On our 2014 car, the blower speed up/down actually uses buttons, but they are half the size of a pencil eraser. They are dark black with grayish letters and the controls are down low on the console where it's pitch black (black dash, black console, black seats, black carpet). It's impossible to find them without taking your eyes off the road.
Trying to hit buttons on the touch screen is just about impossible, especially on a slightly bumpy road. My finger is going up down and all around on the touch screen, usually triggering something I don't want. I have to stabilize my wrist on the bezel to try and stop the "floating finger" problem.
Another article reported that drivers take their eyes off the road an average of FORTY SECONDS to change a control on a glass screen. On the freeway at 60 mph, you've gone 2/3 of a mile in that time! Probably weaving all over the lane, too.
I sure would like to see big tactile knobs, buttons, sliders and levers return to cars. Maybe this is happening.
My 57 Chevy Apache has one climate control knob. Heater on or off.
THANK GOD! Too.
I can control my environment by touch without having to take my eyes off the road.
And the nice, satisfying click of a button lets you know that you made the change instead of having to take my eyes off the road yet again to make sure I hit the touchscreen correctly.
They are not much different than using cell phones, and in some cases less safe. Our cars are from 2013 & 2014. They are all knobs and buttons. Saves me from crashing.
Yeah, touch screens can be a PIA. Often media controls to a degree can be selected with steering wheel buttons instead but you have to break out the owners manual to figure that out. Who has time for that, lol
A friend has a fancy hybrid with a large screen. We laugh and laugh when she turns the ignition because the very FIRST thing on the large screen is a warning:
DO NOT READ THIS SCREEN WHILE OPERATING THE VEHICLE.
The new cars with touch screens are death traps.
I miss having the low/high beams on the floor, the wind wing (little triangular window that could direct air inward), and variable speed analog wipers.
On my car, I can reach over, hit one button, and change radio stations, twist a knob to change the fan level on the ac. All without taking my eyes off the road. On my wife’s car, you need a co-pilot to run the electronics.
And on a Ford truck, there are innumerable buttons and levers, all designed to match rather than be distinctive, and none marked or organized in a logical fashion. in a logical fashion.
Over twenty some years, dashboard designs have become overly complicated. And I really miss the simplicity of my early 70’s Datsun.
Bring back manual transmissions too!
I hate them too. I don't use the back-up camera ever, because I learned to drive a car when cars had no such thing. The only thing I use the touch-screen for is for the audio system. I have all my CDs on USB sticks, and play my music from them. I hate taking my eye off the road to deal with the touch screen for that, so I set the album I want to play before I leave my parking spot. Give me back my 5 CD player. I won't sync my iPhone with my car, because I don't have bluetooth turned on, on the phone, and I don't want to receive any notices of incoming calls or texts while I'm driving.
I also hate the push button start, and the button locks on the outside of the driver and passenger doors, which don't work when there's a snow or ice storm and it's below zero outside.
The other thing that drives me nuts with these new cars is that if you're sitting in a queue, and you put your car in park, the car automatically unlocks. WTF is that? I'm very security conscious because of the job I had for 25 years, so the last thing I want is to be vulnerable to someone being able to hop into my car on the passenger side at any time. I lease a 2025 Nissan Altima, which doesn't allow me to hit the lock button on the driver's side door to lock the car before I get in. As soon as I hit it, it pops right back open. The 2005 Nissan Altima I had, allowed me to lock the car when I wanted. The people who design cars today, design them for lazy and stupid people. I'm neither.
I met the first toug-ch screen I had ever seen decades ago in my boss’s Buick It was a largish screen in front of the dash and included the radio, horn, blinkers,windows as nontactile little circles on that screen. I was agahast. A driver would have to be looking at that screen half the time while driving in town. I prefer radios with knobs and other controls to be switches and levers that can be felt. In my old truck I don’t have to look at a damned screen to see where to put a finger. I can reach over and feel the radio off/on button and the tuning dial or buttons while watching traffic, I can grab the blinker without having to put my finger tip prcisely on the right little circle. I don’t have to take my eye off of traffic. These touch screens cater to women who talk on their cell phones and text a lot while driving. I admit I am an old fogey about some elecronics. I have this PC and a radio at home but no cell and no TV.
My last four company vehicles have been variations of the same model F-150.
Plus I bought one of them for myself. I have to order a new one soon and I’m not really looking forward to it.
It’s relatively traditional. The screen is only for the radio, clock etc.
Everything else is tactile.
My mother in law has a Ford Edge. She was told it’s a great vehicle for seasoned citizens. It socks for old people. The control panel is hitting but they’re all about 1/4” in size and you can’t read the dark gray print on a black background. Plus there’s about 20 buttons on a 5x7 panel.
Build a 2006 Buick Lucerne CXS and sell it at an inflation adjusted 2006 price and I will buy one tomorrow. But improve the seals on the stupid three piece block.
How about a Grand Marquis? One of the most refined designs ever. Like driving your living room at 80 mph and 27 mpg.
Simple, repairable, reliable vehicles.
I just want to press the button, hear a click and the machine to run.
The touch screen or the "buttons that are not actually buttons" are also difficult for people who are disabled to deal with. Finding appliances that work for someone who is blind is not easy any more.
And of course the "smart touchscreen" is going to be useless in less then a decade as the company that makes them is now out of business and it no longer connects to anything.
But I just bought a new car!
They cite the cost of designing, engineering, sourcing, and wiring separate controls, switches, relays, etc., but can use separate digital controls instead electronic switches and mechanical levers, while leaving out the screen.
It's simple enough to use different shaped keys, dials, slides, blacklights, etc., they can even use ones that vibrate when adjusted.
I bought my wife a new Lexus RX-350 in 2018. It’s a great car but all alarms, displays, etc are enough to drive me crazy. The only time I ever drive it is on trips or when it’s time for service. I love my 04 F-150, other than a/c, cruise control and a stereo, it’s a basic truck that I can work on.
I love my new Tesla, but having to screw with the screen to adjust my air vents is maddening.
We have a newer car with touch buttons and screens, and a 2012 car with tactile knobs and buttons.
I prefer the old car because I’ve learned to do everything by touch without taking my eyes off the road. Despise the touchscreens!
Of course the old car doesn’t have backup camera or Bluetooth.