My knuckles were white against the steering wheel as I jabbed repeatedly at the glossy black panel on the dashboard, desperately trying to adjust the fan speed in my test car. Outside, the Melbourne summer was baking the cabin despite the air conditioning supposedly running at full blast. My eyes darted between the road and the unresponsive touch slider, each glance away from traffic feeling increasingly dangerous on the busy freeway.
That moment, experienced during a week with Volkswagen’s ID.4 electric SUV last year, perfectly encapsulates why the German automaker’s recent announcement that it’s returning to physical buttons feels so significant. It’s not just a design tweak – it’s an admission that the automotive industry’s headlong rush toward smartphone-inspired interiors has compromised the fundamental purpose of a car: to be driven safely.
“It’s not a phone, it’s a car,” declared Thomas Schäfer, Volkswagen’s global CEO, in what might become one of the most important statements in recent automotive design history. Those eight words represent a dramatic philosophical shift for not just Volkswagen but potentially the entire industry.
The Great Touch Experiment
Volkswagen’s love affair with touch interfaces reached its peak with their eighth-generation Golf and ID electric models. Physical controls were almost entirely banished, replaced by a combination of touchscreens, touch-sensitive sliders, and haptic “buttons” that provided no tactile feedback. The clean, minimalist aesthetic looked stunning in press photos and showrooms.
Then actual drivers got their hands on them.
“I’ve been reviewing cars for almost 15 years, and I’ve never seen such a dramatic disconnect between design intent and user experience,” veteran automotive journalist Robert Markham told me when I called him to discuss Volkswagen’s reversal. “The touch sliders for volume and temperature were genuinely hazardous to use while driving. You had to look directly at them to have any hope of making precise adjustments.”
Customer feedback was equally scathing. Owner forums filled with complaints about accidental inputs, system lag, and the inability to operate basic functions by feel. J.D. Power’s influential Initial Quality Study highlighted problems with infotainment systems and controls as a major source of owner dissatisfaction, with Volkswagen’s touch-heavy models scoring particularly poorly.
For Alex Bernner, a Sydney-based IT consultant who traded his beloved Golf GTI Mk7 for a Mk8 only to sell it six months later in frustration, the issues went beyond mere inconvenience.
“I nearly had an accident on the M4 trying to adjust the climate control,” he admitted when I spoke with him about his experience. “After looking down for a couple of seconds too long, I looked up to find the traffic had stopped. From that moment, I decided the car had to go. No amount of performance or technology is worth that risk.”
This sentiment was echoed by dozens of owners I’ve interviewed over the past two years for various car reviews. While many appreciated the clean aesthetic and advanced features, nearly all expressed frustration with the fundamental usability of touch-only interfaces while actually driving.
The Science of Distraction
What makes Volkswagen’s reversal particularly significant is that it’s backed by a growing body of research on driver distraction and safety. A 2022 study by Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare found that performing simple tasks like adjusting climate controls or radio stations took significantly longer in touch-based systems compared to physical controls, with drivers taking their eyes off the road for dangerous periods.
In the most dramatic finding, adjusting a specific radio station in a touch-only system required an average of 24 seconds of driver attention, during which test cars traveled over 600 meters at highway speeds. The same task took just 4 seconds with physical buttons.
“The human brain is remarkably adept at developing muscle memory for physical controls,” explained Dr. Melissa Corbett, a cognitive psychologist specializing in human-machine interaction whom I consulted for perspective on this shift. “When you can feel a button or dial without looking at it, your brain can dedicate more resources to the primary task of driving. Touch interfaces fundamentally disrupt this process by requiring visual confirmation for nearly every interaction.”
This scientific reality crashed headlong into the aesthetic and technological aspirations of car designers, creating what industry insiders now acknowledge was a potentially dangerous trend in pursuit of a modern look.
The Financial Reality
Beyond safety concerns, Volkswagen’s decision likely reflects hard financial realities. Touch interfaces weren’t just frustrating for users – they were expensive to implement and troubleshoot.
“Touch systems require more complex electronics, more expensive displays, and more sophisticated software,” explained former Volkswagen engineer Stefan Müller, who worked on interface systems before leaving the company in 2022. “When they fail – and they do fail more frequently than physical buttons – warranty costs skyrocket because you’re often replacing entire control modules rather than a simple switch.”
This perspective was reinforced during my tour of a dealership service department last month, where a service manager (who requested anonymity to speak freely) showed me a backlog of vehicles awaiting replacement parts for unresponsive touch controls.
“These systems are essentially specialized computers,” he explained, gesturing toward a row of cars awaiting repair. “When a traditional button breaks, it’s a simple mechanical fix. When a touch interface fails, it’s a computer problem, which means diagnosis is more complex, parts are more expensive, and labor time increases significantly.”
For an industry already grappling with the enormous costs of electrification and autonomous driving technology, eliminating this source of warranty claims and customer dissatisfaction makes sound business sense.
Industry-Wide Implications
Volkswagen’s announcement is already sending shockwaves through the automotive design community. As one of the world’s largest automakers, their decisions influence industry trends far beyond their own product lineup.
“When a company like Volkswagen makes this kind of public reversal, everyone pays attention,” noted Sarah Chen, an automotive design consultant whose firm works with several major manufacturers. “Design directors who’ve been quietly harboring doubts about touch-only interfaces now have cover to push back against the trend.”
This influence was evident at recent industry events, where I noticed concept cars from several manufacturers suddenly featuring more physical controls than their predecessors. One design executive from a competing European brand, speaking off the record during a recent motor show, admitted their team was already redesigning upcoming models to incorporate more tactile interfaces.
“We’ve been gathering the same user feedback but weren’t sure how to respond without looking technologically backward,” they confessed. “Volkswagen just gave everyone permission to prioritize usability over trends.”
This shift doesn’t mean touchscreens are disappearing entirely. Rather, it signals a more thoughtful approach to interface design, with physical controls for safety-critical and frequently-used functions, complemented by touchscreens for infotainment and less commonly accessed features.
The Consumer Response
Early reaction from consumers has been overwhelmingly positive. When I posted about Volkswagen’s announcement on social media, my comments section filled with relieved responses from drivers celebrating the return to more intuitive controls.
“FINALLY someone’s listening!” wrote Melbourne driver Sarah Tompkins. “I test drove three different cars last year and ruled them all out because I couldn’t adjust basic functions without taking my eyes off the road. This can’t come soon enough.”
This sentiment appears widespread, with online forums and comment sections revealing a significant disconnect between what car reviewers have often praised (sleek, button-free interiors) and what consumers actually want (intuitive, safe controls they can operate while driving).
For Volkswagen, this return to physical buttons represents a rare opportunity: a design change that could simultaneously reduce costs, improve safety ratings, enhance customer satisfaction, and differentiate their products in an increasingly homogenized market.
A Balancing Act
As I think back to that sweltering day in the ID.4, fruitlessly jabbing at unresponsive touch panels while trying to keep my eyes on the road, Volkswagen’s decision feels like a victory for common sense over technological showmanship.
Cars aren’t smartphones on wheels, despite the industry’s recent attempts to reimagine them as such. They’re complex machines operated at high speeds in constantly changing environments, often by drivers with varying levels of technological comfort.
The challenge for Volkswagen – and the industry at large – will be finding the right balance between incorporating genuinely useful digital innovations while recognizing the continuing value of tactile interfaces for critical functions.
If Schäfer’s declaration that “it’s a car, not a phone” truly guides their future designs, drivers everywhere will have reason to celebrate. Sometimes, progress means knowing when to take a step back from a trend that’s gone too far – and it appears Volkswagen has finally reached that realization.
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