For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, with most of the ire directed toward in-car infotainment.

  • Anemia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    As someone working in the industry I dislike it as well. Many of the features have some really good usecases but the problem is just that they’re enabled/available for every user even if most people only use a small subset of features so the settings/interface gets so cluttered.

    In my opinion though, the move away from physical interfaces towards touchscreens is way worse than the clutter.

  • DVD@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Car manufacturers need to realize that people already have a touchscreen that has a GPS, podcasts, music, and text messaging service in their pockets 24/7. Best option would be to make built in phone holders that are plugged in via USB C and connect to the sound system. Voila.

    Stuff like this makes me very glad to own my 2015 Nissan Altima. I get occasionally let down by its somewhat lackluster engine and CVT transmission, but it cuts all the crap with infotainment bloatware in the dashboard and how it works. The only screen in my car is a small black strip that can only display text as most cars used to have. All you do is plug in your phone to the aux cord and use your phone as the touchscreen it was made to be, no need for another one. Physical buttons galore.

    • duffman@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Phone holders need to be a thing. Maybe car manufacturers aren’t confident the general sizes of today’s phones won’t last long.

  • ReCursing@kbin.social
    0·
    1 year ago

    Touch screens in cars are stupid: you need to take your eyes off the road to use them. Buttons and knobs, once you have learned them, can be operated by touch and maybe a quick flick of your eyes.

      • ScoobyDoo27@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        Mazda has the best system for infotainment systems. I own 2 Mazdas and a Toyota. Every time I get in the Toyota I hate that I have to touch the screen for everything.

        • PineapplePartisan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          Mazdas also focus on providing the best driving experience for the actual driving part. Their infotainment is actually kind of mediocre compared to others, but I don’t care about that because I just need CarPlay and my phone does the rest.

          • ScoobyDoo27@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            1 year ago

            I agree. I only need a screen that is capable of CarPlay and lots of physical buttons, which Mazda has. Then I want the rest of the car to be a blast to drive, which Mazda is known for and definitely delivers on. I’m a Mazda fanboy and will keep buying them unless they decide to move away from the driver experience.

            • QuarterSwede@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              We’re looking for a vehicle and the Mazda design language really hits above the price point. The CX-90 is just beautiful with the fabric layer on the dashboard. Very impressed with it.

  • nicerdicer@feddit.deEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    The car as a device to transport one from A to B has been developed to completion. Any car is capable of fulfilling that task. The next stange of developement is that the comfort features in cars are being replaced with a universal control unit: a touchscreen (-computer).

    All physical buttons (air condition, radio, etc.) are being phased out and are accessible over the central touchscreen, hidden in menus. This way it is easier to get customers into subscribed services (e.g. for the ability to lock your car remotely or to use the heated seat feature you have to subsribe to this particular service in order to use it).

    Also, when features are controlled over a software interface like those touchscreens instead of physical buttons, it it easier to give access to users - or restrict them from it:

    IIRC at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Tesla remotely enabled their cars by allowing free supercharging as a helpful measure to help people to escape from Ukraine. Pretty nice of Tesla, isn’t it? Well yes, in this particular case, but this kind of remote software interference from the manufactor can also work in the other direction. They can easily restrict the functionality of your car. Functions your car still would have if they weren’t controlled remotely.

    Cars become a Software-As-A-Service product.

    Edit: spelling

    • Fluffy_Ruffs@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      This way it is easier to get customers into subscribed services

      It’s also just flat out cheaper to remove physical buttons. Remove a handful of buttons and you might save a few dollars per vehicle once you add up the cost of each switch, connector, and associated wiring. That’s huge when you’re producing tens of even hundreds of thousands of vehicles.

      They tried getting away with this crap to save a few bucks without passing on the savings but you’re seeing some pushback. VW, for instance, has stated they’ll be migrating some functions back to physical buttons soon.