Car companies have been increasingly using digital screens and soft-touch buttons in modern cars to save costs while looking ‘hi-tech’ – but Hyundai has committed to fight this trend for as long as possible.
Speaking at the launch of the new-generation Hyundai Kona, Sang Yup Lee, Head of Hyundai Design, said the new model deliberately uses physical buttons and dials for many of the controls, specifically air-conditioning and the sound system. Lee said this is because the move to digital screens is often more dangerous, as it often requires multiple steps and means drivers have to take their eyes off the road to see where they need to press.
Slowly but surely, it seems car makers are starting to see the light. A clean, button-less dashboard means nothing once it’s folded around your crushed skull because you couldn’t find the seat heating button without taking your eyes off the road and wrapped yourself around a tree in the process.
Just another reason to get an Ioniq 5 if we had the funds.
Yes, it is a safety issue, and if that’s what it takes to convince companies to keep physical controls, then good. I strongly dislike the direction of the industry in removing tactile controls. The risk is that fewer and fewer models will have them to the point where there’s no longer a choice. I hope more companies recognize that some of us don’t want touch screen interfaces to replace everything.
A part of me wants to say that new engineers have not studied up on all the human factors engineering that was done in the early 20th century and want to relearn all those lessons on their own. But really, I know it’s because executives find a 25 cent physical button too expensive and are dead set on saving that much per car.
Also, I feel like people hear the saying “balls to the wall” (a great example of superb human interface, https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/balls-to-the-wall) and think its some weird reference to testicles.
It’s that, and an LCD panel weighs less than a bunch of buttons. Car makers are also shaving weight wherever they can to help meet emissions standards.
Drumhellar,
Technically yes, but it begs the question how much weight do you really expect to save that way? Searching for an answer to my own question…
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/29/greenlings-how-does-weight-affect-a-vehicles-efficiency/
I honestly don’t know the answer BTW, but in replacing buttons and wires with a screen I doubt we’re looking at more than 10lbs savings, which would improve economy by 0.1%-0.2% possibly.
However don’t forget that an always on backlit touch screen and CPU consume power that buttons don’t. I don’t know the real figures, but I’ll use 30W, which is the most efficient laptop on this list (a 13″ macbook air)…
https://ecocostsavings.com/how-many-watts-does-a-laptop-use/
1 gallon of gas ideally produces 36.6kilowatt hours, lets call it 18kwh after motor and alternator inefficiencies.
http://www.convertunits.com/from/gallon+%5BU.S.%5D+of+automotive+gasoline/to/kilowatt-hour
So if my math and sources are correct the screen might consume 0.00167 gallons per hour = 0.03kw / 18kwh.
Meanwhile lets say you are driving an average 45mph at 26mpg (city/highway combined), which is about 1.73 gallons/hour.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byclass/Midsize_Cars2021.shtml
I honestly had no clue where this hand waiving would go before crunching the numbers, but given these numbers we’re looking at .1% to .2% efficiency gained for removing 10lb versus 0.097% efficiency lost to powering the touch screen. The more time you spend idling/stuck in traffic, the greater the energy lost to electricity and visa versa.
Oh, the reason I crunched some numbers in the first place is that I wasn’t sure whether the touch screen would help or hurt MPG. Unfortunately I think this is inconclusive because the difference is too close and changing the estimates changes the result. For example, if replacing buttons with a touch screen only yields 4lbs of weight reduction instead of the 10 assumed above, then the touchscreen could actually be worse for mileage and carbon emissions.
The difference seems slight in any case, but it’s an interesting question to ask!
An LCD screen weighs the same or possibly even more than some buttons and encoders, though. But even if the weight was marginally less, the additional power consumption would more than offset any gains, in this case. See Alfman’s reply for some additional analysis.
Any recent Mech.E. graduate can tell you that you can make a much bigger different in MPG by simply changing over to a different tire and wheel set up. Inertia and dynamic friction contribute much more to efficiency. Notice how most “efficient” car models come with wheels that are more solid and large-profile tires vs. spoke wheels and low-profile tires that are generally seen in “sports” models.
Additionally, for the weight argument to hold up water, then vehicle weights should be decreasing, not increasing. I picked a simple example, the Toyota Corolla, which currently weights over 3000 lbs. The previous model only weighed 2800lbs and the model before that 2500lbs. Additionally, overall vehicle size has also increased in the same time frame. New vehicles are larger (wider and longer) than previous models, accounting for most of increase in weight.
I feel that companies should not try to come up with some reasons as saying “safety”. It’s painfully obvious that for majority of buttons in a car. A mechanical button is just better. That should be enough of a reason. Being better.
Geck,
Maybe, but the safety justification may be the last leverage for people who want tactile controls as manufacturers continue their march to cheaper and cheaper production methods, which includes getting rid of physical controls throughout the car in favor of a single touch screen with software buttons.
Also, another different, but sort of related trend will be vehicle functionality being sold as a subscription service. We as consumers need to collectively shun this before it’s the norm, but I am afraid this has already started and consumers collectively are too dumb to stop it. This will become more prevalent as average consumers accept this situation and reward manufacturers who do this. Pretty soon all vehicles we own will have features physically installed but under manufacturer control even after sale.
If that should happen, it will probably be followed by an aftermarket for hacks to bypass those controls.
ponk,
I also feel owners are justified in hacking their own damn property, but I believe that without explicit rights codified into law manufacturers will simply claim this voids the warranty. Unlike a computer/phone/tablet/etc, cars can cost a year’s salary so this has the potential to be economically devastating. Most consumers are just going to get screwed into paying more to unlock hardware they just bought.
The courts have ruled that manufacturers cannot legally stop owners from using 3rd party shops, but I don’t know of any cases against manufacturers making their hardware artificially difficult for 3rd parties to service. Car manufacturers searching for ways to stop after market mods could turn to apple’s tactics by adding booby traps that impede after-market mods that would attempt to work around manufacturer restrictions…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WhU77ihw8
I’ll be disappointed, but not surprised if this is the future of cars as more gets locked behind software DRM.
“Just another reason to get an Ioniq 5 if we had the funds.”
Looks kinda “cybertruck-ish” to me.
There are some interesting side-effects of not having buttons and relying on software, one can be demonstrated in some vehicles by just sitting in the running car with your foot on the brake. Do this test for yourself, you’ll be shocked how often you can find the following effect.
Rightly or wrongly, the developers assume when your foot is on the brake pedal that the car should divert it’s focus to safety and collision related systems, or ignore non-critical events, but the side-effect of this is that many subsystems become less responsive. I suspect it’s another case of accountancy and profit taking priority, getting a microcontroller here or there to timeshare tasks saving a few cents on the vehicle build.
cpcf,
Really? What car is this? I would have assumed the infotainment system was completely independent from any other realtime driver safety systems. Furthermore, is the hardware underspeced? It should be able to do both simultaneously! I’m genuinely curious if you have more information about this.
I’ve never heard of it but some cars manufacturers (Mazda) indeed disable touch screen functionality when car is driving. That’s done deliberately, not because of hardware limitations, though.
Overall, I see the touchscreen hype is waning as people are getting more informed about their pros and cons. Regulations are catching up too, with stricter rules on use of phones etc.
ndrw,
Tactile buttons are much are better than virtual ones and I hope the industry keeps them around long term, but I think the costs of physical buttons may end up spelling their demise. 🙁
I’ve seen the infotainment restrictions first hand in a rental with a GPS that locked out once you start driving. Boy does it suck when you’ve got a passenger to use it and yet the car forces you to physically stop the car. I don’t remember if we needed to be at a stop, or be physically parked, but either way it was unfit for purpose. We got zero use out of that crap and frankly I think it deserves a “F” grade from a safety standpoint too. Instead of making driving safer, the infuriating limitations practically force drivers to keep using their cell phones instead. Cell phones require more unsafe handling, tiny screens and fidgety interfaces that are very dangerous to operate while driving.
Distracted driving is a very real problem, but its unreasonable to think that we can fix this with smart interfaces that are harder to use than phones. If you’re going to provide a GPS, do the best you can to make it safe and don’t gimp it to the point where drivers revert back to using phones.
French Renault keeps buttons on last Megane E-Tech with Android Automotive.
https://pasteboard.co/9fn6ny1N67m2.jpg
THANK GOD! A fondleslab controlled car is the bain of my existence.
One of the reasons I like my current Subaru is outside of infotainment settings everything else is traditional tactile buttons and knobs. A previous Mazda I had even had physical controls for the infotainment system. So much better then cars where everything is menu based.
But those Hyundai breaks though… I’ve owned a few Hyundai cars, they are let’s say, unpleasant to drive.
(It’s not just the breaks, they intentionally loosen the suspension in a way that just feels awful, at least states side.)
10 years from now, there will a ton of used cars which have dead screens, that the car companies no longer provide updates or even spare parts for and their heat/AC/lights/accessories will be forever totally useless and usable.
Looks like Hyundai has some engineers with brains.