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Post by Bruce Partington-Plans on Nov 8, 2023 14:01:28 GMT
A simple act and one that is somewhat essential to the operation of a motor car, yet thanks to manufacturers' obsession with touchscreens and digital readouts galore is becoming increasingly more difficult (and therefore dangerous).
I have been following this trend with morbid interest, culminating in the nadir (one hopes) of a Volvo of all cars being awarded a measly two-and-a-half stars in a recent Autocar road test mainly due to almost all the ancillary functions - heating, radio, lights, even the glovebox! - being accessed via multiple menus on a touchscreen.
I cannot for the life of me understand why so many car makers are going down this route. Are customers really insisting on this level of technology or are they just doing it for the sake of it, on the assumption that everyone wants the latest gizmo? (I would be very interested to know the results of any clinics - research conducted with existing and potential customers on and around the latest model - just to see how the results have been interpreted to reach such a conclusion.) It must surely be most dangerous to have to take one's eyes off the road for such a long period of time to prod around on a screen just to change the volume on the radio and I simply cannot understand why so few people in the industry can't see this. Must it take a death or two as a result before common sense prevails and we return to good old-fashioned buttons, knobs and switches?
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Post by Bruce Partington-Plans on Nov 22, 2023 14:24:44 GMT
As an aside I have also been interested to note that Polestar, Volvo's luxury/ sporting brand, is on the cusp of releasing a new model with no rear window - the job of looking behind you fully taken over by cameras and sensors. Somewhat surprisingly Polestar have not consulted their customers on this, stating that they "don't do clinics", so I will be fascinated to see how well it is received.
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