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I haven't had a touchscreen in a car, and while I'm excited with the idea of having a fully electric car, I have to say that the thing I dread the most is touch

I haven't had a touchscreen in a car, and while I'm excited with the idea of having a fully electric car, I have to say that the thing I dread the most is touchscreens. Are touchscreens in cars mostly things like music and satnav, or are they also used for things like A/C, direction of air flow etc?

ISL 5y ago
We recently got a loaner car from our local Subaru -- lots of controls were touchscreen only, including climate and radio controls. Needing to take your eyes off the road to interact with safety-critical controls (defroster, for example) is a step backward.
- poulsbohemian 5y ago
  I’m curious what model, as I have a new Subaru Ascent and have been very pleased with the mix of touchscreen and physical knobs - and I’m a guy who was super skeptical about the touchscreen.
  - ISL 5y ago
    A recent-model Outback, probably a 2021? This is what it looked like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akCh_LyGOt0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akCh_LyGOt0 There are more knobs than I remembered, but the overwhelming sense was that the touchscreen made difficult things possible, but the simplest things more-difficult. Many of the climate settings are in software. The seat-heaters as a software switch are a big step backward from the 2013 Outback's dedicated buttons, too.
    - poulsbohemian 5y ago
      Oh! Thanks for the video - wow, that is significantly different from the Ascent! On mine the heating / cooling options are all physical controls as are the buttons for switching between media modes. Yes once you are into things like CarPlay it's all touch screen, but even then there are control buttons from the steering wheel for next track / previous track, volume, invoke siri, etc.
  - Rebelgecko 5y ago
    It varies by trim level. For example the entry level outback has physical climate controls, but the "premium" one has tiny little buttons on the touch screen
- Silhouette 5y ago
  Needing to take your eyes off the road to interact with safety-critical controls (defroster, for example) is a step backward. ...and there's a 100m cliff behind you with some innocent families playing at the bottom. It staggers me that regulators around the world didn't block the trend for highly interactive UIs and touchscreen controls for essential driving actions a long time ago. It's so obviously dangerous and unashamedly putting style before substance. It terrifies me that before long I'm going to have to give up my existing car in favour of something modern. I would be very happy to have the better performance and environmental characteristics of modern cars but I have yet to find one where the technology didn't actively deter me from buying.
mh- 5y ago
Varies by car, of course. I think Tesla is the most extreme towards the all-touch end of the spectrum. I recall reading their windshield wiper controls are only on the touch screen. My GM vehicle has physical knobs and buttons for almost everything, but some of the functions are also available in the touch screen. Climate control, as an example.
- Swenrekcah 5y ago
  Speaking of Tesla. I've always been wary of them for this reason. It seems to me however that they actually have put a lot of thought and effort into making both the screen and the app work smoothly, so kudos to them for that. But the question remains open, both for Tesla and others, if they'll put similar though into it in the future. And this is something you can't know beforehand. If I buy a car I know that all the knobs and buttons physically in it will be there in 10 years. I have absoloutely no idea how OTA and app support will develop in 6 months.

ISL 5y ago

We recently got a loaner car from our local Subaru -- lots of controls were touchscreen only, including climate and radio controls. Needing to take your eyes off the road to interact with safety-critical controls (defroster, for example) is a step backward.

poulsbohemian 5y ago
I’m curious what model, as I have a new Subaru Ascent and have been very pleased with the mix of touchscreen and physical knobs - and I’m a guy who was super skeptical about the touchscreen.
- ISL 5y ago
  A recent-model Outback, probably a 2021? This is what it looked like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akCh_LyGOt0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akCh_LyGOt0 There are more knobs than I remembered, but the overwhelming sense was that the touchscreen made difficult things possible, but the simplest things more-difficult. Many of the climate settings are in software. The seat-heaters as a software switch are a big step backward from the 2013 Outback's dedicated buttons, too.
  - poulsbohemian 5y ago
    Oh! Thanks for the video - wow, that is significantly different from the Ascent! On mine the heating / cooling options are all physical controls as are the buttons for switching between media modes. Yes once you are into things like CarPlay it's all touch screen, but even then there are control buttons from the steering wheel for next track / previous track, volume, invoke siri, etc.
- Rebelgecko 5y ago
  It varies by trim level. For example the entry level outback has physical climate controls, but the "premium" one has tiny little buttons on the touch screen
Silhouette 5y ago
Needing to take your eyes off the road to interact with safety-critical controls (defroster, for example) is a step backward. ...and there's a 100m cliff behind you with some innocent families playing at the bottom. It staggers me that regulators around the world didn't block the trend for highly interactive UIs and touchscreen controls for essential driving actions a long time ago. It's so obviously dangerous and unashamedly putting style before substance. It terrifies me that before long I'm going to have to give up my existing car in favour of something modern. I would be very happy to have the better performance and environmental characteristics of modern cars but I have yet to find one where the technology didn't actively deter me from buying.

mh- 5y ago

Varies by car, of course. I think Tesla is the most extreme towards the all-touch end of the spectrum. I recall reading their windshield wiper controls are only on the touch screen. My GM vehicle has physical knobs and buttons for almost everything, but some of the functions are also available in the touch screen. Climate control, as an example.

Swenrekcah 5y ago
Speaking of Tesla. I've always been wary of them for this reason. It seems to me however that they actually have put a lot of thought and effort into making both the screen and the app work smoothly, so kudos to them for that. But the question remains open, both for Tesla and others, if they'll put similar though into it in the future. And this is something you can't know beforehand. If I buy a car I know that all the knobs and buttons physically in it will be there in 10 years. I have absoloutely no idea how OTA and app support will develop in 6 months.