I posted a quick photo of the Saab Night Panel recently on Twitter with the following caption “Saab Night Panel, for when you want to focus on the important things in life”. It’s been one of the many Saab innovations that I’ve admired for years, and from the overwhelming response, it seems I’m not alone:
“Modern dash panels ruin night vision and most are a real fiddle to dim. This feature was brilliantly simple and simply brilliant. Made me love my Talladega even more”
“Soooo miss this feature, hate modern dashboards which are like games arcades, it’s almost as if what’s outside your car doesn’t matter”
“I need one of these for my brain”
“Best feature ever. More cars need it. So much light pollution at night in cars these days”
“With the inside of cars starting to resemble mobile discos I do miss this”
“This was always a feature I loved, especially when it lit the whole console back up as you approached 90mph”
Saab understood that a driver’s focus is the most important function of cockpit design; Switch off the light and you’ll see better. When you drive at night it is important to have as few distracting light sources as possible. You should be able to concentrate on keeping your eyes on the traffic around you and on the road ahead. And realistically, all you really need to be able to check is the speedometer. Which is exactly what you get you you switch on the Night Panel in your Saab. The rest of the instrumentation is blacked out to give your eyes a rest. It is only illuminated on a ‘need to know’ basis. Yet another safety feature from Saab.
It seems to me that the world needs Saab innovation right now, form, function and beauty.
