Volkswagen will restore physical buttons to the dashboard in its latest compact car, part of a wider move away from touchscreens.
In a particularly retro touch, the new ID Polo will even have a volume dial.
For a decade or so, automakers rushed to replace knobs and switches with screens, Autoblog noted in October, but users largely disliked them: Controlling the air conditioning, for example, required delving through submenus while driving, which was both difficult and dangerous. Research found that using touchscreens took longer and distracted drivers.
Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and VW have all announced plans to return to more tactile controls, and US and EU regulators announced last year that cars with touchscreen controls could get worse safety ratings.
I disagree. I like a car that does what I tell it to do. On older cars, when I press the accelerator they accelerate. On cars with stop-start (and mine does), when I press the accelerator it starts the engine, then accelerates.
And it’s not like it reliably turns the engine off anyway. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. If i so much as touch the sterring wheel it restarts the engine. If a pigeon sneezes nearby the same…
And lastly, it will wear out your battery slightly quicker according to the guy who replaced the battery that died on my car.