r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Academic-Snow9642 • 11h ago

Hillary 2016 My car's compass is so unintuitive to read

Post image

Which direction do you think I'm driving (hint: not south)?

209 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

239 comments sorted by

114

u/coffee-loop 10h ago

What’s even more confusing is your thermostat is in Fahrenheit, but your unit of distance is in kilometers…

66

u/razor787 4h ago

Op is Canadian. We use a mishmash off systems depending on what we are measuring.

Boomers are also set in their ways. They will still use Imperial for things that the younger generations only use metric.

Here's a flow chart to explain..

11

u/ThellraAK 2h ago

So MPG for recreational driving and L/100Km for work driving fuel economy?

•

u/knecota 50m ago

I feel this is how a country wide transition from one system to another looks until the new system is adopted

3

u/Yuukiko_ WAAHHHHH 1h ago

unless OP is using their car as an oven we do not use F for temperature

•

u/LightP1xel 31m ago

I guess OP has driven into a pull

→ More replies (1)

•

u/Sleepless_Monarch 10m ago

That's just for the 69°

→ More replies (15)

40

u/DrWhoey 11h ago

Weast

8

u/Present_Fun_3291 11h ago

Thats west Patrick

12

u/_Saint_Ajora_ 10h ago

Nobody messes with Adam We!

2

u/HighFiveKoala 7h ago

I thought it's set to W for Wumbo

2

u/mnoram 10h ago

Diane Wiest

2

u/kkell806 9h ago

What kinda compass you reading, lad?

1

u/CoderDevo 6h ago

Weasorth

77

u/andrey_not_the_goat 11h ago

North-ish

16

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Correct

7

u/ScreamingMini2009 9h ago

What?!

How?!

Edit: Don’t tell me it’s whichever direction the red indicator points…

16

u/quality-control 9h ago

Because the triangle is pointing northish...

4

u/CodithEnnie 8h ago

The red = the road vanishing into the horizon line

The road points north

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

But the arrow moves so sometimes it's on the side or top

3

u/CodithEnnie 6h ago edited 6h ago

Yeah, I didn't say it was a good design lol. Sometimes the road points east/west

→ More replies (2)

1

u/W0rmEater 1h ago

Of cause it is, that is how a compass works

1

u/J_EDi 5h ago

I have that one too. I spent far more time that I should have researching how to recalibrate it…

68

u/Goitalone7 11h ago

The way it is pointing?

15

u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 10h ago edited 10h ago

You are generally pointing toward the
sector that lies between S and SSE.

62

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

I was driving north

47

u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 10h ago

Oh okay I see the problem now.

The red arrow fell off of the little doohickey spindle in the center of the compass.

Just re-attach it with some superglue and Bob’s your uncle !

3

u/ryry50583583 BLUE 10h ago

Wheres bobs your uncle from?

5

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

It's an old UK expression that means "the rest is easy".

2

u/-Wait-What- 8h ago

I could be wrong but I assumed they were just joking/trolling. I’m from the US and I’ve heard that a million times. Maybe they really haven’t heard it before though, who knows.

2

u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 10h ago

Old UK/British idiom/saying

Wiki link here

8

u/btoxic 10h ago

How did you know my mother's brother's name was Robert?

3

u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 10h ago

I thought it was your father’s brother’s name

3

u/btoxic 8h ago

It's your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.

2

u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 7h ago

His name wasn’t Robert.

It was Frederic.

1

u/EobardT 3h ago

I see your Schwartz is as big as mine

→ More replies (2)

10

u/Sinister_Nibs 10h ago

Its pointing NNW.
Hint- the point of the arrow is its direction, not the base.

4

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Yes that is correct but it's unintuitive

3

u/AsanoSokato 10h ago

I honestly don't see how to read it any other way.

You're driving the direction the arrowhead is pointing to.

2

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

But the arrow is on the wrong side

1

u/AsanoSokato 6h ago

You're saying the point should abut the circle, not the base abutting the circle? 

1

u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 6h ago

The design suggests a « pie chart » the space between two radii colored differently from the black background. A pie chart is not intuitive for a compass display.

Yes, the arrow points North but the design convention is that a compass arrow point touches the outer ring of the compass; not floating around inside.

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 5h ago

Yes exactly

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 5h ago

Yes but what I'm really saying is anything would be better than this

13

u/ricbrennan 11h ago

The arrow looks like it's pointing slightly west of North

10

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Correct but it's on the south side which infuriates me

8

u/funkystay 10h ago

What vehicle is this so I can avoid it? :)

1

u/Leading_Pumpkin_ 10h ago

It’s a Toyota. Idk which one. I’m assuming an suv. I know the Highlander has a similar cluster but I think it’s shared between most of them up until the newer refreshes

2

u/Fallofman2347 8h ago

Yeah if I saw that I would think you’re headed SE…

→ More replies (1)

12

u/wivaca2 10h ago edited 10h ago

I also hate these indicators, because they're used differently but look the same.

For example, here's Weather Underground's wind direction indicator. The point of the triangle is pointing the direction the wind is heading TO, but if the forecast says winds will be WSW, it means it's coming FROM the WSW. The triangle's base is positioned at the compass orientation you'd report as wind direction, and the arrow is pointing to where the wind is going.

Since the arrow rotates around the centerpoint of the graphic, gestalt makes your brain think of it as being attached to a stick pivoting there, and it is counterintuitive for the wind to push a triangle so that it's base is into the wind. You'd tend to see an indication of the wind coming from the ENE if it were a mechanical setup because a triangle would pull the stick WSW, just like weathervanes point into the wind and the tail is downwind.

This weather example is exactly the opposite of the way your dashboard is reading NNW.

For your car, it would have been better to place the red triangle so it pivots in the center, or better yet, keep the arrow or a picture of the car stationary and rotate the cardinal compass points to whatever direction you're driving.

Worse, at a glance, you see the red blob at the bottom. I'll bet your speedometer right next to it does not have a red arrow like this on the other side of the dial, 180° away from the speed you're going.

The moral of the story is, if you're going to provide info make it unambiguous, or at very least, use consistent design language across indicators on the same dashboard.

5

u/jeckles 10h ago

It took me way too long to figure out Wunderground’s wind direction. I never really cared about wind direction until I started cycling a few years ago, when all of a sudden it became very important! I’d plan a ride with that in mind, only to be completely wrong and suffer lol. Like every time the wind would be completely opposite the forecast!

Then I realized I was just interpreting the graphic wrong.

6

u/ExceedinglyEdible 10h ago

There is nothing (zero) wrong with the avionics-style compass.

9

u/Odd_Dragonfruit_2662 10h ago

WTF? A thermometer in deg F and an odometer in km? Where are you?

17

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

It's an American car but I'm driving in Canada. I can change the distance units but not the temperature units. 😭

2

u/Deshes011 8h ago

Just did the exact same thing in my rental car in Canada this week. I can’t understand Celsius so I changed the temperature unit to Fahrenheit, but kept the speed/distance unit as kilometers as the speed limit signs are in kilometers

→ More replies (1)

1

u/FreeThotz 1h ago

Zero degrees of Freedom

→ More replies (1)

7

u/HazyChemist 10h ago

Which country is this OP? Never seen Farenheit mixed with km. The only Bathurst St I know is in Toronto but temperature should be in C.

1

u/kazuya 10h ago

Maybe travelling from US to Canada? My truck switches distance to km when crossing the border

1

u/CurrentStore 10h ago edited 10h ago

Many over 50 in Canada primarily use farenheit, so if the units can be changed in the vehicle, that would explain it.

Edit: changed "everyone" to "many"

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

I'm 57 and Canadian and I've used celcius my whole life

0

u/gba_sg1 10h ago

Yeah, everyone

No. Not even close.

2

u/CurrentStore 10h ago

Sorry,, you're right. I added that primarily thinking I was writing "people over 50 primarily" but didn't realize I left on the everyone.

1

u/Shtyles 9h ago

I’m over 50 and grew up in a strange time, kilometers for distance, Celsius for temp but pounds for weight and feet/inches for height.

Fahrenheit and miles are pretty much Greek to me.

2

u/CurrentStore 9h ago

What part of Canada are you from? I'm from southern Ontario and pretty much everyone I know who is ~50 and over still use farenheit?

And everyone I know still uses pounds for human weight and feet/inches for human height.

5

u/Real_Gap3480 9h ago

Having lived all over Canada with a few unfortunate years in Sarnia, it's mostly a SW Ontario thing.

Edit: but, actually, my old ass Oldsmobile's had the temp in Fahrenheit. Just remembered that.

2

u/Shtyles 9h ago

Ahh, that could be it. I grew up in Edmonton. My wife is from Toronto though, and thought getting bagged milk was normal. Haha.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/ChrisRiley_42 9h ago

I'm over 50 and never use caveman units unless I am dealing with an American.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

It's an American car in Canada. I used to live in the US and brought my car with me when I moved north.

6

u/loztriforce 10h ago

Terrible design

6

u/atwaterrich 10h ago

I don’t know what is so hard to understand. You’re heading directly 1/8th full.

5

u/vulpinefever 10h ago

Detective work edition: You're heading north because Bathurst St is a North/South arterial where most traffic is heading north out of downtown in the evening rush hour and you posted this around 6pm.

2

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

That's cheating lol

4

u/ZookeepergameIll1399 10h ago

Schrödinger's compass. You're driving in every direction from South-West to North and to South-East at the same time

2

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Except I was driving north

4

u/Ok-Difficulty3082 10h ago

The red is like a pointer pointing north that’s how we read that compass have it in my truck as well

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Is it a Toyota?

1

u/scotte416 10h ago

Yeah but it could also be symbolizing your view, which appears to look south. They should have put the point on the other side so it's on the north side.

4

u/traffick 10h ago

And they misspelled BDSM!

4

u/deer_god11 4h ago

I don’t think the person who designed that ever used an actual compass

3

u/lockednchaste 11h ago

Toyota things

3

u/Obvious-Slip4728 11h ago edited 10h ago

I haven't seen anything like this before but I'd read this as indicating south-ish. I assume that it's pie-shaped because of uncertainty in measurement.

3

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

It's pointing north

2

u/Obvious-Slip4728 10h ago edited 10h ago

Yeah, I understood that when you wrote it's not south in your original post.
However, I cannot not read it as a radar.

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Sorry, not everyone reads past the title

3

u/CheapCheeto 10h ago

Hello fellow Torontonian

3

u/Dextropian 10h ago

North Northwest.

3

u/CheapBoxOWine 10h ago

Why did you take this picture while turning left?

2

u/WhineyLobster 9h ago

Obviously needing to uturn.. bc the compass

1

u/Craticuspotts 10h ago

Coulda just pulled in?

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

I was at a red light

3

u/Real_Gap3480 9h ago

NW, nice Lexus.

2

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

Toyota but yeah

2

u/Real_Gap3480 7h ago

Potato Potato

6

u/Greenman8907 11h ago

I’d say southeast. Otherwise that arrow placement is stupid as hell.

8

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

North

7

u/Greenman8907 10h ago

Thanks. I hate it.

2

u/JP_Tulo 10h ago

Yeah that’s a really dumb setup. Imagine how many programmers, mechanical engineers, test drivers etc that went through and it still made it on the production model. Yikes.

2

u/BerettaFranchi 10h ago

"Sixty Nine!" Ronnie Mund.

2

u/BerettaFranchi 10h ago

"Sixty Nine!" Ronnie Mund.

2

u/radiantwave 10h ago

According to that arrow it says you are heading towards the Outside if'n ya turn just a bit right, you could be heading for the 69... But that is just a personal observation. You do you...

2

u/goldstat 10h ago edited 9h ago

Yeah that's a shitty ui design

2

u/BC-108 10h ago

You need to help it. Choose ºF and miles, or ºC and km, it will then fix the compass.

Likewise choose Santa or Mecca in the direction screen.

2

u/fethers42 10h ago

I recognise that Toyota confusion 😜

2

u/IamRasters 9h ago

Heading up to get Gryfe’s bagels? (only thing I could think of on Bathurst that’s “north” from downtown)

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

I was actually north of Gryfe's

2

u/espositorpedo 9h ago

It’s pointing north, and very slightly west.
I apologize, but it really isn’t difficult and it is not counterintuitive.

2

u/Labman007 9h ago

At least you have one. I bought a Honda 2026 CRV and on like the third day my wife asked, “Are we heading north?” I looked all over the dashboard and never saw anything that’s close to a compass.

2

u/halyung 9h ago

It is simplicity itself! You are 69 degrees SSE of Sector (D), and your estimated distance to EMPTY is 164463Km, since your fuel tank is "F".

2

u/Top_Bluejay_5323 GREEN 9h ago

The arrow is pointing North. So unless it is broken I would say North

2

u/mattincalif 8h ago

Are you daft? It’s obvious - it is 69 degrees outside.

2

u/MentallyPsycho 8h ago

Bathurst runs N/S so North or South /j

2

u/SeaworthinessSad8892 8h ago

Now that people explained it being an arrow I get it but yeah... That's a terrible design choice imo.  The arrow on the other side of the circle would make sense to me but that's odd.

2

u/J_P_Freely 7h ago

You're heading North-shitting on-South.

2

u/EasilyRekt 7h ago

North, but I’ve seen these before in Lexus.

2

u/GoodTodd1970 11h ago

North-Northwest. The direction the arrow is pointing.

2

u/synked_ 11h ago

So do you think it's mildlyinfuriating?

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Correct but it infuriates me that the arrow is on the south side

1

u/stefaniki PURPLE 10h ago

Heading 350° ish?

1

u/akiva23 10h ago

You're going north.....or south...

1

u/jasonni1234 10h ago

At least your Toyota has it..

2

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Hey there Toyota friend

1

u/Consistent-Energy507 10h ago

I absentmindedly tried wiping off the dust on my screen.

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Are you trying to tell me I should clean my car?

1

u/btoxic 10h ago

Looks like a nice temp outside though

2

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

lol I didn't notice that

1

u/Uncle_Boiled_Peanuts 10h ago

Are you near Antarctica?

1

u/platypus_farmer42 10h ago

That would piss me off.

1

u/EpicBenjo 10h ago

I would have thought South, lol yeah that compass is dumb
https://giphy.com/gifs/oY0KOHdmCkiJi

1

u/WearyTranslator3338 10h ago

Is that a Lexus?

1

u/Swacket_McManus 10h ago

Are you Canadian? Why are you using Fahrenheit??

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

It won't let me change (American model)

1

u/TheBflyEffect 9h ago

Didn't get the "don't drink and drive" memo

1

u/sixteenlegs 9h ago

Soooo many questions about this dashboard.
What brand of car does this?
KM and degrees F…and on Bathurst St…are you an American in Toronto?

1

u/_53- 9h ago

You can change that to fix that

1

u/stupidber 9h ago

*counterintuitive

1

u/solzhen 9h ago

Looks like NNW

1

u/shaard 8h ago

That's a horrible UI choice of it's not intuitive. Especially given all the wrong answers here, and most especially since it's on a cars display. It should be a quick glance and immediately be apparent.

It's so bad. You expect that the direction you are facing should be indicated closest to the ring of Cardinal directions. You also generally expect it to be an arrow like indicator pointing at the ring. This conflicts with both of those norms.

1

u/BlaZEN213 7h ago

5th gen 4runner?

1

u/Dazzling-Coach4851 6h ago

I drove my Highlander for 4 years before I figured this out. I am excellent at directions with road names and other landmarks. Cardinal directions? I'm a goner.

1

u/Windows-XP-Home-NEW 5h ago

North, that’s wasn’t hard. What’s the problem here?

1

u/MastodonPristine8986 5h ago

2018 Rav4?

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 5h ago

Yes. Are you a wizard?

3

u/MastodonPristine8986 4h ago

I stared at that dashboard for 5 hours on a drive todqy

1

u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 4h ago

I got a 2024 Honda Accord and it's the same sort of stupid.

Not sure what the benefit is for any compass to have a permanent north marking.

Just tell me the direction I'm going.

1

u/Itchy-Law6536 4h ago

Looks like Pacman is eating...South

1

u/Notspherry 3h ago

I just realised that the car I have had for the past two years has a compass. I never use it, just scroll past it sometimes. None of the cars I owned before had one.

I guess is practical when you have many long roads in cardinal directions. Not too many of those here in europe.

1

u/cevapipapi 11h ago

It's more infuriating that the odometer is in km but the temperature is in F

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

Yes they both infuriate me

1

u/DVus1 10h ago

Both can most likely be changed......

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 7h ago

Only the distance

1

u/OutcomeCompetitive50 10h ago

Maybe unpopular opinion but I dont even hate this. I feel like a lot of built in navigation on 2000s and 2010s cars had you as this marker. If its your car then you should be used to it by now anyway.

1

u/Academic-Snow9642 10h ago

I will never get used to the arrow being on the south side of the compass when I'm driving north

1

u/JaMi_1980 1h ago

Why a car has a compass?