Buttons that you can use without looking at them, please.

On my old car, the temperature dial had a notch, and you could set it to heat/cold by whether it was left or right of center, now it's a free-spinning dial. Old fan control was a dial with stops, now it's two buttons with no tactile distinction. Old vent selector was a dial with stops and I knew the foot/defrost setting was one from the top and the foot/body setting was one from the bottom, now it's a single button same as the fan buttons that cycles through all the options. If I want to change anything, I have to wait until I'm at a red light or something so that I can look down and fiddle with it. I used to be able to do it all blind.

Hope our current car holds out long enough for those buttoned cars to arrive in the used car market.

Touchscreens in cars was a terrible development. The natural haptic feedback of physical buttons is a must, while operating a vehicle.

This seems like an obvious improvement and I kind of want everyone who thought otherwise to be banned from working in decision making roles.

US and EU regulators announced last year that cars with touchscreen controls could get worse safety ratings.

Yeah that's the real reason they're moving back it's got nothing to do with the complaints from the customers because they've been ignoring those for over a decade. They just know that people won't buy their cars if it receives a substandard rating.

But hey I'll still take the win.

Thanks to these visionary titans of industry we've now got 10+ years of used cars with HOT GARBAGE interfaces. Guess they learned their lesson eventually but the used market is screwed for a long time.

Did they really need research to realise that?

Good. Hate touchscreens. It never fails that as you are going to touch something, you will hit a bump and miss. And that’s after taking your eyes off the road to find the button or dig through 4 menus to find it.

Nature is healing?

Describing volume dials as "retro" is setting a very low bar for what can be considered retro. Also, it should have been super obvious to car makers from the start that using a touchscreen for almost everything was a really bad idea! As others have pointed out, you need to be able to control the car without having to take your eyes off the road for more than a couple of seconds.

they have to

it'll be a law in china in the future

And EURO NCAP (who make safety ratings for cars) have said they'll stop giving 5 stars, if a car has no physical buttons for essential controls (i dont reclal what they believe is essential though)

Peak control design

I wish they sold this model in the USA. We need a good selection of compact models

Who knew that would happen eventually after sensor screens failed time and time again at worst possible moments?

That touchscreens in cars are still allowed while using a phone is not?

The car I drive now is the newest car I've ever owned. It's a 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara, V6 AWD. I like everything about it. I'll keep it running as long as I can.

This is what a car should look like inside. Everything in reach, physical knobs I can set without looking, no distractions. Peak design:

No internet account required, of course, which also means they can't nerf my car from the other side of the planet, or charge me for 50 more HP, or heated seats. The most sophisticated display is the red LEDs that tell time, outside temp, and real time MPG. Also, I like having a car I actually own, Suzuki doesn't want anything to do with me, and I don't want anything to do with them. It was a one-time transaction, like a hooker and a john. We're not in a fucking life-long relationship.

Cars should not be this inside. While I agree it's cool and futuristic, it is not practical. Form should follow function, everything about this is the opposite:

Time for some cassette futurism design!

Now get rid of point-source quasar LED headlights. OK, we get it, science now allows us to get every electron in every atom to emit bazillions of photons every picosecond. That's nice. Like AI, we don't need it and no one asked for it.

ID.BUZZ with physical buttons, 4WD and an upgraded heat pump (the current one is designed for ID.4 sized cars) would be the perfect car for me.

Tangentially relevant. Anyone seen the new Microbus? It’s appalling. They gave it angry headlights like every other stupid generic car on the market. A hideous grille. And it’s got a giant flatscreen tv for all the interior controls. All in a 60s throwback vehicle specifically chosen for its nostalgic character. How do these people get promoted into decision making roles???

I hope regulators pay attention to technology this time instead of just reacting.

My car has controls with no physical buttons but I can control with voice assistant. Technically that means I can do it without taking my eyes off the road but it’s physical buttons are much better

In a particularly retro touch, the new ID Polo will even have a volume dial.

This seems like a weird thing to mention because every stupid touchscreen car I've driven still has a volume dial.

Finally undoing the damage to design apple and John goingToSt Ives did.

If only we would also undo the other trends apple did, "Treating the customer like they are stupid", walled gardens(we control your device not you) and everyone'a favourite: it's in the store for 99cents

Edit: there's a time and a place for multi touch, capacitive screens; it's with unorthodox uis or things with a heavy emphasis on portability and video.