this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
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Manufacturers are slowly starting to listen to what car journalists and owners have been complaining about for almost a decade: Cramming all the car’s functions into a touchscreen is an inferior solution to having dedicated physical controls for key tasks.

Among the manufacturers known to be switching back to buttons is Volkswagen, whose latest vehicles have gone touch-control-crazy with functions either buried inside a touchscreen menu or relocated to an annoying haptic feedback panel.

We’ve known for a while that Volkswagen was considering putting back some buttons in its cars, but the manufacturer never officially acknowledged this. Now VW’s design boss, Andreas Mindt, has admitted to Autocar that this approach was a mistake and that the automaker is backtracking on this trend.

“From the ID.2all onwards, we will have physical buttons for the five most important functions—the volume, the heating on each side of the car, the fans and the hazard light—below the screen,” Mindt told Autocar. He added, “They will be in every car that we make from now on. We will never, ever make this mistake anymore. On the steering wheel, we will have physical buttons. No guessing anymore. There's feedback, it's real, and people love this. Honestly, it's a car. It's not a phone.”

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[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 7 points 1 day ago

But why can we not have button phones as well? I miss tactile feedback.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Touch screens in cars has always been a fuckin' stupid idea, and I say that with the sincerest hope that nobody died because they had to look at the touchscreen to know where to tap to change the radio station because commercials came on

[–] SaraTonin@lemm.ee 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Someone has died due to a touchscreen. A woman had a Tesla which you put in park forwards or reverse with a touchscreen. She’d always had trouble with it and got it wrong and reversed into a pond. That meant the power went out so she couldn’t open that door. To get to the emergency escape handle you have to remove the speakers in the doors. So she drowned.

The kicker? Her husband was a millionaire and he immediately put out a statement absolving Tesla and musk from any wrongdoing.

[–] daddy32@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Billionaires, both of them, I think.

[–] nuko147@lemm.ee 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nah you should make the steering wheel also a touchscreen, that would be smart. 🙃

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Swipe left to go left. Swipe right to go right. Pinch to accelerate. Say in a clear voice "Please begin braking" to decelerate.

[–] daddy32@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Display ads in the meantime.

[–] scutiger@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Say Yaah to accelerate, and Whoa to slow down.

[–] meep_launcher@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Finally saw a VW Buzz on the streets- I fell in love instantly. Not sure of the specs but I think she's mighty pretty and it makes me want to load up my band and do a cross country trip with a fun montage sequence.

[–] Peter1986C@lemmings.world 3 points 1 day ago

Postal service PostNL uses them, so I happen too see them from time to time.

[–] Rododenderon@lemmy.cafe 37 points 1 day ago

Glad they return to the old proven ways. It’s so much safer to have proper buttons and dials.

[–] regrub@lemmy.world 165 points 2 days ago (12 children)

Great. Do away with the unnecessary telemetry next.

[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I used to work with big companies collecting IoT data. 90% were collecting telemetry without knowing why. Or having business goals they could easily achieve in other ways, without hoovering everything and violating our privacy.

The rest were doing it so they could sell it to data brokers and make money.

None of them were trying to push privacy as a competitive advantage.

[–] myplacedk@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (3 children)

None of them were trying to push privacy as a competitive advantage.

This is why I don't have a new car. I'm hoping I get one where I have access to my own data (in eg. Home Assistant), and the manufacturer doesn't.

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[–] meliante@lemm.ee 112 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Nothing to do with the euroNCAP guidance that came out earlier in the year, of course.

[–] splonglo@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nah I'm sure that carmakers being forced to do this only factored in a little bit.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago

Only because buttons are cheaper than fines of course.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’ve been assured that tHe MaRkEt will solve everything, though!

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[–] PeteZa@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is incredible news because that means my future GTI will have buttons.

[–] prudx@lemm.ee 2 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

I just hope they're smart enough not to put a 1200kg battery in it 🥹

[–] biofaust@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

!cassettefuturism@lemm.ee brace for the flood!

[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago

Step 1: Make insanely stupid design decision to save $2

Step 2: Sell reversal as an upgrade

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 78 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Great, now unfuck the car I already have

[–] latenightnoir@lemmy.world 27 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Would be hilarious if they recalled them and superglued buttons over the touchscreen interface.

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[–] stopforgettingit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 1 day ago (17 children)

honestly, I'm all for buttons on phones too, I miss my sideout keyboard.

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[–] realitista@lemm.ee 28 points 1 day ago (7 children)

This will be another nice side effect of Tesla shitting the bed. They were the ones that started this trend and now that they are out of fashion, it will become unfashionable again.

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 28 points 2 days ago (10 children)

Now wait a second! Hold on! Let's get one thing straight here......

.......buttons should also return to phones.

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[–] carp1@lemm.ee 15 points 1 day ago

The world is healing

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