Tech backlash leads Volkswagen to shift from touch controls to traditional buttons

[midian182]

A hot potato: Another auto-manufacturer has listened to complaints about vehicles packing too much tech into their interiors and reverted back to physical buttons instead of focusing on touch controls/screens. The change appears in a new concept car from Volkswagen and will apply to all future models from the German industry giant.

As the tech inside vehicles keeps advancing, one trend shared by many manufacturers is the reduction in the number of physical buttons from the interior, replaced by touch controls/screens. It's an especially common practice within EVs, but a lot of drivers aren't happy it.

Autocar writes that the ID2.all concept electric car shown off at Volkswagen City Studio in Copenhagen features several physical buttons beneath the touchscreen. Volkswagen interior designer Darius Watola said that this would be "a new approach for all models" based on "recent feedback from customers," especially those in Europe who wanted more physical buttons.

The decision to embrace physical controls isn't too surprising, given that Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer said in June that the addition of touch-sensitive inputs in his brand's cars, introduced by predecessor Herbert Diess, caused plenty of frustration among loyal Volkswagen customers.

The ID2all features a row of physical, backlit buttons for the climate controls below the central touchscreen, as well as a rotary controller in the center of the car (above).

Volkswagen isn't the only company pushing back against the removal of all physical buttons from cars. Back in March, Sang Yup Lee, Head of Hyundai Design, confirmed during the launch of the new-generation Hyundai Kona that the Korean company was keeping buttons and dials in its vehicles.

"We have used the physical buttons quite significantly the last few years. For me, the safety-related buttons have to be a hard key," said Lee. The designer also noted how much easier it was to find a chunky physical button, dial, or switch while driving, rather than navigating through touchscreen menus that often require drivers to take their eyes off the road.

In June, J.D. Power's 2023 U.S. Initial Quality Study noted that the number of problems per 100 vehicles was climbing while driver satisfaction declined, both of which were attributed to the increasing amount of tech being crammed into vehicles.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101262-tech-backlash-leads-volkswagen-shift-touchscreens-traditional-buttons.html

 

[J95qRP7]

“The designer also noted how much easier it was to find a chunky physical button, dial, or switch while driving, rather than navigating through touchscreen menus that often require drivers to take their eyes off the road.”

Oh my god, a car designer with a brain. Physical buttons are effective and safer. I’d gladly take “old school” physical buttons over the touchscreen BS.

 

[VitalyT]

Car designers have gone all mad, trying to reinvent the wheel, and pushing absolute garbage to the consumer, all for the sake of profitability. Touch screens in cars are like a plague these days, useless, dangerous, unreliable.

 

[Lounds]

Tactile feedback of a button is much easier to press whilst keeping your eyes on the road.
Why would anyone think flat capacitive buttons would be a good idea?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This is honestly one of the dumbest controversies ever, and shows just how out of touch, if not outright stupid, the people in charge of these products are.

Touchscreen controls should NEVER have been considered. You should not be taking your eyes off the road. Any controls should be physical buttons and knobs that can be felt with tactile feedback without looking. They should work with gloves. The worst part, Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai ALREADY dealt with this, admitted touch controls are BS, and went back to buttons. But apparently, nobody at VW was paying attention.

 

[brunocasarini]

“The designer also noted how much easier it was to find a chunky physical button, dial, or switch while driving, rather than navigating through touchscreen menus that often require drivers to take their eyes off the road.”

Oh, really??? It should not take a freaking designer to notice that. A regular user is more than enough.

 

[Kazkas]

Glad that some are back to “common sense” - let’s hope others will follow

 

[whateversa]

Quite a number of typos in this article. I won't buy a car if it does not have physical buttons for commonly used stuff like aircon - my eyes belong on the road, not a touchscreen. If I can't feel it, I wont drive it.

 

[Anton Longshot]

Besides the disadvantages of touchscreen controls mentioned in the comments above, touchscreen controls also introduce a single point of failure.
This is extremely undesirable as it means that if the touchscreen fails ALL controls become unuseable.
MY car will never be entirely touchscreen-controlled thank you very much.

 

[godrilla]

Tactile feedback of a button is much easier to press whilst keeping your eyes on the road.
Why would anyone think flat capacitive buttons would be a good idea?

Audi updated the software on my q7 2022 with this press hard to get haptic feedback. I hate it. I had to get deep into the settings to deactivate this distracting feature that didn't even take my touch even with pressing hard. I rather it be sensitive to my touch with no haptic feedback.

 

[Jack77]

This is honestly one of the dumbest controversies ever, and shows just how out of touch, if not outright stupid, the people in charge of these products are.

Touchscreen controls should NEVER have been considered. You should not be taking your eyes off the road. Any controls should be physical buttons and knobs that can be felt with tactile feedback without looking. They should work with gloves. The worst part, Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai ALREADY dealt with this, admitted touch controls are BS, and went back to buttons. But apparently, nobody at VW was paying attention.

Profits, profits, profits. Hence also the toggle to switch the controls between front and rear windows; or the electronic child lock switch (that failed for a long time; and that is also one on one coupled to the possibility to open the rear window from the rear seats); or... [Side-note: it's hard to express in words what a usability nightmare the ID models are.]

So profits, and also the fashion-trend set by Tesla, of course.

Now, the current VW ID models are only in the facelift phase of their life, hence the choice to make only minor adjustments now. Because changing to buttons again would cost a lot more than just improve things somehow with minor changes to the existing/produced parts.

 

[sreams]

Besides the disadvantages of touchscreen controls mentioned in the comments above, touchscreen controls also introduce a single point of failure.
This is extremely undesirable as it means that if the touchscreen fails ALL controls become unuseable.
MY car will never be entirely touchscreen-controlled thank you very much.

This isn't entirely true. In my car, which uses a touchscreen, many functions can also be controlled via voice control. And if the touchscreen totally fails for some reason, the car is still 100% drivable. Losing the screen does not present some sort of emergency.

 

[axiomatic13]

This is a good move. FORD has done some things to make changing the AC temp better on my F-150 Lightning. It used to just be a button on the touchscreen. A recent update makes it to where you touch a much larger touchscreen button, then you can use the physical volume wheel to adjust the temp. Thankfully Android Auto lets me do pretty much everything else needed with voice commands.

 

[BabaYaga]

I used to think that I would hate touch screen also. Had that thick phone with pull out keyboard when Iphones came out. Eventually, everyone copied them and there is no way I'm going back to any keys on the phone.

Reading comments like this also made me consider this when car shopping. I got a Tesla MYP a few months ago and now reading comments like this tells me someone has never driven one. I used to love buttons and gauges. Wanted to even install extra useless gauges on my previous Camaros. Once you drive a car without a gauge cluster in front of you, you'll never go back. Y'all talk about distracting feature right in front of you that you have to take your eyes of the road to look at, that's the gauge cluster. Completely useless to 99% of you unless you know what it means and what to do. Battery gauge sitting at around 14V the entire time you own the car, check. Coolant temp going from cold to hot, check. Oil temp, where is that supposed to be at and what do you do when it's not there, check. RPM, what do you use this for again driving an automatic, check. Fuel, finally something you need to check occasionally but you know how often you fill up so does it really need to be right in front of your eyes 24/7?

First time driving at night, it was like turning off the dash gauge lights. Initially, scary then weird then great and never want even a screen in front of me like some manufacturers can't let go because people are used to something and don't know how to adjust. I don't want a light flashing in my eyes at night. I have the ipad set for night mode when it's dark.

Back to the buttons. I didn't know when I bought the car and you all don't know either but you can program those steering wheel buttons for anything you want.

Between the two stalks for wipers, lights, gear changes, autopilot, and the scroll wheels for audio controls, cruise follow distance and voice commands, adding another custom choice for temp, camera, glove box, save clip, dome lights, etc, I have no idea what you want that's not there while you're driving.

Car even has backup door release buttons incase the main ones fail.

There is tons of features that you can set on the ipad and it's one of those that you set and forget it if you like it. Auto headlights and high beams, high beams on exit, etc. I'm getting updates every 2 weeks with new features. No automaker does this or will do this. That's another huge plus. Not having to haggle for a car or go for constant maintenance. I maybe use the brake pedal once a week. Not having maintenance (constant trips to Autozone and mechanic) or go to a gas stations (waste 30 min at Costco just sitting) is and unbelievable advantage.

Take one for a test drive and you'll see all these comments are from people who have never driven one. I didn't even mention the acceleration. 0-60 in 3.5s. Instant power, no getting the RPM up before you have any real power. Check out the hp curve and you'll see how useless these peak hp numbers are that car makers advertise. The best all wheel drive on the planet. Each wheel is individualy controlled and has near instant response.

 

[toooooot]

This car's interior is fantastic. I might not be impartial though, I love German cars.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

While this is welcome news, why are we only bashing VW for this pathetic trend to touchscreens. Most EV's are vile when it comes to interior designs and nearly all manufacturers have gone down this path. Some of the EV designs are soul destroying with Tesla leading the charge, but Hyundai's etc all similarly bad.

 

[Inthenstus]

Let’s talk about the touch screen on my jacuzzi please. Who ever thought it was a good idea to put a regular touch screen next to a bubbling pool of water? Want the jets on? Grab a towel. Want the jets off? To bad, they automatically turned off five minutes ago from a water droplet. It blows my mind how stupid products are becoming.

 

[Nobina]

New doesn't mean better. Touchscreens suck everywhere. Even in smartphones, but you can't put gazillion buttons in one place so we have to have touchscreens.

 

[amghwk]

We all have become like experimental monkeys - touching, poking and swiping up, down, left and right everywhere.

 

[Underdog]

The trouble is, manufacturers don't ask the consumer what he/she wants. They just find the cheapest (most profitable) way to make a product and then brainwash us into believing it is progress/better/cool.