A recent post about mounting a Res-Q-Me tool got me thinking about a trick I use to identify important switches in my vehicles and machinery. Many of these switches need to be activated while driving or during a high stress situation.

I place small pieces of sticky-sided white velcro on top of the buttons so they are not only easier to see, but I can feel the button, therefore keeping my eyes on the road or situation. Two different buttons on the same panel can be marked seperately with "sharp" hook or "soft" loop velcro. I use black velcro if I do not want to visually draw attention to the button.

In my vehicles I use velcro to identify the radio frequency change button, emergency light buttons and on the lock side of the door lock button.

I regularly drive 3 different vehicles made by 3 different manufactures (Ford, Chev, Toyota) and the door lock buttons are different on each one. Now I just feel for the prickly velcro as I exit the vehicle, without even thinking about which vehicle I am using (I do not use a key fob remote as my keys ring is already too huge).

Years ago I had a bottle of Glow-In-The-Dark fishing jighead paint, it was also good to visually highlight switches.

Any other tips on identifying important switches/buttons?

Mike

I was once told by a Navy fighter pilot the following:

"The only switches necessary to safe flight are the 'Shiny Switches". They get that way from repeated use, and since the aircraft is still in one piece, they are only involved in safe flight. Having said that, any aircraft with the emergency controls/switches that are shiny is trouble. Someone before you has had some thrilling experiences, repeatedly."

Only touch the Shiny Switches.....

And never pull the unlabeled red rope coming through a small hole in the ceiling. It causes the 400lb walk-in freezer doors to fall off.

-Blast, who resisted for months

We use a very short section of fuel hose (new) over toggle switches to identify the switch in the dark.

We tie a Turks Head knot onto the "Rudder Amidships Spoke" on a ship's wheel to know the rudder is amidships, by feel, when it is upright, in the dark. This also lets us know what angle we've put on the rudder by how much the knot is to the left or right of the vertical position.

The velcro patches sound good to me.

One of these:

http://www.emptech.info/product_details.php?ID=472

You'd have to learn some Braille, but that might be a useful skill, plus you can uniquely identify many switches, even if you just use A B C D or 1 2 3 4 instead of complete words.

A

It would be nice if the controls had some way of identifying the function by feel. As I understand it US designers before WW2 came up with the idea of shaping the handles to approximate the things they control. So the lever that controlled the landing gear was shaped like a wheel, and the lever for flaps were shaped like flaps.

Of course there are limits to how far you can go with this. Shaping the handles like a physical object is simple. But how do you reference a non-physical concept with a shape? Is there a shape that describes 'radio frequency' or 'GPS waypoint 03'.

Then again how many controls are really vital. I like simple vehicles where start, stop, and steer, are pretty much all you need because that is all that is really important. One of the reasons I like trucks is that you can, last time I checked, still get a vehicle with manual windows and locks.

As attractive as marking switches seems I'm leery about marking things as special because it is easy to imagine a situation where just about any control might be vitally important. If I mark all the switches then they are all special and if all are special then none of them are.

Seems to me that the what is needed is training and regular refresh training to make the location of the switches instinctual and automatic. You could make it a habit to physically manipulate all the switches when you get in so you are getting regular refreshing and checking switch function. Pilots have done this from day-one. Checklists and function tests make sure you and the machine are ready to fly.

I don't see why this wouldn't work for motor vehicles.

I like that idea for cars. In the dark when I'm driving, I never really know if I'm going to end up locking the doors, opening any of the four windows, or adjusting the outside mirrors! I remind myself of John Candy trying to adjust the cars seat in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

And don't get me started on those steering wheel stalks. Push it forward, pull it back, push it up, pull it down, Twist band #1 (up or down of course), or band two. Push the button on the end. Flip the little twisty lever. That's not enough for some cars ... they put in more than one stalk! I can handle my own cars that I'm familiar with. But rentals?!

I've learned to take my own flashlight and go over rental cars completely before moving an inch. I had one rental car where it started getting dark and I couldn't find the headlights. Nor the dome light switch. I had to pull over and open the door to get the dome light to come on to see what I needed. And I struggled with one trying to find the parking brake release. Didn't have one. It was automatic when you put it into gear. How would I know that? This was a long time ago when I was young and stupid. Now I'm just old and stupid, but I know enough to learn the controls of the rental you're driving. Cars controls are more varied than they used to be.

End of rant. I think I'll try that velcro trick on the drivers side doorlock, window and mirror controls however. Good idea!

What I love in my Subaru Forester is that most of the buttons and switches are factory made blind touch friendly (indents, ridges, different shape, etc.). One of my own tricks is to drill a small hole (or just a little pit) in the plastic button's face when it is necessary to differentiate them in groups of more than 2 by touch - almost invisible method. I like the Velcro tip though!

I simplified it-I have a jeep wrangler . I have lights, radio, hazards, and turn signals. That pretty much sums it up.

No tips, but when I was a firefighter, one engine had a 1 up, 2 down "H" shifter - and the other had a 1 down 2 Up shifter. Drove me batty.

Then there were the other trucks, each with a different light package for the blinky lights....I was a driver on all but one of the 5 pieces of apparatus and it was always a concerted effort to remember where to put my hands and feet to make things go and stop and bleep and boop.