I feel I must point out that a large number of tests were carried out
during the design of the faceplate to give as large a viewing angle
as possible, for both left and right seating positions.

Due to the design of the VFD itself, the actual phosphor is some distance
behind the glass, and the inevitable result is that the viewing angle is
not optimal for a contoured fascia. That said, I think calling it a "really bad
design" is somewhat insulting to the people who spend weeks on it.

It's not my personal favourite, I'll admit, but that is more of a stylistic
thing rather than any criticism of the implementation. Some compromises had to
be made during the design, and it was pointed out (by me, in fact), that if the
unit was mounted very low it lost a few pixels off the top. However, (a) there
wasn't any really practical way of solving this, and (b) the vast majority of
cars install the radio much closer to normal eye level.

The only reason I really made a point of it was that at the time I had a
Citroen BX, in which the radio is behind a flap down just in front of the
gear stick, which isn't really a particularly good place anyway. Mind you,
that's the French for you :)

On balance, I don't think anything else could have been done to fix this
(very rare) problem. I can only suggest finding a way to either tilt it very slightly or move it higher, or simply live with it.

Patrick

Opinions expressed in this email may contain up to 42% water by weight, and are mine. All mine.