Volkswagen has promised to “never, ever make this mistake any more” with its future car designs.
Volkswagen is hitting reverse on the design trend of removing buttons from vehicle interiors, and has committed to including physical controls in the cabin of future designs.
Speaking to Autocar, Head of Volkswagen Design Andreas Mindt said the German automotive giant will reintroduce physical buttons to future interior designs, starting with the forthcoming ID.2 small electric car.
“We will have physical buttons for the five most important functions – the volume, the heating on each side of the car, the fans and the hazard light – below the screen. They will be in every car that we make from now on. We understood this. We will never, ever make this mistake any more.” Mindt told Autocar.
Mindt also highlighted the touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel of current Volkswagen vehicles as a sore point, and something that will be changed in future designs.
“On the steering wheel, we will have physical buttons. No guessing any more. There's feedback, it's real, and people love this. Honestly, it's a car. It's not a phone: it's a car.” Mindt continued.
This follows on from ANCAP’s move to encourage the inclusion of physical buttons and controls in vehicles, alongside similar recommendations by Euro NCAP in Europe.
"In line with our next planned step-change in protocols being introduced from 2026, ANCAP will discourage manufacturers from locating key vehicle controls such as indicators, hazard lights, horn and windscreen wipers within touch screens," ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg told Drive.
"Physical buttons or stalks to operate these key vehicle controls will be encouraged through scoring, with manufacturers awarded points for the prioritisation of physical controls." Hoorweg continued.
Volkswagen will soon launch the long-awaited ID.4 and ID.5 electric cars to the Australian market, which have an updated version of the brand’s latest infotainment system. These models uses touch-sensitive sliders and buttons for volume and climate controls below the infotainment display, as well as touch-sensitive controls on the steering wheel.
Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell
