Extremely Odd Button Location!

"JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!" (jqj213)
06/10/2014 at 15:24 • Filed to: design fail, Chrysler, pt cruiser, buttons

So, I was helping a lady load up her PT Cruiser with the groceries she just bought. The trunk was full, so she told me to put them in the back seat. but she warned me to "avoid putting them in the center of the floor." I looked and saw why. The rear power window switch IS ON THE CENTER OF THE FLOOR! Why?

DISCUSSION (20)

yamahog > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 15:25

To punish you and your children for buying a PT Cruiser.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > yamahog
06/10/2014 at 15:26

I also learned that the trunk area is really small for something that should be practical

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 15:26

I'd have said ease of wiring, but I really can't be sure.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 15:29

The seats come out/fold flat, which makes for a good bit more area. One was involved in helping me move at one point - can't really complain.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
06/10/2014 at 15:29

It just seems rather pointless and annoying to roll down the window. I dont know if Ive ever seen it located here in the back seat

jkm7680 > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 15:31

Those things are like sitting in a giant booster seat.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 15:33

It's like the deranged rabid dog version of the center console-mounted switches in a Benz.

Hermann > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 15:34

Never driven a PT cruiser before. But I've seen switches in places like this (My dad had a Mk2 VW Santana-Quantum), because the manufacturer is so cheap to wire them, that they're the only switches for the rear windows. This means they must be accessible to the driver.

twochevrons > Hermann
06/10/2014 at 15:49

The Citroën BX puts the rear window switches there, too. Realistically, nobody can reach them easily - they're too far back for the driver to reach them easily, you need to lean way forward to reach them from the back seat. *facepalm*

duurtlang > twochevrons
06/10/2014 at 15:58

I came here to mention the BX. Good call!

You could reach them from the driver seat relatively easy though, without any kind of extreme yoga positions. It just wasn't very logical.

CalzoneGolem > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 15:59

The front ones are in the middle of the dash.

Trust me you can fit a lot of stuff in a PT.

Kinja'd!!!

twochevrons > duurtlang
06/10/2014 at 16:05

Heh, on the 16 valve BX that my family had, the front seats were so heavily bolstered that fairly extreme contortions were indeed required to reach the rear switches. Now that I think about it, the regular BX19 that we also had wasn't quite so bad.

I liked the not-terribly-logical layout of the front power window switches on the driver's door, too - the passenger-side one mounted on the top edge of the door, above the driver's.

Of course, the Xantia was even more confused. It had switches in all the doors, but while the master switch for the passenger's side was in the driver's door, the master switches for the rear windows were in the center console, and the window-disable switch was mounted next to the fog lamp switch on the dashboard. Never quite understood that.

macanamera > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 16:23

Uh, so you can hit it with your feet? It's called convenience, duh.

Vicente Esteve > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 17:15

this was the placement for them in true Chrysler idiocy. I think the Jeep Liberty also has them there.

JimmySmithersonSr8 > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 17:44

BMW has window switches in the center console... jeep has window switches in the center console... it's easier to wire the controls to ONE central section, than wire switches into the doors.

Klaus Schmoll > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
06/10/2014 at 17:45

Yep! Looks like that was their original plan. Then the beancounters told them that they couldn't have a center console and they left them there anyway.

ranwhenparked > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 18:35

Yep, and the front windows are in the center of the dash. I'm not sure what the rationale was on that, since there's still wiring in the doors for the actual window motors, so it's not like it saved anything on assembly cost (might have actually added to it). Its not as inconvenient as it seems, since rear passengers can just control them with their feet.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > JimmySmithersonSr8
06/10/2014 at 19:00

but technically they still need to be wired to the motors which are in the door... doesnt that use just as much if not more then

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/10/2014 at 23:57

BMWs had them. Saturn had to follow. Chrysler followed, albeit poorly.

deus ex plaustra > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
06/11/2014 at 13:01

It's to keep your carseat-bound passengers from foolishly thinking that they have any right to the controls.