• Hyundai will reintegrate physical buttons into the design of its vehicle interiors.
Over the past decade or so, we've seen a trend grow like fungus across the industry, to the point where it's become a plague. We’re talking of course about the removal of physical buttons in favour of tactile or haptic controls inside vehicles.
While some consumers are embracing the switch, others not so much. And they’re speaking up. Some revealing focus groups, in fact, have convinced several automakers to change course and decide to bring a number of physical buttons back into the design of their interiors.
One of them is Hyundai, which, according to Korea JoongAng Daily, is stepping back from its strategy of equipping its vehicle interiors with as many touch-sensitive controls as possible.
Ha Hak-Soo, VP of Hyundai's design center on our continent (official name, Hyundai Design North America), had this to say about the controls:
“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried out putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that. When we tested with our focus group, we realized that people get stressed, annoyed and steamed when they want to control something in a pinch but are unable to do so.”
- Ha Hak-Soo, VP of Hyundai Design North America
While this is from the mouth of Hyundai's North American division, we can guess the sentiment is the same across the planet. It's hard to imagine anyone preferring to go through a menu to set the cabin temperature, rather than simply turning a knob or pressing a button.
Voice commands exist, but it still takes longer to use them than to touch a button.
Manufacturers everywhere have tried to innovate, but the solutions have always been more complicated than necessary, and/or than they’re worth.
It remains to be seen how far Hyundai takes its change of heart. Volkswagen made similar noises after the launch of the Golf GTI and Golf R and of the updated Tiguan for 2022, namely that it was going to bring back buttons. Our first drive of the ID. Buzz recently left us wondering what happened to VW’s promises.
Stay tuned (using that dial).
