Core77

Discovering an Unsung Design Feature in a 2005 Honda Civic

Truly good design is often invisible

By Rain Noe - September 12, 2017

in Cars

Most of the videos on YouTube channel Jared's Garage have just several hundred hits, but his latest has half a million and counting. I guess people were fascinated to see this design feature he discovered after removing some components from the console:

Enter a caption (optional)

This really does show a fanatical attention to detail by Honda's (or a supplier's) designers and engineers. Adding that gravity latch costs extra money. You'll never see that feature advertised in any Honda ad campaign. It's unlikely that taking the time, trouble and cost to manufacture that into each and every Civic would help them outsell the competition. Yet some conscientious individuals designed it into the car anyway.

Sometimes good design is invisible.

o

Favorite This
Q
5

Comment

Comments

David Beck

7 years ago

Z

5Z

Reply

That hill would have an awfully steep grade. I'd guess the latch is more likely to be effective under acceleration so your CDs don't come flying out when you step on it.

!Report as spam
Mark Fountain

7 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I agree, this a good example of well-executed design for context. The door is unlocked and accessible when needed and automatically locked when under heavy acceleration. The user will most likely never know about this feature, but they would definitely know if it wasn't there. Great design is often invisible.

!Report as spam
Andy Sun

7 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

It is indeed a clever design and well executed, but it is not some gravity latch or for steep slopes. It is a safety latch to avoid objects from flying out the compartment during sudden braking or frontal impact. The seatbelt ratchet mechanism works in a similar fashion.

!Report as spam
- Scott Bennett
  
  Andy Sun
  
  7 years ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
  Reply
  
  Nope- during deceleration any objects in the compartment would move forward and away from the door, which is the same thing the latch weight will do. David is right- a Civic under hard acceleration can do about 0.5g longitudinally, which is far more than you'd get in that axis on any hill.
  
  Usually things like this aren't the result of a proactive, thoughtful designer trying to imagine scenarios that will harm the user experience. They probably found that the door was popping open during preproduction testing, went to the supplier for a fix, who found adding this was the cheapest solution.
  
  !Report as spam
  - A Perpepaj
    
    Scott Bennett
    
    7 years ago
    
    Z
    
    Z
    
    What about rear impact? not say that the issue wasn't seen during testing but a notched hinge would probably be much cheaper than adding a weight.
    
    !Report as spam