1148
Cars will need fewer screens and more buttons to earn five-star safety rating in Europe
(www.theverge.com)
This is genuinely good for safety.
this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
1148 points (99.7% liked)
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Common European W.
The screen should be strictly for the radio, and maybe some android-auto like thing.
Radio and parking camera, maybe sat nav for users that don't do android auto or carplay.
Customer can choose any car they like as long as it has an ipad on the center console.
I prefer my 2014 car to anything new i have tried. Buttons are just better.
Bring back physical keys!
Blackberry
I don't even mind the option of being controlled in the screen, so long as there are also physical buttons. Radio and climate control should be easily accessible by physical buttons. Also, I really hate the newer aesthetic of looking like someone just jammed a tablet into the consol. There no contouring or anything.
I hate key fobs, I have two cars both with massive fobs. I can't keep both on my keyring if I'm planning to put my keys in my pants pocket. I also hate these stupid things are $200-300 to replace - even more at a dealer.
They don't even make the car more secure or harder to steal. Get rid of them.
You can usually buy physical keys san fob. If you're keys then..
That will get me in the door, but I need a fob to start the cars.
I'd expect modern cars to use proximity detection which means the fob only needs to be with you.
Like my Peguot has a fairly large fob, but it's just in the pocket of my jacket. Never leaves it. I guess it's a problem if you don't have a semi permanent thing like a jacket you use every day though.
The first time I heard that many car manufacturers are getting rid of traditional buttons and odometers in favour of touchscreens, I already thought that it is dangerous.
As always, corporations don't give af.
I don't see an issue to have digital odometer because you don't interact with it
Digital is fine for things that don't need to be touched. Arguably, it's better.
Separate analog odometers are better, because it's a single point of failure otherwise. If one breaks, I can still read all other instruments (fuel, engine temp, speed and/or rpm, whichever failed)
This.
You work in software just a couple of years, you learn to appreciate the mechanical solutions on a whole other level. Especially in cars.
I think the whole cluster can also fail all at once as well as the individual components, so it's actually more points of failure.
For real, instrument cluster I'm okay having digital. It's not something I need to touch, usually there's steering wheel buttons to interact with it.
Having your whole radio/climate/etc all on one screen with menus and shit is stupid. You can't just reach over and change a setting without looking. I miss when everything was "analog". My first car was a 91 mazda rx7, and I knew exactly where every control was, didn't have to look at anything to operate it.
As someone driving a 2009 Mazda 3 - I really appreciate the simple physical controls in the car. Touch screens are a horrible interface for something you could fiddle with an analog version and get feedback without taking your eyes off the road.
Not saying they shouldn't exist, they can be helpful and useful for displaying information and navigation, hell even controlling the AC and radio and all that but there should also be a physical interface for basic functions.
I know my next vehicle will be electric and I definitely will be swayed by the user interface for things. I do hope car companies are listening to everyone saying they don't want just touch screens and nothing else.
I honestly hate to use the central display to control the AC. In my newer car first you have to press a button on the screen to open the AC control, then you have to set what you want.
On my old one I can do whatever I want without need to look off the road
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Bout bloody time, I really hate modern cars
they already did a study that touchscreens are too distracting and dangerous, buttons are more intuitive and quicker to use, without looking at the menu.
But now cars won't look like what Blade Runner drove! /s
2015 Honda - perfect. Buttons when I wanted buttons. Touch when I wanted touch, and I never had to use it when driving.
2023 Ford - Yeah, it's bad and dangerous.
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But if thereβs less screens then where will manufacturers put the advertising???
More buttons and more screens
Thanks, Europe!
IKR? The EU legislation to require a common charging system is already making big improvements. Seeing so many things, not just phones, that are now chargable via USB C. So many electronic gadgets, like my shaver, screwdriver and others no longer coming with a wallwart adapter each to live in my drawers and jam them up. Benefits for everyone, apart from the occasional company (Apple) that locks in to a specialised charger for profit reasons.
For real, so many good things happen here (us) because Europe makes it a thing, and it's too expensive to have separate manufacturing. Unfortunately for those that use iPhones, their requirement of third party app stores doesn't work here, because that's a software setting, and costs them nothing to have different. (Android user btw, don't come at me)
Controlling everything in a car through screens is a safety hazard. It's insane that's even allowed.
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(27 replies)
Europe is being awesome once again!
I would also ban touch sensitive fixed controls. My father's Avalon has dedicated controls for the HVAC but they're touch sensitive, so you set the climate controls to 80C and full fan if you just wipe dust off the panel while the car's on.
You should be able to train your hand on the control, get a good grip on it, and then move it in such a way that a control input is realized. It shouldn't have to beep at you to tell you it's done a thing.
I can turn the air conditioner in my pickup on and off by feel alone, same with the basic radio controls.
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I want to be able to replace my infotainment system without hassle or loss of functionality
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