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The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

theturnsignalblog.com

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Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#81

Post by culebron21 »

tomrod wrote: post #58
ethbr0 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is modern attempts to birfurcate UX into silos of efficiency-agnostic design art + implementation-only engineering. If you call designers artists, remove objective KPIs, and give them free reign, you get one-button mice. Similarly, if you let engineers build something, you end up with git's cli. In contrast, design and use been studied as a unified discipline since the early 1900s: https://en.m.wikipedia.…

> If you call designers artists, remove objective KPIs, and give them free reign, you get one-button mice. Similarly, if you let engineers build something, you end up with git's cli. Am I in the wrong to think both of these are plenty functional to the point I like them? A one button mouse functions a lot like a touchbad when you factor in meta keys (at least to my memory -- I've only ever used one in conjunction wit…

I used Mercurial CLI in 2010-2016, before finally having to completely switch to git. I almost never had to memorize or look hg commands up. In Git, I routinely need to google that same answer on SO for flags. I do understand that it's the real inner machinery, and back in 2009 I did read how git works, but still cli is hard to remember.

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#82

Post by jabroni_salad »

passwordoops wrote: post #47
jabroni_salad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mazda and Honda both have said they will avoid touch screen for climate. They both use the three knob system (fan strength, temp, zones) and there is no possible improvement as far as I am concerned.

Honda did go the touchscreen route - or at least they did - one of my relatives has a 2017-ish civic sedan with climate on the touchscreen. It's an absolute pain, especially in winter where I like to start on high to make sure the windows are clear, then reduce the power as I'm driving. Kudos to them if they reversed the decision. Touchscreens have no purpose on the dash except for navigation and maybe the rear camer…

“We changed it from touchscreen to dial operation, as we received customer feedback that it was difficult to operate intuitively. You had to look at the screen to change the heater seating, therefore, we changed it so one can operate it without looking, giving more confidence while driving.”

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-geneva-motor-...

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#83

Post by jabroni_salad »

galangalalgol wrote: post #41
jabroni_salad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mazda and Honda both have said they will avoid touch screen for climate. They both use the three knob system (fan strength, temp, zones) and there is no possible improvement as far as I am concerned.

Didn't mazda eliminate touchscreens entirely? Buttons around a screen instead. I want a steering wheel with more buttons than an xbox elite controller, with chording, pressure sensitivity, long press double press etc. Why settle for a steering wheel that isn't Turing complete while you are touring? And your eyes never leave the road.

[monkey paw] okay, but they are capacitive buttons that give no feedback at all when you brush against them. Market research suggests that users like this, actually.

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#84

Post by WirelessGigabit »

andix wrote: post #67
bluedino wrote: post #16

I feel like I'm the only one that uses the manual controls. It bugs me getting into someone's car where the heat is set to 85 degrees and the HVAC goes full blast once you turn the key, but you know nothing warm is going to come out of the vents for at least ten minutes, when the engine starts to warm up (in the winter)

I know that Mercedes doesn’t do that. The fan speed only increases once the heating is working. But their luxury cars usually have additional electrical heating, that works right from the start, and is powered by the battery and the generator. And the diesel engines usually have a diesel powered heating element, to warm up the engine quickly, this is needed to reduce the pollution, because the cold engine performs ba…

Same with BMW.

I love that little temperature adjustment for the hands on BMWs.

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#85

Post by hiidrew »

I enjoy tactile controls for most functions in a vehicle. I think they seem safer and easier to use.

Although, it seems like a major benefit for touchscreens are the ability to update the interface. I'm fairly sure Tesla does this (don't own one so not 100% sure). It's an interesting idea, also if owners are able to customize to fit their preferences.

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#86

Post by nick__m »

ModernMech wrote: post #32

Mazda had it just right in 2016 with mostly tactile climate controls, paired with the center console dial interface (also tactile). I think their latest models have regressed just a bit with the button climate controls instead of the dials, but that's still far better than touch screen.

That new central console still looks designed with driving in mind: https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/vehicles/2023/cx-5/vlp/g...

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#87

Post by neogodless »

xyzelement wrote: post #69
neogodless wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the sun is hitting me, I need it to be about 5 degrees cooler. Does the climate control account for that?

I dunno. I suppose in that case someone would just turn the one dial down, not fuck around with fan speeds etc.

Then it still matters that the one dial is accessible. And ideally a physical dial...

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#88

Post by xyzelement »

neogodless wrote: post #87
xyzelement wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno. I suppose in that case someone would just turn the one dial down, not fuck around with fan speeds etc.

Then it still matters that the one dial is accessible. And ideally a physical dial...

Sure and I like those. But can we agree it's less relevant than decades ago?

Re: The design of in-car climate controls has gone backward

#89

Post by MichaelZuo »

cjrp wrote: post #78
zrobotics wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of it is a cost thing. Automotive grade buttons are really, really expensive. Honda probably pays $1-10 each for a button or rotary dial, a touchscreen is $30-70 depending on size. Plus, backup cameras are legally mandated, so they need to include a screen anyway, difference between a touch & plain screen is likely negligible, on the order of maybe $0-10. (costs are estimated and include the molding & plastics,…

Totally. Plus more pieces to fit on an assembly line, etc. Ironic that requiring cameras to improve safety has potentially done the opposite by killing off physical controls.

Nearly all well intentioned laws have quite serious negative downstream effects, because the world is vastly more complicated and interconnected then commonly expected.
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