While writing this blog, I would like to mention that I am a big advocate of a good design, however I would like to share today’s incident which came as a surprise to me.

Just like any other day, I took my car out and felt a little trouble in reversing it for first few seconds. At first, I didn’t bother and started driving. It was a pleasant drive for next forty five minutes till I noticed few people staring at my car. I didn’t bother again, since I already have a nice dent near front headlamp, big enough to grab anyone’s attention. Finally, at some point one anxious guy came and asked me to come out of the car.

On coming out I found that one of the tires was completely deflated, and I had been driving my car in the same condition. I felt really bad for my car and at the same time, I felt really embarrassed with the thought in my mind that how many people might have seen me driving like that. Somehow, I managed to change the tyres with the help of an Auto driver.

Now that I am out of the trouble, I am a little concerned about this incident. How could I not feel even a bit, that I am driving with one tyre completely deflated? Is this my ignorance or something else? It cannot be former, because I am a new driver and I cannot afford to ignore smallest of the indication of trouble in my car. Finally, I realized that I am mostly dependent on the various indicators on the dashboard which keeps me updated of fuel level, engine temperature, door ajar, speed etc. There are other indicators like, vibrating noise if the gear is not in position or door is not locked properly. Interestingly, there is no indication of the status of air pressure in the tyres. Is this the problem area? Probably not, or at least not the only reason.

My car seems to be designed for comfort and pleasure of driving. The noise levels inside the car are very low, individual suspensions are given for each tyre while driving on potholes, good engine bhp to drag your car easily on an incline. However, I personally feel, these three points which I just mentioned actually contributed to this situation. I was so pampered with those comforts that I could drive my car at a high speed on a highway with a deflated tyre. This could’ve been fatal. Thankfully, one usually cannot achieve red zones in the speedometer while on Bangalore roads.

I have spoken to many drivers and most agreed that, the best way to drive safely on Indian roads is to have some ‘feel’ of the road while you drive. This is the reason electronically controlled power steering rarely gives you that ‘feel’ as compared to hydraulic power steering. Similarly, sound-proof interiors are fantastic, but the road dynamics can be better understood if you can hear some level of outside noise.

I must admit that pleasure and comfort were key parameters for me when I bought my car. But now I feel, I would also look at a design on other parameters as well. For example;

• How does your car react in grave situations?
• Does it create sense of emergency or not in that situation?
• Does it tell you what to do immediately to prevent the situation?

Personally, I would not mind if my car vibrates heavily and create a sense of urgency. I would expect this to happen rarely, but similar actions should take precedence over all other comforting elements in the car.

As a designer, I strongly feel that a design cannot be fully successful unless fundamental requirements are met. In my case it was control and feedback mechanism, which was dominated by the pleasure and comfort.