European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls
European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls
In 2026, Euro NCAP points will be deducted if some controls aren't physical.
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If their cheap-asses had actually done something other than cheapest possible implementation for the majority of input devices it might have been ok. Having driven several cars with touch input for various features the complaints I have are all the same:
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too many menus with unintuitive directories that put what should be top-level systems several layers deep. IOW, I want to turn on the AC. I shouldn’t have to climb out of the Sirius menu then down 2-3 layers to turn on the AC and choose the ventilation configuration and temperature.
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Horrible UI design. Things that need to be tapped/touched are either too small and/or too close together. You shouldn’t need to divert your attention to focus on a 1/4” square “OK” touch element when this should have a touch area minimum of a square inch so you can hit it without too much concentration. UI’s are too cluttered.
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closely related to #2 - awful sensitivity of the screen. Small buttons that are hard to accurately hit are worsened by touch screens that don’t register input. Now you’re trying to accurately hit a patch of screen that is refusing to accept the tap, so now you’re further distracted and frustrated trying to get you music stream to play or whatever.
I don’t hate touchscreens, they can be useful, but manufacturers have implemented them at the expense of actually driving the car.
Damn, am I just getting old or did anyone else have to google what "IOW" stood for?
Any control that requires you to take your eye off the road for a split second just to confirm that you even activated it, is dangerous. Then multiply that by each control they've moved to touch screen. So dumb.
funnily enough, we already had an abbreviation for "IOW" (In Other Words), "I.E." (Id Est - That Is)
Worth noting that, by convention, "i.e." is usually in lower case, and only capitalized when the words themselves would be, i.e. at the start of a sentence.
Edit: typo
I THOUGHT it looked weird capitalized, but the other guy capitalized IOW so I figured "When In Rome"
i think ie looks weird no matter how you present it
You mean w.i.r.
I had to Google it too! "In other words"
The only semi nice thing my car did for the touchscreen is let you put shortcuts at the top, which is just the stupid screen for the heated seats. Everything else has a button in a easy to reach spot. I use Android Auto and I only have to bring up the actual car menu every few months, and not while driving. It isn't a perfect infotainment system, but it has certainly been the least annoying.
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