Volkswagen has admitted that mistakes were made with its touchscreen infotainment controls, which have been found wanting in terms of ease of use, Car Magazine reports. Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer said in interviews at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show that remedies will be implemented within two years, the magazine reported.
Criticism of the MIB3 touch control-based infotainment system has coming from vehicle owners and road testers alike, as installed on vehicles such as the manufacturer’s ID range of electric vehicles as well as core models such as the Golf.
“In this rush to create these vehicles to be quick off the mark and so on, the team had come up with different ideas. We know what we need to do,’ Schäfer said, noting feedback from clinics and from journalists saying that improvements are required.
Software updates will be launched as soon as the northern hemisphere winter of 2022, while physical updates will take longer to roll out. That said, new hardware will be installed within the next 18 months, according to Car Magazine.
“The new 3.0 software is coming now. It will not be the sliders and hardware, but the software will be a tremendous step up in the next few weeks,” Schäfer said. Hardware changes will come in 2024, while revised steering wheels will be rolled out from next year, beginning with the new Tiguan, he said.
Last month, Schäfer said in a LinkedIn post that the carmaker will be bringing back the push-button steering wheel in light of criticism from users levelled at the current touch-sensitive surface design.
In addition to the Mk8 Golf range, Volkswagen models in Malaysia which feature these touch controls include the Tiguan Allspace facelift, Arteon and ID.4, while models which continue to use physical button on their steering wheels include the Passat Elegance, R-Line and Tiguan Allspace Life variant.
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Touch controls for aircond and head unit volume etc. Created by morons, possibly millennials, to address problems that don’t exist which in turn became a source of problems themselves. I test drove the latest Golf and those tactile controls are such a pain in the butt.
Try tesla no need touch at all
Touch control is use to save cost. Button cost much more than a simple cheap electronics, which you can program. All down to money.
Honda did use touch sensitive controls for the air conditioning in the City GN6 and the old HRV which was horrible to use. Stick to physical buttons and knobs please.
Good car but no colour screen one. Cant beat bezza for that
I seen this coming. Just gained to myself. I seen the same thing happen 40 or years ago when all the Japanese hi fi manufacturers put push button volume controls on their amplifiers for 2 or 3 years before copping on that a simple knob was easier and quicker to use.