Hatchback Owners Close Their Boots 'Wrong' And It Drives Me Mad
As someone who’s deeply pedantic, I’m easily annoyed by many things that people do wrong. And when it comes to cars, one of my most significant annoyances stems from how people close their boot. Or ‘trunk’, if you’re of a more ‘Murican persuasion.
Specifically, I’m talking about hatchback-style tailgates. Everyone I’ve ever seen, and most people I’ve asked in the CT office - many of whom were happy to answer after saying things like “what a preposterously boring question” - simply push down on the outside of the boot until it’s closed. Which would be fine, if there wasn’t a better way that the entire world seems to - infuriatingly - be ignoring.
Pop the boot of your average hatchback, and you should be presented with one or more grab handles. All you have to do is hook your hand inside, pull the boot down and then let go - the weight of the boot will do the rest.
Et voila - you’ve now closed your boot without getting your smudgy fingerprints all over the bodywork. Even better, you’ve not made the layer of dust/muck on the outside of your car look more obvious, nor have you got a load of dirt on your fingers.
Admittedly, some are a little ergonomically challenged, and there are tailgates (the one on ‘our’ Hyundai i30 N springs to mind) that need such a slam to shut, that pawing the outside is unavoidable. But still, the boot grab handle is a simple and effective piece of design, yet it goes unloved.
Do people not know what they’re for? Are most folk just too lazy to bother using them? Am I a sad man who should worry about more important things? Wait, don’t answer that…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
As nice as this would be, my car doesn’t exactly have those nice handles so I either pull by the lock hook, which is greasy, or smudge the paint.
Only person I know that does it that way. And people give me strange looks for it even after I explain to them that’s how you do it.
I thought this post was written by James May
I’ve always done it like that, but my Golf V and VII encouraged it in their design I found
I shut my boot however tf I want to.
Also a pet peeve of mine! When I got my ‘96 Civic, it actually didn’t have any handles in the boot, at all, so I was forced to close it with hands on the paint work.
That was until I found some small plastic handles, took a dremel to the interior trim, and added my own
Just use the number plate. What a stupid post. Were you out of ideas ? Not to mention you’ll be closong it much harder and hence cause more damage. These kind of posts reduce the IQ of the whole community.
i knew i wasnt the only person that felt like this;-;
100% with mat on this one, tell the missis all the time
абе я се…