On more than one occasion I have commented on the use of touchscreens in vehicles, stating that I have always thought it was a bad idea for a number of reasons, two of them being that they require a driver to take their attention away from road in order to change settings on everything from the volume on the radio to running the heat or A/C to turning headlights on or off and the fact that something called muscle memory is useless when it comes to using touch screens. I have also heard numerous friends and acquaintances complaining about the same things as the much prefer the physical controls – knobs, switches, buttons, and sliders – over touchscreens.
It seems that automakers are listening to their customers, with some of them changing their interior designs to bring those knobs, switches, buttons and sliders back.
In today’s automotive market, big touchscreens and digital interfaces dominate the cabin experience, often at the expense of usability and safety. While these features offer a high-tech aesthetic and access to a virtual library of fancy features, they also increase the time to execute the most basic automotive operations, like adjusting climate and audio. Fortunately, a few automakers still understand the value of intuitive physical controls—dials, knobs, and buttons placed within easy reach of the driver. We laud certain manufacturers in 2025 for their commitment to driver-focused ergonomics, blending modern tech with excellent switchgear that makes life behind the wheel simpler and safer.It’s bad design whenever a driver has to stop paying attention to the road in order to use a touchscreen to perform some of the aforementioned functions, something that drivers could do in the past without the need to look away from the road. This is where muscle memory comes into play.
It generally means a driver knows where the headlight switches, heating, A/C and ventilation controls, radio tuning and volume controls and so one are located without actually having to look at them to use them because they’ve preformed those actions time and time again. The knobs, switches, buttons, and sliders are always in the same location and always perform the same functions. Touchscreens don’t allow for that because the menus and ‘buttons’ on the screen change function and location depending upon what the driver is trying to do. The driver must look away from the road and at the touchscreen in order to use it. Muscle memory doesn’t work.
My trusty 2014 RAM 1500 has a small touchscreen which controls a number of functions with most of them being related to entertainment or communications functions – AM/FM radio, Sirius XM, media player (by Bluetooth or USB), and phone functions (calls and texts). Things like tuning the radio station, adjusting the volume, selecting radio station presets and the like are controlled by knobs and buttons, not the touchscreen.
It’s time to dial back the multifunction touchscreens and start using physical controls again to increase safety and reduce driver distractions.