When Infotainment becomes dangerous
"Well you see, I crashed my car because the A/C was 2 degrees too uncomfortable."
The trusty dials and buttons in your car: you know where they are, you know what they do, you don't have to take your eyes off the road to use them. Feeling a bit warm? I know turning the left hand dial on my car will set the climate to how I want it. Being blown away? I know the right hand dial will make the breeze gentler. Its a system that works, and doesn't look all that bad.
Why are manufacturers fixing what isn't broken? Why do the dials on new Range Rovers have a dual function? They controller either the temperature OR the strength of the breeze. How do you change it? By making precise contact with the touchscreen. You know, the kind of precision that requires focus on the screen, and not the road. Of course, new Range Rovers are not the only culprit here, but they seem to be the most obtuse to me.
This is especially ironic when you see the plethora of safety features that can be specified these days. They are genuinely remarkable. All the lengths the companies go through to make driving as safe as possible, and they add 'innovations' that undo all of that.
Of course there's also the small matter of price to repair. If a dial goes a bit awry, you fix the dial. If the infotainment system that has replaced the dial goes awry, you book your car in and have the infotainment system fixed. One of those costs more than the other, and I'm sure you can work out which.
Form and function should be in perfect harmony, and form should never overpower function especially where safety is concerned! Is this really what the market has been asking for?
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