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Huh. I'm as big a touchscreen hater as anyone, but they're solid state, unlike the knobs and buttons they replace (and also unlike computer fans). Why do they f

by gkop 5y ago

Huh. I'm as big a touchscreen hater as anyone, but they're solid state, unlike the knobs and buttons they replace (and also unlike computer fans). Why do they fail so early and often?

saalweachter 5y ago
It's also a lot harder to drop the touchscreen in your car than the one in your pocket.
iancmceachern 5y ago
Solid state does not necessarily mean more durable or reliable. Think of a thin stem wine glass, it's solid state but wouldn't last long in a car. Then you could have something like vise grip pliers or a crescent wrench and that would last 100 years or more in a car and even last for millions and millions of use cycles. Disclaimer: I'm an idiot, these are my random thoughts on the subject, I'm not an expert in lcd reliability, but have designed many products with LCD in them, or that were LCD displays themselves. LCDs are solid state, but are still incredibly complex pieces of engineering. Early on in Teslas life there is a famous story about them using consumer grade (not automotive) in their cars because the latter simply wasn't available. This highlights an important difference between automotive applications and others. Automotive component specs are more stringent on vibration and thermL requirements than say consumer products or medical devices. It gets really hot inside the cabin of a car, also really cold. This thermal cycling, and vibration is hell on things that are sensitive to thermal shock like things made of composted of many different materials (glass, plastic, epoxy, clear conductive magic stuff, etc) which is exactly what a LCD screen is. On the other hand, buttons are dead simple. Many are 3 or 4 parts, all super reliable and with great quality control. Another way to think about it, is a plastic piece with two copper contacts, a spring (often molded into one of the plastic parts directly), and a plastic housing more complex or less reliable than the amazing complex beast that is a LCD display.

by gkop 5y ago

Huh. I'm as big a touchscreen hater as anyone, but they're solid state, unlike the knobs and buttons they replace (and also unlike computer fans). Why do they fail so early and often?

saalweachter 5y ago

It's also a lot harder to drop the touchscreen in your car than the one in your pocket.

iancmceachern 5y ago

Solid state does not necessarily mean more durable or reliable. Think of a thin stem wine glass, it's solid state but wouldn't last long in a car. Then you could have something like vise grip pliers or a crescent wrench and that would last 100 years or more in a car and even last for millions and millions of use cycles. Disclaimer: I'm an idiot, these are my random thoughts on the subject, I'm not an expert in lcd reliability, but have designed many products with LCD in them, or that were LCD displays themselves. LCDs are solid state, but are still incredibly complex pieces of engineering. Early on in Teslas life there is a famous story about them using consumer grade (not automotive) in their cars because the latter simply wasn't available. This highlights an important difference between automotive applications and others. Automotive component specs are more stringent on vibration and thermL requirements than say consumer products or medical devices. It gets really hot inside the cabin of a car, also really cold. This thermal cycling, and vibration is hell on things that are sensitive to thermal shock like things made of composted of many different materials (glass, plastic, epoxy, clear conductive magic stuff, etc) which is exactly what a LCD screen is. On the other hand, buttons are dead simple. Many are 3 or 4 parts, all super reliable and with great quality control. Another way to think about it, is a plastic piece with two copper contacts, a spring (often molded into one of the plastic parts directly), and a plastic housing more complex or less reliable than the amazing complex beast that is a LCD display.