All - Touch screens and touch buttons | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Mon 13 Feb 2017 13:16

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - expat

I have just been reading HJ's road test of the new Honda Civic. Sounds like a great car but I don't like the idea of controlling radio volume with touch buttons. That will be difficult to do without taking your eyes off the road. The fan speed is controlled through menus on a touch screen! How are you going to do that in heavy traffic at high speed? It is asking for disaster. I assume these touch controls are cheaper than real knobs you can turn but they certainly are not safe or easy to use. I also doubt their life span. My experience of touch buttons on printers, washing machines, radios etc are that they start to fail after about 5 or 6 years of regular use. OK - you can take the circuit board out and solder on a new one but how many of us are going to do that on a car dashboard?

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 13:40

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - JEREMYH

I agree with you dont like the way vehicles are going full stop.

I still enjoy driving the old skol stuff and I think im in a good place to judge as Im hiring brand new vehicles every week and also own older ones

I dont like the way you no longer drive the thing and everything is done for you

You cant beat an early ninties are late eighties merc or saab in my opinoin

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 14:00

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - Bolt

I was thinking of buying one when they come out here,but after looking at one in Orlando I was put off by the EHB, loss of magic seats, and some teething problems mentioned by the dealer there.

So will stick with tourer for a few years untill the problems are sorted, though some are expected on a car built from scratch,

electronics are the in thing now with almost everything so its no surprise dashboards are computerised, but are only as good as the components they are made of

someone did mention the volume sensor was fiddly and was replaced on the HRV for a volume knob, the heater controls are similar on the 9th gen civic but I have not had any problems with it,dont know about anyone else

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 16:36

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - Terry W

I strongly suspect electronic screen controls now cost much less to produce than traditional controls, and changing a car spec may often be as simple as as a software upgrade. The car manufacturers like it as they can sell the technology as a premium solution at a premium price.

Personally I think operating screens whilst on the move is similar to texting. There is no tactile feedback - a 1cm error in digit placement could easily move the seat as adjust the aircon etc.

Safety critical and frequently used controls should retain traditional design and operation - touch screens only for infrequently accessed opetions.

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 17:32

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - Bolt

Personally I think operating screens whilst on the move is similar to texting

Thats why they have a warning telling you not to use while driving, seat adjustment is usually on the seat/s as in the Civic

I always set mine before I drive off though you can set the heater to auto at any given temp so you dont need to touch it

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 18:11

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - RaineMan

Considering the issues I had with my previous smart phone a touch screen is the last thing I would want in a car!

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 18:44

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - catsdad

I agree that the touchscreens are a negative but one that is increasingly difficult to avoid. Specifically on the radio volume on the new Civic I assume you can still use the buttons on the steering wheel and leave the touchscreen to any passenger. However there is no such facility for the heating fans etc.

The iPad I am using to write this is an old one and the accuracy of the touchpad seems to have decreased of late. So even top notch kit, in a domestic environment, degrades over time so I wouldn't expect a long life if it lives in a car.

Back to the Civic I am going to my local dealers launch event next week but don't expect to buy one even when they come into my two-year old target age. It's likely to have too many shortcomings for me, EPB and touchscreen being top of the list. A pity because I saw one at a motorway service station at the weekend and it looks good in the flesh.

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 19:01

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - Engineer Andy

That's another car off my wish list - not that I really liked the exterior looks, which was a shame as they seemed to have made real strides on the interior look over the current model. I just won't go for cars that take my eyes off the road to perform basic functions such as A/C temperature and fan speed settings and the like - I'd rather pay more for dials and proper steering wheel/dash buttons that beep and show an obvious change on a display, not a small graphic which could be washed out if the sun's in the wrong place.

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 19:08

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - gordonbennet

Touch screen on the Toyota, but the basic functions are available through the row of push buttons below the screen, and the basic audio controls below those, the screen itself is set to turn off when not in use, in practice from week to week the screen never lights up.

Can select heater distribution, demister, radio volume track and cd selected without illuminating the touch screeen fully, changing a cd for example just brings up one line on the screen saying which cd is selected, whilst not what i wanted, still prefering old school dials etc and a non integrated system, i can live with it, sat nav is almost never used works well but is a pita to program.

The Toyota system does have a useful menu though, you can program when you last serviced the car plus different items and specify the mileage it will flag up as needing doing, handy on board record.

I couldn't live with the seemingly permanently illuminated and very bright screens so many cars have these days, too distracting.

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 21:50

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - drd63

It seems to depend where the screen is placed. The screen on my Aygo seems easy to reach with big icons and a good mix of touch screen and conventional controls such as a big rotary control for temperature.

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 21:54

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - Bilboman

The only solution to this touchscreen madness, rather belatedly, would be legislation to prohibit ALL touchscreens that are visible to the driver whilst the car is in motion (and without the parking brake applied.)
Manufacturers are stopping short of proper head-up displays whilst pathetically pandering to the "smartphone generation" and selling us the idea that the dashboard of their latest models is really an overgrown smartphone screen with all its gizmos. The daily annoyance of textwalking, semi brain-dead pedestrians colliding with other pedestrians is now transposed to roads and motorways, with all the ensuing carnage. And just when cars were getting safer!
I wonder if a car manufacturer will ever resurrect the brilliant stalk controls of the original Alfasud, which allowed the driver to control a host of functions, including the heater fan, with fingertip ease - and not a touchscreen in sight!

Edited by Bilboman on 13/02/2017 at 21:59

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 21:58

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - expat

"Can select heater distribution, demister, radio volume track and cd selected without illuminating the touch screeen fully, changing a cd for example just brings up one line on the screen saying which cd is selected, whilst not what i wanted, still prefering old school dials etc and a non integrated system, i can live with it, sat nav is almost never used works well but is a pita to program."

Your Toyota sounds like a reasonable system although not as good as the old knobs. You have to be able to start the demister without taking your eyes off the road. If your car starts misting up while you are on a motorway you don't want to be fiddling with a touch screen to get the fan going full blast. It sounds like we are heading back to the old days where you carried a rag on top of the dashboard to wipe the screen clear if it started misting. How old is the Toyota?

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Mon 13 Feb 2017 22:48

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - gordonbennet

How old is the Toyota?

2005 though i don't think its much different on the latest big Toyotas, and i can actually alter the temps both sides and swap between normal pre set heater/aircon and full demist by press button too, neither illuminate the dash display save a single line of text stating the new temp, but each press raises or lowers temp by 0.5', so again no need to even look.

I wouldn't have it by choice, indeed i'd prefer three knobs and manual aircon if i had the choice, but finding one of the more sensible spec Landcruisers in the right condition and previous care/ownership proved difficult (thats an understatement) beggars can't be choosers, and to be fair the system is proving easy to fathom and live with so no real complaints, unless it goes wrong then i'll winge loudly :-)

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Tue 14 Feb 2017 09:12

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - Bolt

How old is the Toyota?

2005 though i don't think its much different on the latest big Toyotas, and i can actually alter the temps both sides and swap between normal pre set heater/aircon and full demist by press button too, neither illuminate the dash display save a single line of text stating the new temp, but each press raises or lowers temp by 0.5', so again no need to even look.

I wouldn't have it by choice, indeed i'd prefer three knobs and manual aircon if i had the choice, but finding one of the more sensible spec Landcruisers in the right condition and previous care/ownership proved difficult (thats an understatement) beggars can't be choosers, and to be fair the system is proving easy to fathom and live with so no real complaints, unless it goes wrong then i'll winge loudly :-)

The civic works similar push button, the only part thats sensor touch is the infotainment screen which I rarely use,(but also has manual buttons) radio is on all the time(my choice) and can be volume adjusted by wheel press buttons same as most cars, channel/stations are changed on the same buttons ie 4 in one

heater controls press button, with LCD display, also with climate control each side seperately adjustable but by one degree

the complaints appear to be because instead of push button volume control on steering, new civic has sensor touch, where you slide finger along sensor to adjust volume, problem appeared to be sensor was jumpy instead of being smooth/didnt react at times

I hear there will be a software update to correct the problem as well as other upgrades

so not really sure why so much fuss over one volume control? I reckon if enough people moan about it Honda will change it for a knob

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Tue 14 Feb 2017 11:00

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - drivingdave

Personally I'm a big fan of my Focus.

Touch screen, but also volume knob control and steering wheel controls. Easy to change volume/station, or make a call by using the buttons then voice control.

Go for that instead :)

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Tue 14 Feb 2017 14:57

All - Touch screens and touch buttons - nick62

SWMBO's car (Range Rover), great touchscreen (big icons) works every time, full marks, (also with a lot of duplication on MFSW).

My VW with Pioneer "premium" system totally crap, the software engineers responsible should hang their heads in shame. Small icons, terrible operation, rubbish.

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