[exitb]

That’s not addressing the right issue. Encoders and switches are not the expensive parts. What’s expensive is designing the dashboard with precise holes, before you actually start the manufacturing process, lining up the component with the hole and cap, making sure they actually work etc. Compare that to a dashboard of the new Tesla robo taxi, which basically has a complexity of a TV mount.

[stavros]

But you don't need to line up the holes if you can just plonk the component down anywhere and then program the software with the locations of the components after the fact.