Here Are The Weirdest Places You've Seen A Control In A Car

LS430. There is a button and knob tucked under the dash in the driver’s footwell. It controls the loudness of the lock/unlock beep.

Yes, the Lexus had a control under the dash that controlled how loud the door chime is. Its located under the right side of the dash next to the center console.

Suggested by: @SeveBertolone (Twitter)

And pretty much everything on the Corvair. Aside from the obvious (Engine in the back isn’t too weird, but for Chevy it was)...

-Spare Tire mounted above the engine (Better move it to the frunk if you want to keep it properly inflated. Otherwise it’ll explode all over your engine unless you keep it half flat)

-Parking brake is an awkward jagged lever under the dash (actually worked great)

-Auto shifter is a little cute t-handle (at least in my ‘65 - later ones had a wooden knob) in the middle of the dash.

-Differential fluid dipstick in the back (‘65 only).

-Fuel filler door up front (obviously)

Suggested by: Sid Bridge

1987 Mercury Cougar, door lock switch is right where you would expect the window switch. Passengers would sit there and lock and unlock the doors over and over before I pointed to the center console where the window switches were located.

Made from 1983 to 1988, this generation of Cougar went through several power door lock designs. Depending on the year, the switch location and design varies. One thing is certain though: the window switches and door lock switches should’ve been switched.

Suggested by: Christopher Hyuler (Facebook)

The starter button in the current Honda Accord is in a little bump-out in the underside of the dash. It intrudes into the space where a tall driver’s knee would naturally rest and looks like it’s designed for a lifetime of hitting your knee’s funnybone. It’s an absolutely jawdropping poor design choice, and the salesmen I pointed it out to agreed 100%.

Suggested by: Jeb_Hoge

Porsche 924 handbrake. It was on the left side of the driver’s seat (LHD) on the floorboard. Once drove my friend’s 924 home for her and had the brake on the whole way because I could not find the sucker.

It’s true, the Porsche 924 had the handbrake on the left side of the drivers seat. It’s not widely known why Porsche did this.

Suggested by: @davidm_goodson (Twitter)

Audio controls behind the steering wheel where the paddles shifters are supposed to be in some Dodge cars? When I first got a Dodge Journey as a rental I was confused why those buttons are behind the steering wheel... I guess they are easier to reach but nowadays in which every car has paddles in that particular location made me wonder why they did that.

From the looks of things, some people either don’t know that the controls exist or aren’t sure what they do.

Suggested by: AscendingZ

First gen Nissan Frontier the parking break is a handle that pulls out from the dash. It took a while to get used to that.

No one seems to agree on where the buttons should be to work the digital info displayed on modern instrument clusters.

Suggested by: David White (Facebook)

Can I nominate the location for the 1/4 window switches in the 1991-1994 Nissan 240SX Convertible? The Vert is the only 240SX with 4 windows, the main side windows and then the 1/4 windows. In usual ASC ClusterF*** fashion, instead of making new door card inserts to fit the extra switches, they just slapped them in the same hole as the power mirror control, in the center console.

Oh and the top control is up on the instrument binnacle. So to put the top up, you have to stop, put the car in PARK, reach forward to raise the power top, reach up and latch the two latches on the windshield header, the reach back down to roll up the 1/4 windows, then the doors to raise the main windows.....

While the 240SX was the only 240 with four windows, those weird 1/4 windows would often get stuck.

Suggested by: Umoja

2005 Pontiac GTO trunk release pull, hidden behind rear passenger head rest. You have to elevate the headrest, then pull the hidden yellow handle.

While it is strange to have a trunk release behind the rear seat headrest, this release was an emergency trunk release. The primary trunk release was located in the glovebox.

Suggested by: William Blackwell (Facebook)

I see your one button and raise you “all of the buttons in the C8 Corvette.”

*pushes every button to the middle of the table*

There’s seemingly no rhyme or reason to the “layout” (if you can call it that). It’s the least user friendly configuration I’ve ever seen.

GM designed the controls for passenger comfort and grouped them into zones: general controls in the center, driver-centric controls at the top and temperature controls at the button.