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I prefer my 2014 car to anything new i have tried. Buttons are just better.
Bout bloody time, I really hate modern cars
Bring back physical keys!
I don't even mind the option of being controlled in the screen, so long as there are also physical buttons. Radio and climate control should be easily accessible by physical buttons. Also, I really hate the newer aesthetic of looking like someone just jammed a tablet into the consol. There no contouring or anything.
I hate key fobs, I have two cars both with massive fobs. I can't keep both on my keyring if I'm planning to put my keys in my pants pocket. I also hate these stupid things are $200-300 to replace - even more at a dealer.
They don't even make the car more secure or harder to steal. Get rid of them.
The first time I heard that many car manufacturers are getting rid of traditional buttons and odometers in favour of touchscreens, I already thought that it is dangerous.
As always, corporations don't give af.
I don't see an issue to have digital odometer because you don't interact with it
Digital is fine for things that don't need to be touched. Arguably, it's better.
Separate analog odometers are better, because it's a single point of failure otherwise. If one breaks, I can still read all other instruments (fuel, engine temp, speed and/or rpm, whichever failed)
For real, instrument cluster I'm okay having digital. It's not something I need to touch, usually there's steering wheel buttons to interact with it.
Having your whole radio/climate/etc all on one screen with menus and shit is stupid. You can't just reach over and change a setting without looking. I miss when everything was "analog". My first car was a 91 mazda rx7, and I knew exactly where every control was, didn't have to look at anything to operate it.
As someone driving a 2009 Mazda 3 - I really appreciate the simple physical controls in the car. Touch screens are a horrible interface for something you could fiddle with an analog version and get feedback without taking your eyes off the road.
Not saying they shouldn't exist, they can be helpful and useful for displaying information and navigation, hell even controlling the AC and radio and all that but there should also be a physical interface for basic functions.
I know my next vehicle will be electric and I definitely will be swayed by the user interface for things. I do hope car companies are listening to everyone saying they don't want just touch screens and nothing else.
I honestly hate to use the central display to control the AC. In my newer car first you have to press a button on the screen to open the AC control, then you have to set what you want.
On my old one I can do whatever I want without need to look off the road
I have a 2019 mustang, and it's kind of a mixed bag. There are a bunch of controls for AC and head in physical controls, but there's also several you can't use without the screen (like dual zone temps, and niche things like that)
But if thereβs less screens then where will manufacturers put the advertising???
I'm still waiting for someone to try haptic screens.
they already did a study that touchscreens are too distracting and dangerous, buttons are more intuitive and quicker to use, without looking at the menu.
2015 Honda - perfect. Buttons when I wanted buttons. Touch when I wanted touch, and I never had to use it when driving.
2023 Ford - Yeah, it's bad and dangerous.
But screens are cheaper and cars are getting more expensive.
No problem, they'll manage to make them more expensive with buttons as well. I'm trusting the beancounters on that one.
cars are getting more expensive
Good! π
I mean, I get where you're going with this, but as much as we'd like adequate public transit in the US, it's simply not going to happen fast enough for people to not buy cars any more. Prices will keep going up as long as people keep buying, and I don't see that stopping any time soon.
I mean, I get where youβre going with this, but as much as weβd like adequate public transit in the US, itβs simply not going to happen fast enough for people to not buy cars any more. Prices will keep going up as long as people keep buying, and I donβt see that stopping any time soon.
I feel like I might be too cynical in this, but demand is a strange thing, especially in a heavily corporatized country like the States. A less mobile workforce due to more and more folks not being able to afford individual transportation anymore will at some point result in more lobbying from businesses for alternative transport solutions.
But you're right, that might just be wishful trickle-down thinking and from my understanding the States' problem lies more with inherently car-centry city planning anyway and not with just a lack of busses or trains. That is hard to fix.
Yeah we're built entirely around personal transport. Granted public transit in the form of buses should function inside of that, but I think we're SoL when it comes to good rail options. I looked it up once assuming it would be way cheaper to travel by train, and found plane tickets that were not only like 6 days faster, but 1/3 the price.
Thanks, Europe!
For real, so many good things happen here (us) because Europe makes it a thing, and it's too expensive to have separate manufacturing. Unfortunately for those that use iPhones, their requirement of third party app stores doesn't work here, because that's a software setting, and costs them nothing to have different. (Android user btw, don't come at me)
Controlling everything in a car through screens is a safety hazard. It's insane that's even allowed.
It's insane that as of now it's up to manufacturers to self-regulate.
Europe is being awesome once again!
good
i kinda wonder if this is motivated as a non tariff trade barrier to chinese cars designed for the china market which loves apps, touch screens and karaoke in your car π€
As this is about NCAP testing standards and not about EU regulations probably not, but I welcome every bit of support to convince my wife to never buy a tesla again.
I will never even get in a Tesla. I've seen far too many stories of it burning its occupants alive because the manual release for the doors is a hidden feature.
Having to have an intact software/computer system AND power just to leave a vehicle is beyond dumb.
Not to mention, F-ELON. Screw that guy, and I hope every asset he owns becomes worthless.
Maybe but probably not. It's just basic common sense that all car manufacturers need to get on board with. Maybe there's just a coincidence that touchscreens and no physical buttons are cheaper to produce and the Chinese brands that you're referencing are also targeting cheaper production at the cost of road safety.
My experience with country level regulation suggests yes. Usually this sort of thing is targeted at protecting domestic firms from other EU firms. There is always some good sounding reason to do it.
In this case I don't mind at all.
I would also ban touch sensitive fixed controls. My father's Avalon has dedicated controls for the HVAC but they're touch sensitive, so you set the climate controls to 80C and full fan if you just wipe dust off the panel while the car's on.
You should be able to train your hand on the control, get a good grip on it, and then move it in such a way that a control input is realized. It shouldn't have to beep at you to tell you it's done a thing.
I can turn the air conditioner in my pickup on and off by feel alone, same with the basic radio controls.
VW id3, maybe the whole id series, has this bullshit. I test drove the id3 a couple of months ago. Buttons in the wheel are touch, but you can push them as well which feels clunky. rant warning! Giant freaking screen that got mad at me for trying to adjust the ac while driving (supposedly I tap it too fast, and got a time-out). Stupid LEDs under the windshield that tries to communicate stuff by lightning up in either side or move across and shit, that was really confusing. It even had mood lighting. Wtf, in a car?!? Putting the car in sports mode, to get an idea of how it can drain the battery on the motorway, changed the mood from blue to red.
Stupidest fucking car I've ever driven. Went with a fully optioned zoe instead. 5k⬠less for the same year, and actual buttons for stuff. Although I'd like to meet the engineer, who thought sticking buttons behind the wheel where they're hidden, was a good idea.