Home » Physical Buttons Are Making A Comeback And The Tyranny Of The Touchscreen Is Breaking

Physical Buttons Are Making A Comeback And The Tyranny Of The Touchscreen Is Breaking

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I know it often seems like every bit of media you encounter is just a firehose of bad news, but I’m happy to inform you that’s not always the case. A great example of this has to do with the seemingly overwhelming expansion of the touch screen as the universal interface for everything on your car’s dashboard.

For years now, it’s seemed like a depressing inevitability that touchscreen interfaces would take over everything, but there’s a pushback happening. Buttons are picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and coming for touchscreens, because the truth is we’re flapjacking done with everything crammed onto a touchscreen. It’s happening.

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This movement away from shoving every possible control onto a touchscreen has been simmering for a while, as the people who actually use these cars on a daily basis are realizing that you don’t always want to navigate into an attention-demanding screen-based interface to do basic things, and as a result, have a newfound appreciation for tactile controls. This was noted recently in studies done by Hyundai Design North America (HDNA), as reported by Korea’s JoongAng Daily:

Hyundai Motor was one of many automakers who, following Tesla’s lead, have rolled out touch screen infotainment across their models over the past decade, often replacing the knobs that had historically controlled features like air conditioning and radio — going so far as to show off a touch screen concept steering wheel in 2019. It appeared to publicly reverse course early last year, however, stating at the launch of the Hyundai Kona that it was committed to keeping physical buttons and dials in its vehicles in the near future. Its current lineup, including the refreshed Ioniq 5, features more analog controls across the board.

That course reversal, HDNA said, wasn’t purely motivated by safety or profitability concerns. Largely, American customers just found it annoying.

“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried out putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that,” said HDNA Vice President Ha Hak-soo.

It feels vindicating to finally read very clear statements about touchscreen controls like “American customers just found it annoying” and “people didn’t prefer that.” Because it’s true!

There was also a recent article on IEEE Spectrum titled Touchscreens Are Out, and Tactile Controls Are Back, which I think pretty much sums up what it’s all about. The article referenced an actual physical button researcher, Rachel Plotnick, who has written an entire book on the subject of button pushing and is currently being sought after to help carmakers re-introduce physical buttons and controls to their dashboards.

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Here’s what she had to say about the shift away from touchscreen controls and back to tactile controls:

There was this kind of touchscreen mania, where all of a sudden everything became a touchscreen. Your car was a touchscreen, your refrigerator was a touchscreen. Over time, people became somewhat fatigued with that. That’s not to say touchscreens aren’t a really useful interface, I think they are. But on the other hand, people seem to have a hunger for physical buttons, both because you don’t always have to look at them—you can feel your way around for them when you don’t want to directly pay attention to them—but also because they offer a greater range of tactility and feedback.

That’s not to say buttons don’t work with screens very nicely—they’re often partners. But in a way, it’s taking away the priority of vision as a sense, and recognizing that a screen isn’t always the best way to interact with something.

When I’m driving, it’s actually unsafe for my car to be operated in that way. It’s hard to generalize and say, buttons are always easy and good, and touchscreens are difficult and bad, or vice versa. Buttons tend to offer you a really limited range of possibilities in terms of what you can do. Maybe that simplicity of limiting our field of choices offers more safety in certain situations.

There definitely was a touchscreen mania, and I think you can argue we’re still in that mania, even if cracks are finally starting to show. The maddening thing about all of this is that the limitations and flaws of touchscreen interfaces really should have been evident from the very beginning. It was always clear that navigating and using a touchscreen was more demanding of attention and visual focus, because that’s just how they are; it’s a flat, smooth surface and the controls on the screen change function and location, which means you have to look at it, you have to take your focus and attention off the road and direct it at the screen to see what it’s displaying and where the control is for what you want to do.

For example, look at the air vent controls in a Rivian:

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Compare that to the effort to just move a vent, which has stayed in the same place on the dash since the first time you saw that car.

Buttons work better because of their limitations: they’re immobile, and their functions are unchanging. That’s limiting, yes, but in a good way. For controls that you’re likely to want to use at any moment – any of the HVAC controls, for example, or basic things like audio volume and lights and wipers and glove box doors, there simply isn’t any good reason to make those part of a touchscreen interface.

There’s a place for screens on a dashboard, no question. And there are many controls, ones that generally aren’t used while in the process of driving, that can be great on a touchscreen, or things like maps and detailed owner’s manual text and all sorts of other stuff that a touchscreen can be used for. Maybe there are things we haven’t thought of yet it can be better suited for, too, like showing videos of how to do owner-maintenance tasks like changing cabin air filters or something?

There’s a place for screens and physical controls in cars. Maybe we had to go through this touchscreen obsession to realize what makes sense and what doesn’t but I’m glad we finally seem to be figuring that out.

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Attention Car UX Designers: Explain To Me Why Touchscreen HVAC Vent Controls Aren’t Idiotic, Please

Europe Is Requiring Physical Buttons For Cars To Get Top Safety Marks, And We Should, Too

Here’s What Happened When I Confronted Volvo’s Head Designer About The Company’s Egregious Decision To Require A Touchscreen Button To Open The EX90’s Glovebox

 

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Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
23 days ago

Yay! Finally! Bring back the buttons

67 Oldsmobile
67 Oldsmobile
23 days ago

I want to read that button book,that’s good nerdism. Also we have two Ford vans at work,one with the big screen where the put the climate control on the screen and a previous gen one with standard hvac controls on a switch panel.I definitely prefer the switches.

Vetatur Fumare
Vetatur Fumare
23 days ago

It feels reallllly weird to see evidence of a company listening to its customers and changing tack.
What’s next, politicians?

RhoadBlock
RhoadBlock
23 days ago

This almost moves Hyundai up to a front running position for the next family vehicle. Wife and I absolutely despise the touchscreen while driving, and honestly my wife is more vocal about it than me.

Austin Vail
Austin Vail
23 days ago
Reply to  RhoadBlock

Hyundai really has made huge strides in becoming an interesting automaker in the past few years. Still kinda finding their identity, but absolutely getting there! Now if only they can get the reliability and dealership issues sorted out, they’ll be golden.

RhoadBlock
RhoadBlock
22 days ago
Reply to  Austin Vail

They really have. We we’re *this* close to picking up a Kona in 2020 but my wife opted for the sportier Countryman S.

The family is growing and now and after having some actual grunt under her pedal (she came from a Scion xD) she wants something equally as peppy and refined at a minimum, if not quicker, so Hyundai is probably out.

Lost on the Nürburgring
Lost on the Nürburgring
23 days ago

The notion of poka yoke has been around since the 1960 when some of the best design efficiency philosophies were coming out of Japan. Loosely translated, this means “mistake proofing” and the philosophy lines up with what was notionally mentioned in the blog above, “limiting can also be good”. Think “microwave shuts off when door opens” or “only wrench fits in wrench slot”. The philosophy and its myriad implementations reduce the propensity for critical error.

A person driving a car at 60mph can, in some ways, be considered an “idiot”. The person has to focus so much of their situational awareness to safely drive the car at that speed that they then have drastically reduced mental capacity to, say, change the HVAC temp from 65 to 75. Asking them to click twice into a nested touch menu that has a location only accessible by sight is asking that driver to spend less of their finite mental capacity on driving the car safely… this, needless to say, is a terrible idea.

In other words, I welcome the return of our button overlords.

Craig
Craig
22 days ago

you’re an exhaustive source, to be sure.

Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford
23 days ago

I hope we do not have to go through a voice control mania.

Steven Moor
Steven Moor
24 days ago

The maddening thing about all of this is that the limitations and flaws of touchscreen interfaces really should have been evident from the very beginning. It was always clear that navigating and using a touchscreen was more demanding of attention and visual focus, because that’s just how they are; it’s a flat, smooth surface and the controls on the screen change function and location, which means you have to look at it, you have to take your focus and attention off the road and direct it at the screen to see what it’s displaying and where the control is for what you want to do.

Exactly this. It takes no more than 5 seconds of thinking to realize using a touch screen for any control that requires operation during driving, is a TERRIBLE idea. We all have Tesla to thank for this though – They say it’s because they want an air of minimalism in their cabins, but we all know it has everything to do with minimizing cost, and maximizing profit.

Ben
Ben
24 days ago

I’ll believe it when automakers actually stop trying to make fetch touchscreen interfaces happen. I mean, we’ve known touch interfaces are bad at least from the MyFordTouch days and yet every few years some bright spark tries to do an entirely touch-based interface again. They’ll back off it for a few years, but pretty soon the siren song of bigger profits will prompt them to cheap out on interiors again and we’ll be right back in this hellscape.

Prove me wrong, automakers. I could use a little faith in humanity right now.

JDS
JDS
23 days ago
Reply to  Ben

Stop trying to make “fetch” happen! /s

M0L0TOV
M0L0TOV
24 days ago

I know the new Colorado doesn’t have a switch for the lights and it’s controlled via screen but in foreign markets, they have a switch. I wonder if it can be installed (plug and play) and be relieved of the tyranny of the touch screen. New import/export business idea perhaps?

Attila the Hatchback
Attila the Hatchback
23 days ago
Reply to  M0L0TOV

Since GM’s had automatic headlights for 60 years, I’d hope that the Colorado touchscreen light controls never have to be used. I know the old 1990’s Lesabre I drove in college had perfectly reliable automatic headlights. (What’s really scary is that car had a window sticker of close to $30K, which is like $55K in 2024 dollars!)

M0L0TOV
M0L0TOV
23 days ago

It’s hit or miss, at least from my experience. My 05 Magnum R/T was wired for it but did not originally included it. I bought the correct switch and installed it and it’s okay if it’s super dark but not so good when it’s dusk/sunset. However, the ones on my 05 E320 CDi work amazingly well.

MiniDave
MiniDave
24 days ago

Wow – now THERE’s an idea! The car has a manual for its maintenance and the screen shows you how to do it……especially good for those who only know how to use the You Tube university to learn how to do stuff.

Spikersaurusrex
Spikersaurusrex
24 days ago

Worse than a touchscreen? A non-touchscreen with the controls you need menus deep and the only access is through a rotary dial. Mercedes Benz: “We make it more complicated.”

Hiram McDaniel
Hiram McDaniel
24 days ago

One of the best things about my new-to-me 2019 i3s is the ability to use the “preset” buttons on the dash to do more than just go to a radio station. They can be programmed to serve as shortcuts to items that otherwise are a fee menu clicks deep in the iDrive software. Want to turn on the range extender to serve as a “Preserve State of Charge” function? That is about 5 menu levels deep OR it is now preset button 8 on my dash.

Anthony Magagnoli
Anthony Magagnoli
24 days ago
Reply to  Hiram McDaniel

Did you pay David his commission? 🙂

Jatkat
Jatkat
24 days ago
Reply to  Hiram McDaniel

Honestly that seems like a button that should have been included by default. It is on my Volt anyway.

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
24 days ago
Reply to  Hiram McDaniel

I have a 2015 Mini that has a similar iDrive system with the programmable presets. I also like that if you lightly touch the button w/o pressing it in, it shows you what the button is programmed for. That is something that is really difficult (but not impossible) to replicate with a touch-only button.

Fortunately, my Mini is old enough to still have plenty of physical switches and buttons that there isn’t much that I feel the need to program. But the newer ones with next to zero buttons benefit immensely from such programmability.

Professor Chorls
Professor Chorls
24 days ago

Just you wait, once I buy my Cybertruck (when Tesla inevitably is forced to discount it to $40K to move units, or I find a Copart total-out with 1 dent or missing ass for $6,900) I’m immediately adding a column shifter, HVAC and radio DIN box, gauge cluster, and door handles from a 1993 F-350.

Yes, the column shifter will just be an automotive ethernet interface that just tells the drive mode to change, but it will be beautifully CLONKY to operate with a big chrome lever. I’ll even design in 15 degrees of slop so you don’t know what gear you’re actually in.

Yes, I’ll need to build a driver board that talks to the BCM and drives analog gauge steppers while adding a randomized noise profile on top so the battery level varies between 0% and 37% when it feels like it.

Yes, I’ll mechanically rig the door handle mechanism to override the door lock motor so they actually work. But only if I push really hard on the button and pull the door at the same time.

I can’t wait to have my 1989 280,000 mile farm shitbox Cybertruck.

(Bonus points if I recalibrate the electronic steering to simulate having 69 degrees or more of wheel lash to simulate the rickery recirculating-ball steering box)

Jatkat
Jatkat
24 days ago

Good lord the number of replacement handles I had to sell for those trucks makes me advise you to shop for another period correct replacement 😉

Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford
23 days ago
Reply to  Jatkat

We welded up steel handles after breaking the pot metal crap on our F100s about five times.

Professor Chorls
Professor Chorls
22 days ago
Reply to  Jatkat

Why do you think I already own a bunch…

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