Are touchscreens in cars a touch too far?

I like BMW’s iDrive, whereby a single combined button/joystick is used to control almost everything. It is located close to the gearstick and handbrake, rather than having to stretch one’s arm towards to the dashboard.

The most dangerous aspect of some in-car screens is locating them at a low level instead of as high as possible so that the driver doesn’t have to look far away from the view ahead. Low-level screens should be banned as they are inherently dangerous.

I receive several on-line newsletters and blogs on the auto industry and certainly the US auto industry has been busy showing how not to do it. Ford in particular had some appalling press on its touchscreen over the last couple of years.

My objection is that we are making cars more economically unrepairable by installing bits of kit that control so much. Rather like run-flat tyres, and foam emergency tyre repair kits, the industry is intent on saving money in as many ways as it can.

This is not a surprise but consumers are being lead into a lala land of new gimmicks which is great until repairs or faults occur. What is the anticipated life of a LCD screen compared to that of a knob or lever?

A car is a more hostile environment than a living room so what do consumers believe – it will last a decade? What do the manufacturers warrant? And how much do you think we will be gouged for the vehicle specific screen and wiring.?

Which? help us out here. How long do screen s last?

I can’t see much difference between fiddling with a touch screen and fiddling with a mobile phone on the move; they are both potentially dangerous. New cars are becoming far too complicated, leading to driver distraction and potentially big repair bills. If anyone sees a Mk7 Golf coming toward them, be afraid; the driver may not be looking at his touchscreen and not at the road. The Golf ‘entertainment centre’ is hugely complex and should never be installed in a car.

I have an elderly Tom Tom that sits on the right quarter light by the windscreen. Although tempted, I do not use the touch screen on the move – it is very distracting taking your eyes off the road for the few seconds it takes to use it. I give it to my passenger if it needs changing. Similarly with my hands-free phone – if calling I only use the voice-activated numbers. I have no experience of screen-based controllers built into cars, although a car we are considering does have one. I would imagine they are even more distracting to use on the move, particularly if low on the fascia.

Thanks for the warning about touch screens on new cars. Does anybody know the cost of replacing the touch screen on the Mark7 Golf?

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2290

Problems ……

I have not looked further into the forums but as an owner you may find it helpful.

I don’t even look at the sat nav screen whilst driving. I just listen to the voice commands and follow them until I either reach my destination or get hopelessly lost. If I get lost, I pull over when safe and check the address and then see where I have ended up. It usually transpires that I took a turn off too early or too late or sometimes the sat nav map is not up to date (regardless what the manufacturers say) and I soon get back on the correct route. I would not use any touch screens during a journey as I don’t see the difference in that and using your phone to call someone. If you take your eyes off the road, even for a few seconds whilst travelling at 60mph, you are endangering yourself and other road users.

I once had a Jaguar X type with a touch screen. When it failed, the heating was on full, I couldn’t listen to any music, the demister didn’t work and the sat nav didn’t work either. The screen was blank and the associated buttons were inoperative. The repair bill was quoted at £2,000. This was when the car and I parted company. It seemed that most of the auxiliary equipment went through the screen, and I am suspicious of such technology now. Perhaps other manufacturers do it differently. The screen, when it was working, was helped by the buttons round the outside and it wasn’t usually necessary to prod it on the move. This would have been distracting to do and quite a stretch from the wheel too. My current car has an information screen, which is useful, and a separate Sat Nav, which I programme before setting out and can shut down from the steering wheel. Touch screen menues should be set and forget before travelling and, of course, the screen should work properly.

Can we please leave comfort controls off the touch screens please?

Why, oh why would you place the temperature control within a screen you have to look away from the road for?

I wish my car didn’t have climatic temp control too, it never actually is the temperature it displays – why is 18C warmer than 22C? Damn Ford! .

I personally dislike touch screen controls, and refuse to buy a car with one. I have driven a number of vehicles with them and find them very distracting. In the past I was an accident investigator and distracted driving is one of the major cause of accidents and I can see the touch screens becoming a big contributor to more accidents.

There are people who want this feature, but in looking at new cars, in most cases a buyer has no choice as the touch screen is standard with the exception of some manufacturers no having them in their base model. I really dislike that manufacturers aren’t giving buyers a choice, expecting some to pay for features that they don’t want.

I don’t need or want to be constantly “connected”. I spend a good part of each day up to my eyeballs in technology and spend a lot of time on the phone. When I get into my car I like to get away from work. I even turn off my cell phone while driving because it can be quite a distraction. I find that I would rather be paying attention to the road so I can avoid other distracted drivers.

I do enjoy a comfortable, decently equipped car so it appears that I will be excluded from that new cars market.

Chet,,I agree entirely and that is why I hold on to my Mark 4 Golf. In fact I have found that even just a radio playing on a long distance motorway drive can be distracting. Therefore I tend to switch it off.

Since my last post in June, I have talked to a number of friends who have purchased new cars with the touch screen feature.

None of them were big fans of the touch screen feature and some didn’t like it at all. We were riding with friends who had a new Ford Explorer and I was quite amused when the driver was having an argument with the SYNC voice recognition system that apparently doesn’t work properly all of the time.

A couple of other people also admitted that they had a few close calls of having an accident while trying to use their touch screens.

I’ll keep driving my old 2005 Buick LeSabre with its knobs and switches until the wheels fall off. By the way, I never needed nor renewed the On-Star subscription that I really didn’t want but had to pay for.