Acura’s new 2025 ADX keeps dials and buttons alike
Posted on 10/01/2025 5:36:30 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
It seems that the world of technology—including the automotive industry—is undergoing a “re-buttoning” phase. While touchscreens remain a dominant feature in vehicle interiors, automakers are revisiting the value of physical controls as drivers rediscover their importance. Driving, after all, is one area where practicality and safety demand simplicity. But what’s driving this shift in design philosophy?”
Rachel Plotnick, an Associate Professor at Indiana University Bloomington and something of a “button guru,” has been studying this tactile resurgence for years. As the author of Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing (2018), Plotnick has explored the psychology and cultural history of buttons and their enduring role in technology. Today, she’s helping companies refine their interfaces, balancing the digital with the tactile.
In an interview with IEEE Spectrum, Plotnick was asked about the factors driving the “re-buttoning of consumer devices,” a trend that is becoming increasingly apparent in car interiors. The expert responded:
“Maybe screen fatigue. We spend all our days and nights on these devices, scrolling or constantly flipping through pages and videos, and there’s something tiring about that. The button may be a way to almost de-technologize our everyday existence, to a certain extent. That’s not to say buttons don’t work with screens very nicely – they’re often partners. But in a way, it’s taking away the priority of vision as a sense, and recognizing that a screen isn’t always the best way to interact with something.”
In cars, this critique has teeth. Plotnick highlights that touchscreens can be unsafe in certain contexts, as they demand visual attention to operate—something drivers simply can’t spare. Physical controls, by contrast, offer the “simplicity of limiting our field of choices” and allow for intuitive operation without diverting focus from the road.
To their credit, many automakers are beginning to recognize the limitations of touchscreens—or, lets be honest, the pitfalls of cost-cutting measures that eliminated physical controls in favor of screens—all thanks to growing consumer backlash. Physical buttons, switches and knobs for essential functions, like climate control and volume adjustment, are making a gradual comeback.
Acura’s new 2025 ADX keeps dials and buttons alike
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I do like the idea of backup cameras, though.
“The privacy invasion associated with cars built over the past 15 years is unconscionable.Your conversations, locations, even habits while driving are no longer private.”
Why anyone would buy one I have no clue. I drive old classics. If they have heat, A/C, Dome light, and a radio. That is all the “Tech” I need. And I can live without A/C if it is older.
I guess people have to try and show each other up with the shiniest newest toys. So because of this they have now enslaved everyone with this technology.
My F150 I’ve YET to fully understand the radio. Buttons up top, switch to buttons down below to navigate, and HALF the time, I can’t find the USB input. I’m in the wrong menu or something, I DO need a copilot to run the stereo.
The wing windows from days gone by were PAINFULLY missing from the USPS mail trucks, the LLV’s, when my wife was driving them. I had to buy a 22.5 degree PVC elbow and a bungee so she could aim outside air into the cabin. What a STUPID thing to leave out of a vehicle with no AC. And, the heat only pointed at your face or the windows. It wouldn’t blow on her feet in the winter when that is vital.
“Air conditioner or rocket launcher?”
Yeah they were pretty wild looking. They were actually “Swamp” coolers, evaporative coolers. They only worked in the Desert where it was dry. They didn’t like humid weather.
My 2016 car is analog where it counts with a few useful digital read outs such as gas milage per trip. It has an amusingly primitive 7” screen that shows what is in back of my car when backing up. It is also the radio/DVD/CD controls. I am so glad it needs an ignition key. I hate using a pushbutton to start a car, that comes with a tiny, easy to lose electronic fob.
BTW check out Scotty (he is very well known) on you tube. He dislikes CVT transmissions. If you have one get the transmission fluid changed at the recommended intervals. Some manufacturers CVTs are better than others. Fewer problems. He also dislikes turbo charging. Buy a car with a naturally aspirated engine
Back up cameras are becoming an accident hazard. Folks rely on them too much out of habit and are backing right out in front of on coming traffic from the sides. So you are actually better off turning your head and looking anyway.
“And I really miss the simplicity of my early 70’s Datsun”
They had rust problems but so easy to work on. I owned a 510 station wagon. a B210 and a top of the line 910
I bought a new BMW sedan earlier this year after driving a 2008 model year car with all manual controls. The display screen control buttons are well thought out. I don’t have to go looking for controls that I would use while driving the car. The only thing that threw me for a loop was how to adjust the defroster. There is an actual physical button on the dash for max defrost, otherwise the car controls the defrost.
There are other features of the car that can be adjusted in submenus, but those aren’t needed while driving the car.
Yep. Swamp coolers work well here in Denver, since it’s semi-arid and the altitude adds to making our air extremely dry. Before we put in central AC, we tried a swamp cooler and it worked pretty well.
I have a 2016 Mercedes E350. Sounds about the same as your Acura. I love the voice command feature. But there are physical buttons too.
I would think that for many, touch screen controls are dangerous. The touch screens require attention to the screen. a mistouch caused distraction can result in serious trouble
Wow, never saw that one before! What is it?
Please bring back the floorboard mounted dimmer switch and a knob for turning on wipers and headlights. Also vent wing windows would be a nice touch.
I’m tired of paying $1000 every time my car needs a repair. Other than A/C (Florida), I don’t need anything complicated. Manual windows, seats and other controls would be fine. A 67 Dodge Dart with a slant six would be a good start. Upgrade to disk brakes and a fuel injection bar and throttle body plus a modern radio/music player and I’ll be happy. I’m pretty sure I can probably buy an old one and upgrade it for about a third the cost of a new car.
I watch the car auctions on TV and the price for a really nice classic car that isn’t one in great demand is under $20K, sometimes 10-12K. The next time my current car craps out, I’m going back to simplicity.
I was walking in the supermarket parking lot a couple days ago and that’s exactly what happened to me. As I’m just about to walk behind a car, its backup lights went on. I immediately froze. The driver was watching his camera and never ONCE looked around even though I was not far from his driver’s door. And I could plainly see him. He backed all the way out and drove off — never once did he swivel his head! I was SO tempted to thump his sheet metal and scream in fake pain.
So, be ultra aware of these idiots in parking lots.
The big one is folks backing out of driveways. They do the same thing, never even look to see if anything is coming or not. All they care about is that no one is “in their way”.
And... ta da!... I heard today that phone land lines are coming back. (It must be true ‘cause it’s on the internet - LOL!) I really really miss a land line!
My 2014 Ford Expedition also has a 7” screen. It’s in the dash, not sticking up like a giant billboard on top of the dash. Those giant displays sticking up seem to be a male member race between manufacturers. “Mines bigger than yours.” “Oh, yeah?! Look at this!”
My screen has two columns of five push buttons (real buttons) on each side of the screen. Some have clear words, others some mysterious pictograph. The only ones I really understand are “Media” to select radio or iPhone and “System” to set the clock at DST changes and when we visit Montana east of us a few times per year. The rest of those buttons? Ugh.
“A 67 Dodge Dart with a slant six would be a good start. Upgrade to disk brakes and a fuel injection bar and throttle body plus a modern radio/music player and I’ll be happy. I’m pretty sure I can probably buy an old one and upgrade it for about a third the cost of a new car.”
Absolutely. That is what I now do for extra money. I fix up old classics and flip them. But you are better off putting 20K into an old classic than buying a new piece of junk...
That Dodge is a great car. I have cherried out several. The coolest upgrade I did was an old Rambler with the earlier inline 6 cylinder, not the slant 6. The block and head castings are the same as the late 90s Jeep Cherokee 4.0. So the intake with fuel injection and electronic distributor fits right on it. Just swap out the engine wire loom and add the computer and you are good to go.
Depending on the auto OEM, the embedded SIM might be able to be disabled. If you do that, then such features like remote start and map updates wont work anymore. GM got busted for selling user data to insurance companies. From a Brave search:
"the most recent development is a lawsuit filed by the Nebraska Attorney General in July 2025, which accuses GM and OnStar of using deceptive tactics to collect driving data—including speed, location, and driving habits—and selling it to third parties to create "driving scores" used by insurers to raise rates or deny coverage."
On the other hand, it can be a positive. A relative's boyfriend had his car stolen after he left his key FOB in the car. His cell phone app told him where the car was so he called the cops. The cops wouldn't do anything, so he took the second key and got the car back. The car was about 100 miles from where they live.
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