BMW tells me why its instruments are lit in orange: an iDrive iNsight

[Zafiro]

• Why orange dials? Because it’s BMW, and the best colour for legibility. The worst? Blue and red, apparently…
• Why an oil temp dial in the new 7? Because BMW is about engines, and it shows the brand’s sporty outlook.
• Why not Lexus-style black panel dash? Because you should be able to see the dial tubes when the car’s turned off. To show they’re ‘real’ hardware. Mechanical.
• Why not go all-digital instruments? Never! What’s more, there should be no visual split between mechanical and digital displays. The development and integration here took BMW years…

More: BMW tells me why its instruments are lit in orange: an iDrive iNsight | Richard Aucock

 

[coligny]

When you have to justify and rationalize every minor decisions, you know you have fubared your human interface...

That's why you don't see apple going by these kind of checklists... The point is... if your users have to think aboot how to do things instead of just going their way doing it... You should go back to the drawing board and higher maybe more expensive people, but certainly more talented.

The new Nissan Juke with it's same combo of button for both driving mode / aircon control is also quite high in the disaster waiting to happen list...

 

[LaArtist]

That legibility thing is crap..Greeen is the easiest read colour..

 

[bmer]

I'm not very familiar with how different light colors affect legibility other than that blue light is quite bad.

However I've read something about how different light wavelengths affect human night vision.

Human eyes are more sensitive to green light than red light so you perceive more in green light but it also has a downside: you lose more of your night vision compared to red light.
Perhaps orange is a good compromise between legibility and the affect on night-vision.

 

[LaArtist]

Yes red light is good for not ruining your night vision..
It takes your eye 30 mins to adjust for night ..while it takes 10 seconds to adjust to strong light..and there by reset the 30 mins you started to adapt your eye to the dark.
We have our cockpit lights dimmed and preferebly the lamp is red when we fly VFR night.
But as far as cars go..where you dont drive in the pitch dark often, and dont have to rely on your night vision.. the best light and easiest on the eye is GREEN..

But all those are just facts.. and figures..
When in real life there is enough in both a cockpit and interior of a car to distract and ruin your night vision.. like GPS screens and so on..
Therefor you should not fly night VFR.. (not recommended).. and like i said when it comes to cars your night vision is of minor to no importance..

 

[Beemer B773ER]

the best light and easiest on the eye is GREEN.

Considering the abundance of stupid drivers out there.. I'm sure many of them would think the green lighting of their speedo' means that any speed is okay and safe for their car. Even if 200(mph or kph) was lit green, it's okay to go that speed coz green means go.

 

[BimmerFan]

Hmmm, but then again, I bet there will be a survey that show 80% of 1 series drives didn't even know their cars had lights...

 

[aleks_16]

Hmmm, but then again, I bet there will be a survey that show 80% of 1 series drives didn't even know their cars had lights...

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[LaArtist]

Considering the abundance of stupid drivers out there.. I'm sure many of them would think the green lighting of their speedo' means that any speed is okay and safe for their car. Even if 200(mph or kph) was lit green, it's okay to go that speed coz green means go.

haha wouldnt surprise me at all

PS
Just for the record:
Saab has green lights ( Aircraft makers afterall)
Pagani aswell ( see Avatar)

 

[Beemer B773ER]

haha wouldnt surprise me at all

PS
Just for the record:
Saab has green lights ( Aircraft makers afterall)
Pagani aswell ( see Avatar)

Well, with the Pagani, it'll have no problem going at whatever speed you choose on your speedo...and as for the speeding fine.. well, if you can afford a Pagani, then a speeding fine every week is a non-issue. As for Saab.. well, heritage is one thing, but when the cars just don't cut the mustard, their speedo's should be red to reflect the company's financial position.

These days, I don't think the color that the manufacturer chooses for the instrument panel is that critical, because my girlfriend's Mustang had the option of changing the color from blue, to yellow, to red, to green, to pink.. and whatever other color there was. A tad tacky, and obviously developed to appeal to the youth (who drive so many Mustang's it's freakin crazy, especially teenage girls)...but even for premium manufacturers, they should offer this feature to give owners the option of customizing to their tastes/moods/preferences/eyes, etc.

 

[LaArtist]

Yeah man..thats why i said.. BMW´s explenation sucks..
It should be..its always been Orange..and we are keeping with tradition..
And thats fair enough..everyone else does it

 

[Giannis]

Just for the record:
Saab has green lights ( Aircraft makers afterall)
Pagani aswell ( see Avatar)

Volvo uses green lights as well.

 

[adeel2010]

Volvo uses green lights as well.

So does my Chrysler 300 hahah

 

[bmer]

Volvo uses green lights as well.

Toyota used mostly green background lighting in the 80's and early 90's. Recently they've used white and then orange and now they probably use dice to determine the color...

 

[Giannis]

My '90 Clio has orange lights as well. But even though they look better than the mucus green that Volvo uses, I certainly think that green is better to the eyes.

 

[klier]

Toyota used mostly green background lighting in the 80's and early 90's. Recently they've used white and then orange and now they probably use dice to determine the color...

LMAO!
We have a Toyota Aygo in the family (great little car BTW) and the dials are orange like BMW