Physical buttons are set to make a comeback in new cars after safety authorities concluded that touchscreen-heavy dashboards can increase driver distraction and crash risk.
In recent years, car interiors have undergone a major shift, with physical buttons steadily replaced by large central touchscreens controlling everything from temperature settings to headlights and windscreen wipers. While touchscreens first appeared in vehicles decades ago, modern systems now consolidate far more functions, making many cars feel more like computers on wheels.
According to studies in urban risk and resilience by The University of Melbourne, there is growing scientific evidence that suggests this design trend is compromising road safety.
Australia and New Zealand’s independent vehicle safety assessor, ANCAP Safety, has announced that from this year, it will ask car manufacturers to “bring back buttons” for key driver controls such as headlights and windscreen wipers. Similar requirements are being introduced in Europe through Euro NCAP.
Under updated criteria, ANCAP will explicitly assess how vehicle design supports safe driving, not just how well occupants are protected in a crash. This effectively signals the end of touchscreens controlling every major in-car function for vehicles seeking the highest safety ratings.
Irish motoring columnist Paddy Comyn, who writes for The Journal in Dublin, recently posed the question whether drivers were willing to compromise inconvenience and stricter controls for “fewer funerals”.
Decades of road safety research show human error is a contributing factor in most crashes, with distraction – whether visual, manual, cognitive, or a combination of all three – as being major factors.
Touchscreen interactions can involve all these forms of distraction at once. Adjusting temperature through a sliding bar on a screen, for example, requires drivers to look away from the road and focus mentally on the task. By contrast, a physical knob can often be adjusted through touch alone, using tactile feedback and muscle memory while keeping eyes on the road.
One of the clearest demonstrations of the problem comes from a 2020 UK study by TRL, an independent transport research organisation.
In the study, drivers completed simulated motorway drives while performing common in-car tasks such as selecting music or navigating menus using touchscreen systems including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Compared with baseline driving, touchscreen use significantly increased reaction times. At motorway speeds, these delays translated into several additional car lengths travelled before responding to a hazard. Lane keeping and overall driving performance also deteriorated.
The study found touchscreen interaction was “as distracting and, in some cases, even more distracting than texting while driving or having a handheld phone call”.
Concerns are not limited to research laboratories. Large-scale consumer surveys overseas show drivers are also frustrated with touchscreen-dominated interiors.
A survey of 92,000 new-car buyers in the United States found infotainment systems were the most problematic feature in vehicles, generating more complaints in the first 90 days of ownership than any other system. Many complaints related to basic controls such as lights, wipers and temperature being buried in touchscreen menus that require multiple steps and visual attention to operate.
Voice recognition is often promoted as a safer alternative because it reduces the need to look away from the road. However, a major meta-analysis covering 43 experimental studies found voice interaction still worsens driving performance compared with driving without any secondary task.
While voice systems performed slightly better than visual-manual touchscreen systems, they still increased reaction times and negatively affected lane keeping and hazard detection.
Safety experts argue that frequently used controls, including temperature, fan speed, demisting and audio volume, should remain tactile. Touchscreens are considered more appropriate for secondary functions typically set before driving, such as navigation setup and vehicle customisation.
Motorists can now expect more buttons to handle these frequent controls to begin reappearing in new cars. From this year, ANCAP Safety and Euro NCAP will require physical controls for certain features for vehicles to achieve the highest safety ratings. While compliance remains voluntary, some manufacturers have already begun to respond.
Car makers including Volkswagen and Hyundai have started reintroducing physical buttons, citing both safety assessment requirements and consumer pressure.
With regulators, researchers and drivers increasingly aligned, the era of all-touchscreen dashboards may be nearing its end.