Over the last 20 years, tablet-like touch screens have become prevalent in cars. touch screens in cars have evolved from a niche luxury to a common industry standard. These often simple and neat control panels in cars provide drivers with many features and options. However, previous studies suggest that these everyday conveniences may lead to more distracted drivers. While regulators have criticized in-car screens before, a key European safety organization is taking it a step further by mandating physical buttons and knobs for certain commonly used driving functions if car manufacturers want the highest safety rating.
According to The Sunday Times , the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) will only give its top safety rating to new vehicles that use traditional buttons and levers to operate indicators, hazard lights, and other essential driving functions starting in 2026. The new requirements might compel automakers who rely on the safety rating for marketing to reconsider the driving features that are only accessible through touch screens. Even though these voluntary standards are specific to Europe, the debate over buttons is gaining traction among US drivers as well..
Euro NCAP Director of Strategic Development Matthew Avery called the influx of potentially distracting in-car screens an “industry-wide problem” in an interview with The Sunday Times.
. He said, “New Euro NCAP evaluations set for 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an easy-to-understand manner, reducing the time drivers spend not looking at the road and thus promoting safer driving.”
What happened to all of the buttons and knobs?
Touch screens are everywhere in new cars. A recent S&P Global Mobility survey of global car owners cited by Bloomberg estimates that nearly all (97%) of new cars released after 2023 have at least one touch screen in the cabin. Almost 25% of US cars and trucks currently in use allegedly have a screen that is at least 11 inches long according to the same survey. These “infotainment systems,” which used to be mainly for entertainment activities like switching between Spotify songs or making phone calls, are now increasingly being used for various essential driving tasks, like flashing lights or indicating a turn. Consumer Reports, which routinely surveys drivers about their driving experience, claims that only about half of drivers surveyed in 2022 reported being “very satisfied” with the infotainment system in their vehicles.
[ Related: The 2024 Lincoln Nautilus has a 48-inch panoramic ‘infotainment’ screen ]
“Tasks that drivers used to perform with a simple button press or knob turn now require navigating through multiple screens, which means more steps, more time, and more attention,” said Consumer Reports Auto Test Center Manager for Vehicle Technology Kelly Funkhouser in a recent blog post.
Various factors have led carmakers to embrace touch screens. Firstly, the digital design frees up space in the car's interior that would otherwise be cluttered with a variety of buttons. The tablet-like interface in many new models allows drivers to access more advanced features than before, some of which carmakers could use as selling points to differentiate themselves from competitors. Perhaps more significantly, the seemingly more advanced touch screens actually reportedly cost less for carmakers to produce in large quantities than traditional options.
Digitizing more parts of the car experience also means that some carmakers can address issues or release new features via internet updates, which can save drivers a trip to a repair shop. In the future, advertisers have also shown interest in using in-car screens to display revenue-generating ads, especially as driver-assist and autonomous driving features develop.
Concerns about safety associated with in-car touch screens
Critics of touch screens warn that increasingly intricate infotainment systems may pose potential safety risks. According to a 2017 report from the AAA Foundation study, drivers using infotainment systems to perform tasks such as entering navigation destinations or sending a text were visually and mentally distracted for approximately 40 seconds. This could be a cause for concern, especially in light of previous research from Virginia Tech indicating that estimates drivers who look away from the road for more than two consecutive seconds are more than twice as likely to be involved in a near-crash. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving, which can involve looking at screens, accounted for 8% of all US traffic fatalities in 2021.
NCAP’s new European safety requirements announced this week aim to tackle these issues by making physical controls a necessity for any vehicle seeking to attain its highest five-star safety rating. The guidelines, which will be enforced from 2026, will mandate physical controls for indicators, windshield wipers, hazard lights, the horn, or to activate an emergency SOS feature. Although these requirements are not legally mandated as the NCAP is not a governmental body, they can still serve as an incentive for major automakers like BMW and Volvo, which use the NCAP safety rating to emphasize their safety priorities to potential customers.
“We’re collaborating with manufacturers to promote the safest cars to Bring Back Buttons,” Avery of the NCAP stated on LinkedIn this week. “Distraction crashes are on the rise [sic] and large touch screens are encouraging [sic] distracted driving.”
‘Screen fatigue’ leaves carmakers at a crossroad
The NCAP requirements arrive at a critical juncture for carmakers, with some investing in larger, more complex screens and others seemingly taking a step back. On the maximalist side, Ford and Mercedes-Benz have rolled out vehicles with massive “hyperscreen” digital displays measuring 48 inches and 56 inches respectively. Mercedes and Tesla have both halted over-the-air updates following isolated incidents where drivers were reportedly able to watch TV and even play video games on the screens while the vehicles were in motion.
Meanwhile, other carmakers like Hyundai and Nissan have responded to potential “screen fatigue” among certain consumers by reaffirming their commitment to traditional style buttons and knobs. For instance, Hyundai's Head of Design, Sang Yup Lee, recently mentioned that the company chose to focus on physical controls for adjusting air conditioning and the radio in recent models. Nissan has also opted for a combination of smaller screens, physical controls, and haptic feedback.
These might be good choices for many consumers who are not happy with the trend towards more and more screens. J.D. Power, which recently asked drivers for their opinions about their infotainment systems described the increasingly complicated touch screen systems used by some car manufacturers as a “perfect example of a technology not connecting with today’s customers.”
