In most of the new cars many of the displays and controls have been moved to a large touch screen and the traditional items removed. In the Telsa Cybertruck that has been taken to an extreme and except for a few things on the steering wheel everything has been moved to the large display. Here is a picture:
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2024-tesla-cybertruck-foundation-series-interior-review/photos/
Instead of being able to control things like heater, air conditioner, radio, etc., with a single button and motion you now have to first manipulate several steps on the touch screen to get to the item you want to change.
So are the new designs for the better, or do they in some way compromise safety?
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2024-tesla-cybertruck-foundation-series-interior-review/photos/
Instead of being able to control things like heater, air conditioner, radio, etc., with a single button and motion you now have to first manipulate several steps on the touch screen to get to the item you want to change.
So are the new designs for the better, or do they in some way compromise safety?
I detest them: having to take your eyes off the road to navigate and swipe through menus, instead of pressing or turning a button, is dangerous. Sometimes, as with our Mazda CX-30 (same dash as Mazda 3), the maker includes buttons and knobs for common functions, which is good. Also, Mazda deliberately didn't make its system a touch screen.
Other makers who shall remain nameless use the screen for just about everything. A pox on them.
We test drove a Hyundai Tucson as well as the Mazda and glare made the screen almost invisible at times. Then, when it was visible, the plethora of fingerprints made the large screen look rather grotty.
A basic physics question: if you're doing 100km/h, and take your eyes off the road for six seconds to find and adjust something in the @#$**&?! menu, how far will you travel?
Geoff
Other makers who shall remain nameless use the screen for just about everything. A pox on them.
We test drove a Hyundai Tucson as well as the Mazda and glare made the screen almost invisible at times. Then, when it was visible, the plethora of fingerprints made the large screen look rather grotty.
A basic physics question: if you're doing 100km/h, and take your eyes off the road for six seconds to find and adjust something in the @#$**&?! menu, how far will you travel?
Geoff
The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) has raised concerns, asserting that touch screens pose significant risks to drivers.
They recommend reverting to physical buttons for essential controls.
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/...uch screens pose significant risks to drivers.
They recommend reverting to physical buttons for essential controls.
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/...uch screens pose significant risks to drivers.
I don't think it's cost so much that's driving the trend. It's more the idea that most people now days, especially younger ones, are used to do everything by touching the screen on their cell phones. So, the idea is to make the car console to be just a giant touch screen. I big cell phone in essence.
At the emergency room or at the cemetery, as the case may be. The lucky ones will take the hump next time.
Serious and traditional car brands are gradually returning to classic buttons, reducing touch-screen controls.
Tesla is neither one nor the other. It's just a toy for big kids. Even the fact that it is disposable also leans in this direction. In case you didn't know, the chassis is made by injection under pressure and is monobloc - cheap to produce and assemble, but a bend leads to total damage. There is enough information on the net.
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Absolutely terrible design - you should absolutely be able to operate most things purely by feel, without taking your eyes off the road. Touch screens are annoying enough on phones and tablets; they should have no place in primary controls in a vehicle. I hate digital oscilloscope control interfaces enough where you have one knob that performs several menu selected functions, and that’s something I can look at without endangering myself or others.
I too think it’s likely largely cost driven - much cheaper to implement something in software and control through CAN bus than to make physical controls and incorporate the needed connectors and wiring for them. Plus it looks 'hi tech' to those that don’t think it through.
-Pat
I too think it’s likely largely cost driven - much cheaper to implement something in software and control through CAN bus than to make physical controls and incorporate the needed connectors and wiring for them. Plus it looks 'hi tech' to those that don’t think it through.
-Pat
While not a fanboy of either the company or its CEO / mouthpiece, there’s more than a small measure of misinformation/ FUD in that last sentence; at least according to the always infallible ‘net.
Six seconds is an eternity. That says you don’t know your vehicle. I think your example is a gross exaggeration.
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Not at all: my wife was driving and I was trying to change the navigation (turn off the voice), it probably took me longer than that.
Correct in us not knowing the car: we hadn't driven that make of car before and it was a test drive from a dealer - and yes, you would get used to it, but even two seconds, which might be what a regular driver might spend, is too long.
We really didn't like that feature at all.
Geoff
Correct in us not knowing the car: we hadn't driven that make of car before and it was a test drive from a dealer - and yes, you would get used to it, but even two seconds, which might be what a regular driver might spend, is too long.
We really didn't like that feature at all.
Geoff
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I really don't think it has anything to do with cost. It's more the idea that people want something as you say that is "hi tech". And that's until they realize that the existing way was better and safer. You can see the trend already starting to return to discrete controls in Europe.
Are manufacturers selling what people want now? This is news to me. I was still thinking that they sell what gives them the most profit. And it's often the exact opposite of what most people want. Modern car touch controls are a tool to sell again the apps and services you mostly already have on your phone. Convenience and ergonomics are coming last on this design choice.
And not being 'ageist' but I know more than a few octagenarians who are perfectly capable behind the wheel but are from a generation where all this technology on a touchscreen is just a minefield that they will never get used to. An elderly lady very close to me has a 2021 BMw 220 and she cannot get to grips with the Idrive and I can't say I can blame her. It isn't intuitive.
Latest Tesla 3 has no indicator stalk, just buttons on the wheel. So you have to keep your hands in the same spot on the wheel while driving around a roundabout. You'd maybe get used to it but it's ergonomically much worse than a stalk that is naturally where you need it and easy to find without looking. Same with the transmission - you have to swipe the screen to get drive or reverse, which need you to look. And again.. heater controls, much better with a knob. Bring back sane ergonomics!
Ultimately any manufacturer has to sell what the people want. Otherwise, there will be no or little sales. The manufacturers can influence tastes and trends for a while, but in the long run the consumers dictated what will sell and what will not.
The interesting thing about advertising and media is that public opinion can be influenced for a very long time.
And that's the central factor: what do people want? Do they know what (and why) they want?
Do they have enough facts to gain an "independent" opinion?
Do they want what the neighbours have?
Do they want what people in movies and magazines have?
Do they realize what they really need to be happy?
Okay, that part is easy to understand. First thing I did when I bought my new car was to drive it straight home, grab the manual from the glove box and head up to my easy chair. I read one chapter at a time and then went out to the car to try what I just learned. I did that until the manual was finished. I felt a lot more comfortable than trying to learn anything on the fly. Now it is second nature so my eyes only look away from the road for a split second, never as much as two. So much of what you do is on the steering wheel so you aren't even turning your head, just lowering your eyes.
Once you become more comfortable, you will likely realize the dashboards of today are in fact safer.