• Betch@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Yeah I really hope other car makers follow because I fucking hate touch controls in cars with a burning passion. It’s idiotic and not safe at all.

    • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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      9 months ago

      Same goes for kitchens. Give me real buttons and knobs and not these abhorrent touch panels that refuse to work every third time. A good quality kitchen appliance is identified by high quality knobs that last for decades.

      • 0110010001100010@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I pumped gas at a brand new Shell station over the weekend. The controls for the pump was one GIANT touchscreen (I’m talking probably 12 inches wide by 36 inches tall). It was fucking PAINFUL to use. Every touch took 2-3 seconds for the action to happen. Da fuck is wrong with a regular pump and regular buttons that just work!?

          • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            And to sell to the station owner when their proprietary hardware breaks. Oh what am i saying, they’re all service contacts these days. So more expensive service conrtacts and the ability to shut them down for non-payment

              • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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                9 months ago

                Were the old ones not the same…?

                The contracts? Pumps? Im kinda talking out my ass here but currently there’s no ability to shut down the pumps themselves as far as i understand it (in l understanding coming from being a cashier at one once. The touchscreens outside just process the customers payments. Without those they can still be run from the other system inside. The pumps are not connected to Wi-Fi.

                My hypothetical assumes more and more control left to the touchscreen outside i guess, and i ran with it. If it doesn’t make much sense then just reread my first sentence ;)

                • ripcord@kbin.social
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                  9 months ago

                  The conversation was about locking in the owners to their expensive proprietary pumps as a reason for switching to this new style, and I was asking if lock-in was actually a new thing or not. Otherwise the comment doesn’t really make a lot of sense in context.

          • Edgarallenpwn [they/them]@midwest.social
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            9 months ago

            Reminder to try and press any of the buttons on the side of the screen to mute if possible. 2nd right or bottom right works on all the pumps around me but I dread the day we get touch only

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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          9 months ago

          It should be illegal to connect a touch screen to a computer that runs like a potato. Even computers in the 80s could respond to keystrokes and mouse clicks in real time.

          • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            It seems to be a very popular mindset in software development that efficiency isn’t as important because of how fast hardware has gotten.

            This sucks because I don’t get better hardware just to make up for worse software (not that it even does; a lot of browser-based apps are painfully slow), and some of these devs end up working on weaker platforms that don’t make up for their shitty programming. They might not ever touch the platform it is actually supposed to run on and instead work on a dev machine that is powerful enough to make it look good. It’s possible that neither them nor anyone hiring/managing them realizes that they aren’t the kind of programmer they want.

            Though it’s also possible that the programmers are fine and have told their managers that the CPUs just aren’t powerful enough for what they want them to do but some assholes are only looking at the bottom line and have low standards for these kind of things in their own life (my TV is slow, so it’s no big deal that our car interface is slow).

            Worst thing is it’s probably less than a $50 difference in cost to switch to something that could handle it fine, assuming it’s not programmed in JavaScript and HTML or slow because it’s backend is on the cloud or some shit like that, which also wouldn’t surprise me.

            • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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              9 months ago

              It seems to be a very popular mindset in software development that efficiency isn’t as important because of how fast hardware has gotten.

              How’s this for irony: I was hired at my current job as part of a team whose whole mission is to address performance problems in a large desktop app…that’s written entirely in Typescript!

              • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                It’s kinda funny how some are willing to develop a skill to great depth (you’d have to know JavaScript/TypeScript very well to write a full deal desktop application in it, and it probably involved a LOT of frustrating debug if performance is the main issue with it) but don’t spend any time on breadth to understand that some depths aren’t worth it.

        • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          In Canada it really sucks having to take your gloves off half the year. I hope this gets taken into account when touchscreens on gas pumps are considered.

          • Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            Try wearing very thin neoprene under your bigger gloves. It’s been a game changer for me. I have a horrible habit of taking my gloves off from years of snowboarding and those have been awesome.

        • topinambour_rex@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Your experience remembers me those old touch screen we had at the library in the 90s. The screen was monochrome, but touch sensitive. It took several seconds for react.

        • ZiemekZ@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          What do you need a touchscreen for? You just take an appropriate pump (E95, Diesel), fill the fuel and pay at the register.

          • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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            9 months ago

            Because it’s way faster to pay at the pump and not have to go inside. I’ve only been inside a gas station like 4-5 times in the last decade.

      • LastYearsPumpkin@feddit.ch
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        9 months ago

        Biggest problem is that they cheap out on the tech parts. Nobody complains that an iPad has a touch screen, cause it works. But an appliance tends to have a crappy UI, running on a crappy touch screen, powered by a crappy CPU.

        If they just used quality parts, it’d probably be fine, and the only issue would be expensive replacement for an entire assembly, instead of small, cheap parts that can be fixed.

        • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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          9 months ago

          A smartphone or tablet screen has the function to have multiple buttons and responsive functions on one and the same place.

          A kitchen appliance doesn’t have or need that. Absolutely no need for digital or so-called “smart” gimmicks.

          • Dojan@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Yeah! Instead of having a knob my idiot stove has “touch areas” - good luck cooking if you’re blind.

            At my old place, if I wanted to set the bottom left plate to the hottest setting, I’d put my hand on the leftmost knob and turn counter-clockwise until it snapped once.

            On this thing I usually have to start with turning off the child lock. We never turn it on, but every time we wipe off the stove there’s a like 95% chance the child lock activates due to the lingering moisture.

            After turning the child lock off you have to hold the power “zone.” Then you have to select which burner by holding its zone - if you don’t you’ll start changing the timer when you hold down the - button to cycle from 0 to keep warm, to 9, and then press + to turn it from 9 to boost.

            I’m legit not joking. Mind you this example is when the piece of shit behaves. I’ve an absentmindedly placed lids on the off “button” before and had the piece of junk refuse to turn back on for half an hour.

            What does the touch controls add to my experience other than frustration? A knob doesn’t activate from water splashes. A knob doesn’t turn from residual moisture from a slightly damp cloth. A knob is tactile and pleasing to hold, and can be used by anyone of appropriate age, even if they’re blind.

            Four knobs could pull the weight that these NINE touch “buttons” fucking struggle with.

            • IMongoose@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Holy shit, I could not imagine someone who cooks a lot to put up with that. If you have a few things you need to start and stop at specific times and change heat levels and stuff while cooking several things at once… it takes me .5 seconds to operate my dials when doing this. I would be livid using your stove.

            • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              Oh ffs what a fucked up convoluted mess.

              We need to find the engineer that designed this, and their managers who pushed it, and shame them People of Walmart style.

              How is it people can willingly violate fundamental UI/UX rules?

              As mentioned, how do these things pass Accessibility regs?

      • douglasg14b@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        In general high quality things tend to have physical buttons and knobs as opposed to touch screen devices.

        Instead of turning into e-waste after 5 years or less they can last for the next 30 to 50 years.

        How many smart thermostats have become obsolete because their service providers stopped providing cloud services for them?

        I just tore apart a working thermostat that almost 80 years old now (to understand how it works) and in perfectly working condition. It uses the physical properties of the materials inside to measure temperature (a coil of metal expands and contracts causing a pendulum to move clockwise or counterclockwise). Suspended at the top of this pendulum is a small vial of mercury containing two electrodes. When the pendulum is far enough counterclockwise the Mercury slides in the vial and bridges the electrodes, turning the furnace on, when the pendulum is far enough clockwise the mercury slides to the right and no longer bridges the electrodes.

        When you set the temperature on the thermostat you are changing the default position of this pendulum. Meaning that it has to move more or less distance for the bead of mercury to bridge the circuit.

        It’s brilliantly simple and will continue to work essentially forever. The physical characteristics of the materials involved won’t change.

        • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          How many smart thermostats have become obsolete because their service providers stopped providing cloud services for them?

          Same goes for pretty much every IoT device that people seem to be filling their homes with.

          • capital@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            This is why, going forward, smart home products I buy have to be zigbee or zwave so I can integrate it with home assistant.

            • silkroadtraveler@lemmy.today
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              9 months ago

              I thought this comment was trolling then I realized that zigbee and zwave are real brand names. You can’t make this shit up.

              • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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                9 months ago

                Haha yeah they’re IoT protocols for smarthome stuff. But an open source software called Home Assistant can talk to it, so you can self-host your home automation without your home being subject to the whims of some fragile tech startup and by extension, their investors.

                • silkroadtraveler@lemmy.today
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                  9 months ago

                  Oh I see, that’s helpful and makes sense. I’m one of those newbs who took 15 hours to set up my own Jellyfin. Self hosting Home automation is a ways off in the distance for me haha.

      • Wrench@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Touch screens especially don’t make sense in the cooking context, where your hands are likely to be wet / damp.

        • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Touch controls for burners are very dangerous in my opinion. What if i spill oil on the stove and touch screen? Now the oil might stop me from turning off the heat and the situation could quickly turn into a fire.

          • xthexder@l.sw0.com
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            9 months ago

            That’s a thing? Holy shit… And here I thought the worst offender was Tesla’s yolk steering wheel with a capacitive touch horn “button”.

          • Dojan@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I’ve had similar situations happen before. Moved into this apartment in September. This stove will be the death of me.

          • Joe Cool@lemmy.ml
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            9 months ago

            That’s why they have spill detection. Try pouring water over the touch controls. It should beep, then turn off. It’s not a good solution or better than a knob, but better than nothing. Except your spill doesn’t flow over the controls. Then good luck.

      • ominouslemon@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Omg I feel that. The oven in my apartment has touch controls. When I’m baking stuff with lots of moisture inside, water evaporates and is expelled though a vent JUST BELOW the touch controls. The condensation makes them completely unresponsive. Smh

        • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          You have to wonder if the engineer who designed that was a complete dumbass because it seems remarkably obvious that you’d want to keep moisture away from electronics.

      • Dojan@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I was boiling pasta earlier and my fucking stove turned itself off and engaged the child lock because water splashed onto those controls. THREE TIMES!

        I’ve had this piece of shit literally ruin dinner before. It’s amazing how it can be both really nice and really fucking useless at the same time.

      • Betch@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Agreed, it’s true for most devices. They’re often finicky, don’t offer anything in terms of feedback (Except maybe for a beep that is identical for all button presses) and they don’t last.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        I’m really on the fence when it comes to kitchens because a) you actually have time to look at what you’re doing – if you need to lower temperature suddenly the better option is to take your pan off the stove, anyway and b) touch controls are trivial to clean.

        What I can’t stand though is scales manufactures being so cheap as to not even have capacitive buttons but re-use the front left/right feet as sensors for the interface. On the upside the thing was dirt cheap and actually comes with an USB-C port to charge its LIR2450 cell.

      • Squizzy@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Nah I just got new ovens and a hob and they are sleek and easy clean and work like a charm.

      • Alex@feddit.ro
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        9 months ago

        I like touch panels but don’t mind physical buttons.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      It’s idiotic and not safe at all.

      Not to mention completely useless in places where you need to wear gloves when driving.

      • ZiemekZ@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        wear gloves when driving

        For example?
        If it’s so cold that you wear gloves, then get your AC fixed because it should’ve been running by the time you drive off.

        • Urist@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          9 months ago

          Hmm, that’s a strange comment you left. I’m not the person you responded to but:

          When I get off work it’s just before dawn (coldest part of the day) and it’s frequently 10 Fahrenheit or lower in the winter (below freezing). I wear gloves in my car in the winter because cars don’t warm up enough for the heat to come on right away. I don’t want to walk through the cold into a cold car and grab a literal freezing steering wheel and hold on to it for 10 mins until the heat kicks on. My drive is about 35 min in good conditions.

          I’m assuming you live in a warm place or don’t drive a car, good for you. Wish I had public transportation.

          • psud@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            They probably drive a car where they can tell the car to warm or cool the cabin remotely. My problem is opposite yours, even with the windscreen covered the car will heat to 50°C (112°F) and if sunlight was on anything, that thing will be too hot to touch.

            So I tell my car to keep the air con on while I’m in the shops, tell it to start cooling when I’m returning to it after I’ve been away longer than I like to run AC

            In your scenario, I would ask the car to be warm an hour before I needed it

          • ZiemekZ@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            it’s frequently 10 Fahrenheit or lower in the winter

            Fair enough, we don’t hit such temperatures regularly in Warsaw (Poland).

            a literal freezing steering wheel

            Is it that bad? Wow. Didn’t know that. I though the cage would provide at least some thermal insulation.

            hold on to it for 10 mins until the heat kicks on

            If my colleagues lived in a climate as cold as yours, they’d have mounted parking heaters (e.g. Webasto) by now. Electrics struggle in cold, but they can preheat themselves before the ride, using just the electricity.

            I’m assuming you live in a warm place

            Warsaw is at the same latitude as Edmonton in Canada, so shouldn’t be really that warmer.

            or don’t drive a car

            Winter 2022/23 was when we still were in our previous office. It was ½ hour long commute with my Xiaomi M365 electric scooter. This winter 2023/24 we moved to an office further away, so I was forced to change my daily vehicle to a motorcycle, maxiscooter SYM MaxSym 600i ABS. At least you have the goddamn cage.

            Wish I had public transportation.

            I miss having good alternative commute via metro and tram to our old office. Took almost the same time as e-scooter. But our new office? Public transit takes 2x as long as a motorcycle commute, according to Google Maps Timeline, so might as well not exist. So now we’re in similar situation. Wish you luck…

            • cestvrai@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              Warsaw, same as other European cities, is a lot warmer than North American cities of the same latitude due to warming from the Gulf Stream.

              Gloves are not optional in cold climates.

            • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
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              9 months ago

              Warsaw is at the same latitude as Edmonton in Canada, so shouldn’t be really that warmer.

              Reading a climate chart for Warsaw, it seems like January lows average out to -5C and your coldest days dip under -20C? Feel free to correct that considering you would know better than I.

              In Edmonton, January lows average to -15C, and winter temperatures can dip down to -35C (or rarely even worse) along with nasty winds. It’s a surprisingly harsh climate.

              I live around Ottawa, Canada and our winter experience is basically Edmonton with less wind and more humidity. You scrape the ice off your car and drive with gloves on because otherwise it would take 15 minutes to heat it up enough to be comfortable. Seat warmers are cherished here.

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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          9 months ago

          My car takes 15 minutes to warm up enough for the heat to work at all let alone get the interior to a comfortable temperature.

    • poppy@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      I got a new car two years ago, and physical buttons were one of the determining factors.

  • squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Good. Touchscreens are the most unsafe feature added to vehicles in decades. It’s honestly mind boggling how it was allowed in the first place.

    • highenergyphysics@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Easy, because regulations don’t mean anything anymore.

      Headlights that blind you in the day and literally block all vision of the road at night, road legal trucks which bumpers that START at the hood of my car, all around limo tints on literally every car, people disabling their rear lights for some idiotic reason…

      And that doesn’t even begin to mention the drivers themselves, so fucking self absorbed, tailgating, cutting you off for fun to get to the same light.

      I’ve literally had a stream of cars going around me on street roads and so many dumbasses just follow the stream that I literally cannot safety accelerate because they’re all cutting me off bumper to bumper.

      You should start carrying a gun if not already. The conservatives have successfully rotted western society.

      • Sculptor9157@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        While you have some good points, it seems you may be missing one in that if you are constantly getting passed in that manner, you are causing a problem, regardless of what is posted. Most western law systems have a provision against impeding the flow of traffic.

        • Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz
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          9 months ago

          Problem is when you get passed because other people aren’t driving legally. Even if it’s the flow of traffic, you’re still technically not allowed to break the law.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            Even if the people overtaking you on the Autobahn break the speed limit (yes those exist), you still have to keep to the right as much as possible. Hogging the left lane at exactly the speed limit is vigilantism.

            • Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz
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              9 months ago

              I’m confused, did I miss someone mentioning staying in the left lane on the highway?

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                9 months ago

                You mentioned getting passed which should only ever happen, in civilised countries with sane traffic laws, on the left. (modulo countries which drive on the left where it’s the right).

                Like, breaking the speed limit gets you a ticket over here. Overtaking on the right can easily mean losing your license and having to undergo a psych exam as they take such things as an opportunity to accuse you of racing on public roads.

                • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  9 months ago

                  They’re in the right lane and getting passed by cars on the left. I’m really confused by what you’re trying to say. What makes you think they’re blocking traffic?

          • Sculptor9157@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            Yes, exactly. So try to realize that not keeping out of the lane to pass is still an infraction on your part and let traffic enforcement do their job. It’s actually easier for them to witness you impeding multiple vehicles and pull you over than to track down everyone passing you, so don’t get yourself into a completely avoidable situation. Nobody passes you and later on reflects on the point you were trying to make.

              • Sculptor9157@sh.itjust.works
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                9 months ago

                Can you differentiate staying out of the lane to pass from staying out of the passing lane? Don’t try to bring your petulant road anger to me, silly goose. You have even less power and impression here than on the road. Allow me to demonstrate with my next reply.

                • Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz
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                  9 months ago

                  What? What are you talking about? I’m confused, are you having an episode?

      • paradiso@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Had me until the politics, but I agree. These fucking headlights nowadays are incredibly dangerous, especially on these lifted garage queens.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Headlights that blind you in the day and literally block all vision of the road at night,

        Illegal in the EU, Xenon and later LEDs always needed automatic height adjustment (it doesn’t suffice to do it once because cars change angles continuously). Lots has changed in the last 20+ years, though, speaking of VW: How about high beams all the time unless there’s something that could be blinded, then switch them off locally but keep the rest bright.

        road legal trucks which bumpers that START at the hood of my car,

        Like this?

        all around limo tints on literally every car,

        Illegal.

        people disabling their rear lights for some idiotic reason…

        Illegal.

        And that doesn’t even begin to mention the drivers themselves, so fucking self absorbed, tailgating, cutting you off for fun to get to the same light.

        See the thing is that if you build your infrastructure in a way that requires people to drive cars you can’t just take licenses away from asshats.

      • Herbal Gamer@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Headlights that blind you in the day and literally block all vision of the road at night, road legal trucks which bumpers that START at the hood of my car, all around limo tints on literally every car, people disabling their rear lights for some idiotic reason…

        pretty sure all of those are illegal around here, with exception of the giant compensators.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        people disabling their rear lights for some idiotic reason…

        That might be people with daytime running lights not turning on the lights. My car will turn on the headlights as soon as I take the parking break off (MT, an auto would likely do it when put in drive), but the dash and rear lights don’t turn on unless I turn the dial.

    • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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      9 months ago

      They are a lot safer now that we have LKAS and ACC and FCW systems. But that’s moreso in spite of the touchscreens.

  • flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz
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    9 months ago

    The fact that they needed to receive a lot of complaints to reconsider makes me wonder - do they even do any kind of usability testing for their products? Anyone who even sat in a car with only touchscreen can tell you the experience is not comfortable.

    And I don’t think it’s just about the price of physical buttons. Buttons are a selling point right now, they could charge a small premium (not in the thousands but ~$200 certainly.

        • SinningStromgald@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Never read from a book that summons demons

          I know they said “What you do in High School will affect your entire life” but I didn’t think it would be this bad! It was only once! I swear!

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      It’s probably a cost issue. Running one wire harness to a touch screen is a lot cheaper than running a wire to every button in a car.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s also a “We can charge $900 for this $80 touchscreen when it fails in 5 years because your car is a brick without it” issue.

    • someguy3@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I wonder if it’s a planning issue. Buttons you have to actually plan out. Touchscreen? Plop it in.

      • psud@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        You have the software design costs, which are high but one-off, so they’re amortised over the entire production - and it’s either the same or nearly the same across each brand’s entire range

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Oh they KNEW what they were doing and just didn’t give a fuck.

      We need a People of Walmart equivalent for this bullshit. Start finding the designer/engineer/manager responsible for this garbage and shame them publicly.

      How does this stuff pass any kind of Accessibility regs?

    • FishFace@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Besides cost, we should probably at least entertain the idea that we are a vocal minority. I’d be completely unsurprised to find out that the majority of people hardly ever touch the controls that got moved to touchscreens and, if they do, they don’t really care - they can set them before they set off, or do it while driving and wobble all over the road, but hey everyone does it so what does it matter?

    • Zipitydew@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      That’s not true though. This happened in their EVs regardless of price range. Even the Porsche Taycan which requires using a screen to adjust HVAC vents. Other than some steering wheel buttons the Taycan is all screens.

      The Audi E-Tron GT (same chassis as the Taycan) oddly enough has more buttons. But that’s because VAG makes sure Porsche and Audi interiors are slightly different for different market segments.

      It’s more about VAG thinking (like many automakers) copying the Tesla trend was what people wanted. The mistake made was not considering Tesla early adopters often being techy people who might not match broader market opinion.

      • Rob@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I say there are some fair applications of SaaS. If you use a product that requires servers to be running, paying a recurring cost for however long you need the software is fair.

        That being said, mandatory SaaS on a physical product with upfront cost is decidedly shitty. Especially when it’s a 50k car.

        • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Server costs are different from SAAS. The fact that they are often blended is just a piss poor attempt to conceal the grift.

      • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        SaaS is great for business-to-business products. Sucks ass for everything else.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Companies love subscriptions, customers hate subscriptions. Subscriptions it is.

    • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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      9 months ago

      It’s impossible, just like it’s impossible to tell game companies to stop doing microtransaction.

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I don’t mind a touchscreen. Apple CarPlay/Android Auto are really nice.

      I just also want physical controls for everything the car needs to do to be a car, like climate control or wipers or shifting. And also physical controls for play/pause, skip, volume, and tuning.

      Touchscreens can do a lot to enhance the car experience, but they cannot replace physical buttons.

        • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Sure. I don’t want games or videos (though I can see how that would be useful while waiting for an EV to charge).

          I just want Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. Or, failing that, whatever controls are necessary to facilitate an infotainment system.

          • Electromechanical_Supergiant@lemmynsfw.com
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            9 months ago

            How much entertainment do you need while driving? Can’t you just plug your phone in for some music?

            Do you really need a maps app built into your car when you already have one on your phone?

            I just can’t see a reasonable use for an infotainment system that isn’t already taken care of perfectly by the device I already have.

            • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              In my older car, I have a mount for my phone because it does not have GPS. But it does work just fine for Bluetooth.

              CarPlay is a lot easier to use. As was Android Auto when I had an Android phone.

              These also give me greater flexibility with regard to mapping. I can, for example, simply tell my phone to navigate to my wife’s location. (Obviously not a dealbreaker to not have, but convenient!)

              It can also be really nice to have a side-by-side view of the media player and the maps.

              I dunno, it’s not like I wouldn’t buy a car that doesn’t have CarPlay, but that car would lose some points in my mind. It’s the kind of thing I didn’t think I’d appreciate as much until I had it.

      • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        If it’s the kind of thing that it’s not reasonable to expect that people will stop by the side of the road to do, it should be buttons. The rest can be touch.

        So for example setting a destination on your navigation interface is fine to do via touch screen, but starting/stopping swipers or changing audio volume is not.

    • deafboy@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’d go as far as mounting a full size qwerty keyboard on the steering wheel. Although we’d somehow have to deal with the shrapnel grenade situation as soon as the airbag hits it.

  • Dickarus@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I like how you can get a ticket for using your phone while driving, so automakers decided to replace your tactile radio, where you don’t need to look at it to operate, with what is basically a giant touchscreen phone in your car where you need to look at it to see what you’re doing instead of feeling what you’re doing.

      • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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        9 months ago

        Yep it should just be illegal plain and simple. Maybe some screens that are mainly intended for passive display that you can still use with touch, but all main functions one would need to use while operating the vehicle should be buttons and dials.

        • TeckFire@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Many states have laws prohibiting the use of anything that isn’t hands free, including integrated media controls. Won’t stop anyone, but just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean people won’t do it. Same as speeding, or eating/drinking while driving in many states.

  • Gerula@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    This is actually very good news for car manufacturers.

    Touch crap was cheaper but sold a new tech so => price increase

    Buttons are old tech so no new investments or tech development but they are more complicated => price increase

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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      9 months ago

      Thank you! I’ve been making this argument a LOT with recent discussions on kids not understanding keyboards and controllers because their lives are full of touchscreens.

      Touch isn’t “the future”. It just absolutely flooded the market.

      • Gerula@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        They 100% do! But the marketing departments always likes to have “solid” arguments at hand.

        How else can they organise fairs and conferences where they can lament about how poor the automakers are and how pressure from are pulling prices down so automakers cannot compete… how they have to fire people and move production in poorer countries where people can be treated more like slaves… how profits are so low that they have to use the same jets with the same bitches twice!

  • HouseWolf@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    You want buttons back because they’re easier to use

    I want them back because I think car interiors look bland without them

    We are not the same…alright I also want them back for the first reason aswell.

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Carmakers did this to copy Tesla, not realising that Tesla did it to save themselves a few bucks and to hell with the person who suffer a degraded or unsafe driving experience as a result. Witness how Tesla even removed indicator stalks, making it all but impossible for people to safely and legally navigate a roundabout. Who cares if someone crashes, because it’s all about the bottom line.

    • Gestrid@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      not realising that Tesla did it to save themselves a few bucks

      I guarantee you they realized that and likely did it for the same reason.

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    9 months ago

    I’m hoping by the time I need a new car, this insanity will have passed, allowing me to skip it. It’s like everyone skipped Windows Vista.

    • lando55@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      By that time they will start selling monthly subscriptions to use the buttons or they will revert to a regular touchscreen