|
I am a trained human factors engineer and an M2 owner. I agree that the gauge cluster is extremely difficult to see in certain lighting conditions. The specific conditions that I have issues with the gauges is when driving towards the sun, with trees closely along side the road that limit the available light to reflect off of the gauges.
I think the gauges are likely under the recommended contrast ratio under these lighting conditions, while they are above the recommended contrast ration in most other lighting conditions. While there are guidelines for the contrast ratio on gauge displays, these guidelines can't take into account each of our unique experiences because our eye-brain interpretations of the contrast is unique.
I do not beleive that increasing the illuminace of the gauges by turning on the red/orange of the backlighting will lead to a noticable increase in our perceptions of contrast due to the specific characteristics of the lighting conditions that cause the issue. The backlighting would need to provide a greater degree of contrast than the red/orange can to provide effective readability. My recommendation to the designers would be to use white backlighting, or numbers and tick marks with higher reflectance to provide the contrast needed.
|