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The Hazards of Vehicle Touch-Screens


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#1 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 10 April 2020 - 02:41 PM

I found a great article on Jonathan Hanson’s website about the hazards of touch-screens in our new vehicles.  As much as I like my new Ford Ranger, the touch-screen is my major complaint.  Too many controls need to be accessed through the screen. It’s distracting.  I’d settle for navigation and nothing else, make that navigation that forces you to pull over and stop to enter any destinations or options.


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#2 Kolockum

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Posted 10 April 2020 - 02:51 PM

The controls for new Subarus are all on the touch screen. At night the screen just kills your night vision and causes eye fatigue. Also there is something about the feel an actual knob or button that I like.


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#3 Mighty Dodge Ram

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Posted 10 April 2020 - 02:59 PM

Our 10-year old Suburban has the dual/rear electronic (not touchscreen, but we have that for the radio/nav) HVAC controls placed low on the center console. My 18-year old truck has three knobs placed higher up near the simple radio. I’ll let you guess which I prefer. Dropping my eyes down in the Suburban and trying to figure out which of the myriad buttons to press just to warm the cab up a bit is downright hazardous.


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#4 PaulT

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Posted 10 April 2020 - 06:11 PM

My old 1983 Isuzu Impulse had most of the controls mounted on two adjustable pods within easy reach of the traditional 10:00 and 2:00 hand positions on the steering wheel. I have not driven another vehicle that has worked as well.

Paul


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#5 Casa Escarlata Robles Too

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Posted 10 April 2020 - 06:13 PM

I know the reasons to not use a cell phone while driving,

but why is it OK to use some complicated touch screen?

 

Also while I am on the soap box.Why do people have dogs riding

in their laps while driving?

Some things just blow my mind.

 

We have a 2006 Toyota Highlander with a touch screen.

Really only use it for heater/cooling /radio controls.

It's a fairly simple one.Although it does have navigation,it's so old it's worthless.

The phone does a better job.

Frank


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#6 allanb

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Posted 10 April 2020 - 11:37 PM

Agreed. 2015 Silverado has a pretty good navigation system via touchscreen. Radio and cd also easy to access via screen. Everything else is separate which is nice.

2020 tacoma setup stinks. If I win the lottery I'll put another unit in. No navigation. Have to bluetooth thru phone. One more time-consuming hassle dont want to deal with. Radio access is thru a myriad of screens. On startup, you get the same 30 second safty lecture. Like to have the radio on while working in the garage, but it times out after ten minutes!


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#7 TGK

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Posted 11 April 2020 - 06:48 AM

I agree regarding the touch screens.  They are ignoring the maxim to "keep it simple".  A year ago while heading down to the 4 corners region in our 2017 F150 w/trailer in tow, the Ford Sync 3 system starts going wonky while driving down the interstate toward Utah.  Turning on and off, going blank, then trying to boot up.  My wife gets on my iPhone and calls a Ford dealer in Ogden to see if we can swing in to have it checked out.  While talking with the service department on the phone the Sync 3 kicks back in and pulls the call onto the truck speakers.   We get into the dealer, unhook the trailer, they run a diagnostic and advise me that the module is toast and they can order a new one.  Will have to stay overnight.  So, I pull out my phone and start looking for lodging.  Go to make a call and no sound/speakers on my phone.  I call AT&T, they tell me to call Apple.  I call Apple and they start walking me through various steps to no avail.  They tell be to drive south 15 miles to the Apple store and get me an appointment with a "genius".  Get down there, they run some diagnostics and tell me the iPhone sound is toast.  Need a new phone.  At least the Ford Sync 3 was under warranty, not the phone though.  Dealer thought it was pretty odd that the Sync 3 could have triggered a failure on the phone but admitted he had heard of a few crazy incidents with phones and the Sync 3 system.

I get the feeling at times that these engineer/designers are sitting around in their cubicles thinking wouldn't it be neat if we could do this... etc., etc.  They convince management about what a great feature it is and voila, more bells and whistles in a truck than one needs.  While at the dealership, after they install a new module, they bring the truck out to me accompanied by a tech guy with a laptop.  He plugs it into the truck and is messing with some settings on the Sync system.  I start griping to him about how the truck lights up like a Christmas tree when you open a door and that it's particularly irritating when in a dark campground at night.  Told him I scoured the manual and could not find ways to shut some of the lights down.  He tells me there's a "dark" mode that is made for law enforcement that he might be able to tweak.  I tell him to go for it.  He plays with it for a bit and we try it out.  He was able to disable some of the auto turn on light functions on the truck, but not all.  It was an improvement, but I still ended up cutting out some small pieces of black gorilla tape and covering the bright LED lights on the bottom of the tow mirrors and also on the tailgate and down near the rear license plate.  I was told you can't just remove the LED bulbs from the tow mirrors.  Whole assembly needs replacing if they burn out someday.

There are many things I really like about the truck but others make me long for the relative simplicity of my '99 F250.  Most of the negatives are tied to the "convenience" features they think everyone wants.  Also, the interior back up warning that comes on when throwing it in reverse.  A disable function pops up on the dash every time you put in reverse.  If you turn it off, it's only for that one action.  There's another place within the master setting that allows one to turn it off, but it appears to reset every time the truck is shut off and restarts.

 

Anyway, I got off on a long rant.  I suspect there are similar issues with other late model brands besides Ford.  As with everything, there are pros and cons to all of this technology they put on trucks today.  Sometimes I think a good deal of it is really only there so they can up sell you to the next trim level or get you to buy the bigger option package and increase their margins.


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#8 AWG_Pics

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Posted 12 April 2020 - 12:58 AM

Toyota Tundras have been derided as old fashioned and un-modern. It works for me as I can turn off all the lights with a couple of manual switches, shut down the infotainment system, etc. Old school is good school.

 

I dread the 'modern' tech on most new vehicles. My darn Honda CRV lets me know when it thinks my eyes have not been front forward often or long enough. Creepy.


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#9 Machinebuilder

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Posted 12 April 2020 - 12:11 PM

I recently saw an article that claimed several manufacturers are going back to knobs because the touchscreens are not intuitive enough to use without concentrating on them.

I like knobs.
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#10 Mighty Dodge Ram

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Posted 12 April 2020 - 03:55 PM

“I like knobs”.

 

And horizontally sliding levers. Left is colder, right is warmer. Easy peasy.  


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Richard
1996 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4, lightly lifted, ARB bumper/Warn winch, BFG AT/KO2, Snugtop shell. SOLD! But not forgotten!
2002 Chevy 2500HD XC LB 6.0L 4X4, Leer Hi-Rise shell, completely stock...for now!




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