Cars will need fewer screens and more buttons to earn a 5-star safety rating in Europe | Euro NCAP will introduce new testing rules in 2026 requiring physical controls for the highest safety score
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What, keeping a rag on hand to wipe away the fog on the windshield every 3 minutes isn't safe enough?
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Screen consoles in 4000lb bullets were the dumbest engineering idea ever. It’s probably a contributing factor as to why accident rates are up.
Up until 2018 I could manipulate my entire console without shifting my eyes from the road. Doing this by touch alone only works with physical buttons and knobs.
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How about just banning touchscreen use while driving altogether?
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I can't imagine why anyone would think it's a good idea
Suposedly it's to cut costs but I find it very hard to believe a few buttons add much cost at all. Much less at the expense of customer satisfaction. Tripping over a dollar to pick up a dime, in my opinion.
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The button might be 1c, but you gotta wire it, install it, warranty it etc etc. It's not as inconsequential as you might think. And there's a lot of them.
A screen is the screen and the wiring to the computer.
It's a couple skus to maintain instead of dozens. It's 1 warranty item instead of dozens.
It might not be a good idea, but it absolutely will save a noticeable amount of money per vehicle.
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it absolutely will save a noticeable amount of money per vehicle.
I don't believe that.
Monroe has talked about how they removed some bolts that weren't absolutely necessary from the vehicle, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars. In that case, it's fine. In this case I think it's the same situation except they don't care about driver safety. If the driver is fucking with touchscreens and crashes, that's gonna be on the driver.
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You're contradicting yourself LOL
I don’t believe that.
Monroe has talked about how they removed some bolts that weren’t absolutely necessary from the vehicle, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars. In that case, it’s fine.
Its okay if you don't like it, but come on dude, a screen is going to be cheaper by 10s or maybe a hundred dollars a car. Were talking 10s of millions saved with any company doing this at scale.
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Replace the steering wheel with a Steam Deck.
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You're contradicting yourself LOL
No I'm not ROFLCOPTER
a screen is going to be cheaper by 10s or maybe a hundred dollars a car
10s, yes. Hundreds, no.
Were talking 10s of millions or more saved with any company doing this at scale
Money saved to the company, not the end user. The end user just receives a severely degraded and unsafe experience.
I mean shit, let's just remove all the seats, that'll save THOUSANDS per car, right!?
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Okay, so you admit, using a screen saves money.
Thank you, it was a pleasure watching you come to the realization.
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Well, presumably this group is more about models of cars and less about individual driver behavior.
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There was no realization. I never said anything to the contrary.
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Your brakes will be available again after this mandatory 30s ad.
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I didn't mean individual driver behavior, I mean ban touchscreens from accepting any inputs at all while driving.
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I bought my Mazda 3 used. The captain's knob will be sorely missed if I ever get a different car.
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You don't genuinely believe anyone is installing and wiring up individual buttons in a car, do you? That whole row of buttons is delivered as a single unit just like the screen is and will have a single connector just like the screen does. Sure, you then have to install and test two units (screen and buttons) but that is about it in terms of extra work.
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The second dumbest engineering idea. The dumbest was clearly the car itself, letting the average person control a device that can accelerate hundreds or thousands of kilograms to speeds where reaction times of fractions of a second matter for safety was clearly one of the stupidest ideas ever.
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Lol of course not, but it's assembled somewhere which is why it has a cost more than the simple cost of the button itself. It's a bespoke piece of hardware specifically designed for the vehicle instead of a commodity LCD screen which can be mass produced for multiple vehicles.
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To be fair, it's at least closer to the windshield, so you're more likely to see something through peripheral vision with the dash screen than your phone, which you need to keep out of view of police.
Still bad, but probably not as bad.
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cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for […] the horn
Very excited for when I get cut off in my 2030 Polestar 3 and can adjust my honk volume dial all the way to 11 before Family Feud smashing that sucker through my dash and into the gates of hell.
