#bringbackbuttons
I’ve got a few capacitive buttons in my car, none of them critical, but I’d gladly replace them with the physical buttons in the lower tier version of that car…
Like, how is this considered the nicer option? Hell, I think they’re actually cheaper for the manufacturer than proper buttons at this point…
But sure, I really want to have to try three times to turn the vented seats on because I don’t hit the exact right spot on the pad, only to accidentally switch it to the heated seats in triple digit weather while reaching for the AC knob (which actually is physical, thankfully)
Yeah, this stuff is always cheaper. Companies, like Tesla, have convinced a few stupid people that it’s “premium” but if you look at all the cheapest cars coming to market all they have is a touch screen, like Tesla. It’s the absolute cheapest option and it sucks.
Car companies won’t be happy until cars become yearly upgrade items like phone companies have convinced us to do with mobile phones
Of course they are cheaper, thats why they put them everywhere instead of regular buttons.
A well-designed button can be incredibly satisfying. Just ask anyone who owns a mechanical keyboard.
I think the Hummer EV is a dangerous and wasteful piece of junk. But one thing it does well is the interior controls. There’s a bunch of switches on the dash under near the infotainment screen, and there’s little symbols above them for what they do. Tapping a switch can change its context.
So you get the flexibility of infotainment controls, but the UX of actual buttons.
Too bad it’s in a Hummer EV.
Capacitive buttons on anything are annoying, they’re unreliable as fuck. They might trigger with the slightest accidental touch, but then they’ll act like your finger doesn’t exist for a dozen pushes.
and why do they have to be everywhere? we have an induction stove and it has capacitive buttons for some idiotic reason. so many problems! when you boil water, little drops are always landing on the buttons. and to reduce power from max to min, you need to hold the - button for like a full minute. wiping the stove with a wet towel makes it go BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP and it won’t shut up! and finally, when my cats walk on the buttons, they always manage to turn it on. i miss knobs.
As a safety risk, they should be recalled and replaced with proper controls for free.
Can confirm that these buttons on the steering wheel of the id4 are really, really dangerous bullshit. I regularly drive those cars as rentals, and I’ve never (not “rarely” - it’s really never) faced a worse decision on buttons in any device I ever handled. Those touchpads are solely the reason I despise all VW-cars - they are complete crap. (I use these cars only for short trips and never activate any system by these buttons after encountering numerous dangerous situations as described in the article.)
I think it’s Mercedes that has two mini touchpads on the steering wheel? Horrible.
Shouldn’t automotive catch a hint from the fact that the only mainstream capacitive control devices are phones and tablets - something that you’re constantly looking at while operating?
They know.
Capacitive touch sensors are WAY cheaper than physical buttons, and aren’t nearly as prone to mechanical flaws. Plus they can market them as “newer”!
Car companies only care about your safety as much as it affects their bottom line. It’s unfortunately commonplace for there to be known fatal flaws which occur infrequently enough that it’s cheaper to just pay out the injured/killed victims than to issue a recall. Driving is inherently dangerous - any car companies that tried to fix everything would go bankrupt, or at least be squeezed out by those that don’t.
Now, if only there were a way to build the places we live so that we didn’t need to take on the risk of driving so frequently…
