Another reason to delay buying a new Bimmer
Europe Tells Automakers That Buttons and Knobs Are Safer Than Touchscreens
European regulators have told automakers to ditch the touchscreens in favor of knobs and buttons if they want to get a better safety rating in the continent.futurism.com
European regulators have told automakers to ditch the touchscreens in favor of knobs and buttons if they want to get a better safety rating.
As the Times reports, the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) is warning that as of January 2026, automakers will have to include physical controls to achieve a full five-star safety rating.
The independent safety body is sending a strong signal, highlighting just how complex center control touchscreens have become and how they may distract drivers, forcing them to look away for extended periods of time.
Research has already found that tactile buttons are safer — and much faster to use — while driving.
"The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens," Euro NCAP director of strategic development Matthew Avery told the Times, "obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes."
It will be interesting to see how, if at all, this affects Uncle Elon's decision to remove the turn signal stock in favour of buttons on the wheel. While still physical controls, this departure from what has been the standard since forever has the potential to be factored-in here. @Trav
Europe to Automakers: Buttons and knobs are safer than touchscreens
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Woman killed, accidentally put Tesla into reverse.
www.dailymail.co.uk
Windows of McConnell's sister-in-law's Tesla 'impossible to break'
Disturbing details have since emerged detailing the frenzied rescue mission to save the 50-year-old who died last month after her car entered a body of water on a private ranch in Texas.
I agree with this. I'm not in favor of excessive regulation but touch screens are at best problematic, at worst unsafe.
I have a personal pet-peeve where I wish all high beams had to be engaged with a stalk that pushes forward and stays forward. That way when it's dark and I'm tired and my contacts are dry I can just use my left hand to feel if high beams are on. Taking my eyes off the road to look for the blue icon means seconds for my eyes to readjust
Of course today automakers will just insist auto high beams are better.
I have a personal pet-peeve where I wish all high beams had to be engaged with a stalk that pushes forward and stays forward. That way when it's dark and I'm tired and my contacts are dry I can just use my left hand to feel if high beams are on. Taking my eyes off the road to look for the blue icon means seconds for my eyes to readjust
Of course today automakers will just insist auto high beams are better.
Also Car Wizard had a vid saying increasingly EVERYTHING will be on one screen, which is great until it goes out. Think smartphone with zero display.
The car might still start but you'll have no idea of speed, water temp, tach, and maybe unable to engage important features. Headlights? Wipers? Power door locks?
The car might still start but you'll have no idea of speed, water temp, tach, and maybe unable to engage important features. Headlights? Wipers? Power door locks?
I can take that one step further - I know a guy driving a BMW 650ci with no working central screen and he has NO idea how much oil is in the car because there is no dipstick. He knows the car uses oil so he just randomly adds a quart whenever he thinks about it.The phrase "just because you can does not mean you should" comes to mind when it come to these touch screens for all the critical functions. IMHO controls need to be standardized in function and location, no more putting the car in gear while looking at a screen or even worse have the thing guess when it should be in park while the thing goes through the garage and ends up in the pool.
This is absolute lunacy..
Tesla Model S will shift itself into drive or reverse by 'guessing,' says Musk
The updated Model S gets a strange new yoke-style steering wheel, but there's no real shifter to be found.www.cnet.com
Genius!!!
"Accidentally" dead legged it 100ft too? SurrreeWoman killed, accidentally put Tesla into reverse.
Windows of McConnell's sister-in-law's Tesla 'impossible to break'
Disturbing details have since emerged detailing the frenzied rescue mission to save the 50-year-old who died last month after her car entered a body of water on a private ranch in Texas.
I cannot think of single function on our 2018 Tiguan without a switch except manual radio tune however redundant on touch screen.
I hate the touch screen radio in my wife's car. Gotta look away from driving to change the station. My jeep has buttons with presets I can just feel for.
I'm just waiting for the Muskrat to tweet about how this isn't fair and it's a conspiracy against Tesla.Europe Tells Automakers That Buttons and Knobs Are Safer Than Touchscreens
European regulators have told automakers to ditch the touchscreens in favor of knobs and buttons if they want to get a better safety rating in the continent.
European regulators have told automakers to ditch the touchscreens in favor of knobs and buttons if they want to get a better safety rating.
As the Times reports, the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) is warning that as of January 2026, automakers will have to include physical controls to achieve a full five-star safety rating.
The independent safety body is sending a strong signal, highlighting just how complex center control touchscreens have become and how they may distract drivers, forcing them to look away for extended periods of time.
Research has already found that tactile buttons are safer — and much faster to use — while driving.
"The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens," Euro NCAP director of strategic development Matthew Avery told the Times, "obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes."
It will be interesting to see how, if at all, this affects Uncle Elon's decision to remove the turn signal stock in favour of buttons on the wheel. While still physical controls, this departure from what has been the standard since forever has the potential to be factored-in here. @Trav
4WD
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At the current rate of real progress - I’ll be too old to care
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
Yeah, feel like I should have left this film on the screen - Navigation was the main thing I wanted it for - and even after an expensive upgrade it’s still horrible …
I remember a time when any video device visible to the driver was illegal. What happened to that?
Now we have video devices that demand interaction with the driver.
Now we have video devices that demand interaction with the driver.
I agree with Cujet, the Jaguar touchscreen is not very easy to use. I am also a Mazda owner, and I almost never have to actually touch the screen. It does require one to glance at it but once you have figured out the easy to use console buttons and "Command Dial" you can go through the different screen menus and make selections rapidly and positively without touching the display.
The only thing that requires touching the display, and is something that I find annoying is that when you are in the Navigation mode and for example you want to move the center of the screen around like to look for a parallel road to the one you are on, that can only be done when the car is stopped and with a touch of the screen.
I hope Tesla gets a clue. They should initiate a study of the best dashboard and control designs over the last 60 years or so, and make their engineers adopt those designs and integrate them into their models. Shrink the huge, dumb screen in their cars and do away with most voice commands too.
The only thing that requires touching the display, and is something that I find annoying is that when you are in the Navigation mode and for example you want to move the center of the screen around like to look for a parallel road to the one you are on, that can only be done when the car is stopped and with a touch of the screen.
I hope Tesla gets a clue. They should initiate a study of the best dashboard and control designs over the last 60 years or so, and make their engineers adopt those designs and integrate them into their models. Shrink the huge, dumb screen in their cars and do away with most voice commands too.
I really liked the foot button in my '90 Bronco! I learned to drive in an '88 Bronco with M5OD and even with a manual it was no problem. BUT, still no way to "feel" if the brights were on....
They had it right here. They didn't need to do what they did with the newer models. It still had the big color screen for radio controls, but climate stayed separate and it had a volume knob.
