It’s not every day (or any day, really) that we feel the need to ask everyone to be civil in advance because we’re about drop a hot take on a contentious topic, but today’s Autopian Asks is a little bit different. We’re courting controversy by soliciting feedback on a topic that people have strong opinions about. Opinions that can stoke polarization and end friendships – and no, we’re not talking about politics. Let’s talk about buttons.
It used to be that everything in a car was controlled with a button, knob, switch, or slider. Remember those multi-band graphic equalizers from the ’80s, power antenna switches, or even the Ford headlight control that let you set the auto-headlight-off delay right at the switch?
Well, it’s not the 80s anymore. With the sheer number of gadgets and functions aboard modern cars, a button, knob, or dial for everything isn’t the most practical or user-friendly solution. Some of you might not be convinced by that argument, but I urge you to take a good look at the center stack of the Buick Cascada. Look at all those tightly grouped, same-but-different controls!
Obviously, stalks still make sense for the indicators and wipers, a physical headlight switch is simply the standard, a hardwired hazard-lights switch is a must for emergencies, and being able to quickly hit the defrost button is wonderful in cold weather. What else should still be buttons, switches, and knobs?
My personal requirements are relatively simple. I’ve owned a car without a volume knob, and it wasn’t great, so a volume knob is a must. Additionally, and I can’t believe I’d need to say this, but I’d like every power window to have its own driver-accessible switch. Looking at you, Volkswagen ID.4. I also appreciate physical power-mirror controls and would like an actual finger-depressable home button for the infotainment system. What can I say? I’m a simple man. I’m fine with digital buttons for heated seats so long as they’re top-level, but in modern cars, I just set things up before I have to set off.
So, what physical controls, other than the obvious of a steering wheel, a shifter, and pedals, just make sense for you? Are you one of those people who’s fine without a volume knob, someone who wants their dashboard to look like the cabin of an A380, or somewhere in between?
(Photo credits: Honda, Buick)
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Any controls that the driver is going to want to be able to operate while the vehicle is in motion (basic radio and HVAC functions, drive mode selector, ESC/TCS disable, etc.) should be tactile controls that can be identified and differentiated from their neighbors by feel.
Any controls which are safety critical (lighting, wipers, gearshift, etc.) should also be designed so that their position can be easily determined by feel, e.g. toggles instead of momentary buttons, knobs with detents and limits instead of infinite spinning rotary encoders, etc.
Non-tactile capacitive buttons need to go away entirely, and the touch screen is only for advanced functionality not expected to be accessed while in motion.
For the most part I think it’s a safe rule to say any feature that existed in a lower-end mainstream car in 1995 should probably stay as a physical control. There are of course some exceptions to that rule but it’s a good starting point.
Your safety point one is quite well taken.
And frankly, more toggles generally please. Esp if they’re in a row so at least the potential exists for Millennium Falcon-style dramatic sequential flipping.
My truck has 6 aux switches above my head near the dome light (not currently connected to anything) and flipping them one at a time really does feel like something out of the Falcon.
I really hope you have a dog that sometimes gets to ride copilot. “Punch it Chewie!”
I once had a girlfriend who had a normal-sized dog and, on my urging, a NA Miata. We got a harness that clipped into the seatbelt hardware so he could ride safely. Which he loved.
Every time they’d pull up or drive away, I could just hear the music in my head (& appreciate Lucas’ own experience).
I actually own a mastiff, who has (very unwillingly) dressed as Chewbacca for Halloween before, but even as a youngun he was too lazy/scared to climb up into my truck, and now he’s old and even slower, so I guess I’ll need to imagine it.
At 200 lb, I’m not lifting him up there when we own a minivan lol.
It would be easier to describe the controls that can be comfortably relegated to a screen:
Counterpoint:
A car should have no internal controls whatsoever, except gas, brake, steering. They only have a cell connection back to manufacturer servers.
Then, all controls are available through an App available for download on your cell phone, which will operate through the network connection back to the manufacturer servers. (App is only operational on the version of Android / iOS that was current when the car was designed.)
Door locks, HVAC, mirrors, radio, volume, windows, trunk, gas cap, EVERYTHING!, just use the app.
Sure, some people may die in Arizona or starve locked in their cars if they forget to charge their phone, but those are just “edge cases” that manufacturers shouldn’t have to worry about.
/s
And the Kia app will be found to have entirely lacking security, right? Like anyone can just turn on bluetooth and access it…
Nah… The Kia app will have security, it will just have an unchangable default password of “1,2,3,4”
Don’t worry, after any hacking that results in serious injury or death, you’ll get a very nice free 12 month subscription to a credit monitoring service. That will make it all better.
Amazing! I’ve got the same combination on my luggage!
Why exclude steering and braking? Now that it’s all done by wire anyway, the sky’s the limit!
I do think version 2 (called version X… because it’s cool) will move steering, gas, breaks to the App:
In order to improve the user experience by consolidating control interfaces and leveraging synergies across the product line.
The old steering wheel and pedals will be disabled instantly through an over-the-air update.
It’s very important to leverage your synergies.
Replace the wheel with the gyroscope in your phone. Control the wheels by tilting the phone left and right. Accelerate with forward tilt, brake with backward tilt.
Then your phone breaks or lost and you’re completed stranded and unable to drive away from the bastard who stole your phone.
Everything you need to operate while driving. hell, it takes my eyes off the road a minute to turn off the auto on heated steering wheel and seats on my wife’s car.
FFS keep a mute button and as stated keep the signals wipers and lights buttons please.
At an absolute bare minimum: Windows, wipers, turn signals, headlights, volume, HVAC temp & fan, seats, mirrors.
Preferred: damn near everything. If I have to operate it while driving the vehicle I want a button. Buttons are tactile and at a fixed location. I should be able to operate the vehicle without taking my eyes off the road. Haptic feedback is NOT sufficient, because it tells me nothing of the current setting. For the infrequent or set-and-forget stuff like radio presets or clock settings I can deal with menus. But if I’m driving and I have to look at a screen to operate it you’ve failed automotive UX.
Headlights, turn signal, cruise control, windshield wipers, seat adjustments, windows, hazards, volume and mute buttons on steering wheel, shifter…those must be buttons/physical. (What type of shifter you prefer is another matter and deserves its own question…but just not something on a touchscreen, I’d say.)
I recently replaced my 2012 Prius v’s head unit with Android Auto touchscreen. I lost the volume knob doing that and I’m not thrilled about it, but the buttons on the steering wheel are perfectly serviceable. If anything, no volume knob on the dash would be most annoying to experience as a passenger, because then you only have access to the touchscreen volume controls. But even then, you can devote your full attention to pushing them.
Me personally, I’m of the mind that climate controls should be physical. If they’re not, you run into the minor issue where the screen can’t be turned off while driving.
On the other hand, I’ve heard some people say they set it to 70 and auto and just leave it there year round…so it’s not necessarily a hill I’ll die on. But if you’d like to blackout the screen on a night drive, minor bummer if you can’t do that.
But I suppose my hot take (or at least lukewarm) is that there does need to be a touchscreen. Getting GPS and/or audio media on the full screen is so nice, and beyond that, I see no better interface than a touchscreen to deal with vehicle options such as headlight delay after turning off, whether the doors lock when you shift from park, and similar settings. There’s a flexibility to it that’s hard to beat.
But some controls should be physical and stay that way.
EDIT: Glovebox should be purely mechanical, as well.
Literally everything should be assignable to a hard control. There should a plethora of hard controls, including some nice ergonomic ones on the steering wheel that aren’t the usual clusters that look old Nokia phones fused into the steering wheel. And there should be reasonable defaults.
Tell me you’ve never driven a 21st century vehicle without telling me.
You’re basically asking for an entire QWERTY keyboard on the dash to make a navigation system operable, plus a control for every vehicle setting possible.
I have a physical control for every vehicle setting possible, and my navigation system isn’t integrated into my car yet works fine.
Pre-21st century vehicles are where it’s at.
Proud Luddism is as bad or worse than Tesla-esque minimalism IMO.
You can think it’s bad for me to be a proud Luddite, but I will still be a proud Luddite.
As long as my car takes me where I need to go, reliably, comfortably, safely, and efficiently, I want no more. And anything on the car that’s not improving reliability, comfort, safety, and efficiency is damaging reliability, comfort, safety, and efficiency.
So I guess I’m a double whammy here: I’m a Luddite and a minimalist at the same time. You must hate what I just wrote.
I don’t hate you or anyone for expressing their opinions.
I simply find it ironic/interesting that you were seemingly willing to accept progress up to a certain point and then no further. There’s nothing inherent about MY2000 vehicles (or any other particular year) that makes them any kind of peak. Contrarily, there actually is quite a bit of evidence that makes them objectively *less* reliable, safe, and efficient than vehicles that have come afterwards.
So if you claim to value those attributes, there is no way you can claim in good faith that older cars are superior. This isn’t necessarily to pick on you personally; lots of people here seem to feel the same way, and I find it very odd.
A lot of people do feel the same way, and it’s because roughly at the millennium is the point when cars started to gain complexity to the degree that it was totally detrimental to these measures of goodness. In my opinion, it was roughly a 10-year transition period from the late 90s to the late aughts where most mainstream cars went from Not Too Complicated to Too Complicated. Progress reached a point where it wasn’t progress anymore.
In my opinion, my 90s cars are considerably more reliable, all else being equal, than anything newer than the late aughts. Comfortable, old cars often win but that depends a lot. Efficient, depends but the most efficient cars on the road today were built in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Safe, that one is more questionable, and safety is a many faceted idea, but we can agree that over complication and excess weight are never beneficial to safety, and that id much rather get hit by a 1994 Civic than a 2024 Civic.
I really do claim in good faith that old cars are better than new cars in most of the ways that really matter. I don’t want to derail this thread into a giant argument about old cars vs new cars, and you probably won’t come to understand it the same way I do(that’s already happened between you and I regarding diesels), but i do hope you can come to some understanding as to why I and many others really do believe that new cars are very generally worse than old cars.
I had a long response typed including personal anecdotes about safety but ultimately you’re right that this is getting too far off track.
All I’ll say is that objective measurements disagree with you on reliability, safety, and efficiency (basically new cars have never been better at any of them). Comfort is subjective so I won’t weigh in on that one.
I don’t begrudge people preferring whatever vehicles they like to drive. I do feel someone should stand up for the virtues of modern cars (yes, including touchscreens!) before sites like this become a sad bunch of Boomers yelling at clouds about how great things were in the past and how bad they are now.
This is the Internet, after all. I’m disappointed in you both.
You’re wrong
This isn’t the Internet?
You’re right…the small-displacement turbo fours in the new cars are objectively better than all the v8s they replaced!
**winks, then ducks**
Shoo
HVAC, seat controls, windows, turn signals, basic volume/pause/play/etc. stereo controls, cruise control, mirrors, sunroof, headlights, wipers…
TLDR, pretty much everything.
Everything that I would want/need to use while driving. Or really any function that isn’t related to the cars “settings”. I’m cool with those sort of things buried in a touchscreen.
In general, I also just plain love buttons. Who doesn’t like the tactile experience of pressing buttons, flipping switches, etc? Nice feeling controls that provide feedback are fun. Touchscreens are not.
HVAC, a physical power button for infotainment (to hard boot it or quickly shut it off), and windows and mirrors are ones I hadn’t considered but agree with.
The hard power off is nice to have for problems like my wife’s Rav4 and Carplay. It connects but only plays whatever is set to play and will not recognize the volume controls (knob or steering wheel buttons) or any touch screen commands. A power cycle has had 100% success rate for fixing it.
“Obviously, stalks still make sense for the indicators and wipers, a physical headlight switch is simply the standard, a hardwired hazard-lights switch is a must for emergencies, and being able to quickly hit the defrost button is wonderful in cold weather.”
Try telling all that to the designer of the Techno Wheel in the Movitron Teener:
https://ogden_images.s3.amazonaws.com/www.ljworld.com/images/2009/08/22145447/electric_car_teener017-1024×683.jpg
Counter-point: Are there any standard vehicle controls/features that are tolerable buried in some BS screen interface? (such as settings for head unit/car computer that make sense to have up on the touch screen)
Everything else should be a physical knob/switch. (And none of that biometric button crap!)
I don’t need buttons for any of the following, and my dashboard is improved by not cluttering it up with them:
-Turning on and off vehicle settings like traction control, lane keep assist, start/stop, etc
-Entering navigation destinations.
-Audio settings like bass/treble, front/rear bias, etc
-Less often used stuff like setting the clock, towing settings in my truck, trip computer etc.
I do sometimes need to turn off the traction control quickly. other than that I agree with you.
Yep, I like that there’s a physical button I can push in my Sportwagen to turn off the traction control. I don’t need to often, but in certain situations I like being able to turn it off. Usually that’s just particular situations in the snow where I need a bit of wheelspin to keep moving, or when I have to pull out into fast moving traffic from a dead stop. It’s not like I’m doing tire smoking burnouts pulling out into traffic or anything, but I don’t want it cutting power just because I had to get on it a bit.
This is exactly what I’m talking about.
Data or Settings? Can be buried.
Active controls? Gotta be a button/knob.
To me HVAC. I have had cars with a physical button on the steering wheel and push button on the radio itself,.
I would also say windows and mirrors.
Volume knob is a good one, but there does not need to be a physical knob on the dash or center console. The one on the steering wheel counts. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two cars that have capacitive steering wheel controls (a Ferrari and a VW), so pretty much everything else has some kind of tactile knob, button, roller or rocker to control the volume from the steering wheel.
I honestly DGAF. I feel like I would adapt perfectly fine to the type of interior that gives the average Autopian an aneurism. I can control the volume and drive mode from the steering wheel, those are the only two things I futz with. Climate, wipers, headlights…all automatic. They could bury the controls for that stuff on a 3″ touchscreen inside of the glovebox and it wouldn’t make a difference to me. Hell, I used CUE for years in two different Cadi’s (a ’14 and a ’16) and I didn’t find it to be anywhere near as bad as the reviewers would have you believe. Aside from some screen delam issues which were fixed under warranty, I found CUE to be perfectly serviceable, even with the haptics.
Remember, every reviewer trashing CUE, iDrive, Lexus trackpad etc has a week with the car tops and never figures out how to use the system intuitively, which is just not the case for an owner.
Speak for yourself. I’m sure I’m not the only one who chooses the five-day, 500-mile lease option.
I’ve been known to select that option from Hertz or Enterprise.
Enterprise is better. With Hertz you might have to spend twice your lease term in County before things get cleared up.
Sixt people! Put up with Sixt’s crappy IT systems to get MUCH better cars (although take lots of photos at pickup & dropoff)… Although they almost never have the X3 I prepay for – they usually put me in an X5 or 5-series, and sometimes I just want the X3 (to see if it is a car for my garage at home.) That said, MSY doesn’t have a Sixt and the Avis counter was a bit of a disaster and took a half hour – I got a Rogue for a few $ less than an X3 (really X5) I usually reserve at the various airports with Sixt outlets. I really do wish that their systems were a little better: at LAX last month they bumped me up to an X5, and as I was setting it up an X6 pulled up beside me – I would have paid the premium to try this car out…
Anything but Avis. Avis sucks. Horrible service and the cars are terrible. I’ve rented countless cars from Avis and they’ve all had problems. No washer fluid, low tires, CEL’s…And the cars suck.
Everything but the accelerator, brakes, clutch, the steering, seats, the windows, the mirrors, the doors, the trunk release, the hood/frunk release, the shifter, etc.
Those should all be mechanical levers, except for the steering wheel, windows (hand crank), mirrors, etc.
I’d love my dashboard to look like an Airbus cockpit, but I can’t afford an Ineos Grenadier, so I’ll settle for the following:
Temperature knobDefogger (front and rear)ALL light controls, including fog lamps4 window switches (I agree, it’s sad we’ve come to the point where we have to ask for this)Hazards (looking at you again VW)Turn signals and windscreen controls (there is a special place in hell for Tesla for this one)I’m happy without a volume knob as long as there are volume control on the steering wheel (I never actually use the volume know if I have those), and since we’re on the topic of steering wheel buttons, those must be physical and include a controls to skip a track or switch between radio presets.
Oh, and cruise control on a stalk, classic Toyota style, which you can set, adjust and cancel at the flick of a finger
Edited to add:
An actual off button for the radio might be nice… My dad has just bought a Dacia with all infotainment controls on the screen and once you turn on the radio, there is NO way to turn it back off! The only way to stop listening to it is to turn the volume all the way down.
This but volume knob is needed!
Anything you use while driving should have physical controls. While driving, I don’t need to be able to set the clock at a moment’s notice or change whether the overhead light comes on when I put it in park or open the door. But I definitely need to control the volume, the headlights, the climate, ventilated seats, turn signals, drive mode, wipers, windows, etc.
I can see an argument that seats don’t need physical controls, but I think the ability to make a slight adjustment while driving is helpful. Same with mirrors. I also believe ingress/egress needs physical controls, not for distraction reasons, but safety.
I’m a big proponent of all of them. So much so that I’m one of the biggest defenders of the Mazda infotainment system, and is run entirely off of the scroll wheel (but with up/down/left/right clicks) and a physical HVAC row for all controls. I want a tactile response that tells me what I want is happening, and is in the same place every single time. I suppose I could get used to touch screen controls if they absolutely never move, but I hate the idea.
My problem with the Mazda system is the need to look at the screen while using the knob to get to the menu you want. Or at least I do. It’s significantly better than the touchpad Lexus tried, but it still is a struggle. I suppose more time with a Mazda would allow me to get used to using the button to know my starting point and remembering the menus along the way. I’ve only driven one for about a weekend, so I haven’t given it a fair shake.
That’s a really common concern I’ve heard, but I’ve had my CX-30 Turbo for about 14-15 months, and I honestly got close to muscle memory within 3-4, and there’s several shortcuts that make navigating Carplay easy. I can’t speak much to the rest of the Mazda built system since I live in Carplay the entire time I drive, and only tweak in-car systems when parked.
I did also have some experience with it since my parents have both a CX-9 and ND2 Miata, but I haven’t had a ton of drivers seat time in either. My dad has a current gen TLX and that touch-pad based non-touch screen system is absolutely abhorrent in comparison, you have to actively watch the screen to see where the cursor is, it’s sensitive, and really hard to do what you want, to the point a touch screen would be easier.
I love the Mazda system except for one thing – they really need to add a button near the central knob, that when you press the button it makes the central knob the radio station selector knob – I think right now it requires three selections and central knob depressions requiring lots of visual interactions with the screen, and sometimes you just want to jump around on the radio dial.
That’s fair, I honestly didn’t even know that was an issue since I only use Spotify or Apple podcasts in CarPlay, but that would be really annoying to navigate. Honestly could even just set the volume knob to be a station skip for the radio instead of forward and back track and that would fix that
Or maybe the buttons on the left part of the steering wheel can do this, but they don’t seem to work the way I would expect when I try them – maybe I need to read the manual or find a Youtube video ;-).
Im an A380 guy. All the switches and buttons. That being said, I think there is a place for touchscreens as well, just not for essential functions. An all switch car with redundant screen for nav/stereo, apps, etc.
Can my car dash and roof look like an Apollo command module?
HVAC Temperature should be a slider, and mechanically operated.
Now get off my lawn.
How about vacuum operated? Is that OK?
Boy I miss the hiss of changing the temp or vent selector.
Dials are OK too
Windows, Mirrors, Locks and Door latches.
Sunroof and Convertible roof controls.
Seat adjustments.
Radio/Media on/off, volume and mute.
Wipers, turn signals and cruise control.
Drive selectors: Forward, Reverse, and Park.
Lights: Off/On/Parking/Auto/On/High/Low/Flash to pass and Hazards.
That still leaves a lot for screens.
Anything that needs to be used while driving should be a physical button. What I want are more toggle switches, preferably in an overhead panel, and let’s bring back those big spherical jewel-style buttons from the 60s.
https://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Ford_Thunderbird/1966%20Ford%20Thunderbird/1966%20Ford%20Thunderbird%20Brochure/b_1966%20Ford%20Thunderbird-12-13.jpg
I love that the guy reaching for the overhead panel seems to be wearing a pilot uniform. 😀
Radio/audio – on/off, volume, tune/seek, mode selection
Hvac – mode, temperature, fan speed, vent locations
Heated seats/wheel
Cruise control- on/off/speed setting
Power windows
Door locks
Headlights/fog lights
Turn signals
Wipers and washer
Power seat controls
Steering column adjustment
Gear selection and door handles should also be physical of some sort
Ideally, there would be some physical controls for the phone, eg, a button to turn voice command on or off. Some cars have had physical number pads which is nice but not crucial, if not doing that, at least make calling up a touch screen menu with the phone keypad easy and not behind a bunch of steps
Door release for the refrigerated compartment that stores my Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard.
Anything that needs to be used on either short notice (wipers, turn signals, lights, 4×4) or potentially adjusted every time you drive (radio tuning, volume, seat heaters/coolers, fan speed/direction) should be a physical control.
Anything adjusted less frequently can (and should) be controlled on a screen. Clock, audio settings, navigation, vehicle settings, favorites, etc)
Solid breakdown and list. Agree on all of it.
That should be made into a law – anything you need to adjust/use while driving should have a physical contol within easy reach, otherwise the manufacturer cannot homologate the car for sale to the public. Simple.