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And more to come! Physical buttons now are a part of European Transport Safety Council requirements to get a high safety rating, from https://etsc.eu/cars-will-

• hnburnsy 10mo ago
  Sounds like the IIHS which has been imposing 'mandates' on car manufacturers with little proof that these mandates are effective. These mandates are costing us all millions in upfront and insurance rates but I never see any evidence that they are worth the cost they impose. Not opposed to the mandates specifically just the lack of cost benefit analysis.
  • scottbez1 10mo ago
    Can you be more specific about these “mandates” you take issue with? IIHS doesn’t have any mandate power over manufacturers (they are not a regulatory body) but they do align with insurance company interests, whose goals are to pay out less for damages from vehicle incidents, and therefore IIHS logically would theoretically be focused on actuarial data-driven analysis. If you have specific examples of where this has not been the case, I’d love to learn more.
    • hnburnsy 10mo ago
      Here are some where IIHS punishes cars that don't meet its features with dubious evidence of improving safety... Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) with Pedestrian Detection: IIHS rates vehicles on forward collision avoidance, including pedestrian scenarios, but systems often underperform in real-world conditions like nighttime or with larger vehicles (e.g., trucks or motorcycles). Studies show virtually no crash reduction at night, and features can create false alerts, weather-related failures, or a false sense of security, potentially dulling driver awareness without clear evidence of broad effectiveness at higher speeds. Roof Strength Test: Vehicles must withstand a force equivalent to a certain multiple of their weight (e.g., 4x for a "good" rating) to simulate rollover protection. Critics, including automotive industry analyses, argue there's no statistically reliable evidence that increasing roof strength beyond basic levels (e.g., from 2.5 to 3.5 strength-to-weight ratio) reduces injury risk, with claims relying on unsupported extrapolations from low-strength data and anomalous results. Updated Side Impact Test (Introduced 2021): This tougher test uses a heavier, faster-moving barrier (4,200 lbs at 37 mph) to mimic modern SUV strikes. It's criticized for disadvantaging smaller vehicles unfairly, incorporating misleading variables (e.g., tire grip affecting results), and prioritizing structural deformation over occupant outcomes, potentially leading to "poor" ratings despite good dummy readings. Detractors view it as more marketing-driven than reflective of common real-world crashes, with little evidence that the changes proportionally save lives beyond the original test.
• tensor 10mo ago
  Having driven a lot of cars with a fuckton of buttons on the steering wheel, how exactly do people use these without having to look down? One or two multi-function buttons connected to a screen is great, but there is no way I would be able to safely use that mess of physical buttons shown in the photos.
  • wilg 10mo ago
    They don't, it's mostly vibes plus them assuming that the "touchscreen cars" don't have some nebulous physical button that they probably do.
    • 0cf8612b2e1e 10mo ago
      Speak for yourself. I can adjust all of my physical climate controls, radio, wipers, and cruise control without taking my eyes off the road. Maybe some fumbling to pick the right blower angle.
      • amluto 10mo ago
        Some manufacturers have massively screwed up the cruise control buttons. On Rivians, for example, the car will instruct you to take control of steering if you will soon enter an area where it can’t do assisted steering. Fine, except that the only control that can transition directly from assisted steering to plan enhanced cruise is to jerk the steering wheel, which is distinctly uncool. So you instead cancel cruise entirely and then re-engage it. To add insult to injury, despite the fact that the speed up and speed down buttons are actual physical buttons, they are so aggressively denounced that there’s a loop: press button, wait, press, read screen to see if you’re making progress, press, etc. Anyway, the point is that, while physical buttons in predictable locations can make it possible to operate something without looking, it still needs a good design and implementation.
      • wilg 10mo ago
        I mean "even" in a Tesla you can adjust volume, next/previous track, wipers, cruise control (among other things) with a physical button, and climate controls are in a fixed location on the screen (and are typically left on auto).
• tracker1 10mo ago
  From the images, it feels like the buttons are a bit too much in terms of being eyes off.
• fleroviumna 10mo ago
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• cromka 10mo ago
  > now are a part of European Transport Safety Council requirements Actually, no, no official EU organization nor any council mandates that. It's Euro NCAP, an independent organization, who decided they'll include tactile control in their car safety evaluation. It is literally explained in that article. It will still make a difference, but this is not something EU did.
  • elzbardico 10mo ago
    The NCAP and the ETSC usually work very close together. A lot of times safety innovations are first introduced on NCAP ratings, then the ETSC carefully evaluates adoption and will then advocate for those requirements to become legally binding regulations. A technical standard will then typically be designed at the UNECE, Then the European Commission will propose it to be discussed and voted both by the EU Parliament and the European Council. It is not like the NCAP is just the EU version of the US "Consumer Reports". While not a part of the EU, it is a non-profit thoroughly embedded into the development of automotive safety standards in the EU.
    • cromka 10mo ago
      Sure, not saying otherwise, but even the very article linked actually somewhat complain the EU as a body doesn’t enforce things like that enough.
  • epolanski 10mo ago
    The previous user literally linked the ETSC website.
    • cromka 10mo ago
      And did you literally click that link? Seriously, WTF. It’s in the first paragraph there.