European car safety body is coming for touchscreens. The European New Car Assessment Programme mandates that key controls need physical buttons or switches

Carmakers are equipping their latest models with fancy touchscreens, but that could cause problems with Europe’s largest car safety authority.

The European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) is revamping its rating system starting Jan. 1, 2026 to mandate that five of a car’s primary controls — its horn, windshield wipers, turn signals, hazard warning lights and SOS features — will need physical buttons or switches.

Car models will have to comply to get NCAP’s coveted five-star rating. The scheme is voluntary but is heeded by most automakers because it’s closely monitored by consumers.

Belgium-based NCAP says that purely digital controls are a potential safety issue.

dunestorm,
@dunestorm@lemmy.world avatar

This is the perfect example of, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Physical buttons are always more reliable without having to take your eyes off the road.

caveman,

That’s actually a good idea, because when your finger is wet the touchscreen doesn’t work and on touchscreen is more difficult to develop muscle memory, so you spend more time distracted trying to find the spot on screen to touch

mastod0n,

I only have a touch screen for entertainment and configuration and still notice how distracted I get when I have to use it. No haptic feedback and multilayered menus are just a bad idea while driving.

Cherry in top is driving at night with astigmatism when theres’s a whole illuminated panel in your face.

TheTimeKnife,
@TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world avatar

Fucking good, everything being touchscreen is completely insane.

daft61lunacy,

Also can you please ban piano black from interior?

a9249,

can we please throw in banning blue LED headlamps too?

arc,

I think they need to be super explicit to stop the likes of Tesla weaseling out or doing the bare minimum:

  • Wipers, speed settings, auto on/off should be on a stalk for front and rear wipers
  • Indicators should be on a stalk with
  • Hazard lights must be a physical button
  • Horn may be on the wheel or a button
  • Lights on/off/full beam/dip/auto must be a dial or a stalk
  • Demister / heated window must be physical buttons
  • Gears must be a physical rocker, lever or dial

And button / dial etc here means an actual push up/down button not some haptic / touch sensitive shit.

Because at the moment Tesla are basically cheaping out of providing physical controls to save money. It doesn’t matter if someone crashes their car fiddling to set the wiper speed because Tesla saved $20 on a stalk and that’s all that matters.

yokonzo,

Bit pedantic but a stalk + assembly could cost closer to $200, I’m not sure about design and manufacturing though

SkyezOpen,

On a 30k+ car. Fuck your 200.

yokonzo,

Chill tf out no one said I agree with it

elucubra,

That may be the price if you buy a spare part. OEM for manufscturing it’ll be much lower.

I recently had to buy a hose for my car. At the dealer it was 170€. At an online diwcout parts store it was 14€. Name brand, Gates.

spizzat2,

And, for the love of dog, please require that the volume knob not rely on software! I hate trying to turn down/off the radio and then wait while the car decides whether I’m serious.

When I first start my car, the screen has to go through the boot up sequence and safety warning before the volume knob starts responding. The music starts playing right away, though, at whatever volume the previous driver deemed appropriate.

dream_weasel,

Eh. I don’t think you need to specify “stalk”. I would be fine with physical buttons anywhere within easy reach. If they want to make a racing wheel that has 30 switches on it, I think I’m fine with that.

I appreciate that SOME things don’t have buttons now: getting into a BMW with that has the same number of buttons and switches as the cockpit of an airliner is ridiculous.

uis, (edited )

They forgot add acceleration, breaks and clutch to this list.

But as ussual: EU, I belive in you!

strawberrysocial,

Good, now North America needs to do the same. Sick of touchscreens. Also make it so it’s harder to steal my car too thanks.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Add it to the list of “shit nobody wants but car manufacturers keep fucking doing”, along with gloss black trim and capacitive buttons.

asliceobread,

Capacitive buttons are the fucking worst. Even when the manufacturers try to incorporate haptic feedback, it’s never enough when you’re in a moving vehicle with bumps in the road…

tb_,
@tb_@lemmy.world avatar

Feel/touch and press/activate shouldn’t be the same action

HubertManne,

europe is my hero.

hydration6148,

the bar was so low

HubertManne,

oh yeah. around these parts the bar is so low im continually amazed at how fast the can dig to keep lowering it.

uis,

I say “EU, I belive in you!”, now you can say it too.

JasonDJ,

I don’t see anything about gas, brake, or steering. Next generation EU market Tesla will feature drive-by-theremin.

Fr0G,

Practically a nightmare, but as a fantasy kinda cool. Initial D but they are theremin drifting would be kinda sick lol

a_wild_mimic_appears,

Maybe they’ll go low-tech and introduce drive-by-terrain

theotherverion,

Common EU win

ocassionallyaduck,

Fucking good. Long overdue.

I love some EVs, but I drove a Polestar 2 and a Model 3 on road trips for work in California. Never again. The nighttime driving experience is miserable imo, and the issues with the lack of stalks and buttons is real.

The Polestar is the only car to ever make me so angry I had to pull over. It had some kind of sensor issue, and decided the right way to notify my at 80mph on the highway was to A) cover my gate cluster with the error notification B) disengage my cruise control suddenly, at 80mph, and C) begin beeping.

I almost drove my rental into the Pacific Ocean out of spite.

havocpants,

All of the functions described in the article are already on physical buttons and stalks in the Polestar 2 (I have one), so not sure how this is going to change anything? I’ll agree that some of its error reporting and collision avoidance in particular are almost dangerous in their implementation, but that has no bearing on the physical buttons thing.

ocassionallyaduck,

No buttons for climate control / fans, and Android auto on it is also kinda jank.

zerog_bandit,

Zero dog in the game (I own a Mazda3) but I rented a Polestar and found it very enjoyable. Different, absolutely, but good enough that I was glad there is an alternative EV to Tesla if I wanted to get one.

ocassionallyaduck,

I am glad there are other players in the market but the user experience was just miserable for me. Between the lack of buttons for all the climate control and the error messages, as well as subpar android auto support in favor of their own janky android OS (not great for rentals).

Maybe Polestar 3 will fix all this. Maybe.

Fedizen,

aside from a rear view camera, theres no reason to have a screen in a car

ShepherdPie,

What about the wind screen?

DragonTypeWyvern,

Listen here you little-

citrusface, (edited )

Well, I like it for showing me what song is playing and to have my navigation up - but other than that - I don’t want to be touching or interacting with it at all.

edit: grammar

supangle,

well you could design it so, that vehicle just has a hud [heads-up display], or maybe a second passenger screen too, that way engaging with them could be more safety oriented and more aesthetic.

citrusface,

I for one don’t want to be looking through something like a HUD when I’m driving. I also don’t want a touch screen. A screen that shows me what’s on the radio, my nav, and backup is fine, and it needs to have easy to identify and press physical buttons.

supangle,

industry is shifting towards tesla’s interior design because it’s much more cheaper. advantage is that they can change it’s ui with an update in future. you’re probably gonna be okay with 2010’s cars tho

sploosh,

Hard disagree. Modern dash displays give tons of useful information that would be very hard to display legibly with dials. The flexibility they offer is good too, often having more than one dash layout. Nav screens are also extremely useful. Going anywhere and never getting lost? Get outta here.

And rear camera? Don’t get me started on how a little dirt destroys your rear view until you pull over to clean it or how they represent a more difficult scenario for your eyes, increasing the amount of time you don’t have your eyes on the road every time you check it. Unless you mean a back up camera and not a replacement for a rear view mirror, in which case yes those are super awesome.

Maalus,

I have a rear camera instead of my mirror for a few years now. I don’t know what you are talking about. Never had the issues you talk about. The only time it gets dirty, is when it sits for a while out in the open. You check it the exact same as you do a rearview mirror. The only issue with them is when it’s raining, but then you can turn the screen off and just use them as a regular rearview mirror anyway.

sploosh,

With a mirror, you do not have to refocus your eyes to a close distance and then refocus back to a farther one. The time it takes to do this is palpable and adds to the time you’re not as aware of your surroundings as you could be. At 70mph, it’s a lot of distance you’re flying blind.

Karyoplasma,

My rear-view camera only works while being shifted into reverse. Didn’t even know there are manufacturers that scrapped the mirror… why would they do that?

Maalus,

It’s not scrapped, it is mounted in it. Especially useful on transport trucks where you don’t get a rear mirror anyway.

aidan,

Especially because I’ve seen cars where they die due to temperature changes.

TwanHE,

Having upcoming signs / crossing and speed limits displayed on a small screen between the gauges is something I found quite handy.

The big display in the centre console is something that’s only really usefull for maps / Spotify tho, not the rest of the car controls.

schnurrito,

Navigation system? Music controls? I think what the NCAP is doing here is a good thing, but this is a bit too far to the other extreme.

uis, (edited )

Phone does navigation better

PurplebeanZ,

I use my phone but it is connected to the car so it displays on the bigger screen. Much easier than a little phone screen in a cradle.

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