Modern cars are too technologically advanced for their own good
Endless options, multiple menus, duplicate dashboard screens… modern cars are brimming with extra features to make you feel more in control. But I personally find all these in-car gadgets have the opposite effect.
It’s 5am, I’m adjusting to being up at such an early hour and am about to endure a two-hour drive into work. It’s a freezing winter morning and my mitts are so cold it feels like they’re going to become affixed to the steering wheel. All I want to do is turn the car heater to full whack, but, to my frustration, I can’t…
This is the scenario I endured a few weeks ago when driving a Nissan Juke to the Which? office. I imagine some of you are already assuming that this was the result of either a fault with the card or my incompetence – well, you’re wrong.
The real cause of these highly irritating events was inadequate and inconceivably poor in-car tech design. I’ll explain.
I’m losing control!
The Juke, a compact crossover between a supermini and an SUV, has two central dashboard screens: one displaying the optional sat nav and entertainment features, the other showcasing some (rather useless) driving data. The latter passes judgement on how efficiently you’re driving in eco mode and how much ‘boost’ is being used when in sport mode.
What wasn’t clear was any sort of control for the fan’s power output and direction, despite a dial which appeared to adapt the temperature.
I tried poking through all the on-screen options, rotated the fan-power dial like it was an interior-mounted spin top, and mashed as many buttons as I could set my eyes on; all while trying to concentrate on the road.
After an hour and 50 minutes of angry button punching, I finally discovered that the ‘climate’ button switched the bottom monitor from displaying driving data to showing the fan options. This also changed the names of the buttons surrounding the screen, finally letting me control the fan. Far from intuitive if you ask me.
What happened to ease of use?
Just to support my own perceptions of this crime against usability, I asked fellow members of the Which? Car team to try and make adjustments to the temperature using the same format I faced when getting in the car that morning. Inevitable failure followed.
And it’s not the first time either. It seems every new car I test features updated in-car tech that houses sub-folder after sub-folder of vital controls and information. All of which requires you to concentrate on navigating through settings, rather than focussing 100% on navigating your car! Even turning off the sat nav lady in the latest version of BMW’s iDrive system takes some working out.
To me, it almost feels like the basic controls you use every day are needlessly being hidden away in the depths of complicated new-car ‘infortainment’ systems. The 2001 car I own has an extremely basic dash layout, with all the buttons clearly marked, logically placed and within easy reach to allow quick and effortless adjustments on the move.
It feels to me ease of use in cars is going backwards due to the incorporation of, and advances in, technology. Is all this frustration really a price worth paying for the ‘extra features’ that come with modern in-car gadgets?
Is in-car technology getting too advanced at the expense of usability?
I like extra features, but car makers need to design better interfaces (51%, 71 Votes)
Yes - I get frustrated with all the multiple menus and options (39%, 54 Votes)
No - I feel more in control with all the extra features (10%, 12 Votes)
Total Voters: 139
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rarrar
“It feels to me ease-of-use in cars is going backwards due to the incorporation of, and advances in, technology. Is all this frustration really a price worth paying for the ‘extra features’ that come with modern in-car gadgets?”
Its not the advances in technology that is causing the problems but the poor design of the interface.
Its happened in many other product groups ie TVs, kitchen appliances etc but its only in the last year or so that its reached normal cars.
Lets hope the ease of use of these controls gets well tested in car reviews.
At least the depth of control does allow you to alter some of the features which may irritate you with a car like the operation of the central locking/unlocking.
Monsteer
I completely agree. I used to be a webdesigner and interface design was such a key factor in determining whether a site was user-friendly. ‘Wavechange’ mentioned the Apple philosophy and I think Apple are a great example of a company empathetically creating effective, intuitive interfaces and they completely turned around the company. It really isn’t the amount of features; rather the way they are presented, structured and accessed.
Let’s hope car companies catch on to this emerging customer demand.
wavechange
Struggling to use controls diverts attention from driving so simple, easy to use controls could help avoid accidents or near misses.
wavechange
Even if you can understand the controls, what happens when something breaks? Simplicity is both practical and elegant. Leave the fancy stuff for those with more money than sense and feel a little smug when it all goes wrong.
rarrar
Its not a matter of fancy stuff being more expensive, the underlying technology is the same whether there are no options or layers of menu options. Its just a matter of a few extra lines of computer code which costs next to nothing.
Many of these options have been around for a while – just hidden away and accessible only by the dealers or manufacturers.
wavechange
Yes, but extra complexity adds extra buttons and switches unless the designer has adopted the Apple philosophy. It is not always the high tech bits that cause the problem.
Vynor Hill
My Jaguar touch screen was supposed to make everything simple to operate and it was reasonably logical. However, when it went wrong, it took half the controls with it. No heating – (full on to the head with no option to turn it off), no rear screen demist, no front screen defrost, no entertainment no air con no sat nav and all buttons associated with the screen disabled. Faced with a bill of £2,000 plus to sort out the control unit in the boot, the car and I swiftly parted company. I don’t know whether other touch screens are set up in this way, but the Jaguar system links a lot of functions to this one DVD unit, making it complicated and expensive.
My V70 has a sensible layout and everything needed to drive the car is to hand. There are sub menues which can be controlled from the steering wheel, but these don’t need adjusting on the move and are simple to get at when stationary. I chose extras which I thought would be useful and I don’t regret any of these as they add function and pleasure to the journey. I enjoy my car and don’t find the technology intrusive, complicated or frustrating. One of its greatest strengths is that it simply gets on with the task of getting us where we want to go and never feels anything other than capable and well sorted. So, no, I don’t necesarily find modern cars confusing and complicated provided they are reliable and well engineered. I haven’t played with an i drive or the Merc/ Audi equivalent. These might alter my view.
wavechange
Try a Morris Minor, with the optional heater.
rarrar
I agree all the basics and essentials should be controlled by simple switches and knobs.
All the options can be left to the touch screen or equivalent menu system. A bit like some of the well designed Audio Visual equipment which have only the basic volume and channel switches on “display” and the optional switches hidden behind a panel.
Vynor Hill
Morris Minor? My first car. I paid a fiver for it, the farmer turfed out the chickens and off I drove.
Mr Eric Stewart
After months of dealing with Renault Dealers on the faults on my 2007 Grand Scenic like my all dashboard information totally disappearing, Heater/Air Con Fan switch burning out, and electric windows failing, I am really sick of the so called technological advances that are being quoted to us as ‘making our driving experience better’……They don’t, they are useless, time consuming, and very expensive because they can only be repaired by the ‘Renault Dealers’ themselves on their own DIAGNOSTIC machines !
tpoots
…and there I was thinking my car was cool because it tells me how many miles of petrol I have left.
redkite
My 2001 Toyota Avensis is easy – most of the controls you can preset (radio stations etc), simple but effective heating and climate controls and cd player.
The lighting and wiper controls are all on the steering column as are the lighting controls.
The only other controls give you average mpg to date, and approx how many miles petrol are left.
My first car was an Austin A40 countryman – an early version of a hatchback. It was very simple and never broke down. Rusted through by the age of 6 years though. My present Avensis is 10 years old and I have yet to see ANY rust – now that is progress !
Chris, Gloucester
I think the vast majority of bells, whistles and gizmos are unnecessary for a car to perform it’s primary function. Having said that many of us love them and we can very easily convince ourselves they are essential.
Manufacturers and their marketing people know this, they know gizmos sell cars and we the suckers play along.
It reminds me of the old days when Europeans gave natives shinny trinkets to get them on side before taking their country. Today it’s marketing people, high tec gizmos and bank balances.
Some elements of human nature never change.
I try to subscribe to the elegance of simplicity, but like every one of you I’ll get suckered into paying for “essential” gadgets and gizmos sometimes.
Be interesting to see what would happen if a car maker made “simplicity” and “low cost” their sales strategy? Wonder how many of the car buying public would embrace this concept and how many would reject it in favour of the latest high tec, “practically drives itself and even makes tea for you” approach, as we have now?
The poll suggests perhaps we really are all simple natives at heart, easy to win over?
callindb
The more things you have in a car the more things can go wrong so the less the better as far as I’m concerned. I’m afraid that many people are gadget freaks and just can’t resist the latest gizmo. How many people have bought the latest smartphone but only use about 10%, or less, of its capabilities?
Margie
I found the complicated voice operated controls in the current Fiesta over facing, plus poor visibility (poor design) prevented me from buying one. Up till then I was very happy with my older model Fiesta. Some features like auto lights and wipers (which I scoffed at once), climate control with one touch demist, are very useful, they were already installed in my pre reg car, a Renault Sport Tourer, which I love, tho not the dealers – that said they are cleaning up their act. After my last visit for a service I had a call from their head office to ask if I was satisfied with their work and customer service. Got to be an improvement – not relevant to the topic but feel they need some praise for this.
Roy
I haven’t got the latest high tech car..but I feel that the car (computer) is doing most of the driving.for instance, when I am trying to slow down without changing gears..the car or should I say pc speeds up..it says to prevent stalling..appears to be dangerous in adverse weather conditions (ie. snow and ice) where braking could be difficult. Having owned some classic cars (Morris Minor) being one of them, there is less to distract you from essentially driving correctly. Not too dissatified but..given the chance would not hesitate to purchase a classic car, or at least one that only has a pc controlled engine.
Ian Hazell
I feel that car makers have lost sight of the function of a car: to get from A to B. When will one of them come up with a device which does this with the minimum of frills & fuss…. a modern 2Cv?
A car which can be easily cleaned out, has plastic wipe clean seats, non electric windows and locks, has a maximum speed of about 80mph and is simple to service at any service station.
The nearest tinny on the market at the moment is a basic Panda, but even that has electric windows & locking …… Why?
wavechange
I have spent a lot of money on my car, having problems with electric windows and central locking fixed. A replacement key was also expensive.
On the other hand, the air conditioning is still working fine on Golf 4, which is nearly ten years old. I would not want a car without air conditioning, which is also useful to clear condensation in the winter months.
Many of us say we would prefer a more utilitarian vehicle, but I wonder if there is really a big enough market.
G ELLIOTT
I have recently just bought a new yaris with the so called touch and go satnav/radio/bluetooth system.
The instruction book for this is 210×150 10mm thick, 208 pages most of wich i don,t understand but then again i am 75.
You are right things are getting far too complicated especially for my age group! If the so called computer age group are having difficulties what chance have we got.
Chris, Gloucester
Completely agree.
Many don’t even realise what the “Caps Lock” key does.
Sorry couldn’t resist it.
Bill
There is another side to this issue.
All the extra electronics consume power. No problem when the car is moving – the amount of energy is very small – but that changes when you park.
The latest BMWs include battery charging as you brake – seems like a nice environmental economy – but if you have not been using the brakes the battery charge level can drop to 60%.
So you park the car at an airport and go on holiday …..
The battery is not fully charged, all the electronics are still consuming power (they cannot be turned fully off as the alarm system, remote unlock etc will fail). This can be well over 100mA. Not much you may think but that totals 20 AmpHr a week. A two year old battery in winter might only have half of its original 70AH available – that’s if it was fully charged! At 60% charge the car might not start after little over a week.
There have been occasions reported on the BMW forums (eg http://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9222135&postcount=20 ) where warning messages occur when the car is left for only 10 days. They have even been reported where cars have been driven a few miles a day. BMW dealers have responded that they should be driven for longer or if left in the garage should be on a trickle charger.
So what happens if the car is left at an airport while you are away on business for a month (or even are able to take 1 months holiday)?
The car displays a message to say that ancillary circuits have been turned off to conserve battery energy – Does this include the alarm? We don’t know.
Car battery life decreases enormously if the charge level ever gets below 10% – How long will the battery last if the car is regularly parked without use? To cope with the brake recharge systems and the stop-start energy saving, the batteries are very expensive to replace.
I used BMW as an example above – it seems the new Jaguars are even heavier in battery drain when standing unused.
It’s very nice to be able to walk up to your car with key in pocket and the doors unlock, your seat & mirrors all adjust to your personal settings and you can get in and drive away – if the car will start …
Personally I feel that all manufacturers should provide the detailed figures on static battery drain resulting from all these new electronic systems.
All4One_One4All
The recent snow has meant that I unfortunately had to drive 120 miles in bad weather from Newcastle to Hull in a few centimetres of snow.
I’ve done this journey now in a variety of cars, but a new car’s performance was so appalling, I though I’d share my experiences.
Ford Fiesta XR2: No electronic aids.
Too light for the wide low profile tyres, it tended to float on the slush. If the weather was bad, I’d put 3 bags of sharp sand in the three spare footwells and a couple in the boot to get the wheels to push down and displace the slush. Difficult to drive, but it would go were other vehicles got stuck.
Vauxhall Astra GSi 16V 150PS (1992 model): Engine Management Unit, and Electronic Traction Control (with individual wheel breaking), Anti-lock Braking System.
In spite of the really low profile very wide tyres, the electronic aids in this car are outstanding on ice, slush, snow, and combinations. The traction control system will drive the vehicle up slick ice covered slopes sufficiently steep to cause the vehicle to slide back down the moment one stops, puts the brakes on, and turns the engine off. The ABS is useless in snow and can’t be turned off (as is common in vehicles sold in snowy countries). Luckily, the fuse that controls the ABS doesn’t control anything else that’s critical, so one can disable it. This was then an impressive vehicle full-stop.
Vauxhall Corsa SXi 1.2 (2002 model): No electronic aids.
Thinner higher profile tyres and lack of ABS made a simple vehicle reasonable on flat surfaces only. Incidentally, it survived being driven through floods in York with water levels up to the front lower edge of the bonnet. When my wife made it back to Hull, the top of the engine was covered in grass, twigs, and other bits of debris showing just how high the water level had been in the engine compartment.
Honda Jazz 1.4i (2010 model): ABS and something call Enhanced Stability Programme (or something).
Quite easily the worst car I have ever driven in snowy conditions. As soon as one front wheel spins slightly, it backs the power off completely. If one is going up a very slight incline and first one wheel spins and then the other, the electronics backs off the power so rapidly that the vehicle just stops. Honda needs to reconsider the ESP? programming and introduce individual wheel braking.
Having had the Jazz for over a year, I’d never buy another. They may be reliable, but that’s because there isn’t anything complex, modern, or useful; and what is provided is cheap and tacky – the rear windscreen wiper only wipes a quarter circle, the Astra & Corsa wipe twice as much (a semicircle), but that requires a bit more engineering. Honda have increased reliability by making everything work less well or do less, right from the start. I think the target customer is a gaga OAP that has never driven a car manufactured since the 1960s, has no experience of what can be achieved, and is too stupid to spot, for example, that other cars rear wipers wipe more of the rear windscreen, etc. The steering wheel obstructs the speedo; the instrument lights are far too bright and can’t be dimmed (more functionality that can’t go wrong because it’s not there). The ‘A’ pillars are far too thick, whole Smart cars can hide behind them never mind cyclists and bikers. In a trend that I find infuriating, the rear view mirror is too low and provides another massive blind spot. Car design now should include (minimum) percentage unobscured view figures.
Malc.Moore
I worked for Peugeot for many years why every Car is more expensive now years ago you got basic ; standard&De-lux.UK public wanted more than 3 basic colors they also wanted extras like fitted Radio no one wanted to pay for the extras so the foreign imports won.Interior UK public wanted more than 3 Colors of Trim&fabric.Manufacturers discovered more gadgets=higher prices from electric windows where we lost ability just just crack the window very slightly.Everyone wants high speed performance when the greater majority only drive in low speed areas.Manufacturers make a fortune out of spares& repairs hence all the special tools needed for basic repairs.The generalpublic has lost out big time our Country has lost too.Thousands were in employment direct or indirect the French saw a car as a means of getting from A to B.Now we have a nation of unemployed people cars that have so many gadgets that can only be fixed by a Computer hook up 1st.Basic Cars is not Cool to be seen in also profits are less that’s why cars of to-day are to complicated for the average person and it gets worse each time a new model comes on-stream.