The more eagle-eyed may have noticed that the 2020 Honda Jazz that went on sale in Japan in February featured air-conditioning control which reverted to a conventional dial setup, in place of the touch panel configuration which has been employed on the hatchback’s predecessor, among other models as well.
Despite most automakers more widely using touch panels, Honda has taken an about-turn on this particular area of ergonomics. “The reason is quite simple – we wanted to minimise driver disruption for operation, in particular for the heater and air-conditioning,” said Jazz project leader Takeki Tanaka to Autocar.
“We changed it from touchscreen to dial operation, as we received customer feedback that it was difficult to operate intuitively. You had to look at the screen to change the heater seating, therefore, we changed it so one can operate it without looking, giving more confidence while driving,” Tanaka added.
Most automakers have taken the touch panel route as it mimics smartphones and therefore serves as inspiration for the design of controls, and Audi said that the decision to remove certain physical buttons was made as “more and more people were getting into touch functions with smartphones”, and added that the new system is as user-friendly as the previous one, said Audi A3 head of electronics, Melanie Limmer.
What do you think, dear readers? Is the move back to tactile, physical controls a welcome one? How has the user experience been with touch panel systems such as the ones described? Let us know in the comments section below.
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For me old is gold. You can opoerate the physical dial even without looking at it,less distractions.
If the auto AC was more intuitive, there shouldn’t be a reason for drivers to interact with the AC hence they don’t risk looking at it, no?
No school like old school
Climate controls must always be physical buttons
And all cars should have dual zone climate controls as standard
Why not just make it like aircond design like mazda, proton or toyota. The next gen honda dial looks a bit classic
Touchscreen dial is better even complaints from customers. But next gen honda convential dial aircond design looks very boring
A mix of both is a better route. Some functions can suits well with touchscreen controls, while others still more intuitive with physical buttons
Honda=price increase√
=tech provided X
Honda=price increase√
=tech provided X
After using City’s touchscreen aircond control, I still prefer those conventional knob type like my previous car civic fd.
It is illogical to benchmark the controls in cars to smartphones.People are not allowed to use smartphones while driving.So what made that Audi guy think this is a smart move?
Honda Malaysia fitted auto aircon control with no heater! What a shame.
Dude, what you planning to do inside the car with heater? Boil eggs is it?
Touch controls suck. Takes too much time to fiddle around.
Honda has been getting serious flak for this and thier infotainment system.
Glad they are bringing back dails and buttons
yes, same goes with new touch screen headunit comes with touch switch, hi tech looking and features, difficult to point and press/touch while driving. Physical Tact switch is better
There are things remained to be unchanged.
So what happen to my current HRV which both radio and climate control are touch screen?
Conventional knobs rules. Tuning knob, volume knob, fan speed, temperature, mode.
I do agree that dials are more suitable for aircond and head unit volume control. Even buttons are not that intuitive compared to that of dials. My experience is that you will still need to look at which button to press if there are too many buttons, but dials being bigger and protruding, you can do it without taking your eyes off the road.
After using HRV touch screen control for aircond, I long to go back to knob control. Lots of accidental or mistouch, not intuitive at all.
I think basic operations (aircon, radio) is still better with tactile control. For advanced settings (radio advanced settings), can use touchscreen.
and the winner is Volvo XC90…
who’s the dumb designer and dumb people that buys this car ?
Yes. Same as old phone with physical keypad, I can reply message without looking on the screen during driving.
Now with touchscreen, just use voice message if necessary. Otherwise just phone calling with Bluetooth speaker.
Prefer button like accord
Exactly! I have been saying all this while, it’s stupid to use touch screen for function especially air conditioning. It will definitely distract your driving as touch screen will never function perfectly like dial setup. You don’t have to take your eyes off with the old type buttons or dials. A car should never have any touchscreen at all.