VW Is Putting Buttons Back in Cars Because People Complained Enough
VW Is Putting Buttons Back in Cars Because People Complained Enough
Customers and critics alike have raked VW over the coals for its "frustrating" interiors.
Replacing the buttons with a tablet has always been a cost saving measure on Tesla's part that was marketed as "futuristic", physical switches and dials made of plastic and metal as well as the underlying components will never be as cheap or as easy to wire as a simple touchscreen control. Other car companies followed suit, because Tesla made a method of reducing their own manufacturing costs hip, so many of them jumped on it.
But, Tesla tablets were designed with the belief that this cost saving is possible because of the delusion that full autonomous self driving is possible with existing hardware through software updates. When self driving didn't happen after a decade of trying, people realized how inconvenient and dangerous it is that the only way to adjust the AC, stereo volume, and sideview mirrors while driving is through a tablet with no tactile feedback. So now, we are finally seeing that trend reversing.
The fact that they needed to receive a lot of complaints to reconsider makes me wonder - do they even do any kind of usability testing for their products? Anyone who even sat in a car with only touchscreen can tell you the experience is not comfortable.
And I don't think it's just about the price of physical buttons. Buttons are a selling point right now, they could charge a small premium (not in the thousands but ~$200 certainly.
Can we complain more about subscription paywalled car functions then?
What?!? Pictures Under Glass turns out not to be the most desired solution for controling your car? Who could have guessed? /s
Seems the novelty VW engineers had to be reminded of the first item in the Unix philosophy:
Make each program do one thing, and do it well.
Buttons already had this. Each single button did one and only one thing: Turn a feature on or off, or in the case of the radio, switch stations.
We didn't need complicated menus to navigate. Press the appropriate button, and voilá. It was simple. It worked.
Who the fuck came up with the idea of having to use touch menus? I have no idea, but I really hope they got fired.
I like how you can get a ticket for using your phone while driving, so automakers decided to replace your tactile radio, where you don't need to look at it to operate, with what is basically a giant touchscreen phone in your car where you need to look at it to see what you're doing instead of feeling what you're doing.
Carmakers did this to copy Tesla, not realising that Tesla did it to save themselves a few bucks and to hell with the person who suffer a degraded or unsafe driving experience as a result. Witness how Tesla even removed indicator stalks, making it all but impossible for people to safely and legally navigate a roundabout. Who cares if someone crashes, because it's all about the bottom line.
Finally.
Real buttons in a car are good because you don't have to fucking look at them to know what you're doing, unlike a god damn touch screen, so your eyes can remain on the road.
Sanity prevails at last!
i like buttons
Thank god.
Touchscreens in a car never made any sense.
Oh look they sre following in Hyundais footsteps
I've always wondered how these things happen. Clearly a massive car manufacturer should have some kind of a feedback group about what will potentially go into new vehicles, right? I can't imagine anyone enjoying getting distracted from the road, to navigate between piano black plastic, and laggy nested touchscreen buttons
Tom Paris was right.
A great reminder that your voice does matter. Apply it other things as well, and things can actually improve...
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Imagine paying the same price for a car that lacks the technology of:
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Smart screen
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- With heat resistant materials that are designed to resist high temperatures and still function properly (i.e in summer times)
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- With GPS features, and media access
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But the screen still sucks because you can literally buy a magnet and stick your phone there, and still be able to do literally everything a smart screen car do.
I mean id still buy it because I prefer cars that are not so impractical, but it's a shame that it still costs practically the same.
Conceptually, a smart screen sounds like a good idea, but the implementation is bad.
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I wonder if people who took the decision to put the touchscreens even drive.
and to add insult to injury, I couldn't turn the heater on countless times because the climate portion of the OS was unresponsive. Other times, it would simply say that the function couldn't be performed at the time. Why? No idea.
This is the main problem, not something about the UI being wonky. That my AC can freeze not because of the radiator but because of a shitty UI system? That's insane.
Main reason I canceled my ID4 reservation
The telematics on EV VWs was designed by someone who lost a bet.
Thank god. End this shitty touchscreen fad. I have problems reading things too close, so the buttons/knobs in my 10+ year old car are a lifesaver.
I'd rather have a "non-touch" screen with buttons in a car. Just to show info. And be it right in front of me.
*because they sell really bad, even in germany
VW has made a lot of bad decisions
Good news
Now if they'd just sell the baseline Golf or wagen Golf in Canada, I'd consider buying another VW!
When I bought my Tiguan the dealer was pushing really hard for me to get a 2022 which has just come in. It was the first year to have capacitive steering wheel buttons. I told them to find a 2021 or I'm looking at something else. I think the car market was still a little slow at that time so they made it happen to get a sale.
Progression is regression in this issue, thanks people!
Not all of the buttons. Please be reasonable. Just some of the buttons.
I don't need memory buttons.
I don't want to push the button half a dozen times, just to miss the menu I wanted by 1 click, and have to go around again.
I don't need separate am fm and cd buttons.
I really don't mind a touch screen for climate control, or audio interface. Just keep the business from moving around the screen at all and I'm pretty happy.