Buttons Are Back Baby!

[Cristiano]

Goodbye, Tesla-style giant touchscreens: cars return to physical buttons

Between new regulations in China, European safety tests and growing pushback from carmakers themselves, automotive design is abandoning its obsession with screens and putting safety, ergonomics and “eyes-off” usability back at the center of the project.

www.domusweb.it

 

[Free]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Goodbye, Tesla-style giant touchscreens: cars return to physical buttons

Between new regulations in China, European safety tests and growing pushback from carmakers themselves, automotive design is abandoning its obsession with screens and putting safety, ergonomics and “eyes-off” usability back at the center of the project.

www.domusweb.it

100% positive development, no notes. I don't have a car new enough to have a touchscreen in it, but I've ridden in more than a few and it's always just like this permanently dirty, gross surface in a car that's otherwise totally clean.

Also I'm weird because before I clicked on the thread, when I saw the title the first thing I thought about was these things.

 

[Noodles]

100% positive development, no notes. I don't have a car new enough to have a touchscreen in it, but I've ridden in more than a few and it's always just like this permanently dirty, gross surface in a car that's otherwise totally clean.

I mean, cars with knobs get gross too. Right? At least mine does. Its not like they are cleanable... right? Right??

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I mean, cars with knobs get gross too. Right? At least mine does. Its not like they are cleanable... right? Right??

Sure, but you can clean off your radio buttons and they're not immediately grimy. It takes a while. You give your car interior and windows a good wipe-down once every week or two and it looks clean inside.

A touchscreen though, you can clean that all you want - it's going to be very obviously, conspicuously grease-smudged the very next time you use it, and it will just get worse from there.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I have a 2022 Civic, and while it has a large screen it only does navigation and audio. On my 1977 MG, it has all buttons, they just don't always work (never expect heat in an English car).

 

[Free]

My Mazda has a screen (not large) but everything operates on it by a dial in the console. Which was aggravating while learning how it worked, but now I change stations on my car radio without taking my eyes off the road.

Also, I often run my phone apps through the screen. Google Maps is annoying at times but far superior to the mapping provided under the Mazda Connect features.

 

[Lexxi]

Sure, but you can clean off your radio buttons and they're not immediately grimy. It takes a while. You give your car interior and windows a good wipe-down once every week or two and it looks clean inside.

A touchscreen though, you can clean that all you want - it's going to be very obviously, conspicuously grease-smudged the very next time you use it, and it will just get worse from there.

Ah, hmm, how to say this, hmm. You might want to wash your hands more often.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Even the cleanest hands will leave fingerprints on a touchscreen. I am a compulsive hand-washer, and I still have to keep wiping down the screen on my phone.

I have a fairly modern car - a 2016 Dodge Dart. There is a touchscreen option for the radio, but I got the one with buttons and knobs instead. I don't like the idea of needing to take my eyes off the road to change stations or whatever. Control buttons on the steering wheel are a nice plus.

 

[Casey Pelous]

... car interior and windows a good wipe-down once every week or two ...

 

[Essence Lumin]

I have a 2019 Camry that has a screen but it isn't a touch screen. It has gps but Toyota discontinued the software and no Google stuff so it is useless. I think the only time I notice it is it uses a couple of lines to show the current artist and song on the fm channel I'm listening to, breaking the text in the wrong places, and when it says be safe or something when I turn on the engine.