Opinion: Let's Come to A Détente About Screens in Cars

Motor 1's John Neff recently wrote a screed defending the proliferation of screens in cars, and as he anticipated in his concluding paragraph, his take went over about as well as a stinky release of flatulence during high tea with the royal family.

Automotive enthusiasts and journalists, as well as consumers, pushed back hard, at least from what I saw on the socials.

As for me, I read his piece and thought some of his arguments were reasonable, but I also have over a decade of testing vehicles under my belt and hard experience has taught me a few lessons.

It's also helped me figure out what I like -- and that's a mix of knobs and screens.

Give me a volume knob and a tuning knob*. Give me knobs or easy-to-use buttons for the main climate controls -- temp and fan speed -- and make it easy to turn on the heated seats and heated steering wheel. Basically, make it easy for me to turn on/off certain often-used features, especially at speed.

I'm fine with having lesser-used features be accessible only via screen, as long there's not too much menu-diving required.

*I still don't get why so many automakers want to get rid of tuning knobs. Do people just set presets and forget them? What about road trips? What about people who just like to surf the dial? Not to mention the range of satellite radio stations -- imagine if you like rock, country, sports, and comedy. That's a lot of station-scrolling, and too many stations to save as presets. Yes, I know there are some other ways to tune, and yes there are usually steering wheel controls, but just gimme the knob, man.

Neff rightly points out that some cars do buttons poorly, and some do screens poorly. But instead of debating knobs vs buttons, can't we just compromise?

Some vehicles, of course, do this well. Ford's Bronco is but one example, and Stellantis has some examples, and so forth and so on. I chose the Bronco because some trims have a screen integrated into the dash with volume, tuning, and climate-control knobs right below. You can see it in the image above, though Ford's pic cut off the screen.

Look -- knobs have some advantages, the primary one being that they can be easier to use at speed. Screens can be distracting to use and are also likely expensive to fix if they break out of warranty. But screens also look cool and can be used to do things that knobs and buttons can't. Or to add info -- like the off-road pages Jeep uses.

All I am saying here is that you don't need to take sides in this debate. You don't have to be a "screen person" or a "knob stan". Just root for good interior design -- and in my view, good interior design can and does integrate both screen and knob. Good design also avoids having the screen look like a glued-on iPad, but I digress.

Screens are here to stay. But that doesn't mean we can't keep knobs around for some functions. Now, let's talk about haptic touch...

[Image: Ford]

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