For me the biggest reason knobs are useful in a car can be observed by the surface-exposed HVAC dials of the early 2000s Impala (axis-aligned with X or Pitch ax

For me the biggest reason knobs are useful in a car can be observed by the surface-exposed HVAC dials of the early 2000s Impala (axis-aligned with X or Pitch axis): If you're twisting a knob with two fingers and hit a bump, the anti-directional nature of the contact points on the knob cancels out the translation injected by a bump in the road. The 2000's Impala showed that analog on the X axis and analog on the Z axis are very different, as it was virtually impossible to set the temperature accurately in an Impala if moving (still not the worst thing about that car, not even close). This is why steering wheels are very effective input mechanisms. If you're jostling around, the wheel still doesn't rotate. Try driving one-handed on a bouncy road. I bet your hand goes to the top or bottom of the wheel intuitively. I do appreciate when auto manufacturers who use touch screens put the screen near an edge or lip that I can use to stabilize by hand, but day to day controls should really have dedicated dials, knobs, and (at least) buttons.