If you’re looking for the next vehicle that you’re going to drive for several years, you might want to think about what it took to bring a vehicle to you that has what you need to have a reliable and competent ride on the roads you travel every day. Automakers use prototype vehicles to test what they plan to bring to the market and try to include the newest and most futuristic technology in the models they work to develop. The trouble is, there are several different ways a prototype can go wrong and challenge the team during development.

Here are some of the challenges that are often faced with prototypes when they are being tested:

Brakes –Because the focus for many different prototypes is somewhere other than the brakes, it’s not uncommon for the brakes to fail during testing. Unless an automaker is working to offer us a brand new braking system, this part of the car could fail and cause issues during a run on a test track. This is something that test drivers have to be aware of before they get behind the wheel and take the vehicle out for a drive.

Gauges –The test cars and prototypes used for testing different aspects of a car often don’t require gauges to be working in order to test what the vehicle can do. This part of the car is often not even hooked up or working when the vehicle is being tested, but the different items needed to offer the readouts and results of the test are included in the prototype as it takes to the track. Thankfully, most of these cars are tested on closed circuits that make it much easier to recover the vehicle should something go wrong during the test.

Vents –Because test runs are typically short in duration and the purpose is to learn more about the vehicle, the frills that we have in our cars are often left out. The air coming into the prototype may be blowing through a tube in the dashboard that has no vents to allow the air to be moved directionally for the drive. Test drivers have gotten used to this fact and know the purpose of the car is to learn about the workings of the engine and not to be a visually pleasing part of the ride out on the test track.

Windows –Another area of the car that often doesn’t work at all in a prototype is the windows. The test driver isn’t going to be able to put their window down and hang their arm out for a bit of sunshine during the drive, but that’s ok. These tests are designed to learn more about the car and most automakers have perfected the operation of windows that move up and down in the doors to give access to the outside and make it easier to have the comfort needed when driving along on the test drive to learn more about the technology under the hood.

Knocks –If you get into a prototype and take it out for a drive on the test track you’re going to hear issues under the hood of the car. This is typically the main area of the car that’s being tested and because its considered to be in the experimental phase of the development of the car, you’ll hear noises that aren’t normally heard when you head out on the roads in your area in the cars that make it from being a prototype to one that can be offered to the public for the drive.

Communication System –Even though the engineers hook up a communication system for the aspects of the vehicle they want to learn more about in a prototype, sometimes, the communication system doesn’t function correctly. This won’t end the day for any team, but the system may need to be hooked back up in order to make it possible for the team to gather the information needed. If you thought prototype vehicles were built with the perfection and car that a car shows when you see it on the lot at your nearby dealership, you’d be absolutely wrong about the purpose and the build of a prototype.