... *touch wood*

 

[addyguy]

I've heard of them, but never seen them.

They sound kinda silly - like others have said, they would get gummed-up with salt, gunk, mud from boots, and rot or seize.

 

[Ursae_Majoris]

I love vent windows!

 

[CDX825]

My 84 F250 has the foot switch. Crank windows to

I agree its nice not having to take your hands of the steering wheel to switch the high beams on or off. The switch is easy to get to should it ever need changed so that's nice as well.

I'm only 22 and before I got my 84 my dad always had older trucks with the foot switches so Ive known about them since I was little. I'm a bit surprised to hear some people have never seen them but it has been awhile since they were put in trucks and cars.

 

[ronrackley]

Cars back then certainly kept your feet busier. Your left foot had to share clutch pedal and dimmer duty while your right foot worked the accelerator and brake pedals just like in cars today.

 

[Rix]

I'll take the hand stalk anyday over the foot switch.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: meep
Now that 80+% of US cars are automatics, I want the left-toe highbeam switch back!!


+ + + + +x10,000,000,000,000,000

Putting the dimmer switch on the floor made more sense than on the stalk, even with manual transmissions. Seriously, have you EVER needed to dim your lights during a shift? And while cruising a lightly travelled rural road where I'm constantly needing to flick from bright to low to bright to low as cars approach, tapping my left toe is just SO much easier and more logical than taking my fingers off the wheel (or worse having to reposition my hand on the wheel on a curve) to do the same task while my left foot isn't doing anything at all.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that not only is the foot switch better, the stalk switch is pretty STUPID when you get right down to it. The stalk is over-worked already. On some vehicles, its routine to accidentally flash the brights and pulse the wipers when all you're trying to do is turn left.



No what was stupid was when Ford put the HORN AND the DIMMER on the turn signal lever in the Fairmont and Zephyr back in 1978.

I don't know how many times I bashed the center of the steering wheel only to get no horn before I remembers to push the stalk in.

I like moving the wipers to a stalk so you can reach them without taking your hands off the wheel.

But the horn?

While I owned a few cars with the foot switch for the high/low beams. I prefer the stalk because most have a flash feature that allows you to flash your lights.

Can't do that with the floor switch. Well, at least it's not wired that way be default.

 

[meep]

I recall an early escort-- you had to pull the stalk AWAY from the column for the horn. think it was the left stalk, pulled towards the door??? it was a friend's brother's car. as they say in harry potter, "stupify!"

M

 

[occupant]

Dimmer. I has it.

it's, uh...under the berber carpet remnant...don't worry, my foot can find it!

I often find myself stabbing the floor of my wife's Durango while driving at night. She keeps asking me what I'm doing and I just mumble something about multi-function-curse words-switch-thingy and flick the lever...

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
No what was stupid was when Ford put the HORN AND the DIMMER on the turn signal lever in the Fairmont and Zephyr back in 1978.

I don't know how many times I bashed the center of the steering wheel only to get no horn before I remembers to push the stalk in.
My Peugeot has a similar setup:
Turn the left stalk 90° for parking lights and 180° for headlights.
Pull the stalk toward you for switching to/from high beams (like "normal" cars).
Push the stalk lengthwise (toward the column) for horn.

I thought it was just a French car quirk. I didn't realize Ford actually tried it!

I do use the horn often and I frequently poise my fingers over the switch if I anticipate another driver being inattentive, so it only took a couple incidents for me train myself.

Honestly, the most confusing car for me to drive is the Honda. It's an automatic, but it has a floor shifter, so part of the time I feel like I should shift it like a manual. The other part of the time I reach for the right stick (wipers) to select a gear. Then I have to remember to push the left stalk for high beams, which I still think is really odd.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

I've never had a column dimmer switch. All my vehicles have dimmer on floor, hand crank windows, push button door handles except for 1 car, and the horn is a giant metal ring which can be reached from anywhere on the wheel without moving your hand. 2 out of my 5 cars has column ignition.

 

[Spazdog]

Quote:

No what was stupid was when Ford put the HORN AND the DIMMER on the turn signal lever in the Fairmont and Zephyr back in 1978.


My Triumph did that too.

In a panic situation, push in on the stalk for the horn.

Ford does win for the absolute worst horn design. The "rim-blow".
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/2965305220_be38dd5b62.jpg
I think Oldsmobile might have used it too, but I primarily remember it on Fords and Mercuries from the very early '70s.

The [darn] thing never worked right. Half the time it would sound when your didn't want it to and when you needed it, you had to dig your finger tips into the wheel to make it work

 

[TheTanSedan]

Originally Posted By: dnastrau
Let's bring back:

Horn rings
Vent windows
Column-shifted manual transmissions
Push button automatics

Dash mounted ignition switches already made a partial comeback (and some like MB always had them) so I can't add that to the list.

Vent windows need the kickpanel vents to work best. And the best of those pulled air from in front of the radiator via long tubes. The later ones took advantage of the pressure zone at the windshield base. These were great for adjusting for uneven heater flow, or for two people of different metabolisms. Especially great for country drives in the cool clean air (as almost no wind noise). Cars were especially comfortable with this; probably cut A/C use by 30%.

Add to that the second floor switch that activated the Wonderbar auto-tune radio. The switches were of different sizes bu still located on the same acreage. (Yes, it wasn't so cool with your date beside you to blind the oncoming cop car when you meant to change radio stations). You needed the left hand to steer with, and the right hand to hold that little cold beer if you left her at home, otherwise . . . .

.

 

[lenjack]

...and get rid of those turn signals. Stick your hand out the window to signal, just like the good old days.

 

[occupant]

I second the kick-panel vents. Those felt SO GOOD at speed in the 67-72 trucks I owned. I'll have to see someday if I can find a non-A/C Torino and add those to my car. Even if I fix the A/C, that cool air running straight at your legs feels awesome. Vents don't aim down there.