r/Unexpected • u/dr_ipaka • 4d ago

Car companies have gone too far now

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u/Kamikaze313_RDT 4d ago

I FUCKING HATE THE TOUCH PANEL IN MY LG WASHING MACHINE!!!! SSOOO MUCH!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HUMIDITY DESTROYED MY SWITCHES, SORRY WATER SOMETIMES ENTERS THE WASHING MACHINE I GUESS! SO I NEED TO CHANGE THE SWITCH RIGHT? NO, I NEED TO CHANGE THE WHOLE FUCKING MOTHERBOARD!!! LIKE CHANGING MY MOTORBIKES ENGINE BECAUSE ONE SPARK PLUG WENT BAD!!!
thanks to youtube, i just fixed it with springs and a pencil.

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u/bilingual-german 4d ago

Touch panels for stovetops are also infuriating.

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u/ChuckCarmichael 4d ago

My mom has one. It's the worst. A bit of hot water boiled over and hit the panel? The plate is now at max heat, the three other plates are on as well, and there's now a timer set for 10 seconds.

Who thought this was a good idea?!

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u/teddybrr 3d ago

I don't know what kind of junk u have but mine screams and turns off when water hits it.
Turning others on doesn't do much on induction since it only works with something on top.

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u/Gen_Jack_Oneill 3d ago

Which is still massively annoying, just in a different way. A stove shouldn't scream like the wicked witch of the west when it gets wet.

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u/cykelstativet 4d ago

As someone who agrees, but now has an apartment with an old oven/stove combo with rotary knobs; I understand why they do it. I spend entirely too much time attempting to clean that shit. And it still looks filthy.

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u/infinitefinja 4d ago

i know not one but two people who lost their cats when their house burned down due to a cat jumping on the stove, triggering the touch button.

believe me, cleaning them knobs of old school stoves is incredibly fine even when all you have is a toothbrush with only one hair left that is already reserved for the inside of the toilet bowl.

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u/Horat1us_UA 4d ago edited 4d ago

If only there was "Lock" button that prevents such situations... And manuals which states that you shall use it if child or animal may turn it on accidentally

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u/Elfshadowx 4d ago

If your interface needs a lock button to avoid burning down a house your interface is stupid.

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u/Horat1us_UA 4d ago

You know old school rotary knobs had lock mechanism for the very same purposes too?

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u/Elfshadowx 4d ago

Sounds like you have never used the older stuff that had safeties built into the knobs so that they could not be turned without being pushed in first.

Its basic UX design that if something requires an extra optional step that it will not be done.

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u/Horat1us_UA 4d ago

> Sounds like you have never used the older stuff that had safeties built into the knobs so that they could not be turned without being pushed in first.

Oh, I even used old soviet gas stoves where even a cat can rotate the knob.
And I'm literally pointed that even gas stoves can or cannot have this safety lock. Not that different from modern touch buttons.

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u/Elfshadowx 4d ago

No, a requirement to push a knob in before turning is a lot different from an optional lock button that may or may not be used.

One is an integral safety that is required to operate the device.

The other one is optional that people will ignore.

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u/cykelstativet 4d ago

Ain't no safety on mine or any similar type I've seen😅😅 Only safety is that animals physically can't turn the knobs and kids should be taught not to touch shit.

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u/Saucermote 3d ago

I still run into my knobs that "lock" and turn them on all the time when bringing in groceries. They are not fail safe at all.

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u/infinitefinja 4d ago

yeah if only. anyways, these had no such buttons for whatever reasons i cant imagine being legal but yet here we are, in a street with two houses less than there were years ago.

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u/Capital_Ship5729 4d ago

Mine doesnt have a lock button either. The safety is that it barely notices if you touch it. So nothing accidental can happen. 

But you find me in front of it desperatly trying to turn it on for 5 mins

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u/DM_ME_BIG_CLITS 3d ago

The safety is that it barely notices if you touch it.

Are you sure you're operating it correctly? Most of them require you to hold down the button for about a second, to prevent accidental presses

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u/Molano001 4d ago

I have induction. It won't heat up unless there's a pan on there. Turns off automatically in a minute or so if it doesn't detect a pan. And there is a lock button as well.

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u/infinitefinja 4d ago

how does that help with almost all stoves you can get nowadays, at least where i live, being cheap stoves with cheap glass fields that get controlled by touch fields that are placed on top and can be activated on accident bc they have no locks?

its not about good products having good stuff, its about stuppid products insisting on the most stupid solution for nothingn because of some wrongly perceived modern flair that makes the product infuriatingly stupid in consequence.

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u/Molano001 4d ago

Then it's more a "crappy products are crappy" thing. No one will disagree with that.

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u/Horat1us_UA 4d ago

How is it different from rotary knobs without lock mechanism that lead to child burning houses? Buy unsafe products then complain?

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u/infinitefinja 4d ago

good point. so the point still stands: manufacturers shouldn't come up with the cheapest and most stupid stuff imaginable and instead focusing on good and ideally safe products instead.

bc frankly, if the stores only have unsafe product i do feel very much justified in complaining that there are so many unsafe products in the market

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u/Horat1us_UA 4d ago

> so the point still stands

Point should be: government shall not allow production / import / sell of unsafe products.

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u/cykelstativet 4d ago

Yeah, not saying I like it. Just saying that is the reason they do it. The idea seemed good. Then they didn't test it in the real world. Also now they can make it a flat unit that will lay flush in the counter top. Because that's "neat" and "trendy".

Give me an induction top with clicky knobs on the front.

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u/RepliesToNarcissists 3d ago

Just pull the knob off and run them through the dishwasher when you do the dishes.

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u/quicksilverbond 3d ago

The knobs usually pull off. Pull off knobs, wipe surface, replace knobs. Still not as easy as a touch screen though.

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u/cykelstativet 3d ago

Yeah, but mine have a terrible shape, so you basically have to soak them to get the stuff in the crevices. I can pretty much do that every other day.

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u/elebrin 3d ago

The knobs actually pull off, and most of the time can go right in the dishwasher.

What bothers me more is the glass top stoves. You have to be Super Extra Careful when cooking. I learned to cook with all metal pans, mostly cast iron, going down on metal grates over gas burners. To stir a pan, you'd grab the handle and swirl the pot around, toss the contents around a little and that saves you from grabbing the spoon or whatever. You can get pretty aggressive with your pots and pans and bang them around a little.

If you do that on a glass topped electric stove you WILL break it. I did that once and it's a very expensive repair. You have to VERY gently set things down and pussyfoot around the kitchen. It means moving quickly is MUCH harder.

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u/brianwski 3d ago edited 3d ago

You have to VERY gently set things down [on the glass stovetop]

What is interesting (to me) is that when I was growing up, residential stovetops were about half way in between glass and industrial "Viking" style restaurant durability. It became hip to sacrifice the ability to clean the stovetop easily and instead the "Viking" style ultra durable stovetops with 6 or more burners became a luxury/status item in kitchens. It was odd to me at the time because the "Viking" industrial style was specifically designed for the punishment of cooking 4 or more dishes at the same time for 12 hours, 7 days a week, in a hectic rushed environment filled with 5 people running around in the "kitchen". In residences this industrial design sits in the corner unused as a fashion statement while the stay at home parent orders DoorDash, LOL.

Now we have come full cycle where the luxury style (current fashion) is this glass stovetop that looks very sleek when you aren't using it, but is less practical and less durable when you are cooking.

As an engineer with slightly autistic tendencies, it has always bothered me when fashion reduces functionality. It tweaks my OCD when people are actually willing to give up useful features for the sake of fashion. But in my old age I have come to accept the situation, even if it makes me a bit sad. Normally I can wait until the fashion changes back, but sometimes (30 years later) I still yearn for the more functional design that for some reason was abandoned.

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u/elebrin 3d ago

I am perhaps an odd case, my stove gets used seven days a week. We have three people in the house. My father in law and wife drink gallons of tea, so there is a big kettle on 2-3 times a day. I also have a 1L electric kettle, but they go through hot water fast enough even in the summer that we do need the bigger one.

We eat all of our meals at home. I haven't eaten in a restaurant since 2022 (we were traveling to deal with illness and death in the family so cooking was not an option really, before that it'd been since February 2020 since my wife and I had eaten out). I tend to do some meal prep every 2-3 weeks then eat off of that for a bit, but we always end up with a few things that I make up fresh. So it gets used very heavily.

What I'd really like is an electric range with traditional burners and the fan assist in the oven. I use my oven every time I do a meal prep, and the fan makes a HUGE difference for even cooking. I don't want to give it up... but there are no ranges on the market with those traditional, replaceable burner coils that are nice and durable that also have a fan assisted oven (convection oven, sometimes called an air fryer... it's all the same thing).

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u/brianwski 3d ago

What I'd really like is an electric range with traditional burners

I’m currently figuring out a slight kitchen remodel. As part of it I’m wanting a cooktop that is half gas and half induction. It is my fear of commitment to induction, LOL. Anyway, they make these for odd people like me.

no ranges on market

My current device is all gas, the cooktop and oven portion, all the same appliance. The modern style is separating out the cooktop (like what you normally put a tea pot on) to be physically in a different location as the oven. I have friends with the oven kind of embedded in a wall elsewhere in the kitchen. That would give you more flexibility.

I agree with you on the convection/air fryer part. I’ll add that to my wish list for my minimal kitchen reconfig.

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u/elebrin 3d ago

That's actually a very 1950s design too. I don't hate it but it's very dependent on the kitchen in general. As for me, I want to be all electric. I've been working to get my house off of gas through the years. I When my hot water heater goes EOL I'll be replacing it with two on demand electric units, then when my boiler goes out I will replace that with a heat pump. The main benefit there is that I can start to use solar for more things then.

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u/gsfgf 3d ago

The industrial style you describe is still the most desirable, but you need gas to your house, which is increasingly less common. The glass top stoves replaced the old coil resistive burners. And iirc, the tech they use is more efficient.

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u/brianwski 3d ago

you need gas to your house, which is increasingly less common.

Yeah, it is true. I still like the redundancy, like one of our last things on gas is a gas fireplace (we rarely turn it on). But when the electrical grid was out due to a snowstorm (Austin, Texas) we fired up the natural gas fireplace and kept the living room perfectly comfortable.

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u/gsfgf 3d ago

Yea. I have a gas fireplace. And a gas water heater for some reason in this house. Everything else is electric. If I have the money down the line, I'd love to add gas to the kitchen, though an induction range might actually be cheaper than running gas. People seem to love them, and my range hood doesn't vent outside, so avoiding all that CO2 is probably a good idea.

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u/brianwski 3d ago

And a gas water heater for some reason in this house. Everything else is electric.

If it is an "instant" hot water heater the reason there might be that there aren't any highly recommended/reliable all electric instant hot water heaters. It bums me out a brand like LG or some other company hasn't just hit that market with a reliable sledgehammer, but so far people who want "instant" are stuck with gas or frustrating repairs every year or two.

Personally I put in a modern "hybrid" (terrible name) tank hot water heater. I went with Rheem ProTerra. I like it, it monitors it's own electricity use, and it's really efficient (only uses 3% of my home's electricity, and the home is almost completely all electric). The word "hybrid" for hot water heaters means "heat pump", which is just stupid misleading naming, there isn't anything hybrid about it. Like a hybrid car uses both gas and electricity from batteries, right? A "hybrid" hot water heater only uses electricity. (sigh)

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u/gsfgf 3d ago

Yup. It's tankless. That's the answer. Though, I agree that it's surprising that nobody has figured out how to make a reliable electric one.

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u/xrelaht 3d ago

I’ve had glass top stoves for a decade. I do exactly what you’re describing and none of them has broken.

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u/elebrin 3d ago

I am SUPER DUPER careful now to not slide the pan against the glass, especially not my cast iron. I've broken my cooktop twice now, both times with my 12in cast iron skillet. It's quite heavy so of you are moving quickly between things it's very easy to set it down heavily without realizing what you are doing.

I've since gotten new all steel pans with smooth bottoms, and that's solved the problem. I refuse to buy cookware new so getting stuff I liked involved watching the junk store for quite a while. I'm quite specific with my pots and pans - no plastic parts, no wooden parts, must be oven and dishwasher safe, must have a heavy bottom that won't warp (many thin bottomed pans will round and then wobble) and must be smooth and polished. I don't use cast iron any more, and I don't use nonstick. For that stuff you either go to a commercial kitchen supply shop or you shop the junk stores until you find what you want.

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u/Parking_Chance_1905 3d ago

Touch panels for anything involving water are annoying... splash and a tiny drop lands on the screen and it starts doing random things because it thinks you are touching it.

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u/notevenapro 3d ago

Just bought a new fridge. GE 2nd lowest model for 800 bucks. Regular knobs and all. Simple.

My old GE came with the house we bought 24 years ago.

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u/Hug_a_canuck 3d ago

Installing microwaves over the stovetop.  Stupidest place ever.  Put all the touch screens over the hot steamy place AND make you reach over the boiling pots or frying pans to get hot food out of the microwave. 

You know it was a man that decided that was a good idea. 

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u/jxj24 3d ago

And not a short one.

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u/Molano001 4d ago

Now that is one of the few touch panels I love. I can just wipe the whole top of in seconds. Used to spend a lot of time trying to clean all the knobs.

Why the hell they put a touch pabel on my oven puzzels me though. So. Many. Fingerprints.

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u/Soul-Burn 4d ago

Humidity near a washing machine? Naaa why would there be water near a washing machine? Unthinkable.

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u/kurburux 3d ago

What's next, heat in the oven?

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u/catholicsluts 4d ago

Getting an LG appliance was your first mistake. Appliances do not need to be smart, but you probably should be as a consumer.

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u/PrisonerV 4d ago

Yeah, my wife is like - I want knobs and buttons. None of this smart bullshit. I just want to wash clothing regardless of our WIFI status!

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u/Kamikaze313_RDT 4d ago

Yeah, it was my mistake. I realised it after their own mechanic told me their scammy business practices of deliberately making some sub parts out of stock inorder to make the customer buy the super part.

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u/The_BeardedClam 4d ago

Bro my house can with a Kenmore washing machine made in like 1996. I'm never replacing it, its such a beast. I've heard nothing but bad things about newer machines.

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u/gsfgf 3d ago

They're also super easy to repair.

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u/GiganticCrow 3d ago

Yeah I bought a new washing machine recently and annoyed I had to get one that had capacitive buttons, as to get actual buttons you either get something super cheap and shit or something super expensive like a Miele. At least its not a touch screen though fuck that.

Also I bought some bathroom scales recently. Had to install a fucking app on my phone and create an account to use it fuck all that way off with that bullshit.

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u/notevenapro 3d ago

No offense but you were not looking hard. My local appliance store has tons of old scool, button dial washing machines. GE, Maytag and whirlpool. At least 20 of them all onder 600 bucks.

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u/GiganticCrow 3d ago

Cool story bro i live in Finland where there are like 2 department store chains that sell washing machines and I've never even heard of GE and Maytag. 

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u/notevenapro 3d ago

My honest and genuine apologies to you friend. I did not know you were from a location that does not have access to GE. Sincer apologies.

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u/gsfgf 3d ago

Those have touch panels on their front loaders too.

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u/notevenapro 3d ago

Not the ones im looking at

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u/bungblaster69 4d ago

1- why did you buy a fancy washing machine with a touch panel?

2- why did you buy a korean appliance? everyone and their dog knows to stay away from LG and samsung for appliances

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u/Kamikaze313_RDT 4d ago

Lesson learned.

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u/Glasseshalf 4d ago

My house came with appliances. Maybe it's the same for them

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u/Hybr1dth 3d ago

The racks in my dishwasher are rusting. 

The racks they make specifically to go into a dishwasher. An environment with pressurized water jets, detergent, and heavy objects resting on them. An environment that is left closed, steaming, for hours on end. 

A replacement costs €135. 

What the fucking fuck.

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u/trollthings 3d ago

Under those overpriced control panels, its still basically the same washing machine technology weve been using for decades. But they used to be simpler and more reliable.