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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European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) — an independent and well-regarded safety body for the automotive industry — is set to introduce new rules in January 2026 that require the vehicles it assesses to have physical controls to receive a full five-star safety rating.
While Euro NCAP testing is voluntary, it is widely backed by several EU governments with companies like Tesla, Volvo, VW, and BMW using their five-star scores to boast about the safety of their vehicles to potential buyers.
“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” said Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, to the Times. To be eligible for the maximum safety rating after the new testing guidelines go into effect, cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.
The Euro NCAP’s safety guidelines aren’t a legal requirement, however, car makers take safety ratings pretty seriously, so any risk of points being docked during such assessments is likely to be taken into consideration.
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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European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) — an independent and well-regarded safety body for the automotive industry — is set to introduce new rules in January 2026 that require the vehicles it assesses to have physical controls to receive a full five-star safety rating.
While Euro NCAP testing is voluntary, it is widely backed by several EU governments with companies like Tesla, Volvo, VW, and BMW using their five-star scores to boast about the safety of their vehicles to potential buyers.
“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” said Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, to the Times. To be eligible for the maximum safety rating after the new testing guidelines go into effect, cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.
The Euro NCAP’s safety guidelines aren’t a legal requirement, however, car makers take safety ratings pretty seriously, so any risk of points being docked during such assessments is likely to be taken into consideration.
How about just banning touchscreen use while driving altogether?
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cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.
Not enough, in my opinion. I've never had a car with these on touch screens, but I can't imagine why anyone would think it's a good idea. I'd like entertainment centers to stop being touch screens as well, but this doesn't go that far. Hopefully they do in the future, though, since this is a good start!
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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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.
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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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.
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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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.
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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Gimme a keyboard and mouse. I can drive the whole car and operate the infotainment with my 250 apm
Replace the steering wheel with a Steam Deck.
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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.
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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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!?
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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How about just banning touchscreen use while driving altogether?
Well, presumably this group is more about models of cars and less about individual driver behavior.
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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.
There was no realization. I never said anything to the contrary.
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now with #ADS, please tap the x to continue changing your GPS.
Your brakes will be available again after this mandatory 30s ad.
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Well, presumably this group is more about models of cars and less about individual driver behavior.
I didn't mean individual driver behavior, I mean ban touchscreens from accepting any inputs at all while driving.
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As someone who drives a mazda with infotainment designed before touchscreens (it has one), I'm fine with this.
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'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.
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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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.
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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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.
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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Driving and texting is dangerous. Put down that phone and stare at this ipad in your dash! Further the ipad is slow, designed by imbeciles, is glitchy, buggy, and not intuitive and doesn't follow modern design standards.
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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European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) — an independent and well-regarded safety body for the automotive industry — is set to introduce new rules in January 2026 that require the vehicles it assesses to have physical controls to receive a full five-star safety rating.
While Euro NCAP testing is voluntary, it is widely backed by several EU governments with companies like Tesla, Volvo, VW, and BMW using their five-star scores to boast about the safety of their vehicles to potential buyers.
“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” said Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, to the Times. To be eligible for the maximum safety rating after the new testing guidelines go into effect, cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.
The Euro NCAP’s safety guidelines aren’t a legal requirement, however, car makers take safety ratings pretty seriously, so any risk of points being docked during such assessments is likely to be taken into consideration.
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.
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How about just banning touchscreen use while driving altogether?
We already have distracted driving laws here. You can't use electronic devices like phones while driving. How a giant iPad in the middle of your dashboard doesn't count blows my mind.
