Submitted 1 year ago by boem@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, with most of the ire directed toward in-car infotainment.
I don’t know who the hell thought that a touch screen only system was reasonable for a motor vehicle, but they can go get fucked.
Elon Musk?
He does appear to be fucking himself. Almost daily now. Lol
The cost savings is a supply chain wet dream.
It feels like San Francisco’s fault. Apple and tesla-esque design language spreading like a plague because it’s cheap to manufacture and people think it’s trendy.
I bought a 2023 Subaru outback. Great car, only quibbles are the CVT instead of a traditional Auto or manual for longevity reasons, and most of my controls are on a big old touch screen. The issue is that everything is routed through it, and it lagggggggs.
What’s the quibble with CVT? From what I’ve heard they last forever
All I want is solid gps and Bluetooth.
I don’t need a fucking dominos app. Or to take my care to the dealer so my AC works again because of a fucking update
My 2015 Tacoma has a great gos, but I cannot find a way to update the map, it is 7 years out of date.
My 2012 Mazda uses a SD card for the maps and last I looked it was over $100 for updates. I wouldn’t buy a car without carplay or android auto these days.
Oh it’s simple. Just run a USB cable from your pc to the car’s tailpipe.
Stuff like this makes me very glad to own my 2015 Nissan Altima. I get occasionally let down by its somewhat lackluster engine and CVT transmission, but it cuts all the crap with infotainment bloatware in the dashboard and how it works. The only screen in my car is a small black strip that can only display text as most cars used to have. All you do is plug in your phone to the aux cord and use your phone as the touchscreen it was made to be, no need for another one. Physical buttons galore.
Car manufacturers need to realize that people already have a touchscreen that has a GPS, podcasts, music, and text messaging service. Best option would be to make built in phone holders that are plugged in via USB C and connect to the sound system. Voila.
Phone holders need to be a thing. Maybe car manufacturers aren’t confident the general sizes of today’s phones won’t last long.
Some people also use tablets and even foldable phones
Or for those without capability to do aux cables, there are cheap Bluetooth receivers that connect to your car radio.
Yes. And most modern phones nowadays let you play music through the charging port aswell
As someone working in the industry I dislike it as well. Many of the features have some really good usecases but the problem is just that they’re enabled/available for every user even if most people only use a small subset of features so the settings/interface gets so cluttered.
In my opinion though, the move away from physical interfaces towards touchscreens is way worse than the clutter.
Less tactile controls made me choose a 2014 over 2015 Honda Accord when I bought my car a few years back, and I’m very happy with it! Can’t imagine having most everything controlled with a touch screen. The only tech I need is Bluetooth and a backup camera. Screw software subscriptions and OTA updates to potentially alter the car I own outright.
I’ve got a 2019 Insight (it’s basically a hybrid-drivetrain with a weird mix of Civic/Accord body/interior).
I think it’s got the perfect mix of touchscreen and tactile. All the environmental controls are the normal buttons and knobs. The screen has a physical volume turn-y knob, and like 25,000 steering wheel buttons.
All the touchscreen stuff is stuff you shouldn’t be doing while moving anyway. That said, Android Auto for Google Maps + Music/Podcast app was an absolute must for me.
All the other car software I straight out ignore with the rare diversion into FM radio when I’m feeling frisky or the fucking bluetooth stack in Honda’s software is being a piece of shit and won’t connect to a modern phone for 10 minutes.
For me, as a car enthusiast, this has been a turning point in my enthusiasm for cars. It has become very easy for me to accept electric vehicles and strive for less car dependency, since the EU mandated driver assistance systems and a bunch of other technology in new vehicles. For American readers: In the US there is an agreement between the NHTSA and car manufacturers to include such technology in all new cars by 2022-09.
I really dislike technology that is made to correct and monitor my behaviour and I am not keen on spending lots of money on a car that is filled with technology I don’t want (accident data recorder, intelligent speed assist, lane keeping assist, etc.). Apart from that, I haven’t seen one vehicle where the driver assistance systems aren’t annoying or even dangerous (e. g. the lane keeping system steering towards a ditch / wall on narrow roads, etc.). And to make matters worse: You can’t permanently turn those systems off, if they don’t work as advertised, as in the EU it is mandatory for such systems to re-activate themselves whenever you start the vehicle and the deactivation has to be a multi-step process (as far as I remember).
Nowadays my transport-related interests are therefore mainly complete streets / 15-minute cities / public transport, cycling, affordable electric cars and classic, non-digital vehicles. I no longer wish to own any expensive modern car(s) and I don’t care much for internal combustion engines anymore. Instead I value cities more that allow me to live car-free and the only vehicles I still want to own are classic ones.
No joke, I walked into vw dealership couple years ago to test drive the ID.3, nearly ready to buy it by end of 2021 (replace my eGolf).
The interior controls and their ergonomics were shockingly bad. Unlit touch strips for volume and temp, touch buttons on steering wheel, mirror adjust switch that freely rotate so you don’t know which mirror is adjusting, only two power window switch to control four windows on driver door, gear shift that’s totally hidden by steering wheel…
Just awful.
The car as a device to transport one from A to B has been developed to completion. Any car is capable of filfilling that task. The next stange of developement is that the comfort features in cars are being replaced with a universal control unti: a touchscreen (-computer).
All physical buttons (air condition, radio, etc.) are being phased out and are accessible over the central touchscreen, hidden in menus. This way it is easier to get customers into subscribed services (e.g. for the ability to lock your car remotely or to use the heated seat festure you have to subsribe to this particular service in order to use it).
Also, when features are controlled over a software interface like those touchscreens instead of physical buttons, it it easier to give access to users - or restrict them from it:
IIRC at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Tesla remotely enabled their cars by allowing free supercharging as a helpful measure to help people to escape from Ukraine. Pretty nice of Tesla, isn’t it? Well yes, in this particular case, but this kind of remote software interference from the manufactor can also work in the other direction. They can easily restrict the functionality of your car. Functions your car still would have if they weren’t controlled remotely.
Cars become a Software-As-A-Service product.
In addition to my comment I leave this article here:
…tumblr.com/…/autoenshittification
This article sums up the ongoing enshittification with cars and other devices, backed up with further sources.
My car is at that age where it’s too young for car play and too old for buttons and that’s literally my complaint about it beyond it being a full ICE. I’m baffled that they aren’t just all accepting that letting us use the console as a controller for our phone is just better
I travel for work and thus rent a lot of cars. Can confirm there are far too many options. What’s worse is that new cars don’t have an option for the USB to type C. It’s just type C to C, which is a cord that almost no one owns. Why not have both in the cars!! Bur yeah the new cars all do something a bit different in annoying ways.
FYI: My favorite vehicles. 1 Honda Civic, 2 Kia Soul.
Why have both in cars? A car is expected to last 10, 15 years at least and C to C is already starting to become the new standard. I feel like if you buy a car, you can probably buy a phone cord for it...
The type c to c is becoming quite common and even better, it can charge much, much faster. If you have such an issue when traveling, I’d suggest getting a small USB c to USB a adaptor. They are about the size of a quarter.
USB A is, in the tech world, an outdated standard that is being replaced. I actively try to have any device I purchase now only use type C. If I never see another micro USB port on my life, it will be too soon. Even Apple has started to embrace type C for their devices and the EU is forcing them to use type C on iphones in Europe.
I’ve gotten happier the more cars that I rent that have wireless chargers built in somewhere. It’s especially nice not to have to worry about a cable at all anymore.
This is what I really like about my RAV4: the touchscreen is just for controlling CarPlay/Android Auto and system settings that you don’t change while driving anyway. There are physical controls for everything else, including the radio.
My wife’s Jeep Latitude, on the other hand, is a mess. Things like the seat warmers, heated steering wheel controls, and the climate control vents are only on the touchscreen and it’s super laggy. Trying to change any of that while driving is very risky.
I got a 2011 with basic matrix display for mpg mileage trip etc, retro fitted Bluetooth (because the inbuilt one is too janky for a modern phone) and have my phone in a cradle it’s absolutely perfect.
I actually want more technology in my car. Please make the fully autonomous driving car a reality. Would love to have the flexibility of a car without having to drive on my own.
Using and expanding public transport is much better for the environment (climate, pollution, urbanism, etc.) than making cars even more attractive by making them drive autonomously.
That’s true. But even if the railway service in Germany would be improved a lot, I still have around 10 kilometers from my home to the next train station.
ReCursing@kbin.social 1 year ago
Touch screens in cars are stupid: you need to take your eyes off the road to use them. Buttons and knobs, once you have learned them, can be operated by touch and maybe a quick flick of your eyes.
Vonkilington@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Love my Mazda3 for saying “no” to touchscreens. The knob is great!
devilstrip@midwest.social 1 year ago
I love the knob but hate that in 2021 they ‘upgraded’ the auto start to being in an app.
Usernameblankface@kbin.social 1 year ago
My opinion is that touch screens should be for passengers only. Display screens are fine, but if physical buttons are so unacceptable, then we need voice control that actually works.
Also, I'm surprised no one has started a company to retrofit buttons and switches into modern cars. Whatever kind of headache that would be to design and install, I'd like to see it work.
sj_zero 1 year ago
My 09 focus actually had a fantastic voice control. Never seen anything nearly as intuitive or operational.
My current vehicle is 7 years newer and I don't even know what the voice button does.
Norgur@kbin.social 1 year ago
and let's not forget the back and forth rocking game you play anytime you try to push a touchscreen when the road is not perfectly flat