Hidden interface controls that affect usability

    The other day I was locked out of my car
    the key fob button wouldn't work

    Why didn't I just use my key to get in? 
    First, you need to know there is a hidden key inside the fob.
    Second, because there doesn't appear to be a keyhole on the car door,
    you also have to know that you need to disassemble a portion 
    of the car door handle to expose the keyhole.

Hiding critical car controls is hostile engineering. In this, it doesn't stand out much in the modern car experience.

This also happened to me in a rental. We drove it off the lot to our hotel a half-hour away before we discovered the remote was busted, with all of our possessions locked inside.

I did know that there must be a physical key (unless Tesla?), and the only way I found the keyhole was because a previous renter had scratched the doorknob to shit trying to access the very same keyhole.

All of which you should know, and can be easily found with a quick google. The moment we got a car with no physical key my first question was “what’s the backup option and how does it work”.

Basic knowledge about the things you own isn’t hard. My god there is a lot of old man shakes fist at cloud in here.

Knowing how to get around a stupid design doesn't make it any less stupid.

I'm yet to drive a car with a doorknob but it sounds awesome.

This is such an Apple user take. "Yes you can do that, but you're not supposed to so it's hidden behind so many menus that you can't find it except by accident and since I use it, I say sowwy to my phone every night before I go to sleep to make sure Apple doesn't get maddy mad at me"

The opposite take would be that there’s no need to shove something in the users face that they need less than once per year, but offer a more elaborate way to get there just in case.

How is some real clear key inside label on the fob "shoving something in the user's face"? How is visible keyhole, or at least not buried behind a snap off cover, "shoving something in the user's face"?

While this makes several cars a terrible choice for rentals, I do wish car owners would take maybe half an hour of their day after spending a couple thousand to read through the manual that came with their car. The manual doesn't just tell you how to change the radio station, it also contains a lot of safety information and instructions for how to act when something goes wrong.

How can I trust a driver to take things like safe maximum load into account when they don't even know they can open their car if their battery ever goes flat?

It’s right in front of it? There’s a reason we hide unused sockets behind lids.

And often there are useful things that I wouldn't know otherwise.

For example (Kia Carnival): Holding the lock button on the fob for 20 seconds will automatically close the sliding doors and any open windows.

Because cars have had consistent keys and doors for how many years now? That's half the thing about cars - you shouldn't need to read the manual to know how to open a fucking door. Maybe for service timings, etc, but you should be able to get into any car and be able to use it for completely normal use cases *without* reading a manual.

Indeed, similar on some other models too. My vehicle can up or down the windows by pressing and holding lock/unlock on the FOB. Indeed, a hidden feature without reading the manual or some forums.

lol ok buddy, it’s time for kindergarten

And refusing to learn basic things about the things you own just because you don’t like them doesn’t make that decision any less stupid.

This all presupposes that any of that counts as “buried” - sounds to me like it’s subjective as to whether something is cleanly out of the way or buried, and it also sounds to me like someone who is looking at things to be mad at is more predisposed to view it as the latter ;)

Keyholes are ugly, and a users experience is subjective. I find them ugly and don’t want to see them, I’m not the guy that said “shoving in the users face” and that might be extreme, but I wouldn’t want to see a keyhole as it looks more aesthetically pleasing without it and that matters to me. Subjective experience matters.