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Posted on 04/17/2026 9:56:22 AM PDT by libh8er
Screens run new cars now. Whether we like it or not, every dashboard has a giant tablet in the middle and another screen where the gauges used to be. Some of them blend into the dash like they belong. Others stick out like someone glued an iPad to the top. Either way, they run almost everything in the cabin.
It wasn’t always like this. But like most tech trends, the shift happened eventually, and for reasons no one really asked for. Suddenly your radio, your AC, and even simple stuff like the headlight switch lives somewhere inside a maze of menus. One nasty bump on the road and your finger is hitting everything except what you meant to touch.
So how did we end up here? And can the industry backtrack? The story comes down to money, timing, and a long chain of decisions that snowballed.
The First Wave (Late 80s) The whole thing started as an engineering flex, not because of a need. Not a consumer request. Just tech nerds seeing what they could cram into a car.
The first in-car touchscreen showed up in 1986, of all brands, in a Buick. The Riviera’s Graphic Control Interface used a tiny CRT screen that controlled the radio, HVAC, and even showed basic diagnostics. It looked like a mini ATM and was way too early for its time.
Drivers didn’t get it. GM eventually backed off the idea, and touchscreens basically disappeared throughout the 1990s while underlying tech kept evolving.
Screens Become Luxury (2000s) Screens crept back in during the early 2000s. BMW made a splash with the 2001 7 Series and its first-generation iDrive system. It wasn’t a touchscreen (it used a knob) but it changed everything. Even though it was buggy, confusing, and slow, it pushed other automakers to jump in.
Back then, these screens were small and simple. They were more like a Palm Pilot, not an iPhone. And society felt the same way about tech. It mattered, but it wasn’t controlling our lives yet.
Volvo even used pop-up screens that hid inside the dash. It was a cool “only when you need it” kind of thing. A design philosophy you almost never see now.
Two big things pushed screens further:
GPS boom: By the mid-2000s, Garmin and TomTom units were stuck on windshields everywhere. Automakers saw that and decided they needed their own built-in systems.
Backup cameras: They popped up in 2001 and went from “weird luxury thing” to “must-have” as cars got bigger and visibility got worse.
But the biggest push was something simple: screens got dirt cheap. LED manufacturing exploded, prices fell, and suddenly it cost automakers less to install a screen than to design and engineer a whole row of physical buttons.
Then the 2008 recession hit. Everyone needed to cut costs. Buttons were more expensive. Screens were the easy answer.
iPhone, Tesla, and the Big Shift (2010s) Everything changed in the 2010s.
The Tesla Model S landed in 2012 with a giant 17-inch screen and barely any buttons. It looked futuristic and, more importantly for automakers, it was simple to build. Even brands that had no interest in EVs copied the screen-heavy vibe immediately.
At the same time, our phones were taking over our lives. Phones kept getting faster while car software lagged far behind. Most people hold onto a car for years, but swap phones every couple of seasons. Car tech just couldn’t keep up.
Then came Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in 2015, and everything snapped into place. People stopped caring about built-in car software as long as the screen mirrored their iPhone. Automakers took that as a green light to go even harder on touchscreens.
Backup cameras became legally required in 2018, officially locking in “every car must have a screen” as federal law.
The Overload Era (2020–Today) The pandemic years overlapped with massive EV investments, and software became the backbone of everything. Running it all through a touchscreen was simply cheaper.
Then automakers realized screens unlocked something else: subscriptions. If a feature lives inside software, they can charge monthly for it. Heated seats, extra power, fancy lighting…doesn’t matter. A screen makes that possible.
And when people started getting tired of screens? Automakers didn’t back off. They just made the screens bigger. Giant passenger screens. Full-width displays. Touch-controlled air vents. The BMW i7 has a rear-roof-mounted theater screen for some backseat entertainment now!
The Backlash and a Tiny Bit of Hope Drivers are pushing back. Surveys show people want buttons again. Big, simple, physical buttons you can use without looking. Some brands are listening. Hyundai added buttons back to the Ioniq 5. VW promised to backtrack. Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Genesis, and others are keeping physical controls alive.
But don’t expect dashboards full of knobs and switches to suddenly reappear. Screens are cheaper. They’re not going away completely.
There’s one exception though: gauge clusters.
Some high-end brands are quietly moving back to analog gauges because they look special and give a car more character. Bugatti is one example. A physical speedometer still feels magical in a way a blank digital panel never will.
If change comes, it’ll be slow. Screens rule the modern car, and for now, the industry has no real reason to let go.
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+100 on all you said.
To tell the truth, I really miss the black corded desk telephone. I miss Mom answering the phone circa 1959 and yelling “Hon, it’s Mom & Dad. Get on the extension.” The kids went outside to play and come back at dinner time. You did not bump into people on the sidewalks with their heads buried in their phones and wandering all over the place. I see one of them coming and scream “Hey, HEADS UP!” and that startles them awake out of their zombie trance...for a moment.
Yesterday, my iPhone decided to not route calls through the car system. Shut down and restart phone app. Reset the car console. Turn the phone off and restart it. Shut the car off and restarted it. No luck. 20 minutes wasted. Later that day, the phone calls were routed back to the car audio system. The funny thing is that my sister was telling me just the day before that HER phone (other side of the country) was not connecting to her Kia system.
I waste SO much time being the CIO of the household.
Watch the videos of it in use. Very gorgeous and spectacular.
“When I rent a car I take an extra day just to figure out how things work.”
I have to LOL remembering going to Honolulu for a medical test. Had reserved a subcompact for the insane traffic and parking in that hellhole city.
Out of small cars so they give me a Jaguar F-type.
Oh geezus, figuring that thing out. Even the door handles were motor driven, once you figured out how to engage them. Mirrors, dash instrument and radio panels, all sorts of crap start moving once you figure out the pushbutton start.
Immediately started wondering what the half-life of all that junk was, being English electrical stuff.
My 330ix 2025 still has a volume knob. LOL...
“People want to be entertained in every moment of their life.”
That is maybe the biggest failure of “education” — they turned it into “fun” and “entertainment.” My sister taught junior high and high school math for 45 years and laments that they made it all “fun.”
but come to find out, it was just low windshield wiper fluid all along
It’s not just more things that can go wrong. I also find it ironic that many states have made it a ticketable offense to use your phone while driving, yet modern cars now rely on screens that force you to look away from the road just to adjust something like the heater fan. That seems to me to be more dangerous than using a phone while driving.
On a related note, the U.S. Navy ditched touchscreen controls on destroyers after separate fatal collisions involving the USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald.
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/navy-ditches-touchscreen-controls
Touchscreens are for programmers who may not even drive, bean counters, and snake oil salesmen, not for actual drivers.
And they tell us NOT to text while driving, but, reaching for a climate control embedded in the screen buried in the AM / FM / SiriusXM radio display is okay??? (Like in my 2014 Jeep Cherokee.) Try it with the sunlight glaring off the screen!!
In rush hour traffic, no less.
Except they're not driving themselves.
Waymo's Chief Safety Officer, Mauricio Peña, admitted that the cars at times are controlled remotely by workers who are not even Americans licensed to drive in the U.S.
https://www.techspot.com/news/111233-waymo-admits-autopilot-often-guys-philippines.html
Sportsmans Guide analog. Waterproof. $19. I change the battery every couple years.
Your prayer is being answered.
The pope just set up a Muslim prayer room in his 500 year old library.
I believe electric windows are lighter than crank. I believe weight is driving many of these changes.
See post #10
Buy a base trim.
It helps.
I am happy with out 2012 Accord. I can find every knob I need without taking my eyes off the road.
$35 Casio tough solar. No battery changes in 12 years and analog face.
Can change time zones, very convenient for air travel. Select a zone and watch the hands move to the new time.
Do you really believe that was in the mind when they designed the '41 Packard?
Get an Ineos Grenadier.
All manual, physical, analog switches.
Aluminum body on frame tank. Coil over shock suspension.
About as simple as a modern car can come.
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