Ban touch-screen controls in cars!

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Tue 30 May 2023 09:23
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Grenache

Discussion starter:

Ban touch-screen controls in cars!

I despair at the increasing trend of having touch-screen controls and feel that they are a safety risk. My older cars have physical buttons for everything (aircon, radio, demisters and so on). When I’m driving and want to operate any necessary control, such as the demister, I can feel for the button without having to take my eyes off the road. I can’t necessarily stop to operate a control, e.g. on a motorway with a sudden cold shower of rain will require me to change the heating control to stop the windscreen fogging up.

However on the newer cars more of these controls are on a touch screen, and it’s almost impossible to find the button without taking your eyes off the road. More and more, it’s not just the infotainment settings, but essentials like the heating controls.

I’m currently driving a hired Hyundai Tuscan and the heating controls are low down on the touch screen, and being completely flat I can’t find the button without taking my eyes off the road for longer than I’d like to.

What are your thoughts on this?

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Tue 30 May 2023 09:46
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - sammy1

I am not a fan of touch screens. Regardless of the way that they work I just don't think they suit the lines of a dash internally. Just thrown in as an after thought and as to the fingerprints they never look tidy. I agree not a good idea to take you eyes of the road.

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Tue 30 May 2023 09:48
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Terry W

The solution is not to rewind to pre 2000, but to use voice recognition software to allow drivers to change settings without moving hands from steering wheel.

Some cars already have some functionality so hardly a big leap.

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Tue 30 May 2023 10:24
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Adampr

The only thing worse than touch screens is voice 'control'. Both completely pointless, other than giving a manufacturer the ability to roll all controls into a £50 tablet and charge £500 for a replacement.

All we need is a HUD with Google maps or Waze.

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Tue 30 May 2023 10:24
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - kiss (keep it simple)

I hired a Tesla for a day as a birthday treat for me and my daughter. She was too young to drive it, but made an excellent (and essential) systems operator.

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Tue 30 May 2023 11:08
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - elekie&a/c doctor
What happened to ergonomics? Steering wheels are just as bad now , with a million and one functions
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Tue 30 May 2023 16:53
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - focussed
Our Accord has voice control as an alternative to manual control, but there are literally dozens of voice commands to learn - easier to use the manual controls.
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Tue 30 May 2023 10:23
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Bolt

I can understand why so many drivers are not looking at the road, instead they are concentrating on the settings in dash, imo they should go back to standard controls that most knew where to get hold of them to adjust

not a fan of voice control as have heard they take a while to get it right as to instruction/s but it has been said they can get confused by the way some say things, ie not everyone speaks clearly, but then I don`t have voice and don`t even use on phone as it gets confused...

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Tue 30 May 2023 10:31
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Lee Power

My previous vehicle was a 308 T9 & lots of the vehicle functions where controlled via the touchscreen, after a while I found it wasn't very user friendly.

My current vehicle is a Toyota C-HR & the touch screen only controls the infotainment & navigation plus it has voice activation from the steering wheel button for those functions.

Android auto ( Apple Carplay ) also work via the touchscreen but again voice activation via the steering wheel button.

The vehicle set up functions are also in the touch screen & dash display but the vehicle is smart enough to lock out those functions unless the vehicle is in park with the parking brake applied.

Toyota have got it spot on, a mixture of touch screens & buttons for other controls.

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Tue 30 May 2023 10:46
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - movilogo

For few things, like climate control, I prefer physical buttons/knobs/dials.

But for other things like infotainment, navigation etc. I find touchscreen fine.

I hate Tesla's single screen approach though.

Let's accept that we live in a touchscreen age, there is no way out. Younger generation is growing up with touchscreen and they are mostly comfortable with it.

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Tue 30 May 2023 11:29
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Bolt

Let's accept that we live in a touchscreen age, there is no way out. Younger generation is growing up with touchscreen and they are mostly comfortable with it.

Only with Mobiles/ Tablets and in car, most pc screens are not touch yet and the sensitivity of said screens on most could be better unless you have top of the range

I was told that some screens are touch sensitivity adjustable but most aren`t, so you have a hit and miss touchscreen which is not clever if you need something in a hurry

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Tue 30 May 2023 11:44
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Andrew-T

Let's accept that we live in a touchscreen age, there is no way out. Younger generation is growing up with touchscreen and they are mostly comfortable with it.

The simple fact is that a 21st-century car has far too many functions for them all to be controllable via buttons - hence the touchscreen. I suppose there might be a compromise, keeping buttons for controls which are commonly needed while driving, with the more 'permanent' settings behind a menu system.

Even millennials and Gen-Z usually look at any touchscreen they use, especially while walking down the street !

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Tue 30 May 2023 12:17
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - sammy1

If your touch screen breaks or malfunctions presumable a large part of the car is u/s and there is the expense of having all the controls in one basket so to speak.

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Tue 30 May 2023 12:32
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Bolt

If your touch screen breaks or malfunctions presumable a large part of the car is u/s and there is the expense of having all the controls in one basket so to speak.

Depends how bad the break is, just because a split in the glass occurs doesn`t make the screen useless

and malfunctions occur with the hardware and software, more likely software now rather than hardware...

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Tue 30 May 2023 13:36
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - John F

Toyota have got it spot on, a mixture of touch screens & buttons for other controls.

Our 2019 Peugeot 2008 also has an ergonomically sensible mixture, e.g buttons and toggle switches for air and temperature control. Once the radio stations are set up on the touch screen they can be controlled from the steering wheel.

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Tue 30 May 2023 12:29
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Manatee

With something like HVAC, the now almost traditional 3 knobs for temp, fan, and distribution are difficult to improve on IMO.

Some manufacturer' seem ambivalent about the safety aspect. There's a touch screen in the MX-5 for nav/phone/ICE and some other settings, but it is deactivated as to touch operation at >6mph, for safety reasons!

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Tue 30 May 2023 14:04
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - movilogo

but it is deactivated as to touch operation at >6mph, for safety reasons!

More like Mazda can't be bothered to update their hardware. Lexus followed this approach for a long time but finally they are offering full touch screens at any speed.

Some marques offer dual approach, both touch screen and rotary/iDrive type operation - you choose what suits you best, rather than preaching their own preferences.

If inputting address in sat nav, then non touch screen operation is absolute pain.

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Tue 30 May 2023 14:23
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - catsdad

I am sure touch screens will develop. For example by giving “feel” to images or areas of the screen so you can find button images by touch.
For example voice control has improved since my old Mondeo where placing a phone call took several minutes . It didn’t like my perfect Scots diction. Eventually an exaggerated English accent just might enable me to “fewn hewm”

The biggest range of buttons I encountered was on my Saab 9-5. I don’t remember finding the right one ever being an issue in the wrap around dash design. And, as many here will know, at night you could suppress the lighting to only illuminate the essential functions.

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Tue 30 May 2023 17:56
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Grenache


For example voice control has improved since my old Mondeo where placing a phone call took several minutes . It didn’t like my perfect Scots diction. Eventually an exaggerated English accent just might enable me to “fewn hewm”

Voice recogniion wowuld always be a problem, not just with the background road noise, but accents too...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDnxzrbxn4

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Tue 30 May 2023 18:50
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - mcb100
Have a go in a car with an Android OS (Volvo/Polestar, Renault Megane E-Tech & Austral, maybe more I’m not aware of).
You log into your Google account in the car (2 minutes to create if you haven’t got one) and Robert’s your father’s brother.
‘Hey, Google. Driver’s temperature 19 degrees’ and it’s done. ‘Hey, Google. Play Radio 2’. ‘Hey, Google. Find me a climbing wall in Leeds’.
It’s not limited to the car’s inbuilt vocabulary, instead it uses phrases understood by Google.
And if you’ve got climate control, how often do you need to fiddle with the setting. Just set it to Auto and leave it there….

Edited by mcb100 on 30/05/2023 at 18:51

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Tue 30 May 2023 19:16
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Adampr
Have a go in a car with an Android OS (Volvo/Polestar, Renault Megane E-Tech & Austral, maybe more I’m not aware of). You log into your Google account in the car (2 minutes to create if you haven’t got one) and Robert’s your father’s brother. ‘Hey, Google. Driver’s temperature 19 degrees’ and it’s done. ‘Hey, Google. Play Radio 2’. ‘Hey, Google. Find me a climbing wall in Leeds’. It’s not limited to the car’s inbuilt vocabulary, instead it uses phrases understood by Google. And if you’ve got climate control, how often do you need to fiddle with the setting. Just set it to Auto and leave it there….

I do wonder who these people are that want their car to be different temperatures at different times. Presumably the same ones that are constantly squeezing their dashboard.

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Tue 30 May 2023 19:23
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Metropolis.
65 feels very different in summer when you are acclimatised to it, it can actually feel quite cold if the previous week was warmer. Hit 65 in winter and I’m almost sweating.
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Tue 30 May 2023 19:53
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Adampr
65 feels very different in summer when you are acclimatised to it, it can actually feel quite cold if the previous week was warmer. Hit 65 in winter and I’m almost sweating.

Mine doesn't go up that high :)

I leave mine on 20 all year round.

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Tue 30 May 2023 19:46
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - catsdad
Is there an Evepr? She might want a very different temperature!
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Tue 30 May 2023 19:51
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Adampr
Is there an Evepr? She might want a very different temperature!

Evepr is banished to her own car because she still doesn't understand that turning the temperature down won't make the car get cooler any faster and turning it up to 30 won't magically warm the car up in winter.

And don't me started on driving around with the AC on and the windows open...

Edited by Adampr on 30/05/2023 at 19:52

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Tue 30 May 2023 20:26
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Metropolis.
A/C on and windows open? Try it it’s brilliant, some convertible car’s AC systems know when the roof is down and redirect the airflow accordingly.

It is almost as good as heating on in the house with the windows open :-)
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Tue 30 May 2023 21:29
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Crickleymal

My Estima has the ability to do different temperatures for the driver and passenger. Why? Fork knows!

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Tue 30 May 2023 18:57
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Metropolis.

Nothing very modern about touch screens, Buick had a touch screen that could change what it displayed and control features such as climate control, radio and diagnostics, in 1986!

Skip to around 5:15 if 80s American cars are not your thing:

youtu.be/Lkaazk68iGE

Edited by Metropolis. on 30/05/2023 at 18:58

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Tue 30 May 2023 19:12
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Bolt
Nothing very modern about touch screens, Buick had a touch screen that could change what it displayed and control features such as climate control, radio and diagnostics, in 1986! Skip to around 5:15 if 80s American cars are not your thing: youtu.be/Lkaazk68iGE

I think they were invented for radar in the 1960s but not sure of actual date 65ish maybe later ?

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Tue 30 May 2023 20:56
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Metropolis.
Back to the main thread, I think we shouldn’t have touch screens just because they seem high tech. The question is, is it actually better than a physical knob for a chosen task? I think more often than not, the physical button is better. Not always, moving around a map display for instance, or typing in the address which back memories of I-drive rotary dials.
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Wed 31 May 2023 09:23
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - barney100

Taking your eyes off the road can't be good and that is what touch screens do.

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Wed 31 May 2023 10:04
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - focussed

Taking your eyes off the road can't be good and that is what touch screens do.

When you use your mirrors you take your eyes off the road especially your left door mirror which requires you turn your head away from looking ahead. Checking the left blind spot also.

Edited by focussed on 31/05/2023 at 10:05

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Wed 31 May 2023 10:27
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - mcb100
‘ Taking your eyes off the road can't be good and that is what touch screens do.’

Do people ever have a look at an interesting car passing them, or a shop window that catches your eye, or talk to passengers, or take a look at a pedestrian that takes your attention?
Or are your eyes facing forwards solidly, without a break, for the duration of the drive?
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Wed 31 May 2023 10:59
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Andrew-T
‘ Taking your eyes off the road can't be good and that is what touch screens do.’ Do people ever have a look at an interesting car passing them, or a shop window that catches your eye, or talk to passengers, or take a look at a pedestrian that takes your attention? Or are your eyes facing forwards solidly, without a break, for the duration of the drive?

That's not the point - a driver has to peer at a touchscreen to locate where to touch it. It isn't the same as just looking outside the car, it takes more concentration.

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Wed 31 May 2023 11:00
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - corax

It is against the law to use a phone in the car unless it's hands free, yet you can use a touchscreen on the dash to go through sub menus to adjust the fan speed e.t.c.

What hypocrisy :-)

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Wed 31 May 2023 12:57
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - mcb100
Show me a car where fan speeds are on a submenu.
They may be on a Home Screen, but still more likely to be a physical button.
When you get a new car, can you go straight to a button first time, or do you have to look for it? Same on a touch screen, you just find them without ‘peering’ for them.
You also tend to find that, as in a car I was driving yesterday, in-depth button pushing is disabled whilst the car is in motion.
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Wed 31 May 2023 13:16
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - mcb100
New Renault Austral - big touch screen, but physical buttons for fan, temperature, etc.

1drv.ms/i/s!AuMkRafLnOYXg5JWTXYPSwB_ulPanQ
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Wed 31 May 2023 13:23
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Adampr
Show me a car where fan speeds are on a submenu. They may be on a Home Screen, but still more likely to be a physical button. When you get a new car, can you go straight to a button first time, or do you have to look for it? Same on a touch screen, you just find them without ‘peering’ for them. You also tend to find that, as in a car I was driving yesterday, in-depth button pushing is disabled whilst the car is in motion.

Citroen C3 Aircross

Edited by Adampr on 31/05/2023 at 14:33

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Wed 31 May 2023 13:45
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - corax
Show me a car where fan speeds are on a submenu.

That bit was tongue in cheek, maybe it's true, maybe it isn't, but I have read Citroen owner reviews where the touch screen controlling the ventilation controls is a sore point.

"New Renault Austral - big touch screen, but physical buttons for fan, temperature, etc. "

1drv.ms/i/s!AuMkRafLnOYXg5JWTXYPSwB_ulPanQ

Hideous looking dashboard but at least Renault might have taken some of the reviews seriously.

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Wed 31 May 2023 14:55
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Andrew-T
When you get a new car, can you go straight to a button first time, or do you have to look for it? Same on a touch screen, you just find them without ‘peering’ for them.

That's not a valid comparison - you can feel for a button if you know where to look. I haven't come across any touchscreen where you can feel things ?

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Wed 31 May 2023 14:55
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - focussed

It is against the law to use a phone in the car unless it's hands free, yet you can use a touchscreen on the dash to go through sub menus to adjust the fan speed e.t.c.

What hypocrisy :-)

Everybody knows that there are only two causes of road accidents in the UK - speeding and using your mobile phone.
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Wed 31 May 2023 17:45
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - bathtub tom
Everybody knows that there are only two causes of road accidents in the UK - speeding and using your mobile phone.

?!

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Wed 31 May 2023 18:51
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - Terry W

There is a very sound argument for banning the use of touch screens when the vehicle is moving, bar those essential to driving.

Changing driving mode, air con settings, central locking functionality, date, time, display options, etc etc should only be possible with the vehicle stationary and parked.

Acceptable alternatives - voice control, steering wheel controls, both of which avoid looking at and prodding a touch screen when you should be concentrating on the road.

Cars are now digital not analogue. The old days - switches were either on or off. Progress made some switches have several settings - eg: 3 speed wipers, heater fans etc.

Digital control costs almost nothing to install and configure once the software has been developed to meet individual aspirations - seat position, lighting, sat-nav functions, many driving modes, steering weight, suspension settings etc etc.

This cannot sensibly be managed through individual switches. So there is a choice - force historical simplicity back into cars to allow switch control, or make most configuration settings accessible only when stationary. The former is implausible.

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Wed 31 May 2023 20:38
Ban touch-screen controls in cars! - martin.mc

Dacia still use 'normal' controls for heating and ventilation. My 2021 Duster has an ignition key, a proper handbrake and a spare wheel too.

Edited by martin.mc on 31/05/2023 at 20:40

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