The Real Reason New Cars Have Touchscreens

My father has always been a mercedes guy. When he turned 70 recently, I convinced him that it was finally time to upgrade to the beautiful new gen E class. We got inside one at the dealer...and both of us were like "nope". Way too complicated, million different settings, basic things are hidden behind layers of menus...I mean wtf were they thinking? Even me being a tech savvy IT guy was overwhelmed. And there was literally no benefit for the driver. It seemed to just be about saving the company money on buttons and knobs. Sad that they just alienated a lifelong customer...and I'm sure he isn't alone!

It’s cheaper for the company. You’re welcome.

And very soon, when the car detects it's waiting at a stop light, those screens will be playing ads at you. "Would you like to watch two ads while you're waiting, or would you like to pay $19.99/month for the Hyundai 'Premium' Ad-Free Experience...?" I think I'll take the bus instead.

I'm gonna be honest our Civic with 50 million physical buttons all lit up at night like an airplane cockpit looks way more futuristic than a mounted iPad

There is a reason why jet fighters still use buttons, switches and knobs and limited use of screens.

“You can’t use your smartphone while driving so why is a giant tablet okay” Great point - lawmakers are a bunch of hypocrites.

It's one thing to have a touch screen to control the radio (as long as there is a physical volume knob), but It gets ridiculous when things like headlights, A/C, etc.. are ONLY controllable thru touch screens.. I prefer how it was in the 90's with a physical button or switch for EVERYTHING. I also don't like having a big-ass bright Ipad like screen blasting 1000+ lumens of light into my face when driving at night..

so many things in our lives that are marketed to us as 'better' are actually not and instead are just cheaper and the manufacturers trick us into wanting it. But they don't lower the prices of the new cheaper thing, because they've convinced us it's better and convinced us to want it more. So for the producer, they're lowering costs, creating something objectively worse, convinced us that it's subjectively better, and sell it to us as the cool better thing for more money. Next time you notice something has changed and is 'new' and 'improved' think long and hard about whether or not it actually is new and improved or if it's just different, possibly worse, and cheaper to produce.

I once worked in computer security. I don't trust the newer cars with their over-the-air software updates and subscriptions for features. I also hate how complicated they've become, and how the windows have shrunk so much that they require backup cameras now. I'm keeping my old car because it has real buttons, and I can see out of it. It's also much simpler mechanically, the parts are cheap, and it's easy to maintain it myself. It's 17 years old and has 247,000 miles on it, but it still gets me around comfortably.

Cheaper to make but expensive to repair and upkeep

Touchscreens should never have gone beyond the infotainment. I drive an ‘07, manual transmission, cruise control- with an updated radio head unit for Bluetooth and phone connectivity. Literally don’t want any more tech in my car. Keeping this one for the foreseeable future.

mazda nails it right now. Small screens mounted above the dashboard near the sightline. My family has a cx-30 and i love the interaction with the infotainment. But everything that you need to change quickly is physical buttons (ex. AC, seat adjustment)

All I want in a car is music, navigation, and for it to go vroom. The rest is just unnecessary clutter

I drive a Toyota 4runner from 1999, recently got to drive a 2023 man that thing feels like a spaceship. The worse part after 2 decades of "improvements" it gets almost the exact same mileage as my vehicle form the 90s while being wider, longer, and harder to see out of.

Aircraft have glass cockpits, but ALL common and critical controls are always operated with fixed buttons.

I am 72 years old and I prefer the analog dashboard with actual gauges to a computer screen dashboard. Also I prefer actual knobs and buttons to control most items in the car. What I do not like is what I see in Tesla electric cars where there is one big touch screen that handles almost everything and displays almost everything. A big computer screen is fine for my home computer sitting on my dining room table, but not in a car.

Putting our safety at risk just to save a buck! 👎👎👎

The rush to put touchscreens in cars is insanity. Talk about a solution looking for a problem... I'm totally with you on the points made. I've been driving for many years. I know too well how quickly things can go bad. The risks increase the less time you spend focusing on what you're doing. Here in the UK, it's (voluntarily) possible to do advanced driver training and do an advanced test. It's modelled on what they teach police. The watchwords are observation and anticipation. On the road, that is. Not on observing what's on your screen and anticipating where to put your finger to make something happen. I can't believe the stupidity of car companies' management in approving these designs.

I like cars which just have a small screen for reverse camera and maps. modern cars take it way too far though. i like having physicals buttons for air-conditioning controls, music controls and anything related to actually driving the vehicle.

The worst I’ve seen, is the 2024 Model 3 update; they substituted a laggy “swipe for reverse” field on the display for the previous model's physical shifter. Idiocy.