But make climate control 3 knobs: Fan speed + off, temperature and output ports. Put the AC button inside the temperature knob, and the 'recirculate' button inside the output ports knob.
With the radio have a push on/off volume knob that starts up at the SAME volume as always (i.e. relative, not absolute) and NOT the previous volume. The volume knob should have some resistance to it. Opposite that have a tune knob for precise tuning, and pressing that gets you into setup and navigates you through it. This should have the same resistance, but the outside has some indents so you know it's not the volume knob.
Have 6 preset buttons and 3 'banks' with a single 'next bank' button. pressing and holding a preset will save it with a beep for confirmation.
On the steering wheel: up/dn for radio should be seek, not next/previous preset. There are 6 nice big buttons for presets but when traveling seek up/dn is the main way we change music.
On the door have the rear view mirror controls, and above that have a knob for dashboard light brightness.
While we're dreaming, just have an interchangeable panel. Allow 3rd parties to make whatever dials etc. the customer wants. And if it were up to me I'd also get rid of the screen entirely and only have a HUD for navigation. It will never happen, let alone become mainstream, but dreaming is nice sometimes.
Considering GM is going headfirst the other direction, along with removing carplay support, I'll be looking for a something else. Especially a "disconnected vehicle" at some point where it includes no cell interface or one that can easily be yanked.
One of the problems with fixing problems is that by fixing them, you're demonstrating to customers that problems can be fixed, and you risk setting the expectation that problems will be fixed. This puts pressure on management to fix more problems, and management generally finds this problematic.
I'd love to know what the justification for replacing them in the first place was. I can't think of any device, appliance, etc. I own whose UX is _better_ for not having physical, dedicated buttons or switches and instead having a touch interface or buttons which require a complex series of presses or chords. It's almost like there was _no_ UX research to back any of these "features" up and people just went ahead and made these changes because they could, it was fun and they look cool.
To give a very concrete and potentially hazardous example: I have an induction range which has no physical controls but has a touch interface which requires various combinations of tapping, holding and sliding fingers. To say nothing of the fact that this is useless for people who have significant visual impairments, how am I supposed to turn it off if there's an electrical fire because a pot boils over or something? Is the expectation that I reach into boiling water that potentially has current running through it and hope to tap my fingers in the right place? Am I supposed to try to yank the power? Or is the expectation that I just walk outside and call the fire department?
In the last three years, there have been two times when we traveled, rented a car, and were given a Volkswagon.
Both times, the touchscreen-only controls were such a pain in the butt that we vowed we would never purchase such a car. It was a timesaver, because in that period our family has gotten two new (to us) cars, and our experiences with the rental Volkswagons allowed us to exclude an entire manufacturer from consideration.
If they haven't re-broken their interiors by the next time we look for a new car, I guess we'll have to consider them again.
Seems like a trend in the right direction - Subaru's doing the same for their 2026 models. Still too much shit on the steering wheel in my opinion but at least there are physical buttons/knobs for the climate system that don't require multiple touch screen button presses;
My current car took the fully touch experience approach (except for the usual stalk controls) and while I love the rest of the car, I despise the interface.
I’ll be in the market for a new car soon and I am only considering ones with touch buttons for HVAC. It’s not worth getting into an accident trying to change the temperature.
Next, they need to make the buttons more physically distinguishable, instead of panels of identical buttons
The dashboards of older pre-1990s cars had a wide variety of buttons, switches, and knobs, all with different locations and feels. Of course today's designers would see this as an unclean mess driven more by manufacturing considerations than "design" considerations, but it was a much lower driver workload to operate those "messy" controls. The different position, size, shape, and feel of each control allowed easy operation by just feel, without taking eyes off the road.
In contrast, the all-the-same rows of buttons on modern cars are still hard to operate after familiarization; which one is the front vs rear defrost?
Moving many buttons to the steering wheel overcomes many of these limitations, but again, rows of identical buttons do not help. Consider a Formula One steering wheel with 20+ controls. They are 100% custom and can be made any way they want. They make the OPPOSITE of identical controls — they are all different and brightly colored.
The point of driver cockpit design is NOT some clean asthetic.
The point is to use every available mnemonic device so a driver under heavy workload can recognize the controls instantly and reliably.
Too little too late, let's also not forget the diesel emissions scandal.They deserve what happened to them.VW and BMW innovated by trying to push subscription models on heating seats and such down our throats.
I entered a 150k € Mercedes two weeks ago and the display looked very similar to a toy display I got for my godchild.
I was disappointed to see those images. The headline vastly overstates it IMO. "Some buttons on steering wheel, center console still entirely one giant touchscreen" is not "bringing back physical buttons".
It's a shame too. I drive a 2016 VW GTI and it's an absolute joy. The last era of VW worth any consideration. Small touchscreen that shows current playing track, or carplay/map, but still with physical controls for volume and AC. I was glad to see Doug DeMuro shred them for the electronics in the newer model.
I'll be driving my 2016 car and 2008 truck into the grave, at which point I'll replace them with something of the same era or older. There are some enticing ways to die in a fiery car crash, but eating a median while trying to finger stab a mid ass ipad knockoff for control of the defroster is not among them.
Great, I bought a 2024 Mazda 3 Premium Turbo over an Audi RS3 or VW Golf R in part because it had all physical controls and the touchscreen functionality is automatically disabled over 10mph. It's a great car, and between the simple button/knob driven UX and the HUD, I can make changes without looking away from the road while driving, which just plain makes sense for a car. The Tesla idea of putting a big tablet as your only interface to the car was stupid and insane from the moment it was done, it's shocking it took this long to return to sanity. Let's hope other manufacturers follow suit.
Most car manufacturers made this mistake because they started mimicking the then leader for innovation (and customer satisfaction), Tesla, too much.
General cautionary tale: just coz a company is successful, doesn't mean it's doing _everything_ right. Plenty of folks who love their Teslas would prefer a few more buttons (and door handles on the inside, etc) if given the choice. Could say similar things about some choices Apple made.
Well done, VW ... they still have issues but I'll take that one on the plus side of the ledger.
The Tesla-fication of the dashboard has been such a shit automotive direction over the last decade and I'm relieved other manufacturers (not just VW) have woken up from the Musk fever-dream.
A good balance of screen and physical buttons is just fine, thanks.
"New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving."
71 comments
[ 7.3 ms ] story [ 119 ms ] threadAnd still no temperature dial. They achieved near perfection 20 years ago:
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F...
But make climate control 3 knobs: Fan speed + off, temperature and output ports. Put the AC button inside the temperature knob, and the 'recirculate' button inside the output ports knob.
With the radio have a push on/off volume knob that starts up at the SAME volume as always (i.e. relative, not absolute) and NOT the previous volume. The volume knob should have some resistance to it. Opposite that have a tune knob for precise tuning, and pressing that gets you into setup and navigates you through it. This should have the same resistance, but the outside has some indents so you know it's not the volume knob. Have 6 preset buttons and 3 'banks' with a single 'next bank' button. pressing and holding a preset will save it with a beep for confirmation. On the steering wheel: up/dn for radio should be seek, not next/previous preset. There are 6 nice big buttons for presets but when traveling seek up/dn is the main way we change music.
On the door have the rear view mirror controls, and above that have a knob for dashboard light brightness.
2008 Honda Fit was close to a perfect car. https://www.carsdirect.com/honda/fit/2008/pictures/interior
Who the hell still tunes a radio in 2026.
I know first world countries come first, but you asked.
To give a very concrete and potentially hazardous example: I have an induction range which has no physical controls but has a touch interface which requires various combinations of tapping, holding and sliding fingers. To say nothing of the fact that this is useless for people who have significant visual impairments, how am I supposed to turn it off if there's an electrical fire because a pot boils over or something? Is the expectation that I reach into boiling water that potentially has current running through it and hope to tap my fingers in the right place? Am I supposed to try to yank the power? Or is the expectation that I just walk outside and call the fire department?
Reminds me a lot of the skeuomorphism from classic iOS and WebOS, but cleaned up with elements of modern “flat” designs.
Both times, the touchscreen-only controls were such a pain in the butt that we vowed we would never purchase such a car. It was a timesaver, because in that period our family has gotten two new (to us) cars, and our experiences with the rental Volkswagons allowed us to exclude an entire manufacturer from consideration.
If they haven't re-broken their interiors by the next time we look for a new car, I guess we'll have to consider them again.
https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g64477839/2026-subaru-ou...
I’ll be in the market for a new car soon and I am only considering ones with touch buttons for HVAC. It’s not worth getting into an accident trying to change the temperature.
Next, they need to make the buttons more physically distinguishable, instead of panels of identical buttons
The dashboards of older pre-1990s cars had a wide variety of buttons, switches, and knobs, all with different locations and feels. Of course today's designers would see this as an unclean mess driven more by manufacturing considerations than "design" considerations, but it was a much lower driver workload to operate those "messy" controls. The different position, size, shape, and feel of each control allowed easy operation by just feel, without taking eyes off the road.
In contrast, the all-the-same rows of buttons on modern cars are still hard to operate after familiarization; which one is the front vs rear defrost?
Moving many buttons to the steering wheel overcomes many of these limitations, but again, rows of identical buttons do not help. Consider a Formula One steering wheel with 20+ controls. They are 100% custom and can be made any way they want. They make the OPPOSITE of identical controls — they are all different and brightly colored.
The point of driver cockpit design is NOT some clean asthetic.
The point is to use every available mnemonic device so a driver under heavy workload can recognize the controls instantly and reliably.
[0] https://www.wired.com/2014/05/formula-1-steering-wheels/
[1] https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-explains-how-f...
[2] https://medium.com/formula-one-forever/the-nerve-center-of-a...
I entered a 150k € Mercedes two weeks ago and the display looked very similar to a toy display I got for my godchild.
It's a shame too. I drive a 2016 VW GTI and it's an absolute joy. The last era of VW worth any consideration. Small touchscreen that shows current playing track, or carplay/map, but still with physical controls for volume and AC. I was glad to see Doug DeMuro shred them for the electronics in the newer model.
I'll be driving my 2016 car and 2008 truck into the grave, at which point I'll replace them with something of the same era or older. There are some enticing ways to die in a fiery car crash, but eating a median while trying to finger stab a mid ass ipad knockoff for control of the defroster is not among them.
General cautionary tale: just coz a company is successful, doesn't mean it's doing _everything_ right. Plenty of folks who love their Teslas would prefer a few more buttons (and door handles on the inside, etc) if given the choice. Could say similar things about some choices Apple made.
The Tesla-fication of the dashboard has been such a shit automotive direction over the last decade and I'm relieved other manufacturers (not just VW) have woken up from the Musk fever-dream.
A good balance of screen and physical buttons is just fine, thanks.
"New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving."