European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 1743 points –
European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls
arstechnica.com
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I only have old vehicles and I'm actually shocked that these things are operated via touchscreen on modern cars - I thought they were just for unnecessary infotainment stuff...

To change the temperature of the air, seats, or clear windows, I have to look down and across, away completely from the road, and watch my fingers press "buttons". Or worse, use menus!

At some point it feels like I'll crash because I can't see through the fogged up window, or I'll crash because I was looking at touch screen instead of road.

Not crashed yet, but lot swerves.

This is insane. Why is it illegal to use a phone while driving (here in the UK at least) but not that? They are basically the same thing!

Ford? If so I feel your pain. The controls for the ventilation in their infotainment system are godawful. The time between input and output is so long that you have to look down to hit the "button" to bring up the ventilation menu, look back to the road while it takes 2 literal seconds for the menu to pop up, then look back down to the diagram of the vents to decide what you want blowing or not blowing, hit the right "buttons" and then wait for the thing to respond and do what you asked. Meanwhile you've gone 1/4 mile at highway speeds with your eyes barely on the road.

What was wrong with a dial with all the possible vent combinations? I want the defroster on and I want hot air on my feet? That's at 7 o'clock. Just blast my face? 12 noon. It was simple, it worked. It did not require looking away from the road once you were familiar with it.

It is a Ford. I just want buttons. We also have a Citroen eBerlingo and it more primitive (cheaper) but the upside of that is old school buttons.