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by jabroni_salad 1214 days ago
Mazda and Honda both have said they will avoid touch screen for climate.

They both use the three knob system (fan strength, temp, zones) and there is no possible improvement as far as I am concerned.

3 comments

Didn't mazda eliminate touchscreens entirely? Buttons around a screen instead.

I want a steering wheel with more buttons than an xbox elite controller, with chording, pressure sensitivity, long press double press etc. Why settle for a steering wheel that isn't Turing complete while you are touring? And your eyes never leave the road.

[monkey paw] okay, but they are capacitive buttons that give no feedback at all when you brush against them. Market research suggests that users like this, actually.
Honda did go the touchscreen route - or at least they did - one of my relatives has a 2017-ish civic sedan with climate on the touchscreen. It's an absolute pain, especially in winter where I like to start on high to make sure the windows are clear, then reduce the power as I'm driving.

Kudos to them if they reversed the decision. Touchscreens have no purpose on the dash except for navigation and maybe the rear camera

“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.”

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-geneva-motor-...

Can confirm, a friend of mine was looking for a lease car, explicitly with knobs for controls like this. I think he went for a Mazda in the end.