Touch Sensitive Buttons...this is getting ridiculous...

rickhamilton620

has a fetish for terrible cars
Joined
Nov 28, 2009
Messages
16,962
Location
Mount Wolf, PA
Car(s)
2023 Mazda CX-5 Premium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ib5yDx19A1A#t=304s

Really? Dome lamp and sunroof touch buttons? Does the world really NEED this?

Give me a proper fucking button for shit. It's not hard. If it's not broken, why "fix" it.

I don't even MIND the MFT touch screen layout, it's the bugginess of the software and the fucking touch panel buttons below the screen on a lot of these that annoys me. But replacing the light control and sunroof control with fucking touch buttons is ridiculous.
 
The only touch sensitive thing I want in my car is the girl in the passenger seat!
 
I want everything touch-sensitive. Light controls, TFT screens, locks, touchpad gear shifts, everything. In fact, the beiger the car, the more touch-sensitive stuff there should be in it. You may be driving a Camry, but at least you can pretend you're Jean-Luc Picard. Anything to eliminate the beige.
 
I want everything touch-sensitive. Light controls, TFT screens, locks, touchpad gear shifts, everything. In fact, the beiger the car, the more touch-sensitive stuff there should be in it. You may be driving a Camry, but at least you can pretend you're Jean-Luc Picard. Anything to eliminate the beige.

NEIN! Yes i know there's push buttons (in the past) and now knobs and ZF's shifter on the 8 speed tranny used by VAG and Chrysler but I like the feeling of moving a shift lever.
 
Is it a possibility that they're cheaper to make? Otherwise I can't think of any good reason for them to become more and more common.

I honestly don't know...it sounds like it would be more?
 
Because of the iDevices and their competition, touch screens are now cheaper than a big array of million-cycle-rated buttons and switches.
 
This reminds me - one of the classrooms where I teach got "upgraded" to a digital dimmer and light control unit. It's a small resistive, color screen with many options...

...I JUST WANT TO TURN THE BLOODY LIGHTS ON! It seriously takes 30 seconds fiddling with all the menus.

What was wrong with the previous setup - a very simple mechanical dimmer switch.
 
This reminds me - one of the classrooms where I teach got "upgraded" to a digital dimmer and light control unit. It's a small resistive, color screen with many options...

...I JUST WANT TO TURN THE BLOODY LIGHTS ON! It seriously takes 30 seconds fiddling with all the menus.

What was wrong with the previous setup - a very simple mechanical dimmer switch.

It wasn't 'smart' enough. No kidding, the government is pushing everyone to install such things.

Fortunately, since we motorcyclists wear gloves all the time, touch screen controls will not be coming soon to a motorcycle near you. :p So if you don't like touchscreens, learn to ride. :D
 
Last edited:
This reminds me - one of the classrooms where I teach got "upgraded" to a digital dimmer and light control unit. It's a small resistive, color screen with many options...

...I JUST WANT TO TURN THE BLOODY LIGHTS ON! It seriously takes 30 seconds fiddling with all the menus.

What was wrong with the previous setup - a very simple mechanical dimmer switch.

Shudders.... whoever insists upon resistive screens in things where they aren't required (eg: cars, industrial applications) should seriously be taken out back and shot.
 
This reminds me - one of the classrooms where I teach got "upgraded" to a digital dimmer and light control unit. It's a small resistive, color screen with many options...
That reminds me of the media unit in my university's big lecture halls. It has a touchscreen that can control everything - lights, window blinds, video projector, canvas. It even has a camera setup for showing something like on an overhead projector, only via the hall's video projector.
Rumour has it people need to take a course to be allowed to use these things. In practice, nobody botheres, but occasionally one has to call the tech guys so the come and reset the damn thing. :D
 
Problem with touch buttons in the car is, with a normal button, you can feel where it is, and when you found the right one you press it without having to look...
Try that with a car full of touch buttons and you will have your A/C set, as you wanted, but also your seat back and your radio station changed ;)
 
Problem with touch buttons in the car is, with a normal button, you can feel where it is, and when you found the right one you press it without having to look...
Try that with a car full of touch buttons and you will have your A/C set, as you wanted, but also your seat back and your radio station changed ;)

That's exactly why I went with an older Zune with actual buttons for my in-car entertainment. I can do anything I want (play/pause, skip songs, etc.) all without taking my eyes off the road.
 
Lovely rant about the uselessness of the touch-screen command center in the Fisker Karma:

 
Wow, that is very terrible
 
Wow, that's terribad. :lol:
 
Wow, that is very terrible

Wow, that's terribad. :lol:

I'm shocked that such an "advanced" car lacks the "climate control logic" that my early 90's Ford has: In winter, it won't turn on the heater fan until the air is warm, so you're not blasted with it.

Other more plebian cars (And more importantly Fisker's gas only rivals) has the same logic.
 
The Karma is a disappointment. I suggest watching his other review, unlike most owner reviews his looks pretty honest. For a car that expensive I would have demanded better fit and finish.
 
The Karma is a disappointment. I suggest watching his other review, unlike most owner reviews his looks pretty honest. For a car that expensive I would have demanded better fit and finish.

His review might be pretty honest, but I don't rate him as a car guy. Brian Greenstone on the XJ220: "It's some old, rare Jaguar. I forget what it was, but? I thought it was a cheezy movie prop from the 80's when I first saw it." :(

Seriously though, touch screens have no place in cars at all. Give me buttons any day.
 
A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive -- you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program.
 
Top