Design Flaws and Ergonomic Issues

9:07

13:49

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At 9:07 in

Sprinter Van Review at 1 year

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What happens here

The reviewer reveals that the rear air conditioning in his passenger van does not provide heat, only cool air, meaning passengers in the back rely solely on heat from the front of the van during winter. He then points out a specific design flaw with the windshield washer fluid sprayer, which is poorly secured and drifts, spraying only a small portion of the windshield. He calls this design 'horrible' and 'cheap'. Moving to the side of the van, he points out the difficulty of getting into and out of the van for shorter or elderly people due to the lack of easily accessible grab handles near the entrance. He shows that the only handle is high above his head (he is 6'5"). He demonstrates that the sliding rear door, when opened by a passenger in the back, cannot be reached and closed by that same passenger from their seat, requiring the driver to do it. He reiterates that if he were to purchase another Sprinter, he would opt for the longer, taller, and 4WD model with a variable idle speed option.

Goal: Showcase specific design and user experience problems

Tools and materials

2016 Mercedes Sprinter Van

What they say

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conditioner it has a dial for cold too hot it was my assumption that the rear air would turn hot if you turn it to hot so it would serve as a heater in the winter and an air-conditioner in the summer not the case okay so if you're hauling people around you're gonna have to rely on the heat from the front of the van to heat the rear of the van because the rear air is not rear heat it's only rear air that's something I do not like that's something I think could be totally improved upon now let me take you around the van and show you a few things that I need to point out to you that I don't like okay so beyond the shadow of the doubt this is ridiculous this is where the spray comes out for your windshield washer fluid this just flops around all over everywhere it's it's not secure it's a very poor design and if anybody wants to argue that I'll argue it with you all day long that is horrible now it drifts it'll drift all the way down here so if you look this one sprays in the middle of the window and this one has slid all the way down here now if I slide it up well there's just not enough slack right there so basically when I spray my washer fluid it sprays right there and that's it so the rest of the window doesn't get washed this is highly inadequate cheap and I don't understand why Mercedes would even put something like that on their van excuse the mess but we're driving this van across the country if you're not a tall person where are you going to grab on this van to get in I'm six foot five and right here is where my nipple line is okay so right there is where a normal person would be reaching to grab a handle to pull themselves in well the only handle is up here I'm six foot five and I'm having to reach really high to get there so if you're an elderly person it's very difficult to get in and out of this van if you're an elderly person or if you're a shorter person it's very hard to get in and out of this van all right let's go back over here to this side of the van and talk about the sliding rear door this is the sliding rear door that thing rolls all the way back just like this it's a mess in here okay it locks into place the guy that's sitting in this seat right here cannot reach the handle to release the door so here's the handle to release the door it locks into place a guy cannot reach from this seat to here so how do you shut the rear door well the driver has

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