One day, my 10-year-old brother checked out a book from the library called A Book About Design: Complicated Doesn’t Make It Good.  I read it out of curiosity, and it reminded me of the importance of balance and simplicity.  I believe that is a crucial lesson that us engineers often need a reminder.  In our attempt to make life easier by automating tasks and put as much functionality into everything we build, we have unfortunately made things too complicated.  That is why buying the latest and greatest has been relinquished to the geeks.  One of my friends told me about some cars that are overly complicated, and I would like to use them as examples:

• A certain Lexus model does not have door handles.  In place of keys, a driver has a RFID keyfob.  Should that keyfob’s batteries die, one can pull out a key and stick it in some place under the rear bumper.  But what if the battery in the car is dead too?  Will hilarity ensue?  Who knows — the hood access switch is inside the car, and the doors are electric?
• A BMW does not have a dipstick to check oil levels.  Instead, it has a sensor of some sort.  Additionally, you will be unable to check the oil level until the engine has warmed up.

Despite the good intentions of those who designed these features, they are still counterproductive at best.  I find it ironic and silly to pay $50,000 upwards for a car that I will have to fix or repair frequently if not daily.  I welcome innovation, but nobody likes it when it gets too intrusive.  Therefore, transitions must be made slowly so that innovations have time to mature and eventually become the time-tested, tried-and-true classics.