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European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

arstechnica.com

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Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#251

Post by izacus »

speedgoose wrote: post #161
noirbot wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've owned one for so long and it makes me so upset that Mazda doesn't have an EV yet. I just want my current car as an EV and I'd be happy.

They do sell en EV in some places, the MX-30. It’s a terrible EV that was outdated before its release, so that’s perhaps why they don’t try to sell it more. We are talking about the company that still invest in internal combustion engines so don’t have too high hopes.

Yeah, that car was only made to satisfy EV quotas for offsets :/

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#252

Post by cuu508 »

kedikedi wrote: post #104
user_7832 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really miss the feel of a physical throttle linkage on the snow and ice, I feel it's much more difficult to judge grip. The throttle is separated from the wheels/ground by the transmission and the whole engine, which makes me wonder if the response you felt probably was a combination of eg rpm/physical vibration and a few other factors. It should be possible to recreate these even in an EV, then.

The throttle feeling of a cable operated throttle is more about how much air the engine wants to breathe. I’d say it’s kinda still related to rpm, but it might be a completely different feeling on a turbo engine, that I haven’t experienced.

Right, but how does the changes in engine wanting to breathe manifest through the throttle pedal feel? Changes of vibrations? Changes of resistance? Changes in lag from pushing the pedal to the engine responding? Perhaps on the direct throttle car you could simply hear the engine better?

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#253

Post by izacus »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #228
Kwpolska wrote: post #223

> Tesla is probably at greatest risk here, having recently ditched physical stalks that instead move the turn signal functions to haptic buttons on the steering wheel. What the actual fuck? Who thought that replacing such a common function with the least reliable input method possible (capacitive "buttons") was a good idea? Also, if I get into a rental car or whatever, I don't need to learn basic controls with sane m…

I'm confused now. I haven't been in a current Tesla, but what do we refer to when we say haptic button nowadays? To me that's synonymous to tactile button = physical button, but you talk about capacitive buttons. Did Apple's introduction of haptic feedback for touch somehow shift the meaning?

As far as I know the latest refresh of 3 brought back physical buttons. Did you test that one?

Capacitive buttons are the ones that don't physically move and give no feedback.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#254

Post by the_gipsy »

nehal3m wrote: post #231
tmikaeld wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> …Teslas. Or at least it was, until they removed the physical turn signal controls. The turn signals wasn’t removed, they moved them to the steering wheel as physical buttons. Which ofc isn’t optimal, because you turn it…

You’re supposed to signal before you turn the wheel. Way too often I see people signaling as they turn, not because they are trying to communicate with other road users but because it’s the law. Indicate your intent first and then take the indicated action.

You might already be turning, but completely unrelated to an upcoming maneuver that you must signal.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#255

Post by lelanthran »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #205
lelanthran wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it possible to love a car that does things you hate when there are other cars at the same price that does everything the object of your love does, and doesn't do the things you hate? It sounds like an irrational love for the car.

What's your list of other cars that have the same charging network access and self-driving capabilities?

> What's your list of other cars that have the same charging network access and self-driving capabilities?

Well, the list of other cars that will kill you if you take your hands of the wheels is ... just about anything, right?

And then you're dead, so have no use for a charging network anyway, too.

So, basically, for just that one feature, you can use just about any other car.

The list is, essentially, everything else!

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#256

Post by darkwater »

modeless wrote: post #247
sundvor wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla wiper? Just push the wiper button on the left stalk and you can cycle through the speed settings with the left funky switch (multi function button) in addition to the on screen display options that then pop up. Very easy to do. Also this: https://youtube.com/shorts/3eKcDOHVZWc?si=-jL4o4Bhu-2y0ibj Doesn't cover the left multi function button feature after short pressing the wiper button. (Model 3, 2022, Australi…

> Just push the wiper button on the left stalk and you can cycle through the speed settings with the left funky switch Yes, they added this relatively recently. For the first few years I owned the car this was not possible. Also, guess what, it still sucks! More steps than a physical control, fiddly because of the short timeout, and still requires an extra step of looking at the touchscreen because you can't know whi…

I had cars in which for the life of me I could not ever remember which part of which stalk controlled the wipers and which part controlled the lights. Ah, and then there are Volkswagen and Opel which had the light control as a wheel outside the wheel-drive, on the bottom left, and you had to take a hand off to modify it.

My point: just having physical controls doesn't mean it is easy or safe to use, if the layout sucks.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#259

Post by gsich »

jojobas wrote: post #248
rkagerer wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the steering wheel and pedals still behave the same. Don't give them ideas...

Tesla Cybertruck uses steer-by-wire with almost no redundancy. Electric power steering was bad enough to cause crashes, this is just ambulance chaser's dream.

>steer-by-wire

This is the norm for most cars with servo steering.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#260

Post by axegon_ »

Yes, please. I drive an early 2010's BMW with an aftermarket android head unit. The headunit was not a big deal for me but it was useful since maps were wildly out of date and upgrading them was a pain in the ass and having music, live traffic and all that is appreciated but that's all it is. Now... There one or two things I hate about the car. First one is not having a temperature gauge. Instead BMW added this fuel consumption gauge which couldn't be more useless. The second thing I hate is the way the indicator switch works. I got used to it but holy hell, why were BMW so keen on fixing a problem no one had. Keeping this in mind, the whole touchscreen control from everything from fan speed to driving mode is ridiculous: you actually have to turn your head and look at the screen, whereas in my car I can do that without looking at the buttons at all: I more or less know where the button is and it's size, shape and texture. Modern cars are the exact indicator switch problem BMW was trying to solve, but cranked up to 11.
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