this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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Volkswagen will restore physical buttons to the dashboard in its latest compact car, part of a wider move away from touchscreens.

In a particularly retro touch, the new ID Polo will even have a volume dial.

For a decade or so, automakers rushed to replace knobs and switches with screens, Autoblog noted in October, but users largely disliked them: Controlling the air conditioning, for example, required delving through submenus while driving, which was both difficult and dangerous. Research found that using touchscreens took longer and distracted drivers.

Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and VW have all announced plans to return to more tactile controls, and US and EU regulators announced last year that cars with touchscreen controls could get worse safety ratings.

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[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 71 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This seems like an obvious improvement and I kind of want everyone who thought otherwise to be banned from working in decision making roles.

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (3 children)

It's way cheaper and easier to not have to source the buttons. The bean counters saw Tesla get away with doing it on the touchscreen, so they figured they'd get away with it, too.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I think you just move a lot of cost and resources towards software instead of actually making it cheaper.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, never mind the additional casualties caused by distracted drivers.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Tesla has the highest crash rate of any manufacturer. In particular, rear ending other cars. It's the stupid touchscreen.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Maybe. Not disagreeing but I’ve never seen data to support that, have you? Some people blame it on self-driving, some blame it on the higher performance, and yes the touch screen is plausible. But we need to know. That accident rate is too high to be guessing.

Unfortunately my experience supports all of the above

  • self driving is continually improving. I trust it much more than previous iterations but I don’t trust it. In my latest test the only dangerous thing it did in two hours was to stop at a yellow light. Technically correct but the idiot behind me expected to drive through. I also took over four times when I wasn’t sure it was going to do the right thing
  • in my first drives I had to see its acceleration - was surprised by it enough to experience fear
  • there are shortcuts to the common screen controls but it’s not always easy to discover them. Voice control works well for me so far
[–] saimen@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm not a journalist. Search it. Start here, https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2025/02/11/tesla-again-has-the-highest-accident-rate-of-any-auto-brand/

It's a function of touchscreens, high acceleration rate and very heavy vehicles which are difficult to stop in rain and snow.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 5 points 2 days ago

If VW made a car that randomly exploded every time it went over 40 miles an hour they would still sell it if in some way that saved the money.

[–] Cricket@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

Imitating the trending brand or model, including their terrible design decisions. It drives me nearly insane that so many companies do this. Look at how many companies have been copying Apple's horrible hardware design decisions over the last few decades. SMDH

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's cheaper to use one screen. They make the decisions based on profits and not anything else. They're only changing things back because of safety issues.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

not quite - they're changing things back because they think they will make less money if they don't, as a result of safety ratings being affected by their shitty cheaper screen design

that's a bit more clear than the way you worded it, which could be understood as they are choosing to do this of their own volition because they think that it is safer and the best decision

I know that's what you were trying to say, but that last sentence just needed clarification, because I want this to be very clear that they do not give a fuck about safety, they ONLY give a fuck about making money. also see: blinding LED headlights