Zac Quinn 
Over the years, automakers have gradually removed buttons from the inside of vehicles in favor of screens and touch-sensitive controls. This move makes sense for automakers as physical inputs cost money, and removing them shaves some cost off the manufacturing process. However, by eliminating buttons, there are some dangers to safety as instead of having the convenience of finding the desired button just by feeling, you now have to take your eyes off the road to see what you’re pressing. However, the vehicle buttons could return as European evaluators will start treating the lack of physical controls as a safety issue in about two years.
According to The Times of London, for auto manufacturers to receive the best possible European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) safety rating, they must incorporate a minimum of physical inputs for crucial functions. Unfortunately, Euro NCAP primarily concerns critical safety functions such as hazard lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn. That means frequently used controls like the HVAC system or essential media functions could rely solely on a touchscreen.
It’s also worth mentioning that, like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the United States, the EU’s NCAP standards and practices are voluntary and not enforced by law. That said, automakers love to advertise their safety ratings, which means those who want to tout a high safety rating will be more likely to adapt their cars to adhere to the new rules implemented in two years. Of course, adjustments made for other regions will be found in our market. It’d be silly to ditch a component if you’ve already taken the time to engineer it into the vehicle for a specific marketplace.
One of the only vehicles that come to mind that has done away with physical controls for key functions is Tesla, which relocated the turn signals to a touch-sensitive operation, a feature many customers have voiced negative feelings about. Hopefully, this will encourage Tesla and any other company that has removed traditional buttons and physical switches to reimplement them into their vehicles.
