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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 o

by 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.

by ISL 5y ago

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.