boemJob losses likely at VW as the people’s car brand becomes uncompetitive
I know this is more about switching from ICE to electric, but this is kinda hilarious
Feedback about the company’s new capacitive multifunction steering wheel was so overwhelmingly negative that last year, Schaffer promised to ditch the design. Meanwhile, much of the range—both electric and gas-powered—is saddled with temperature and volume controls that are touch-sensitive but not backlit, making them all but impossible to use at night.
Every car I’ve ever bought had had glaringly terrible design choices that make it obvious nobody in development actually drove the car. This has got to be one of the worst examples of that though.
2015 Ford Fusion, the touchscreen is pressure-sensitive, but the physical "buttons" for HVAC right below that are, for some reason, capacitive. Which means you can't really use either one while wearing gloves; you need a bare finger for the buttons, and gloves are too bulky to accurately press the little touchscreen things.
snooggumsThis is why I will never own a car without knobs or paddles for AC and heal controls.
WashedOverThe Fusion of the 2010-13 generation was peak for this car in my opinion. I owned a few from this generation and earlier. While I still after 12 years of ownership on my 2011 Fusion still need to look down at a block of buttons to figure out which climate control option I’m choosing it’s not this nightmare or the newer touchscreen nightmare either.
It’s too bad Ford left behind the simpler but trusty tech for flash and glam that wasn’t practical but this has been a repeating cyclical pattern for them for a long time.
When I think back to older Fords it was slide controls. Jeep had the twist knobs along with others. Those knobs honestly are still the best controls for safety and ease of use but it’s form over function these days.
We had a 2013 as well, the dome lights were weird capacitive touch. They made those physical buttons in the next iteration, which was an excellent idea.
Has this as a rental car a few years ago…
guess which knob I kept reaching for to turn down the volume…
The one clearly labeled volume?
Labels are not safe. Drivers need to keep their eyes on the road.
Maybe you are right, but it better not be because of a label
garretbleMan, that’s a yikes.
I hate those knobs, but I’m also lucky to just drive a simple standard car right now. It has a touch screen for sat nav (Carplay/Android Auto), but volume and climate controls are all physical.
AopenWhat does bigger one do?
I used to own a 2003 Hyundai Accent (of all things) that I was surprisingly impressed with in terms of interior and interface design. I particularly liked how they managed to fit cup holders suitable for 20oz plastic bottles into the door pockets.
You kind of get used to it. It’s not as bad as it sounds. At the same time they should absolutely get back to regular buttons. The only thing that should be touch sensitive in a car should be the infotainment screen when it’s displaying Android Auto or CarPlay.
Even then I think I’d like it to be a backup.
It’s not that they didn’t know it wasn’t very good. But it was a money saver, and they thought people would accept it because “modern”.
capacitive multifunction steering wheel
Mercedes has those too… They suck.
LinkerbaanI hate car manufacturers so much. First they whine about touch tech not being reliable, then after 10 years they implement the worst possible version of it.
The one thing I can praise Elon for is that he wasn’t a dumbass that wanted to use bad 10 year old tech. He does make his fair share of unreliable car but most of that seems to actually not be software related.