Recently, Ford (F, Fortune 500) made a surprising announcement: It is adding radio knobs to its hi-tech component control system MyFord Touch. That's a retreat from cutting-edge to old technology -- a man-bites-dog scenario you don't often see in the auto business. And don't expect to see it any more often in the future.
最近，福特汽车公司（Ford）发布了一个让人惊讶的公告：它要在自己高科技含量极高的控制系统MyFord Touch上加装收音机旋钮。这是从最新科技倒退到传统技术，就像“人咬狗”一样，是大家很少能在汽车业看到的新闻，以后也别指望能再发生这类事情。
Here's the background: In attempting to reduce driver distraction and get a jump on competitors, Ford had introduced a voice- and touch-screen system for audio, navigation, and other functions. But drivers found the new system confusing, and Consumer Reports issued a withering report on its functionality. So Ford decided to listen to popular concern and go backwards: It will now make it possible to control volume and frequency with the twist of a knob. "Familiar and easy-to-use knobs are exceptionally good ways for drivers to control in-car entertainment systems," says Kelley Blue Books' Jack Nerad. "They make for less distraction and less frustration, and that translates into more convenience and improved safety."
这一举动的背景是：为了让驾驶者减少分神，同时和竞争对手一较高下，福特推出了音频、导航和其他功能的声控和触屏控制系统。但是驾驶者发现，这个新系统让人困惑，而《消费者报告》（Consumer Reports ）则发表了一份报告，对这个系统的功能大加讽刺。所以福特决定听取大家的意见，走个回头路：装个旋钮，就能控制声音和频率了。《凯利蓝皮书》（Kelley Blue Books，北美二手车行业的标杆性定价杂志——译注）的杰克•尼拉德称：“旋钮大家既熟悉，又好用，是让驾驶者控制车内娱乐系统特别好的手段。它能让人少分心，也没那么难用，这就能带来更大的方便，还能提高安全性。”
What's next? Are we going to see a return to ribbon speedometers, hub-mounted transmission buttons, or three-on-a-tree gear shifters? Not likely. In fact, the industry is moving in a different direction; many of the features that drivers of a certain age find familiar are dying out or already dead. Here's a partial list:
下一步怀旧穿越会是什么呢？是不是我们会看到各厂商纷纷采用带状速度计（ribbon speedometers），装在轮毂上的传动装置按钮（hub-mounted transmission button），或者说三档变速杆？不太可能。实际上，汽车业正在朝完全不同的方向发展。现在一定年纪的驾驶者曾经熟悉的很多功能要么正在消失，要么早已销声匿迹。下面就是其中的一部分：
1. Manual transmissions
1.手动变速器
Traditional clutch-controlled manual transmissions have certified for the endangered list longer than the black-footed ferret. Automatic transmissions that don't require a third pedal have simply become slicker, smoother, more efficient, less expensive to buy, and easier on fuel consumption. Manual shifts as a percentage of cars sold had shrunk by half in the last decade to 3.8%, according to Edmunds.com, though they experienced a brief rebound in 2012. The popularity of manumatic shifters along with eight-speed automatics like the one found on the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee should further limit the desirability of stick shifts and limit their availability to specialty models.
传统的离合器控制的手动变速器名列濒危物种名单的时间比黑足鼬（唯一原产于北美的雪貂——译注）还长。相比之下，自动变速器只需要两个踏板，而且早已变得更平滑、更高效、更廉价，更省油。知名汽车网站Edmunds.com称，过去十年间，新车销售中手动档的比例已大幅下跌至3.8%，尽管2012年有过短暂反弹。手自一体变速器和2014款吉普大切诺基（Jeep Grand Cherokee）这类车所用的八速自动变速器正日益普及，这会让人们更不愿意选购手排档，也会让一些特定车型更少选装它。
2. Keys
2.车钥匙
Long ago replaced by the fob as the preferred way to open trunks and unlock doors -- when was the last time you saw an external keyhole anywhere on a car? -- stamped metal keys have been made redundant by ignitions that use start/stop buttons. On higher-end cars, the fob unlocks the door when the key-holder approaches the car, so it need not be lifted from a pocket or purse. Parking garage attendants complain that forgetful customer are forever walking away with their keys and leaving their cars immobilized, but they are in the minority. Coming next: cars that can be unlocked and started with your smartphone.
电子钥匙取代传统钥匙成为车主打开后备箱和车门最喜欢的方式已有很长时间了——你还记得最后一次看见车身上的钥匙孔是什么时候？——现在用一键启动按钮点火已让模铸金属钥匙变得多余了。在一些高端车上，当带着电子钥匙的车主接近自己的车时，车门就会自动打开，这样电子钥匙就不必从口袋或包里拿出来了。而停车场工作人员常常抱怨称一些健忘的车主老是停车后不拔车钥匙，不过这类人总是少数。而今后，用智能手机就能打开车门，启动汽车了。
3. Crank windows
3.手摇车窗
You can still find them on stripper versions of low-end models used for trumpeting rock-bottom prices -- assuming that stripper version can be found at all -- but seldom anywhere else. Nobody misses them, except for those people who chronically fail to close their windows and thus must restart. As for electric window lifts, they have become so well-established, they became eligible for Medicare this year: They were invented in 1948.
一些低端裸配车型上还能找到这种装置，它们是被用来吆喝地板价的——前提是市场上还真有这种车型——但其实很少能看到它们了。没人会怀念这东西，除了那些老是忘了关窗只能重新启动的人。至于说电动摇窗机，它们现在早已根深蒂固、无处不在了，今年凭它的一把年纪都有资格享受老年医保了：要知道它们可是1948年就发明出来了。
4. Antennas
4.天线
The power exterior antenna for am-fm radio reception and its retro-style cousin, the whip antenna, are long gone. Their functions have been embedded in the rear windshield or a shark fin-shaped enclosure that sits just above it on the roof and can also handle GPS and telephone signals. The big exception is the police car, which still spouts a variety of antennas for scanners, CB radios, and computers. On the plus side, that makes them easier to spot at speed traps.
用来接收调幅调频收音机信号的强力外置天线、以及它那早就过气的表亲伸缩天线早已不见踪影了。它们的功能已被植入后挡风玻璃的装置或是车顶后部安装的鲨鱼鳍配件给取代了，这些装置还能接收GPS和电话信号。不过警车还是一大例外，它还是顶着一堆天线，分别用于接收扫描器、民用无线电和电脑的信号。这些天线的好处是能让警车更容易监测超速车辆。
5. Handbrake
5.手刹
Also known as safety or emergency brakes, handbrakes are increasingly being replaced by electric brakes that first appeared on the 2001 Renault Vel Satis. With the decline of manual transmissions, you no longer need handbrakes to hold a car on an incline while you delicately engage the clutch. And a new feature called "hill hold" takes over when your car is stopped while climbing and then releases when the driver pushes the gas pedal.
手刹也叫安全制动器或紧急制动器，现在正日益被电子制动器取代，后者于2001年首次出现在雷诺（Renault）的威赛帝（Vel Satis）上。随着手排挡日渐式微，车主在斜坡上小心翼翼地踩着离合时再也不需要用手刹来稳住车了。而在爬坡过程中当车停下时，一项名为“坡道辅助系统”（hill hold）的新功能就会刹住车，等到司机踩下油门时才会让车重新启动。
6. Bias-ply tires
6.斜交胎
In bias-ply tires, the cords were set at angles of travel, so they criss-crossed over each other. By comparison, radial tires avoid having the plies rub against each other as the tire flexes, thus reducing the tire's rolling friction and producing greater fuel economy. The first radial tire designs were patented in 1915, and Michelin developed them for passenger cars in 1946. But Detroit bitterly resisted their adoption because they were more costly, produced a harsher ride, and required costly suspension adjustments. Demands from consumers after the 1973 gas crisis changed its mind, and by 1983, all new cars came equipped with radials. Along with airbags and multivalve engines, the demise of bias-ply tires remains a landmark of the Detroit Three's resistance to change.
在斜交胎上，帘线是按照行驶的角度来排布的，因此它们会纵横交织在一起。而相比之下，子午胎在轮胎弯曲时会避免胎面相互摩擦挤压，这样就能减小轮胎的滚动阻力，也能更加省油。1915年，第一个子午胎设计获得了专利，米其林公司（Michelin）1946年为乘用车开发了这种轮胎。但是底特律的车企们一开始却强烈抵制这种轮胎，因为它们成本更高，胎噪更大，还需要更昂贵的悬挂调校。1973年的石油危机爆发后，客户的要求迫使这些企业改变了想法。到了1983年，所有新车都装备了子午胎。和气囊及多气门发动机一样，斜交胎的消亡也是底特律三巨头抵制改革的象征之一。
7. Bench seats
7.横排长座
Flat, three-across front and rear seats were standard equipment in American cars until the arrival of smaller and sportier models in the late 1950s. By installing two smaller bucket seats in front, manufacturers were able to increase seating room and leave room for a floor-mounted gear shifter. Although buckets were sportier, offered greater lateral support, and provided secure seat belt anchors, front bench seats held on in larger cars until they became extinct in the second decade of 21st century when the Chevrolet Impala was replaced with a newer model in 2013. Sentimentalists noted that their decline paralleled that of drive-in movie theatres.
可坐下三人的平坦的前后座是美式车的标准配置，直到1950年代出现了车型更小、更为运动化的汽车之后，这种局面才告一段落。通过在前排安装两个较小的桶状座椅，汽车厂商就能增加乘坐空间，同时为安装在车内地板上的排挡杆腾出地方来。尽管桶状座椅更有运动感，能提供更好的承托，还能使用安全带，但在一些大型车上，横排长座的地位依然不可动摇，直到21世纪的第二个十年它们才告别历史舞台——2013年，雪佛兰英帕拉（Impala）终于换上了新型座椅。而怀旧的人们则哀叹，这种座椅的衰落是与汽车影院的消亡同时发生的。
8. Hardtop convertibles
8.硬顶敞篷车
Sometimes called "pillarless hardtops," hardtop convertibles were built without a central roof pillar so they would look like a convertible with the top raised. Along with other design excesses like tailfins, they became popular in the 1950s when annual styling changes had designers searching for new ideas, and the style spread to four-doors and even station wagons. But hardtops are inherently less rigid, and they needed to be reinforced with a heavier structure. The hardtop convertible began to disappear in the mid-1970s, partly out of a concern about federal safety regulations, and the 1978 Chrysler Newport and New Yorker became the last true hardtops. Today manufacturers today like to mimic the style by blacking out the central pillar instead of eliminating it.
有时候这种车也叫“无柱式硬顶车”，它没有车顶的中间支撑柱，所以看起来就像一辆升起车顶的敞篷车。和尾鳍这类多余的设计一样，它们在20世纪50年代风靡一时。当时每年一变的风格要求设计师必须找到新创意，所以这种风格很快用到了四门车甚至是旅行车上。但这种硬顶本质上就不够坚固，所以必须要用更繁重的结构来支撑。20世纪70年代中期，硬顶敞篷车开始逐渐消失，部分原因是因为担心受到联邦行车安全法规的处罚。1978年出品的克莱斯勒Newport和New Yorker也就成了最后两款真正的硬顶车。而现在汽车厂商们喜欢把B柱刷黑，而不是取消它，以模仿这种风格。
9. 85 mph speedometers
9.时速85英里速度计
Remember the "Double Nickel?" That was the federal law passed in 1974 that prohibited speed limits higher than 55 mph as a fuel-saving measure. Five years later during the Carter administration, NHTSA required speedometers include a special emphasis on the number 55 to keep drivers focused on the legal rate and forbid them from registering a maximum speed above 85 mph. The speedometer limits didn't govern the speed of the car, though, and the 85 mph max looked pretty silly on cars like the Chevy Corvette. NHTSA began rolling back the regulation in 1981 after discovering it did little to change driver behavior. Today, speedometers routinely go to 160 mph, even though the maximum allowable speed limit is less than half that.
还记得“两个5”（Double Nickel）吗？这是1974年联邦通过的一项法案，它要求汽车最高限速不得超过时速55英里，以节省燃油。五年后，在卡特总统执政期间，美国公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）要求速度计必须在55这个数字上加上特别标志，以让驾驶者注意法定时速上限，同时还不允许最大时速超过85英里。不过，这种限速速度计并未能绑住汽车飞驰的速度，而85英里的最高时速在雪佛兰科尔维特（Corvette）这样的车上显得傻透了。1981年NHTSA开始重审这项规定，因为它发现这个法案对改变驾驶者行为来说收效甚微。到了今天，速度计的最大刻度往往能达到时速160英里，不过真正允许的最大时速还不到这个速度的一半。
10. Spare tires
10.备胎
As manufacturers search for ways to reduce cost and weight, the full-size spare tire is headed the way of the passenger pigeon. Tires may still go flat, but cars will be equipped with donut spares or motorized patch kits or sometimes nothing at all. Run-flat tires, with either automatic sealing or reinforced sidewalls, can fill some of the void, but they are more expensive and compromise ride quality. Nobody enjoys extracting a dirty spare from the under-carriage of a minivan or figuring out how to operate an unfamiliar jacking system, but there was a certain security in knowing that you could always find your way home after a flat no matter the day or time.
当汽车厂商开始设法降低成本、减轻车重时，全尺寸备胎就成了被踢出历史舞台的首选。车胎可能还是会瘪掉，但现在的车可能只会装一个“多纳圈备胎”（donut spare，即非全尺寸备胎——译注），或是维修工具，甚至干脆什么都没有！防爆胎要么有自动防漏功能，要么胎壁做了强化，所以有时候它能防止部分漏气。但这种胎要贵得多，而且驾乘品质会受影响。谁都不喜欢从面包车的下托架上取出一个脏兮兮的备胎换上，或是琢磨怎么用那个并不熟悉的千斤顶。但是不管什么时候发生爆胎之后，知道自己总能有办法回家的信心还是很重要的。
11. Hinged vent windows
11.铰链式通风窗
To fill that awkward space between the windshield pillar and the movable window itself, some engineer lost to memory created the tilt or hinged vent window. Much beloved by tobacco lovers because of its ability to suck smoke out of the car, they began to vanish on passenger cars in the 1960s as air conditioning became more popular and designers looked for ways to reduce weight and get a cleaner look. Their extinction would be mourned by forgetful drivers who used them for easy entry after locking their keys inside.
为了把挡风玻璃立柱和活动车窗之间那块尴尬的空间填上，一些工程师就设计了这种倾斜的或所谓铰链式的通风窗。这种窗户格外受到吸烟人士的青睐，因为它能将烟雾吸出窗外。20世纪60年代，随着车用空调开始普及，设计师开始设法减轻车重，同时赋予汽车更整洁的外观，这种窗户开始从乘用车上消失了。对那些健忘的驾驶者来说，它们的消失值得惋惜，因为这让他们在把车钥匙落在车里后能方便地开门去取。
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